Roanoke Growler Relay

I found out about this event sometime early in the summer, and asked around until it sounded like I had enough interest to put a team together.  When I tried to register, we were too late and all 25 team spots had been taken, but I got us on the waiting list.  A week or two later, they accepted 3 more teams, and we were in.  But...everyone suddenly found out about other obligations (like...their kid's soccer games), and suddenly I had no team.  I found one other person who was definitely in.  And then it was a scramble trying to find others so that we wouldn't each have to run half of the 53.2 mile course.  Jessica was able to recruit one more runner, and I had two more people who were solid maybes.  Then I moved to Abingdon, and started trying to recruit from the running group there.  I got one recruit there, and thankfully my 2 maybes came through, for a team of 6.  I took everyone's input about which leg they wanted to run, and made the leg assignments, giving Lauren and I each two in order to fill the eight legs.  (I took the two that were supposed to be the most uphill...of course)

Once I had the team put together, I booked a room at a motel only a mile from Parkway Brewing, where the relay started and finished.  Everyone else also booked rooms there, and then I picked a pizza/pasta place for us to meet for a team dinner the night before.  Lauren was unable to make it because of work, but the rest of us had a great time, and Lauren joined us Saturday morning in time to drive to the start.  It was forecasted to reach 90 degrees on Saturday, and if it didn't actually make it that high, it was definitely close!  I'm sure it was over 90 with the heat rising off of the roads.

Pre-run team photo

9:40 AM, Lauren started us off with a smile and a wave!

Once Lauren took off, the rest of us piled in the car and drove to the next transition point to play the games they had set up for us, and to wait for my turn.  Before we knew it, Lauren was flying in, and I hadn't even turned my watch on to find a GPS signal yet.  It took about a minute for me to get a signal, but then I was off on a 2 mile uphill climb, complete with switchbacks up a mountain.  This leg had been advertised as the hardest, and uphill.  It was uphill...but only for the first 2 miles.  I was disappointed to reach the top and discover I had to run down the other side and then flat for the rest of the leg.  The downhill wasn't quite as steep as the uphill, so I was able to open up my stride and fly down it without worrying about hurting myself from the pounding, and then I kept pushing as much as I could on the flat, although the heat was definitely not helping.  

I finished and handed off to Jessica who we thought was going to have a moderate 8.4 mile course.  

Once Jessica left, we completed the game challenge for that transition point.  Each one of us had to throw a frisbee through a hula hoop on top of a stick.  It took me too many tries to count...but I finally got mine in.  We piled back in the car to drive to the next transition point, and found out very quickly that Jessica's leg was no where near as moderate as described.  It was quite hilly, and there wasn't a lot of shade either.  

Jessica finishing her hilly/melty leg with a smile. 

Ross then took off on his 7.5 mile leg.  Which turned out not to be too terribly hilly, but it also had no shade.  We drove to the next transition point, which was at Flying Mouse brewery.  By this point, I was in desperate need of lunch.  I had snacked a bit, but really wanted a giant sandwich.  There was supposed to be a food truck at the brewery, but it was running late.  I was supposed to run the next leg, but I knew I was not going to make it through that 7.5 miles in the sunlight without a decent meal first.  I lucked out, because Lauren felt up to that leg, and was happy to give away the last leg, so we traded.  

Ross finishing his leg, coming up the brewery drive.

Once Lauren took off, we waiting a little longer while those who were done for the day enjoyed a beer, and then gave up on the food truck and decided to find somewhere else to grab food.  Thankfully there was a subway nearby.  I inhaled a 6 inch sandwich, and it was the first time in about 10 years that I wished I had gotten a footlong instead.  By the time we drove past Lauren, she only had about a mile left, so Mike didn't have a whole lot of time to prepare for his leg, but he was ready just in time. And was able to take off as soon as she arrived and passed off the key that we were given as a baton.  

Those two legs were no less sunny and hot in the reverse direction than they had been originally.  We had lots of time at the next transition point, where the challenge was to place about 10 playing cards on top of an empty beer bottle, and attempt to blow off all but the bottom one.  It was so windy, it was nearly impossible.  Finally, they took pity on us and said if we could put just 2 cards on the bottle and get the top one off, we'd get the credit.  We eventually succeeded in that.

