Nurse on the Run

Oh my goodness, what a weekend!  Where do I even start??  Well…let’s start with the obvious.  This past weekend, I headed up to Massachusetts for my first ever relay race (well, beyond the 4×800 in high school) in the form of the Reach the Beach Relay!  When Elyssa and Maria started recruiting runners last fall, I joined not exactly aware of what I was signing up for.  I’ve read recaps of relays before, but I don’t think you quite realize what it’s like to run 200 miles with nine runners until you actually do it.  However, I will try to recreate the relay experience for you!

back to the start

Getting to the starting line of the relay was quite the experience.  The team itself was ever a work in progress, with runners joining the team, then being unable to actually race…it was a very fluid group!  We settled on our team of nine runners, only to be alerted on Thursday morning (the day before the race!) that a team member needed to drop due to an emergency.  100% understandable, but that left us with eight runners!  While mentally preparing to pick up some extra legs and run a bajillion miles over the weekend, we scrambled to find a replacement runner.  Luckily, no sooner did I hop on twitter did I see this from Lauren: 

I immediately replied, telling her if she wanted in…we definitely could use her!!  Within the next hour, plans were set and Lauren was to join Team Puke and Rally the next day!  With that little fiasco taken care of, I set off packing and ended up going for a run because it was beautiful outside and work had been super stressful over the past week…needed a run for sure, and it was fabulous!  Maybe not the best idea before a relay…but it was well worth it for my sanity.

Thursday, May 19
6.19 miles in 46:38, avg pace of 7:32 (oops…)

I got back and set off packing, then met up with Maria to cab over to LGA to meet up with the rest of the crew.  Soon enough, we were in our big white stalker vans heading up to Massachusetts.  I lasted as long as I could before falling asleep in the van since I had worked the night before and hadn’t slept yet.  It’s amazing what sound sleep you can get when you’re just that tired!  We ended up stopping for pizza part way to our destination, and then we got lost on the second part of the trip, but I slept through all that!  Made it to our hotel with enough time to crawl into bed!

run rest run rest run rest run rest

Relay day!!  We woke up around 7:45am and assembled our groceries and team…Lauren arrived from Providence and we found our random internet runner, Blake, who posted on the Relay website that he was looking for a team, and we needed a team member…so we mainly hoped he wasn’t some sort of serial killer attacking relay runners, and let’s just say that he passed that test with flying colors! 

It was a foggy morning with temperatures perfect for running, and soon enough…we were off for a 200 mile journey through Massachusetts.  As the first runner, I lined up to kick off Team Puke and Rally with the first leg on Wachusett Mountain. 

Ready to Reach the Beach!!

I’m off!  With my team cheering in the background!

Now, let’s discuss this first leg.  Although only a short 2.8 miles, it was ROUGH.  Why, do you ask?  Well, a picture is worth a thousand words…so two pictures are worth two thousand words, right?  Check it out:

Holy uphill.

Elevation.

Now, I know I just came off of the Big Sur Marathon…but this was a HILL!  I promised I was working hard and was in third out of our group, but…wow.  That second mile was especially hard.  However, as you can see by the splits, that downhill was quite kind as I channeled my inner Baker and flew.  The entire uphill portion was on a trail through the woods, which was quite pretty, followed by a downhill on pavement.

Leg 1:  2.85 miles in 23:00, avg pace of 8:05
Splits:  8:32, 9:12 (ouch…), 5:14 (avg pace of 6.20…check that!!)

I came flying to the transition area, and Maura wasn’t in sight!  I almost ran through it when other people asked who I was looking for…I said, “Maura??” and everyone started yelling her name so she came running over to take over for leg 2!

Maura powered through leg 2 with a smile on her face, awaiting the high five station we set up partway through her run.  As she came down the hill just before her transition, she was only slightly distracted by a pretty library nearby (she’s a librarian, after all…) before handing off to Lauren!

Librarian on the run!

Next up was Lauren, who absolutely FLEW through her leg.  All while wearing bright green and smiling…can’t beat that!

Green comet!  Or something…

With another speedy leg accomplished, the green girl handed the slap bracelet off to Brian, the green guy.  (He also kind of looked like Christmas…)

Check out that running form!

