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When I was planning my race schedule for 2003 this past winter, I wasn't
sure if I would be in Illinois after this summer. I decided that incase I
never return, I want to do some unique races and definitely ones I didn't
do last year. Yesterday's race was the most unique and one of the
toughest I've ever done.
The River-2-River Relay is an 80mile (128km) run done by teams of 8 or
less runners. The race takes place in the Shawnee National Forest in
Southern Illinois. Although Illinois and the Midwest have a reputation for being flat and windy, once you hit the south, it's hilly, and to make conditions tougher, yesterday was hot with only mild winds.
Our team was called Abe Lincoln's Pants (I don't know where it really came from) and this is the third year this team has entered the R2R. We entered the mixed division as we had 3 women and 5 men.
Our start time was 6:45am and, like most teams, were staying in Marion. Therefore we had to be up by 3:50am (argh!!) and were on the road by 4:30am.
The race is broken up into 24 legs, so each runner races 3 times (now you should be understanding why this is such a demanding race). I was the
lead-off man and the first leg had a net negative elevation. That's nice
for your time (I went 22:00 for 3.6mi) but it's killer on the legs. Lara
was our second runner, so I got to hand the baton off to her.
Only a couple hours after the start, the heat creeped up on us and suddenly hydration and staying cool became an issue on top of everything else. Here is Chris handing off to Tim after her second leg. And here's Tim being teased with a water bottle after his challenging second run.
Tim was the crazy man in the group. He ran a couple extra legs to help pace and motivate some of our teamates. If Tim was the crazy man, then Steve was the animal. He completely ate it up when he ran. Look at determination on his face at the start of his final and toughest leg.
In the end, it was a very fun day. The routes were scenic and challenging and we made new friends. The weather was great inspite of the heat and
it's always nice knowing you've put it your full effort, and this course
required that just to finish. Our final time was 9:50:35.
As I sit here putting this page together I am terribly sore. Those downhill sections took a toll on my legs. The more I sit down, the harder it is to get up again. I'm expecting tomorrow to be even worse for me. Even after doing Ironman, I've only been more sore once in my life and that was after the Patoka Lake marathon (also a very hilly course).
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