even though i knew how early i had to wake up in the morning and thought i had some kind of idea what lay ahead of me for the weekend (or perhaps precisely because of that) i did not get to bed until close to midnight and i tossed and turned until the alarm went off at 5am. had i been waking up to go to work, it would have been a drag, but i was off on an adventure so i was full of energy as i hopped into the shower and double checked to make sure we had all our luggage. sure that we had everything, we headed to the door. i stopped and turned back - we needed a team mascot. i whisked our ventriloquist dummy off the book case and we dashed out to the waiting car of fellow team members. and then we were off!
where to? well, to woodstock, new york, over 200 miles away from home, in order to start a relay race back to new york city. we paused in manhattan (i live in brooklyn) to pick up more friends and a van and then again we paused outside the city to pick up yet more friends. twelve of us would be running and we had calculated that it would take us about 30 hours to run the race. but you know, thinking is never quite like doing. never.
so, before the details, here are the rules:
there are twelve runners and two vans. each van carries 6 people. luckily for us, two extra person volunteered to drive each van. at any given time, one van is on and the other van is off. so the way the race goes is that one person is running their leg of the race while the five other runners are in the on van. while the person is running, the van (with the five other team members) drives ahead to the exchange point, stopping at times to cheer on the runner. at the exchange point, the next runner jumps out the van and waits to receive the baton. after the exchange, the person who was just running, collapses into the van (even though they should be stretching) and the van sets off for the next exchange point. when the sixth runner in the van will then hand over the baton to the first runner in the next van, thus activating the van to on position and deactivating their van. each runner runs three legs during the race. WHEW!!! i ended up being runner 6 in van one, with a total of 19.5 miles to run during the course of the 30 hours.
our first runner set off at about 10:30 am and we all piled into the van to get to the exchange point. we were stocked up with power bars, energy drinks, salads and water. most of th etime we ate the most delicious cookies, brownies, candies. it was like we were on a fun sleepover for ten year-olds... with a whole lot of running thrown in. we did drink the water though, so, we kinda sorta acted like grown ups. oh the tummy aches the day after the race?! but so worth it - those cookies were the most delicious ones i have ever eaten; salad be damned!
my first leg was a beautiful one. i ran in the afternoon (rather warm) down a narrow road that ran past green meadows. there had been a lot of rain so there flora was abundant. there had been rain the night before so the bugs were also abundant and, apparently, attracted to sweat. by the time i got to the van, i had almost been blinded and choked by those aggressive bugs. maybe they were unhappy about the invasion of the city folks. i should have stretched once my leg was over (you know hindsight and 20/20 vision) but we all were ready for a shower and change. so, we got into the, now off, van and drove off to a friend's house. we were lucky to have one of those because we were actually able to take showers, eat some food and lie down for about a half hour. while we were doing this, our friend and team member, baked up another batch of cookies! then, in no time at all, we had to pack up the van and head out for the second change over. it was getting dark at this point and we were about to begin our second leg of the relay.
did i mention that we were running our race on open roads? that the roads were not closed so we were running with traffic doing what it does? that our starts were staggered so we would each be pretty much running alone so we could run on the shoulder of the road without disrupting traffic? so it was like going for your regular run, except for when your team van zipped by and your friends tooted the horn and cheered in support. so, once it got dark, so we could see where we were going and so that traffic could see us, we added head lamps (that we strapped to our foreheads) and butt lamps (do i have to explain) to our running gear. it was friday night and we were in pretty rural parts of upstate new york. my leg happened between 1am and 2 am on route 9 (a pretty busy highway) and was not scenic at all. my legs were beginning to feel the effects of not stretching and the effects of the 5 miles i had run earlier in the day. but i set off into the dark night with my headlamp and butt lamp.
i'll tell you this, there sure are some interesting people out on the streets between 1 am and 2 am. and there sure are some interesting thoughts that go through one's head between 1 am and 2 am on a friday night, like how most of the people driving at this time of night on a friday have probably been drinking. or how most people driving are not expecting to come across a bright light trotting along towards them and may not respond in a safe manner. or, who the heck is that guy in the white dress shirt and black jeans? and why is he running pell-mell towards me with his hair flowing out behind him like he's a character from a trashy romance novel? it's 1:30 am!! i'm tired, do i have the energy to escape him if i need to. oh, whew, he's got other things on his mind; he just zipped past me like i'm not even there. am i here? or is this a dream? could a dream hurt this much? i would have woken up at this point. oh my gosh, what the hell is that beast coming out of the bushes with eyes that glow in the dark. it looks like a hump-backed alien giant rat! is that a raccoon? does it have rabies? i did hear about a rise in rabid raccoons in upstate new york. how fast can a raccoon run? how hard can a raccoon bite? oh the oncoming traffic just freaked it out - it's disappeared back into the bushes. if i run past will it pop out? but i must run past because the van is waiting on the other side of this spot. oh lord, make me brave. whew. my knees hurt but i can do this. i can get to the end. it's 7.5 miles - i can run that. oh here is the sign saying there's one mile to go. this is the longest mile i've ever run. they must have miscalculated it. oh, hallelujah! i see the changeover point!
this time, there were no houses to go to so we parked our van in the parking lot of a high school. hi-def (van driver volunteer) and i headed into the school gym which was already well populated with bodies in various states of unconsciousness. at this point we were so exhausted - it was almost 3am and we had to be up at about 6 am in order to get ready to run again. there was a bathroom and the line was long. i was sweaty and i was exhausted. so, hi-def laid down, on the hard wood gym floor, an unzipped sleeping bag and a random blanket we found. we lay on top of them and before we could realise just how yuck we were, we passed out.
when i woke up a couple of hours later, the line for the shower was shorter so i hopped in for a quick wash off. what a gross shower! the walls were mouldy and i couldn't believe that people actually used them. that said, desperate times... i showered off and dressed in preparation for our third leg. we were tired. all of us. each would run their leg, get back into the van and the pass out for about 30 minutes. It was as though we had prepared ourselves to run our distance and not a step more. my knees were really hurting but i couldn't expect anyone else to run for me - we all had a lot we signed up to do.
that last leg, for me, was torture. i took it slow and i took many walk breaks. a friend guy caught up with me and offered me water. others drove past, as they headed to their exchange points, and shouted words of support. it kept me going. 6.5 miles later, as i came to my final finish line, i looked and felt rought! the baton exchanged included a hug of victory and then i took my turn at passing out in the back of the van. it wasn't over - we followed our van, cheering the remaining six runners, until we headed into the bronx. all of us congregated close to the finish line so that we could all cross the finish line together!
200 miles (almost)! 30 hours! 12 women - the XX-Tremes!!! and we were still talking at the end of it all. and talking about doing it again next year. even though i'm in physiotherapy now, paying the price for running too far and stretching too little, i would do it again in a heartbeat. what an awesome team.
then, a week ago, in the mail... a "bronze" baton. the XX-Tremes came third among the women's teams. i'm a bronze god...ess!!!