With four legs accomplished, Brian handed off to Blake (our internet friend) and he ran a pretty leg through a state park before handing off to Van 2 and attempting an ice bath in the nearby pond/lake/swamp area.  Very fitting with his refueling combination of Ensure and chia seeds.  Oh runners.

Lake bath?

gearing up for round two

After handing off to van two, looking at the relay spreadsheet told us this would be our longest break between vans and the best time to get some real food into our stomachs to power us through the rest of our legs.  With 36 legs and nine runners, each of us were scheduled for four legs…definitely need some power fuel!  Through the glory of the smart phone, we found a pizza place and headed over for some grub.  Being cautious of eating too much at one time, Lauren and I split a delicious pizza…the guy told us that you can get spinach and  tomato only on Fridays, and that we only had to pay if we liked the pizza…ah, what a funny man.

Pizza for two.

After refueling, we set out to hunt down Van 2 as they took on their first legs.  Everyone seemed relaxed and happy, and it was a beautiful day to be running!  We hung out by a minimum security prison while waiting for Maria to power up a hill.

 Matt made friends with the sheriff…just in case.

Maria rocking the hill!

We headed up to the next transition point with time to catch Erin as she (finally!) got to run her first leg…being the first runner, I can’t imagine having to wait so long to get the ball rolling, but she was just was just as excited as everyone else to get her relay on.

Wrapping up van 2!

leg two – on the move

After Erin received the slap bracelet, we headed off to transition in order to prepare for leg 2!  I broke out my “You just got chicked” shirt, figuring this was the perfect occasion to wear it.  (Little did I know I should have saved it for a later leg!)  Lauren and I assessed the Mark Kruger situation (Biggest Loser!) to determine if he was in his van, but his van-mates informed us that he was out running at the time…we never did find him!

Pondering…

Preparing for total domination.

Soon enough, Erin came through transition and I was off!  Although we had to wear the headlamps on this leg, it didn’t quite get dark enough to actually use it.  Strangely enough, I remember very little about this leg other than the fact that I felt good!  The miles were flying by on the rolling hills.  I’ve only done one two-a-day in my life, and even then it was only about 1.5 miles followed by about three miles (let’s not get too crazy…), so I wasn’t sure how my legs would react…but naturally, they loved it!  These legs love to run, and run they did.    Seeing the orange flags waving the runners to the transition area gave me a rush, capping off the the final mile at 7:05.  Negative split #1.

Leg 2:  6.02 miles in 43:56, avg pace of 7:18

Thanks, Maura!

Shortly after my leg, darkness fell and the team started our night runs.  Everyone was still rocking their legs, and spirits were high.  I was jealous of everyone having night runs, as I’d heard from previous relayers how awesome it can be.  Plus, I’m a night shift nurse (and a night runner!), so nights are my thing.    I patiently awaited my turn and enjoyed the rest.  We followed our teammates through their runs in the dark, spotting them in the reflective vests and flashing red lights…who knew those vests really worked??

Shiny Lauren!

We handed off to van 2 around 11:15-ish at night, and Blake’s mom met us in the parking lot with coffee in hand…can’t beat that!  While we had hoped for a longer rest period, we checked the spreadsheet to find that we only had a little over two hours until we started up again…van 2 had some short legs to run, so no rest for the weary!  Unfortunately, we started to feel our running catching up to us, and some were having stomach issues.  Although our team name was Puke and Rally, I hoped we wouldn’t actually live up to the first part, although most people came back from each leg saying that they thought they might give substance to our name…luckily, no one did!  However, we still set out to find some coffee and fuel at midnight.  Luckily, a gas station pulled through for us:

Mission control of Van 1.

Midnight Relay Essentials:

• Coffee.  (Always!)
• Arizona Ice Tea…why not?
• Dots = candy from the “free candy van.”  We live life on the edge…
• Pepto…goes great with Gatorade!
• 80% eaten bagel…might as well eat some real food before leg 3.
• Not pictures:  Tons of snacks from Trader Joe’s, including cookies, penguin gummies, popcorn, and chips.  Twizzlers are power food as well.

