Sure enough, Adriane, put together a team at the very last minute. I committed myself in a sleepy haze while getting ready for the death march, better known as the Country Music event. After I finished CMM, Adriane, who had passed me the last few miles, found me, & was seeing how I was at the finish line. I must have looked very bad! ha! Anyway, she talked me into it & well, I'm VERY glad I did it. Our only REAL gripe was the greenway portion that Adriane ran. She & many others got confused as to where to turn in order to get out of the greenway. Apparently, it was poorly marked. She even called us on her cell to tell us she was lost. We were stunned. We started asking other runners if they had heard from their runners on that particular "leg". Anyway, long story short, they all made it out one way or the other, some ran a little more, some a little less. ha!
For a small, inaugral event, it seemed to go smoothly despite the greenway portion. It started at 7am in Eagleville at a school & finished in Smyrna. The slowest runners started at 7:00, 7:15, etc...we had a 7:45 start due to our reported overall speed. One of our runners got sick & had to back out literally the afternoon before but luckily, Tandy's little firecracker of a runner daughter joined us. There was no age limit. Jamie was already training for her 1st 10k race, does track, & cross country. I had already heard how fast she was from Joe. She keeps up just fine with the "fasties" of the NRC. She was EXCITED to be doing it & we were EXCITED to have her. She turns 12 at the end of July & wants to do the "Middle Half" in Oct as her first 1/2 marathon. We all fell in love with her during our journey yesterday. Super sweet, well mannered, athletic, & a doll. She took the Runner 1 "legs" that were originally mine. They started 5 runners at a time & as you can see from the picture below, she couldn't have started off with 4 bigger guys! Hilarious! She left them in the dust, too. ha! Her "legs" totaled around 9.5 miles, I think...the measurement on the mileage was off on some of the legs so she may have run a little less than that. I took the runner 3 "legs" which were around 10.5 miles total.
Adriane was runner 2, I was 3, Tandy was 4, & Saraya was 5. They are all strong runners. Meaning faster than me but I managed to keep respectable paces. Thank God for the overcast skies & the temps staying reasonable for May in TN!! The humidity really got to me on my last two legs, though. My 1st leg was supposed to be 3.7 miles but my garmin read about 3.3 at an 8:42 pace. I was happy with that but wondered where we would make up the difference. I made it up during the my 2nd "leg". :-P I wasn't the only one showing differences in the mileage but we were ok with it. It wasn't like we were out there alone in the middle of nowhere or doing the nearly 200 mile Ragnar Relay. We passed the walk/runners easily, & honestly I think we were first team in at the finish that had a 7:45am start time. We may have been the first all female team in at the finish line but we won't know until it's posted on the website. That sorta cracked me up but this was all for fun & not for big time prizes or anything. Our team name was "Sisters with Blisters" & we managed to keep the faster NRC runner's teams from passing us. That was our only goal....that & having fun. ;-)
My 2nd "leg" had just two turns but it was torturous on mostly concrete sidewalks in Murfreesboro. I ran down Main St, turned left onto S. Rutherford, then left again on Greenland handing off to Tandy right where the "Middle Half Marathon" starts. That "leg" was supposed to be 3.3 but was 3.87 per my garmin & despite taking a lot of walk breaks during the last mile, I ended up with a 9:11 pace. Again, thank God the weather was great for May here & this entire relay course was mostly flat.
My 3rd "leg" was well....to be honest, no words can describe running down hwy 840 past 4 ramps. ha! Thank goodness, Jamie didn't do this "leg" because it would have made her mom & the rest of us nervous. I had to laugh through. They warned us to be very careful because you had to make sure traffic wasn't entering 840 or exiting 840 when you crossed the ramp areas. I was so confused when I read the route before I started then I realized what I was doing & just laughed. The asphalt was new & soft but the humidity had me sweating profusely. I somehow hammered out 3.4 miles at a 9:05 pace & was extremely suprised. It felt so SLOW! I was so glad to be done. We all threw a lot of photos on facebook but I'll put some here from our "Sisters with Blisters" team. ;-)
Jamie throwing some intimidation on the 4 guys starting the 1st "leg" with her.
Adriane taking the slap bracelet from Jamie. She's a strong runner.
Me, running deceptively strong in the humidity. ha!
Tandy, always smiling & always a strong runner.
Saraya taking off on one of her "legs".
One more thing, I have to brag right now about my 13 yr old nephew, Avery, he's been running a 5:33 mile in track this year. I about died when my sister told me this today. ;-)
1 comment:
Way to go on the relay! And, it's for a great cause.
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