FILA Relays

Last night was an absolute blast. It was definitely hot, hot, hot! The mercury hit 100F while we were waiting around at the start and by the time we got going at 6:30pm it had cooled down to a balmy 97F! It also happened to be an ozone action day yesterday, meaning that "individuals should take action to avoid breathing in too much ozone (stay indoors...) ..." meaning that the conditions were just perfect to run a hard 2.5 miles!

I chose to lead off the Crazy 88's. As I was waiting at the start line I kept thinking "don't I have to swim and bike first?" it was a very strange feeling to be lining up for a running race, I haven't done that in a very long time! I started out pretty fast and by the time I hit the 800m mark my throat was completely dry... I could barely swallow (that would be the lovely ozone for you!)! I grabbed some water at the water stop and managed to throw some into my mouth and the rest over me. I saw that I hit the first mile in about 6:45 pace, fast for me (and I had an inkling I would pay later). The second mile had a couple of short hills which weren't too bad (we've done a lot of hill training) and it was fun to pass people going up the hills! I didn't catch my split at the 2 mile mark but I knew that I had slowed down slightly. I was definitely hurting and I was feeling a little spaced out, which means I was working really, really hard! From mile 2 to the end it was all downhill so I cranked it up as much as I could. I heard Mike (our team mate) cheering for me at the final corner and I tried to pick it up and sprint in to the finish, but I just didn't have anything left! I crossed the finish line and passed the "baton" to Gordon. Then I spent the next 10 minutes getting water, walking around, trying to cool off and recover! My time was 18:12 (7:26 pace) which I was really pleased with. It's the fastest I've ever run for that distance!

After recovering I went to cheer on the rest of our team mates, first Gordon who finished in a really impressive 18:27 (fantastic time!!!), then Nedra, then Mike. Our team came 4th overall in the "Open Mixed" category (there were 27 teams in that category.

4    Crazy 88's             12       F/30      4   1:08:22.90     
   Amanda McGregor, Gordon McGregor, Mike Wilen, Nedra Bray                
                                       Lap   1     18:11.70 
                                       Lap   2     18:27.75 
                                       Lap   3     16:11.40 
                                       Lap   4     15:32.05  

It was a great race. Afterwards we had beer and tacos and cupcakes and hung out with our friends, it was a beautiful evening (once the sun started setting). Hopefully we will be back next year to try and win 3rd place!

Big thanks to my fantastic team mates who ran so well and who made the event so much fun!