I have never done it before, but I have heard about how much fun it is from lots of people. My good buddy Teresa from work was our team captain and she ROCKED! The most awesome thing she did was hook us up with a free condo! SWEET! Unfortunately for me, I was the only one who didn't ask for Friday off (DUMB! will take 4 day weekend next year!) and it was first come first serve. So, since I worked (even ended up staying a little late) DH and I got the ole living room floor air mattress. No biggie. Free room right? No biggie!
When we got there, most of my peeps were in the hot tub, but I'd been hearing about how good Teresa's spaghetti was so I HAD to try that before I could relax. So I stuff my face with it, this delicious concoction of meat and sauce and noodles (which was EXCELLENT, by the way) and then DH and I wandered down to the hot tub. We hung out for a while but made it an early night, after all we did have a race in the morning! Time to start getting ready for bed. We went to blow up the air mattress, when BAM! I realized something very important was missing. No, not my shoes. Or my shuffle. Or my Garmin...(yes I could get by without that, but I wouldn't like it) it was the blasted cap to the air mattress. DAMN! There it was, lost and lonesome. Back in New Braunfels. Shoot. Time to get creative. DH and both started looking around for something, anything to plug the hole with. We were desperate. I actually looked at a container of SPAM (ew!) someone had brought and contemplated that. ha ha. How redneck would that be. Sealing off my air mattress with SPAM!
Team captain to the rescue. Duct tape!
We duct taped the air pump to the hole and called it a night. Ah. Nice.
UNTIL about 1:30am. When I turned over and realized my hip was killing me. And that was because I was lying on the floor. On a FLAT air mattress.
Damn duct tape.
Luckily since I was 6th to run I didn't have to wake up as early as my team mates. But I did. Thanks to my team captain's enthusiasm! (BOO) I did quickly go back to sleep (after we stole George's (leg #1) air mattress!) We also enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of strawberries (thanks Leah), a banana and some peanut butter and biscuits. We headed out shortly after breakfast to take Leah to her starting point.
It was a very humid day. The traffic was terrible but I knew to expect that. We got Leah to her shuttle point, near Texas A&M Chorpus Christi and then headed over to my starting point/her ending point, or exchange point 5/6. I was really hating how hot and humid it was. Thank goodness it was overcast. I would have passed out FOR SURE! At exchange point 5/6 there was a first aid tent (this race was very organized by the way) and LOTS of poeple were there not feeling well and having cool towels wrapped around them, massages, and there were a few people laying down. I tried not to look too much at that tent while I was waiting for her.
My run went pretty well. I was aiming for my race pace, of at least 8:45, but the humidity got in my way (at least that's what I think). I ended up with a 9:02 pace, time of 39:55 for leg #6, 4.4miles. Not bad, but not what I really wanted. Running is such a mental thing!!
I think there were a few things that got into my head:
- some people were walking. I think they were people who had run the 5th leg and either didn't have a ride or didn't want to ride the shuttle to the end. That was distracting and when I saw them walking, I wanted to walk!
- the course was on the road, where the traffic was BaReLY moving. (Mitchell literally missed me finishing because I ran to the finish faster than he could drive there.) People were sitting in their cars next to me, in the AC, while I was sweating my ass off right next to them. They were SO close! Not used to that!
- IT was SO HUMID! By the time it was my turn to run, it was almost 11:30. I haven't run in conditions like this, and I don't really like it! AT ALL!
- I knew that I wasn't "racing" anyone, and that factored into my competitive nature. I can't win or PR, so why run hard?! (Once again, the mental part of running comes into account here.)
At the finish line I headed over for my favorite thing, oranges! Didn't like that I had to peel it myself. I turned into a sticky mess. I also slammed an h2o and a gatorade and then turned to the free beer. Miller lite. Not bad. Natalie and I succeeded in getting 4 free beers each when we were technically only allowed two, and we were pretty proud of ourselves for that. Good times. A little later we all chowed down on the Papa John's Pizza before heading back to the condo.
And then we headed off to relax on the beach, eat dinner, and party like rock stars!
It was a BLAST!
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