 

I think we ate a bunch of junk for 24 hours straight…we had PB and bread in the back, but somehow we never actually made substantial food!  Oh well.  With power fuel in hand, we headed over to transition so we could pick up from van 2.

leg 3 – running in the dark

Ah, finally the time I’d be waiting for!!  I had 6.5 miles on tap, starting around 1:30 in the morning.  Dressed in a running skirt (why not?), arm warmers (although I ended up being too warm and almost threw them off Kara Goucher style…but then I realized I paid $30 for them and I lack sponsorship to get another pair), French braid pigtails (looking pretty ratty at this point…), reflective vest, and head lamp, I set off on my night run!  Being a bit of a nervous person, I wasn’t sure what to expect out of the night run…I usually think murderers are behind every corner, which generally makes me run faster.  I took off (per usual) and passed a few people, although for the majority of the run I was by myself.  Other runners in the group definitely had creepier legs than mine, as they ran through parks and mine was mainly residential. 

I actually enjoyed the dark and took comfort in the fact that at times I could see blinking red lights ahead of me, although there was one portion where I couldn’t see anyone for about a mile and no vans passed me…I was convinced I took a wrong turn!  Soon enough, I saw the yellow arrows that reassured me that I was headed in the right direction.  Although I was wearing my Garmin, I avoided looking at it and just took in the run, letting my legs go as pleased.  I could tell I was a bit on the faster side (especially with this being the third leg!), but I was having a great time!  At one point, a guy on a motorcycle pulled up beside me and asked what race was going on…I told him Reach the Beach Relay, and I’m pretty sure he had no clue what that was other than that all of us must be insane.  Well…I guess we are. 

I was starting to get a little tired near the end of my run, but I saw the orange flags to signal me to transition and picked it up as I headed through the parking lot.  Definitely was happy to see Maura and to wrap up my third leg!  Negative split #2.

Leg 3:  6.61 miles in 48:11, avg pace of 7:17

With my night run completed, we headed off to cheer on the rest of the van…despite all being tired, we still had lots of pep to cheer on all our members, although it was obvious we were all exhausted when we headed to the transition between Blake and Steph…we meant to get out of the van and cheer them on, but Blake found all of us passed out in the van.  I was curled up in the driver seat, apparently running in my sleep, as Brian pointed out later.  (I’ve been told before that I run in my sleep…guess I never stop?)  Blake woke us up and we decided to head straight to the next van transition in order to maximize our sleep time, which at this point would still be minimal.  I handed off the keys to Brian, as I was definitely way too tired to drive safely.

After about an hour of sleep, Brian woke me up to inform me to get ready for my fourth (and final!) leg.  After slapping myself a few times, putting on my shoes, and make another stop at the port-o-potty, Maura woke up to inform us that her stomach was not agreeing with her and that she didn’t think she could run her last leg.  With van 2 within minutes of transition, we had to think fast!  I offered to run an extra leg, but picking up her leg meant that I would face 12.5 miles right away, and I wasn’t sure how that would go.  After some quick thinking, it was decided that Brian would run my next leg, I would run Maura’s, and then everyone would bump up a leg leaving me to finish.  Teamwork, at its finest!  Brian quickly got ready and ran eight miles like a rockstar on moment’s notice.  Gotta roll with the punches!

Brian rocking eight miles.

This is what relayers look like after three legs and an hour of sleep.

With Brian wrapping up his leg, I prepared to take on a short 4.5 mile run as my fourth leg.  The leg was to be mainly flat with a little bit of a downhill, and away I went!  For some reason, I had Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” in my head the entire time.  Perhaps there’s something to that…
                                         I ran out of matching outfits…oops?

Let’s just say I should have worn my “You just got CHICKED!” shirt on this run.  I flew by tons of runners, and one guy even commented, “Who let all these fast runners in??”  I yelled, “Good job!”  or “Looking good!” to everyone as I passed them, but I was flying and feeling good.  I told myself that 4.5 miles was nothing and that I could totally power through it.  And power through I did!  No idea why my legs felt so awesome, considering the fact that I was running off of coffee and Twizzlers.  Perhaps my nursing experience has given me the power to work through exhaustion.  Who knows…either way, I felt awesome!  Negative split #3:

Leg 4:  4.51 miles in 32:31, avg pace of 7:17

Lauren and I square danced through transition…

As soon as I came through transition to hand off to Lauren, some (somewhat creepy?) guys commented on my speed (take that!!) and said how I must have passed lots of people.  (Why yes, yes I did.)  I headed over to the van and starting my post-run routine of changing into non-sweat-filled clothes, which involves the magic trick (that all women know…or at least should) of changing sports bras while still being appropriate.  This also involved a baby wipe bath…who knew they could be so refreshing??  As a nurse, we do lots of bed baths (especially on my unit…), so I offered them to my team, but no one took me up on the offer!  I guess the semi-creepy men enjoyed the view, as Maura posted this blind item shortly thereafter:

They enjoyed Lauren running past as well…as they dipped?  Gross.  At least we totally chicked them!!