That transition point had the best view.  

  

Dave headed out on his leg, the 7th of 8. 

Back over the mountain to the transition point where I started my first leg, to wait for my last leg.  Once again, I was caught off guard by how quickly our runner came in and I was not ready.  But again, I waited impatiently for the GPS signal, and then I was off.  It was hard to get going again after standing around all day and not eating well, but I pushed hard to get the leg done.  My first two miles were under 7 min/mile, and my average for the 5.1 miles ended up at 7:05, which I was pleased with.  I was also pleased to accomplish that without too much lung trouble!  I crossed the finish line around 5:20.  We were the second team to finish.  The only team to beat us had started about 45 minutes later, and finished about an hour before us...so...we didn't stand a chance against them.  Of course, this was a non-competitive fun run so there was no prize for being first or second anyway.  

Finishing strong. 

Post-run team photo.  

After we had devoured our hamburgers and had a bit of recovery beer. 

All in all, it was a fantastic day.  We all had a blast despite the heat, and are hoping to do it again next year.  And now that we have this one under our belts, we know what to do to be better prepared next time!  Like...bringing better food/snacks with us, getting team shirts, bringing chairs for the transition points...etc. 

Update 10/2/16

The official photos were posted today!  They got some great ones of me!

It's rare for me to ever be smiling in an official photo, but I made an effort to smile for the cameras this time, and it looks like I succeeded!  They didn't have a single photo of me without a smile.

Roanoke Growler Relay

I found out about this event sometime early in the summer, and asked around until it sounded like I had enough interest to put a team together.  When I tried to register, we were too late and all 25 team spots had been taken, but I got us on the waiting list.  A week or two later, they accepted 3 more teams, and we were in.  But...everyone suddenly found out about other obligations (like...their kid's soccer games), and suddenly I had no team.  I found one other person who was definitely in.  And then it was a scramble trying to find others so that we wouldn't each have to run half of the 53.2 mile course.  Jessica was able to recruit one more runner, and I had two more people who were solid maybes.  Then I moved to Abingdon, and started trying to recruit from the running group there.  I got one recruit there, and thankfully my 2 maybes came through, for a team of 6.  I took everyone's input about which leg they wanted to run, and made the leg assignments, giving Lauren and I each two in order to fill the eight legs.  (I took the two that were supposed to be the most uphill...of course)

Once I had the team put together, I booked a room at a motel only a mile from Parkway Brewing, where the relay started and finished.  Everyone else also booked rooms there, and then I picked a pizza/pasta place for us to meet for a team dinner the night before.  Lauren was unable to make it because of work, but the rest of us had a great time, and Lauren joined us Saturday morning in time to drive to the start.  It was forecasted to reach 90 degrees on Saturday, and if it didn't actually make it that high, it was definitely close!  I'm sure it was over 90 with the heat rising off of the roads.

Pre-run team photo

9:40 AM, Lauren started us off with a smile and a wave!

Once Lauren took off, the rest of us piled in the car and drove to the next transition point to play the games they had set up for us, and to wait for my turn.  Before we knew it, Lauren was flying in, and I hadn't even turned my watch on to find a GPS signal yet.  It took about a minute for me to get a signal, but then I was off on a 2 mile uphill climb, complete with switchbacks up a mountain.  This leg had been advertised as the hardest, and uphill.  It was uphill...but only for the first 2 miles.  I was disappointed to reach the top and discover I had to run down the other side and then flat for the rest of the leg.  The downhill wasn't quite as steep as the uphill, so I was able to open up my stride and fly down it without worrying about hurting myself from the pounding, and then I kept pushing as much as I could on the flat, although the heat was definitely not helping.  

I finished and handed off to Jessica who we thought was going to have a moderate 8.4 mile course.  

Once Jessica left, we completed the game challenge for that transition point.  Each one of us had to throw a frisbee through a hula hoop on top of a stick.  It took me too many tries to count...but I finally got mine in.  We piled back in the car to drive to the next transition point, and found out very quickly that Jessica's leg was no where near as moderate as described.  It was quite hilly, and there wasn't a lot of shade either.  

Jessica finishing her hilly/melty leg with a smile. 

