2010 Green Mountain Relay

It’s crazy how much things can change in a year. Like we did last June, Helen and I headed up to Vermont this weekend to run the Green Mountain Relay with our respective teams. Only, this year, everything was different. And so much better.

But this is a running blog and not a diary so I’m not going to get into all that cheesy stuff…

I ran the same three legs as last year and beat my paces on all three, although that wasn’t too big of an accomplishment considering I was fighting through a pretty nasty case of ITBS last time around. It was quite a bit hotter this year and I made some horrible food choices that led to me running not nearly as well as I would have liked. On top of that, I was just really tired going into the thing. I’d only taken one day off since my 50 miler two weeks ago and foolishly doubled up on my runs Friday before the relay started.

My first leg came at 5 pm on Saturday night and included the biggest hill I’d have to run up all weekend. The 727 feet of elevation gain over 6.8 miles and the afternoon heat held my pace to 6:45/mile, even though I was spending tons of energy. I had some of the most inconsistent splits ever because of the hill, most notably an 8:00 mile followed by a 5:53. It was really cool being back out on the same stretch of road that I ran last year, though, and being able to at least run stronger than I did then. But, I lost ground against a kid in front of me that I was hoping to catch and that frustrated me more than a little.

I convinced Antonio to join us this year and his first leg started about an hour after mine. We had almost caught up to Helen’s team by this point so I was able to cheer them both on and give them drinks for the whole 10 miles. That was so cool to be out there cheering and supporting them both.

My second leg started at 1:30 in the morning. By that time, I’d eaten a pulled pork sandwich, several slices of pizza, a giant ice cream cone, and several other less than healthy snacks. My stomach wasn’t feeling great even before I started running. And, even though it was the middle of the night, the heat and humidity were still very much present. This leg started with a 3-mile-long climb up a hill, but it wasn’t as steep as the one I’d run in the evening. I took it really aggressively (too aggressively), running a 6:32/mile pace up to the top. The plan was to then fly down the back and end up with a kick ass time. It started that way, with a 5:56 mile, but then my stomach just couldn’t take any more and I puked off to the side of the road. I didn’t break stride, but it still definitely slowed me down. About a hundred yards later, I passed another runner and then promptly threw up again right in front of him. I felt bad and yelled, “Watch out!,” hopefully he heard me and avoided the mess. That left me completely wiped and I struggled the final two miles, finishing with a disappointing 6:25/mile overall for the 5.7 miles.

My third and final leg was the worst of them all. On paper, it looked like it should be the easiest, with only 377 feet of elevation gain, but I was so wiped out that it ended up being a disaster. The fast kid started behind me and quickly caught up ground and ran past me on a hill. By the end of our run, he had opened up a huge lead and our team never caught up again. Not to make excuses, but it was ridiculously hot out there and I think that definitely was a factor. I ended up with an average of 7:03/mile over the 5.7 miles.

It felt so good to finally be done running. As much fun as the weekend was, it was also grueling and I was so happy to see it come to a close and to get back home. My stay here isn’t long though. I leave on Thursday for Colorado to start getting acclimated to the elevation before my marathon up in Leadville which is now less than two weeks away. Thinking about those hills after how tough these miniature versions in Vermont seemed is scary, to say the least…