At this point it was starting to get warmer out, and I think people were happy to be finishing up their fourth and final legs…Lauren wrapped hers and handed off to Blake, who topped off for Van 1 with a handoff to Steph:

Van 1, complete!

playing for the other team van

At this point, Van 1 headed off to get some much needed real food while I joined Van 2 since I would be wrapping up the relay!  It was fun to be able to see the rest of the team for awhile, although I was super jealous when Lauren tweeted about eating ice cream…I made her promise to have some waiting for me at the finish, although it definitely would have been melted!  The heat was rising all around, and Van 2 was great about stopping and getting water to our runners.  Some tough legs were ran throughout the relay, but some massive hills on the fourth legs definitely gave Van 2 a challenge!  However, everyone was rocking their legs and holding strong to bring us home.  Steph faced some crazy hills on her “H” run, making it look easy in pink:

High five station!

We had a little time at the transition spot, so I was able to snap more cheesy running pictures:

I need that sign!

We knew Steph would be coming through soon, so Matt got ready at the transition point.  The volunteers throughout RTB were amazing, but the head volunteer at the transition point was fabulous.  When a runner was on their way, he asked the outgoing running what nickname the incoming run had, then everyone would chant it as they came in.  He had the whole crowd yelling, “Steph!  Steph!  Steph!” as she charged in to finish up her leg…love it!

Steph finishing strong!

Matt was up next, and we captured his kill (when you pass another relayer) on camera:

Got him!

While waiting at the transition to hand off to Maria, she pointed out the fact that Danielle was nearby!  Her team had started about three hours before mine, and I spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out if/when we would catch up to her, or we would just see her at the finish.  I ran over and gave her a huge hug!  Her team had been facing some difficulties as well, but after 179 miles my team finally caught up with her.  It was so good to see her and Sarah again…we met in Boston in April and and they are still convincing me to run the Maine Marathon this fall.  Sarah couldn’t run because of injury, but she was keeping twitter updated on the “dirty little freaks” and playing driver.  So good to see them!

Twitter buddies in pink!

After some quick chatter, it was time to head off to cheer for the final runners on…it was getting hot out and they needed some water and spirit!  They definitely still made it look good:

Maria showing the cars what’s up.

Erin rolling through straight to the end!

leg 36 – TO THE BEACH

I can’t explain how excited I was to be running the final leg!!  With the original set up, I was going to be finished running by around ten in the morning, while about six hours until my team finished.  Instead, I got to both start and finish the race…how cool is that??  At the final transition area, I could tell we were closer to the beach, with a bit of a breeze coming through.  I tried to contain my energy (which was currently in the form of Swedish fish…) to pull it together for leg #5.  Ready to rock the final leg, we saw Erin in the distance, and I took the slap bracelet for the final time:

Here we go!!

It was definitely much, much warmer than my last leg, but I wanted to finish strong so I pushed through the heat.  I passed a couple runners early on, but it was definitely hot!  The van passed by and I threw my tank top to them.  (While thinking that I should have kept up some sort of abs routine over the winter…oops?)  Anyway, it felt good to be breezing through sans shirt. 

See you at the finish, team!!

This leg wasn’t all that easy…about 7.5 miles with a four mile climb followed by a mile downhill and two flat miles.  While the climb wasn’t horrible, I definitely felt it around mile 3.5, but was refreshed with some ice cold water from my teammates at the top.  This was the same point that a girl went FLYING past me.  I thought about keeping up with her, but I’m pretty sure she was going sub-7 and that wasn’t really going to happen.  Pushed along and got some pretty views at the top of the hill…THE BEACH.

The final miles.

