HMRRC Winter Marathon Relay 2013

On today’s agenda:

Run a marathon relay in bone chilling weather of 20 degrees with zero degree windchill. Check.

Almost get blown away by 20 MPH winds while running. Check.

Today was the Winter Marathon Relay. This was the third time I’ve done this race. In 2011 it was freaking cold. It 2012 it was nicer, but still cold. And today was brutal. On my team this year was Carol (Leg 2) and Melissa (Leg 3).

I was first so I had the 9.7 mile leg. The run was pretty standard. My legs were feeling a little tired for the first half but seemed to get better after the first four or five miles (go figure). The last mile felt like I was hardly moving because the wind was so strong and cold.

Leg 1 Stats

Total distance – 9.7 miles
Time – 1:37:38
Average Pace – 10:03

I came in and Carol immediately took off for the second leg. She did fantastic! Meanwhile, I ran another 1.3 miles to round it out to 11 miles total for the day, per my marathon training plan. Finally, I came in from the cold and had some delicious hot chocolate.

The best thing ever.

After Carol finished Melissa went out for the third and final leg. We hung around and chatted. Eventually we made our way back to the finish line to see Melissa come in. We waited in the cold and got away from the wind behind the porta-johns.