But anyway, we were one of the last teams to start because we were expected to be pretty fast.\u00a0 At the start line, there were some announcements.\u00a0 One of them was this-Leg 19 had been declared one of the hardest legs in any overnight relay in the country, so we were given the choice to opt out of it.\u00a0 My team started looking around, who has Leg 19?\u00a0 I said, \u201cI do. That\u2019s my leg.\u00a0 And I\u2019m doing it.\u00a0 We came to do this and we\u2019re not opting out of anything!\u201d<\/p>\n
And so we began the race.\u00a0 Jan started us off and ran a loop through the park, and then Matt continued \u00a0our trek\u00a0into the mountains.\u00a0 Some legs were on the road, some were on trails.\u00a0 Some were flat to easy rolling hills, some were intense uphill all the way, some were steep downhills.<\/p>\n
I did my first leg, about 4 miles on the road.\u00a0 Other than a couple dogs chasing me, it was no sweat.\u00a0 On the way to my second leg, Craig had to drive like a maniac because of the potential for the\u00a0van route\u00a0to take longer than the runner getting to the exchange point.\u00a0 It lived up to its potential.\u00a0 Despite Craig\u2019s driving, and me almost falling out of the van pantless, Mark still beat us.\u00a0 And he kept on running.\u00a0 So when we caught up to him, he said, \u201cCan I please finish this leg?\u00a0 I feel really good\u201d.\u00a0 I jumped back in the van, feeling totally dejected and announced, \u201cI\u2019m stealing Jan\u2019s leg.\u201d So, literally, I took the following leg from Jan.\u00a0 There is nothing worse than having your adrenaline all amped up and then being told to chill.\u00a0 That leg was a fairly easy 4 miler, except that it was dusk and by the end of that leg it was so dark I almost fell into the abyss because I couldn\u2019t see anything.<\/p>\n
Finally, at something like 2am, it was my turn to really get after it.\u00a0 Leg 19.\u00a0 Here we go.\u00a0 That leg was a beast.\u00a0 Aside from the fact that it was pitch black and I could see nothing farther than the 5-10 feet in front of me, thanks to my headlamp, it was very\u00a0much a never ending hill, or so it seemed.\u00a0 I kept thinking about Jordan\u2019s words, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how slow you go, just don\u2019t stop.\u201d\u00a0 At only one point did I get about a 10 step break from going uphill, a very brief plateau and then back up.\u00a0 My teammates had asked what I needed in terms of support.\u00a0 I said, wait for me at about 2 miles up and we\u2019ll go from there.\u00a0 They waited.\u00a0 When I got there, Ken gave me Gatorade and some encouragement.\u00a0I\u00a0don’t know if it was my ego or being delirious, but I remember talking smack, saying “This is nothin.\u00a0 I\u00a0own this mountain.”\u00a0They went up a couple more miles, and waited again at a weird turn.\u00a0 When I saw them again, I was no longer talking smack. I was no longer talking. I was barely breathing.\u00a0 Then they said, \u201cSee you at the top\u201d and they were gone.\u00a0 I finally got to the sign that said I only had a half mile to go.\u00a0 Yessss!\u00a0 But according to my Garmin, I still had about a mile and a half.\u00a0 Hmmm\u2026that\u2019s weird.\u00a0 Turns out some kids had moved the sign down the mountain in an effort to be funny.\u00a0 Not. Cool.\u00a0 I kept climbing, slowly, so slowly.\u00a0 At one point I wanted to see how dark it really was, so I covered my head lamp for a sec, uh, yeah, it was total blackness. \u00a0I was having a mental battle with myself, \u201cI want to walk.\u00a0 No I don\u2019t.\u00a0 Yes I do.\u00a0 No I don\u2019t\u201d. \u00a0Then the mist started and it got so foggy, I could barely see my hand in front of my face.\u00a0 And just as it seemed I would NEVER get there, I could hear Nate O cheering me on and he slowly came into view.\u00a0 Oh thank you sweet Jesus, I made it!<\/p>\n
On April 18, a carload of us will make the roadtrip to NC.\u00a0 And some time during the wee hours of April 20, I will have another go at Leg 19.\u00a0 I am determined to do it even better and stronger than last year.\u00a0 Because I am better and stronger than I was last year.\u00a0\u00a0You may not\u00a0know this about me, but I\u2019m not typically one to back down from a challenge.\u00a0 Leg 19, I’m coming for you.\u00a0 Again.<\/p>\n
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