The fifth mile concluded the downhill and left us at the beach!  At which point I thought, “I reached the beach!!  Isn’t this over now??”  The air was super salty (blech!) and we started a two mile flat course to the finish.  It was a bit reminiscent of the Ocean Drive Marathon, as it was flat and abandoned.  If you remember that race report, those were NOT good memories!!  I had flashbacks of hating running, but I quickly remembered that my team was waiting for me at the finish, and I wanted to be strong to the end for my team!  Get moving, little legs!

We ended up winding through a little path on the beach before I could see parts where people actually are.  With about half a mile to go, volunteers handed me a baton (still not sure what that was for…), and I ran a quarter mile straight when I saw my team waiting around the bend.  You loop around so your team knows your coming and they can join you.

Coming into sight!!

I totally killed one guy as I picked up my pace, and then coming around the corner, I ended up in a mad sprint with this girl in purple…as I reached her, I turned to her and said, “200 miles and this is what it comes down to?”  She certainly wasn’t relenting, but it was later realized that she had:  1) Started before us and 2) Was only on her third leg.  Calm down, lady.

Coming in strong!

I reached my team and they fell in behind me…the finish was in sight and we crossed the line together…200 miles later…Team Puke and Rally REACHED THE BEACH!!

Leading the team!

REACHED!!

Leg 6:  7.49 miles in 55:18, avg pace of 7:23 (last split:  6:47 pace!)

All Together Now

My Total:  27.47 miles in 3:22:56, avg pace of 7:23

Team Total:  201.04 miles in 27:44:22, avg pace of 8:16/mile

Place:  36/150 teams, 13/57 in our division (mixed open)

WE REACHED THE BEACH

Immediately upon crossing the finish line, I was handed a bunch of medals by the race volunteers.  It was so awesome to be able to place medals around the necks of all my teammates as we cheered and celebrated the fabulousness of Team Puke and Rally!!

Medaling our captain!!

Post race, we snapped some team pictures:

TEAM PUKE AND RALLY!!

Team Puke and Rally and Team Honeybadger!

Next up was some well earned grub and beer…although they didn’t have a beer tent, we brought our own…

Hungry runners!

Cheers, team!

Naturally, the obvious post-race pictures were snapped as well:

Medal + beer.  Apologizes for my hair…

With my running twin, Lauren…SO glad you joined us last minute!

The beach that we reached…

And Gatsby man, modeling the goods.

post-race (exhaustion)

Let’s just say….this relaying thing is ridiculously tiring.  After making it back to the hotel, we showered and headed out to dinner…during which I was 90% of the way to falling asleep at the table.  Sorry I wasn’t more social…I was exhausted!!  We crashed at the hotel before leaving the next morning…I needed to get back for a night shift on Sunday, so I napped in the van and then again when I got back.  When I woke up, I was greeted with these tweets from my amazing, amazing teammates and Honeybadgers, sending me off to work with a huge smile on my face:

You all sure know how to make a girl smile!  It was an honor to run with all of you, and I can’t wait to do it again!  (Also, rockstar status continued at work when I put my first ever IV into my patient’s foot…on the first try…yes!!)

Thoughts

HOLY BEJESUS (I’m a nerd…) THAT WAS AWESOME.  I wasn’t sure what to expect coming into this relay, as I’ve never ran one before.  The idea sounds great and people really seem to like it, and watching the Hood to Coast movie got me really excited, but like marathons, you can never really understand what it’s like unless you actually do one.  This relay was an amazing success, and I have to give a huge THANK YOU to the race organizers and volunteers who made this such a great experience.  Although we had some group issues (which we worked out fabulously), the race had no problems whatsoever and made for an amazing first relay experience. 

I can’t believe how awesome running was…my legs held strong through five legs (negative splitting the first four…yess!)  and one hour of sleep!  My team was beyond ridiculous, and I could imagine how 27 hours straight in a van could drive people nutty, but Maura, Lauren, Bryan, Blake, Steph, Matt, Maria, and Erin made Puke and Rally an amazing team to be a part of!  We rolled with the punches and rocked the relay!  Double thanks to Maria for all her behind the scenes planning as captain.

It’s too hard to explain how much I would recommend running a relay…grab your closest friends (and maybe consider a few back-ups), and get on that!  I actually liked having a nine person team.  Maybe we’re all masochistic, but I liked getting to run so much, and I feel like I would have felt cheated only running three legs like the twelve person teams did.  Definitely an amazing, amazing time, and I can’t wait to do this all again…who’s in??