Ross then took off on his 7.5 mile leg.  Which turned out not to be too terribly hilly, but it also had no shade.  We drove to the next transition point, which was at Flying Mouse brewery.  By this point, I was in desperate need of lunch.  I had snacked a bit, but really wanted a giant sandwich.  There was supposed to be a food truck at the brewery, but it was running late.  I was supposed to run the next leg, but I knew I was not going to make it through that 7.5 miles in the sunlight without a decent meal first.  I lucked out, because Lauren felt up to that leg, and was happy to give away the last leg, so we traded.  

Ross finishing his leg, coming up the brewery drive.

Once Lauren took off, we waiting a little longer while those who were done for the day enjoyed a beer, and then gave up on the food truck and decided to find somewhere else to grab food.  Thankfully there was a subway nearby.  I inhaled a 6 inch sandwich, and it was the first time in about 10 years that I wished I had gotten a footlong instead.  By the time we drove past Lauren, she only had about a mile left, so Mike didn't have a whole lot of time to prepare for his leg, but he was ready just in time. And was able to take off as soon as she arrived and passed off the key that we were given as a baton.  

Those two legs were no less sunny and hot in the reverse direction than they had been originally.  We had lots of time at the next transition point, where the challenge was to place about 10 playing cards on top of an empty beer bottle, and attempt to blow off all but the bottom one.  It was so windy, it was nearly impossible.  Finally, they took pity on us and said if we could put just 2 cards on the bottle and get the top one off, we'd get the credit.  We eventually succeeded in that.

That transition point had the best view.  

  

Dave headed out on his leg, the 7th of 8. 

Back over the mountain to the transition point where I started my first leg, to wait for my last leg.  Once again, I was caught off guard by how quickly our runner came in and I was not ready.  But again, I waited impatiently for the GPS signal, and then I was off.  It was hard to get going again after standing around all day and not eating well, but I pushed hard to get the leg done.  My first two miles were under 7 min/mile, and my average for the 5.1 miles ended up at 7:05, which I was pleased with.  I was also pleased to accomplish that without too much lung trouble!  I crossed the finish line around 5:20.  We were the second team to finish.  The only team to beat us had started about 45 minutes later, and finished about an hour before us...so...we didn't stand a chance against them.  Of course, this was a non-competitive fun run so there was no prize for being first or second anyway.  

Finishing strong. 

Post-run team photo.  

After we had devoured our hamburgers and had a bit of recovery beer. 

All in all, it was a fantastic day.  We all had a blast despite the heat, and are hoping to do it again next year.  And now that we have this one under our belts, we know what to do to be better prepared next time!  Like...bringing better food/snacks with us, getting team shirts, bringing chairs for the transition points...etc. 

Update 10/2/16

The official photos were posted today!  They got some great ones of me!

It's rare for me to ever be smiling in an official photo, but I made an effort to smile for the cameras this time, and it looks like I succeeded!  They didn't have a single photo of me without a smile.

Great Greenbrier River Race 2016

Last year we were Team Hill and Holler.  This year we were team Appalachian Bicycle Co.  Two years, two bike shops, same three people, same result!

We weren't sure if we would be able to defend our title as First Place Coed Team or not, but of course we were going to try our hardest!  Thankfully, the weather was quite a bit nicer this year than last year.  Instead of being cold and rainy, it was in the 50s and only threatening rain.  Felt like a heat wave compared to last year.

Getting out of the car I felt a pain in my knee that was worrying.  It felt like I had tweaked something, but I had no idea how or when.  I worried that sprinting would be the worst thing for it, but thankfully it worked itself out during my warm up.  I did a 2 mile jog with 4 sprints in the second mile.  Then I still had about 30 minutes before my start time.  I ended up getting cold and going for another short jog shortly before the start.  In past years, they have let all the solo racers go at 11, and all the team racers go at 11:05.  This year they staggered it even further, letting the male solos go at 11, the teams go at 11:05, and the female solos at 11:10 . It definitely helped a bit for the first half of the out and back 5k, but the second half was just as crazy crowded as ever.

