Oakland Marathon Relay Recap!

Such a sunshiny medal!

;-)

I could sum this run up in three words...

Smoked. Pissed. Thrashed.

But that would be super boring ... and you all want to know the details, right?

Right off the bat, I need to tip my hat to all the finishers of this full marathon... they are all rockstars, each and every one of them deserves a Nail award.  This course is really, really demanding.  The elevation profile doesn't do the difficulty justice... at all.

Danny pointed out that if you do the math, it is just a 1% incline.  F that noise.  The subtleties are absent in that profile.  The climbing seems to never. stop. for. eleven. miles.  Okay, there are microscopic dips and levels occasionally... but they are just enough to give you the hope to keep on truckin'... and just enough to make it equal that 1% figure, balancing out the climbs.  Imagine, if you will, going uphill for the first 11 miles of a marathon.  Not up and down hills... but UP.  Just UP.

Okay, now on to my leg o' this madness...

The whole shebang was beginning at 7:30 a.m. down at City Hall.  The lead-off runs 6 miles up into the hills and hands off mid-hill to #2.  Here is the scene at the hand-off:

My lead-off thought it would take her about an hour to get there, meaning a hand-off at around 8:30. I arrived at around 8:15 to get warmed up and nervous excited.  It was a really cool scene... I have never participated in a relay, and I have never done a big, urban marathon before.  The diversity of peoples in every single way imaginable was awesome!  The relay component sky-rocketed this level of diversity, I think.  As I was watching the people pass by or hand off at this spot, I started to realize just how hard the lead-off leg was.  When my lead-off got there, the hand-off went smoothly, and I started my chug up the hill.

I knew right away that this was just a test of survival.  And I couldn't imagine the fortitude of those doing the full.  The course winds through a hilly residential neighborhood that is very lovely... I saw none of it.  It goes through a little neighborhood shopping area... it was a blur... and not because of my speed.  It was ALL. UP. HILL.  About a mile and a half into my leg, I got smoked. She was the first relay person to pass me. Smoked. Ah, well....

Then I heard these guys!

How could I not stop and take a picture?

this was in the middle of a moderate hill that felt like freaking the Alps...

appreciate that I stopped and took a pic for the blog 'cuz 

starting again was so hard :P

When I got to the top of the Alpenhorn incline, I got smoked by some chick who runs for the same club as the other smoker. Sheesh.... I just watched her bright gold shirt zoom off in the distance ahead...

The course leveled off for a moment, and I entertained ideas of speeding up to try and stay the same distance behind her... but then the incline started again and I just focused on steady running and smiling :) The 10-mile mark (for me indicating about a mile to go) was at the top of that particular incline... things got really steep as you near that mark... then you go through a parking lot and past the Mormon Temple.  There were LOTS of people cheering in front of the Temple.  As you round that bend, the huge descent begins....

huge.

Knowing that I would be done in about one mile and the hill was about one mile, meaning that once I was at the bottom, I was almost done, I just let 'er rip.  But....

I had to pee.

No matter how delicately you try to run down a massive hill, it is going to be somewhat jarring.  And... well... I pissed in my pants.  Not completely.  But enough.  And I totally didn't care 'cuz I was almost duh-huunnn!  Mile 10 to Mile 11 was done in 8 minutes.  Things leveled there and I could see my hand-off point.  My girl was right in front.... waving and waiting.... I was sooooooo happy to see her!  I gave her the thingy and that was it. Over. Wet.

And my legs were thrashed.

My family was there waiting!  Woo hooo!  Actually the kids were all sitting in the car, supremely annoyed that they had to leave the house in the morning to drive into the ghetto to see mommy run.  But they cheered up when I announced that I was sorry it would be smelling like pee in the car because I peed in my pants.  Yeah, they thought that was hilarious!

I went home and took a shower and washed my hair... but this is me at home before cleaning up, still in my spiffy racing duds... 20-year old peed-in Sporthill pants and a faded 15-year old cotton tank top. My shoe is untied because the car key was in there.

Here is my team!

We finished the whole thing in a combined-effort 4:13 and change.

My leg was a little over 5 miles in just under 50 minutes.  And our anchor (the woman in black) 

did her 7.5 miles in one hour.

I went back to the finish line after I got showered and changed... kinda lame, but...

And I had a heck of a time finding parking because of all those dang marathoners!  

I did such a totally amazing job parallel parking,

I had to share it.

Be impressed!

That is my mondo pickup truck... 

really, I parked it between those two cars.

With no help.

Did you race this weekend?  How'd it go?

Are you a good parallel parker?
– this truck is 23 feet long.  It is a crew cab, long bed.  And it's wide.  I am a parking rockstar.