Let me start by saying that I don't consider myself a runner. I swam and played water sports back in high school/college so I know how to prepare aerobically for this event. I trained for 2 months, starting in late June, slowly upping the distance from 1 mile to 3 miles then to 6 miles and stayed at 6 miles for last 2 weeks. I am however, a shoe geek so I had lots of fun running with different shoes as part of the process.
5:03 p.m. It’s already starting to be a long day, I've been waiting around for about 3 hours, gone through 2 Gatorades and 3 packs of beef jerky. I could hear my heartbeat despite everyone talking around me. The sun beam was grilling everything it reaches. My legs were loose ready to go. I decided to run this leg without music because I wanted to be in control of my thoughts. But once I got the wrist band (the "baton") adrenaline just took complete control, as I went out way too fast, but I didn't give a fuck. It felt good. I slowed down a little after 2 miles, the heat really helped my body to kick it off at high gear but I realized I needed to pace better. Local residents were nice enough to pull out their hoses so we could run through the sprays. At mile 4, adrenaline finally faded as I entered a long, straight section of the road with no shade. It was a grind. "You can slow down, but do what you can and don't stop". Suddenly I realized this functions both as my run strategy as well as a life lesson.
a rare self portrait lol
2:26 a.m. I pushed myself a little too hard, my muscle were tighter than I wanted. Hydrate. Carb load. Foam roller. Massage gun. Stretching. Muscle tapes. I knew I have an uphill battle (literally) coming up, so I decided to put music on to help me focus once I get a good rhythm going. Got the baton. Got the visibility vest. So I went. I made sure to start slower than my body's instinct, but also I could feel the beginning of a cramp. Maybe that's what the tapes do, but it was not a good sign. The cold temperature at night felt so good after the first leg in the scorching heat, but the elevation gain was not gonna be easy. But with the power of music and night countryside scenery, I was able to keep going. It was weird, for a sec I noticed I'm on level ground, and with my energy output staying consistent, I naturally picked up the pace, I felt a slight euphoria. After for about 1/2 mile, the inclined started back up again, except now the ground is gravel too. But I kept the same pace, as if my body thought that incline was the new norm. Don’t take the mask off, now I can hear myself breathe. IN. IN. OUT. OUT. IN. IN. OUT. OUT. Keep your head down, otherwise dust would be in my eyes. The self imposed restrictions ended up helped me lock in even more. Once I realized the last 1/2 mile was also a descent, I just let go and let my legs do their own thing. I felt like I was sprinting and I could run another 10 mile at the exchange. That runner's high was crazy. I think my pace was like 7:12 for that last stretch.
11:15 a.m. Son of a bitch. Zero sleep. All jerky. More tape. Fuck it, chug a full bottle of electrolyte, no gas but also no brakes. My shirt was a little restricting for my arm swings so I just took it off and wrapped it around my hand like some boxing tape. The temperature was not as hot as the first leg but felt hotter for some reason. This run had less distance as the previous two but felt longer for some reason. My brain had zero cells left but felt stronger for some reason. I was completely unconscious, letting my body figure out the pace, I had music on but wasn't paying attention at all. I kept pace with this dude with a wobbly landing and tried to pass him but he turned the jets on outpaced at the last 1 mile.
As for the photos, I thought it was funny when a teammate afterwards was like, "did you decide to run just so you could take these?"