I started the run out strong in the front of the pack.  By the end of the first mile I was in second place, with 1st place out of sight ahead of me.  I kept pushing as hard as I could.  I was still going strong when I reached the turnaround, but my lungs were beginning to fail me.  I had used my inhaler before my first warmup, and again on the starting line.  Towards the end of the 2nd mile, I tried to use it again, because my legs were beginning to struggle from the lack of oxygen, but I was breathing so had I don't think any of the medicine actually made it to my lungs.  So I decided to just keep running as hard as I could and hope for the best.  I got passed by one person in the last half mile, but he only ended up beating me by 10 seconds, and he walked the transition area, so I passed him there, as I ran all they way to the river to tag Mallory for the kayak.  So we were the second team in the water (and, as it turns out, the first coed team in the water).

I ran a 19:28, about 20 seconds faster than last year, which I was super happy to see!

It is very easy for me to keep track of my place in the run, with the staggered start.  However, once the race gets to the kayak and bike parts, it is mostly impossible for Mallory and Stu to know who is passing them, or who they are passing.  So we never quite know if we managed to secure the win or not until it is announced.  We were sitting around waiting, when a friend came up and said he had seen the results and was pretty sure we were third.  We tried not to get too disappointed, and waited for the awards ceremony to be sure.  They announced third place, wasn't us.  Then second place, wasn't us.  Turns out we did manage to defend our title.  Instead of getting medals or plaques this year, they are giving us jackets.  We had to fill out order forms for our size and they should be mailed to us at some point.  Jackets are much more useful than medals or plaques!

We dominated in the run and bike, the two events which really come down to personal fitness.

The kayak portion is part personal fitness of course, but it is also very much won by the boat.  Teams with longer thinner kayaks will always be a lot faster than teams with shorter wider ones.  

Team photo, pre-race.

Starting line, ready to run!

Coed Team Winners!

Great Greenbrier River Race 2015

Team Hill and Holler took 1st place for coed teams!

I didn't get to do this race last year because it fell on the same weekend as the Blue Ridge 1/2 Marathon.  This race is always the last Saturday in April, and Blue Ridge is always the weekend before, except for last year, for whatever reason.  I did this race on the Hill and Holler team in 2012 and 2013 though.  In 2012, Merrick, Jeremiah, and I took first place "male" team.  They had signed up with a different runner, but got me to fill in at the last minute.  In 2013, we got 2nd place coed team.  This year, I let Merrick know that I wanted to run on a team again.  But he didn't want to bike, and we needed a new kayaker.  So I found a friend who kayaks, and we recruited Stu from Hill and Holler to be our cyclist.  Basically, we put together a team of the fastest people we knew for each part of the race.  We planned on crushing the competition.  And we didn't disappoint ourselves.  

race face

a/k/a "get out of my face with the camera" face

The 5k run of this race is really annoying.  They used to let the solo participants go first, and then the teams 5 minutes later.  It was always a problem, because the faster team runners would catch up to the slower solo runners, on a narrow out-and-back trail, and then the fast runners have to weave in and out of slow people while trying not to block the faster solo runners who are coming back the opposite direction.  This year, they let the male solos go first, then 5 minutes later the female solos, and then all the team runners 5 minutes later.  What. A. Mess.  It might have been worse than when they had two waves.  I jumped into second place team within minutes, and soon after that began encountering the slow solo people.  Many of them were walking in groups, which made them even harder to get around.  The further I got, the more crowded the trail was.  And then the fastest solo runners started coming head-on.  It was quite annoying, as I was running as hard as I could, and did not appreciate having to break my stride so much.  

Since I've started using the HR monitor, I've never seen more than a minute in Z5.  

But somehow I spent 7+ minutes in Z5 in this race.  

So even though it's not my fastest 5k ever...apparently I was working hard!

I ended up finishing the run in 19:46, with only one guy ahead of me.  I had no idea if he was part of a male or coed team, but either way, we were in pretty good standing.  I high-fived Mallory, and she jumped in her kayak and headed down the river.  

Did I mention that it was raining and in the 40s?  What a miserable day. 

Eventually, our team finished and I learned that a few teams had passed Mallory on the river, but that Stu had passed a bunch of teams on the bike.  So we knew we had at least finished top 3.  We were all cold, wet, and miserable, but we wanted to stay for awards in case we won, so we stayed.  The race had started at 11, they finally got to the awards around 2:30.  It seemed like they were saving our category for last.  They went through male solos, female solos, masters, seniors, male teams, female teams, finally they got to us.  We were ecstatic to find out that we had won!