Last year I needed this race to learn about confidence in myself and in other people.\u00a0 This year I needed SMR to be reminded of just how far I\u2019ve come in doing that. I needed to see for myself that I am not the same person who ran in the Smoky Mountains a year ago. Thank you, Aces, from the bottom of my heart, to each and every one of you, for being a part of that.<\/p>\n
Smoky Mountain Relay, Then & Now:<\/p>\n
This year I only ran 3 legs, versus 4 last year, because we were a full team of 12.\u00a0 I had to wait what felt like an eternity to run my first leg, in the dark, which is a stretch that I ran last year during sunset.\u00a0 We can blame poor navigation, resulting in a late arrival to the starting line, for that one.\u00a0 This year, Leg 11, was about setting the tone for a new race in 2013.\u00a0 It was about leaving last year where it belongs, behind me.\u00a0 This was a whole new race.\u00a0 And I was amped!<\/p>\n
Leg 19 hasn\u2019t changed a lick in the past year.\u00a0 Except maybe it got harder, if that\u2019s possible.\u00a0 It\u2019s still steep, rocky, and run in the pitch blackness of a Smoky Mountain night.\u00a0 But something has<\/i> changed since a year ago\u2026Me.\u00a0 Last year I ran Leg 19 thinking I had something to prove.\u00a0 This year I ran Leg 19, because I knew I could.\u00a0 I believed in my own abilities.\u00a0 Like I kept saying all weekend, \u201cWe all have our strengths.\u00a0 I know mine.\u201d \u00a0Today in the car, Ken was saying how I have an ability that is unlike most people.\u00a0 If you put me up against any of those super-fast guys on the road, they\u2019ll smoke me; but put me up against any of those guys on Leg 19 and that margin decreases significantly.\u00a0 Hills level the playing field, thus my nickname.\u00a0 Last year, as I climbed Leg 19, I ran into mist and fog, which was symbolic of how unclear everything was in my life.\u00a0 This year, as I climbed, the stars were bright and beautiful, just like the still unknown future that I know lies ahead of me.\u00a0 This year I did that crazy hard climb 5 minutes faster than I did it last year, I\u2019m not even sure how that happened other than knowing without a shadow of a doubt that I am a stronger person than I was a year ago.\u00a0 Ironically, the song playing on my ipod as I reached the top, with legs so fatigued I had to be practically carried to the van, was Alicia Keys\u2019 Brand New Me.<\/p>\n
I asked everyone last night at the house, what their favorite leg was that they ran this year.\u00a0 However, I didn\u2019t answer my own question.\u00a0 34.\u00a0 Without a doubt.\u00a0 I\u2019d be willing to say that leg 34 is even harder than 19, or maybe it just feels that way to me after running both. \u00a0But I don\u2019t yet know SMR any other way.\u00a0 Leg 34 has an elevation change very similar to that of 19\u2019s 2400 foot incline, but it\u2019s over the course of slightly more than a mile, rather than 5.5 miles, leading me to believe that it\u2019s close to a 20% grade up gravel and trail and leaves and roots.\u00a0 After the hard part was done, my legs were trashed and my Garmin died shortly thereafter.\u00a0 That\u2019s when the fun started.\u00a0 Last year, I questioned where I was going every step of that leg.\u00a0 This year, I knew exactly where I was headed. I even got to point another runner in the right direction, just before I left him in the dust. Last year, I ran the steep downhill switchbacks feeling fearful and totally out of control, which mimicked my life at that point.\u00a0 This year, I ran with a smile on my face, feeling free and loving the momentum.\u00a0 Stretches of 34 were longer than I remember, but I loved every second of it, particularly running beside a bubbling brook that I eventually got to cross.\u00a0 Last year, I got completely lost on Leg 34, adding over a mile to my route. \u00a0This year, I trusted my directions, trusted myself and stayed the course. Last year when Ken showed up to help drag my butt out of the woods I was surprised to see him and I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d even make it to the end.\u00a0 This year, Ken and Craig were waiting right where I expected them to be to run me out of the woods.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t have been happier to see them, not because I needed help, but to share that part of the leg with my friends, and I smiled as I yelled, \u201cLet\u2019s go, Boys.\u201d Ken still had to help pull me up the last hill because my legs were so wasted, but unlike last year I accepted help happily, rather than feeling totally demoralized for needing it.\u00a0 Friends help each other, it\u2019s just what they do.<\/p>\n
Next year, I\u2019m looking forward to turning Leg 34 over to Ken and trying out some new parts of the 214 mile course.\u00a0 But rest assured, I\u2019ll still be crazy enough to tackle Leg 19 again.<\/p>\n
With all of my reflections on the Smoky Mountain Relay, this letter doesn\u2019t begin to cover all that we had to laugh about, most of which is not even appropriate to share in this forum.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting how runners can take something completely innocent, turn it around to be totally inappropriate and find it side-splittingly hilarious.\u00a0 Some things just never get old. We laughed about day old sandwiches, French Press coffee, timely birthday cards, Poops McGee and running serenades.\u00a0 We bonded by saving each other from Lymes disease, discussing the qualities of a good boyfriend, fending off the stench of Ken\u2019s feet and sharing visors.\u00a0 Just in case anyone missed that, yes, I have a thing for guys in visors.\u00a0 Just call it one of my many quirks.<\/p>\n
This morning, as we headed toward home with the sun coming up over the mountains, Ken\u2019s playlist filled the van with Paul McCartney\u2019s Blackbird.\u00a0 \u201cBlackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly, All your life you were only waiting for this moment to arise\u2026\u201d This is the moment I\u2019ve been waiting for, and all of the Aces, past and present, are secure in my heart forever for being a part of it.<\/p>\n
I think the theme of the weekend came when, in reference to what was happening in Boston, Alamar said it best, \u201cChoose to love, People\u201d.\u00a0 Yeah, I choose love.<\/p>\n
Xoxo,<\/p>\n
Hills<\/p>\n
![\"Smokin](\"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/facebook_30506.jpg\")
<\/a>