Carol rocked the big hill in her leg, but the biggest news was Lisa’s machine-like performance heading up to Avon pass. She kicked ass! She didn’t walk at all in her 8-mile climb (which was brutal). At the end when she passed off to me, she was very emotional. I was worried that she had hurt herself or something, but in reality, she just needed a release. I don’t know for sure, but I HOPE that she was so proud of herself that she just couldn’t hold all of her excitement inside.
As for me, I took off too quickly for my leg. (Actually, Lisa was robbed. She did all the work to get us to one mile shy of the summit.) I got to go over the summit of Avon pass. I took off too quickly, and wanted to walk since it was a steady incline. However, my pride (?) wouldn’t let me walk until my teammates passed me. Not like my performance was so great, but it was adequate. So, as soon as they were out of sight, I took a nice walk break.
This uphill climb started something that I would become accustomed to very quickly: being road kill. But, it’s not like I was surprised. The maximum pace to choose at registration was 11mpm. So, I knew that other teams would be a LOT faster.
Summiting Avon pass was really quite beautiful. On my left was one of those “A” frame log fences. On my right were some huge boulders that looked like they had just been deposited there by some volcanic eruption. Then, I began my descent.
Wonderful! Sometimes the course was rocky. Sometimes it was muddy. Sometimes it was treacherous. I hit a couple of rocks that made my left ankle twinge. I was a bit worried, but I managed to stay on my feet and experienced no major crashes, falls, or missteps.
While other WBRers were passing me, many of them offered words of encouragement. As team vans passed, they all offered lots of dust to eat. Since the road was really only one lane with runners everywhere, I asked my van to leave my water bottle at mile four. I would carry it the other 2.9 miles.
So, on my descent, the scenery was beautiful! Absolutely beautiful. Green everywhere. Sometimes I could hear the river below. Always I could hear the target practice. Yikes! I found out later that it was an official shooting range, but until that point, I was a bit nervous. I could see the town of Eden below, and I could also see the point where the dirt road turned to pavement. Ah, nice – the exchange point! Good, because I’ve been running non-stop since the summit, and I’m getting tired.
Ten minutes later, I realized that the change from dirt to asphalt was NOT the exchange, but rather mile 4 where my water bottle was to be. Oh. My. God. Misery. I hate running. I’m so stupid to get myself into this disaster. Wait! I’m running downhill. It’s all goooood.
Until I reached mile four. Yes. My water bottle was there. Thanks, team! And, nice to get the grit out of my mouth. But, once I stopped, my legs felt like noodles. Very little strength and quite uncontrollable. I'm sure that the people passing in vans got a good laugh or two. THEN, I had to actually carry the bloody water bottle!. I will never again carry a water bottle when I run. It was too tiring, and it threw my stride off. Plus, it was warm by the time that I got to the exchange.
I hate to admit that I had to walk part of my downhill. Rotten. But, I slogged it out and managed a hand-off to van 2. Then, I felt like I was going to barf, for sure. I ate my sandwich and banana with the team, and then I called Bub and the boys. Then, I got all teary eyed and cried just a little bit. The team took some time to relax on the grass and our blankets while we listened to Maria shriek about daddy-long-legs. It was pretty unexpected (the shrieking, not the crying).
As we drove through the town of Eden, we decided as a group that THIS was the town to vote for in the “favorite host town” contest. There were lots of hoses, sprinklers, and shower heads spraying water on the runners. They had unofficial water stops. They had music (Latin music by the high school jazz band?) playing at the exchange as well as a pasta dinner.
Oh, yeah. My pace was 10:55mpm. I'm happy about that!
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