It was a bit
of mesh of a team, but we had been texting/emailing through the week to try and
get it set up. The team was myself and my friends Jen and Jason. Aaron’s cousin
Chris was running with us! And Jen’s friend Sonya stepped in as AA’s
replacement. I had made a chart of ‘expected times’ and most everyone was going
to carry their cell to update after they finished their leg. I also had
pictures of everyone. Sonya and Chris were exchanging and had never met each
other!
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| Getting to know everyone... |
The first
leg (Jason’s) left City Park at 6 AM! I woke up at 6:03…it was weird knowing he
was already running! Luckily he could walk to City Park from his house. He said
he headed over a little after 5, it was still dusk, and all was quiet. He had a
6.4 mile route down Colfax that went through Bronco’s stadium. He crushed his leg
and came in at sub 8 min miles!
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| Jason through Mile High |
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| Route and Ele. |
He exchanged
to Hock who got to run around Sloan’s Lake. She did great and came in 30
seconds/mile faster than her expected time! Sonya got the short end of the
stick and had the uphill route, got put on the team 2 days before, and loads of
biking the day before. She rocked it though with a 9:51 pace!
From what I
hear the exchange was a little confusing between Sonya and Chris. It didn’t
help they had never met, but also it was hard to see the approaching runners
and if you didn’t hear your # you just had to recognize them! Chris had the ‘screaming downhill’ route.
This was his first road race and he did so awesome! He came in at a 10:34 pace
and really showed the progress he has made running over the past few months :-)
My exchange
with Chris was crowded as well and hard to see, I didn’t hear our # called, but
luckily spotted Chris with his red shorts! Before I knew it I was off, and ran
right in to the Bronco Stadium!
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| Taking in the whole stadium! |
It was really neat running through it, but
eerie how empty it was!! After the stadium, we made our way to the bike trail
and ran through Confluence Park near REI. Eventually we ran up to 17th
street and made our way through downtown. There was an uphill crossing over
Lincoln and the sun was in our eyes, but great scenery running through uptown
and in to the park. I was amazed at all
the marathoners running at this point. I had fresh legs, and they had already
run 20! It is amazing what they can do.
I wasn’t feeling great this whole time, but my pace didn’t reflect it
luckily, I think I had too much birthday cake over the weekend! As we made our
way in to the park and eventually in to the final chute – Jen and Jason jumped
up! Team PNDA BR’s finished at 4:04:49 – what a great race!
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| In the yellow and orange to the right! |
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| I'd say we were spot on our estimate....4:05 estimated versus 4:04.49 |
Nothing
special for treats afterwards. They limited you to one water bottle, and there
were none after you got in to the corral after. I was so thirsty! They had
bagels and ½ a banana. We waited in line for our free BBQ, which was great, but
I was still so thirsty. We didn’t stay long and walked back to J&J’s to BBQ
again.
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| Team PNDA BR's |
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| alternate member :-) |
So overall I really liked the race, it was neat doing the relay. It is nothing compared to those 30 hour runs with 2 vans, but it was neat to dip the toes. Next year I would do it again, or consider one of the other 3 races...10 miler, half marathon, and marathon!
