We did get there in time and watched a lot of runners come in. What we (and they) didn’t know at the time was that they were coming in from the wrong direction! Apparently, there was some confusion on the trail with the signs, and soon runners were coming into the exchange from two different directions. Van #1 met up with us and we waited longer than expected for Greg to arrive. Although he was fast, he was already on his 3rd leg, and I think that all of them had been classified as hard or very hard. Mindy indicated that he was struggling and limping the last time that they checked with him. He had done a great job of taking on more than he had bargained for, and he was in for a well deserved break. He finally arrived at the exchange point – from the wrong direction – and I was off again.
This leg was classified as hard but only 3.9 miles. It was a dual canal/trail which I thought was very interesting. When it’s dry, it serves as a nice pathway for walkers, runners, bladers, and bicyclists. When it’s raining, it serves as a flood run off canal. I was a bit unnerved when I entered under the first bridge and water started running down the path. I knew that it couldn’t be a flash flood because it hadn’t been raining, but I was just tired enough (1:45am) to wonder for a split second. Turns out it was just sprinklers….
I had my first kill on this leg about half way through. I had officially surpassed my kill rate from Wasatch! Yeah! This was a girl who was a bit slower than me (yes, it’s possible),but she was very steady and consistent. Then, an older man almost scared the poop out of me as he climbed up out of the canal. He had missed a sign, and was running on a part of the path that had been closed! So, he had to climb up to the trail which happened to be right in front of me. He stayed ahead of me for a bit, but I finally managed to pass him. Then, I managed to pass Mr. Scruffy Beaded Shuffle Man who had gone by me two miles before.
As I crested a little hill in a residential area, I passed a guy who was taking a walk break. He overtook me a couple of minutes later like I knew that he would, but I managed to keep my eye on him for the rest of this leg. He was my target, and I was determined to try and catch him again. We entered into a business district, and I noticed that this guy’s pace had slowed a bit (because MY pace couldn’t have improved, I was tired!). I just started gaining and gaining on him. I think that I was at an advantage at this point because when we missed our turn for the exchange, we actually drove this portion of the course, so I knew how far it was until the next exchange point. He was also wearing an iPod and couldn’t hear my heavy feet slapping the pavement behind him, so I managed to get pretty close as we rounded the corner to the exchange point. So, I turned it on, and managed to pass him again right at the chutes!
I handed off to Carol, and proceeded to gasp for air! My pace for this 3.9 mile leg was 11:15mpm. I am happy for my 3 ½ kills and the fact that I only walked once. (I can’t consider it four kills because the last guy passed me at one point. I’m counting his kill as only ½.)
Since our strippers were working both their regular jobs and a private party, we decided to cover their night time legs for them. So, Carol was running both legs 15 and 16. Almost this entire run was on a paved trail, and the support vehicles couldn’t really be there for the runners. We drove to the exchange (where Carol would basically exchange with herself) to see if she needed anything. She was doing a great job, so we headed to the next exchange point. Since Carol and I were both running two legs, we gave Brady the hardest portion although it was not the longest. It’s a good thing that he’s just 19 years old; he could handle it, and his fast pace never really flagged at all.
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