Champions!

Not only was the weekend and Marathon relay increadibly fun....we freaking won! :) Unbelievable fun! All in all I had a fantastic time, left in the morning so as to make it to the captains meeting - not terribly interesting, but necessary if not actually informational. Then met Leah for lunch and just chilled around town for the rest of the day. We had coffee, people watched, walked some, drove the course, caught up. What more could I have asked for. The two of us met up with our teammates, Heidi, Lori and Julie for dinner (Cheesecake Factory....yum). As I would have expected they were fantastic in welcoming Leah - and Leah was as comfortable as you would expect....as if they were old friends. We all crammed into one hotel room for the night and told girly stories while falling asleep. The race was the most competitive, meaningful competition I have engaged in since actually competing. :) I ran the first leg (everyone gets five miles save for the final runner who trots 6.2 so as to complete the marathon course). Since the rely is at the same time as and on the same course as the marathon I was piled in with the 8,000 or so runners partaking in the event. It was awesome - My goal was to run somewhere around a 7minute mile. I ws thinking maybe 7:15 might be my top so I placed myself squarely between the half marathon pace group of 1:30 (6:52 miles) and the marathon group that was paced at 7:38 miles. Needless to say I was a bit shocked when I crested the first mile a good few blocks behind 6:52 pace group and discovered I turned in a 6:53 split! That man had decieved all of his 1:30 pace group....they must have gone through the mile in 6:40 or so. I was able however to slow down some thanks to a gentleman running the half marathon, wearing a watch and similarly duped by said pacer. We teamed up for the next mile and a half or so until the courses split and I was on my own. I survived up the nasty hills that had sealed the first leg for me given that I had been crowned our hill runner. I was thankfully greated on the other side of the hills by a few generous flats nad downhill sctions only to discover the final 150 meterss or so of my portion were straight up hill. I managed to find Heidi waiting at the top and forced a decent finish. I don't haev an exact split but it seems I came in somewhere just under 7 minutes/mile. I was thrilled....if not exhausted and lying in someone's lawn for a few moments! It was great fun to have teammates there cheering and encouraging and just being surrounded by such an emotional feat.
Heidi is increadible and proved to be such....I had thrown her into a pace group she wasn't interested in running with but she hung on nonetheless. And seemed generally happy to do so. Didn't even complain too much about the hills she had to run even though she'd expressed a willingness to do it if need be but an obviously desire to avoid such a leg! After each exchange we all piled in Heidi's mom van and drove to the next transition area - it was an unbelievable experience to get to watch the marathoners come by at each five mile split nad to see these ladies who were running with me lay it all on the line for each other. we cheered for the other participants like they were our own family.
Leah was awesome....any of you out there who recall her first two mile attempt back in 1996 on the beaver trails behind campus need to call her and congratulate her because girl clocked an 8:15 mile out of the gate. Not only did she run an 8:15 mile....she piled 4 more on top of it. I have no hand in what she did, nor do I have a leg to stand on when I say - I haev never been so proud of a friend in mylife. Her effort was increadible....her will unshaken - she was committed, driven and the strongest woman I have met. What a display of will we saw in her.
Julie - one of my long run buddies who has pushed me to this crazy state of enjoying ten mile runs on Sunday mornings - posted a time she never thought she was capable of. It was great fun to watch her lament over the "short" race (these two race 10 and 13 milers most often and are marathon veterans themselves)...only to complete the race with a success far beyond her goal!
And Lori rocked it as we expected....she was picking people off left and right as she traveresed the final portion of the marathon course for us. We all met her with about 600-800 meters to go and ran in with her - finishing as one person...a group of five middle age-ish women with a gaggle of kids between us happy to have completed something together.
Come to find out we won! We were the first women's team, surpassed only by one professional men's team, six all men's teams and one co-ed team. We beat down the rest of the fifty team pack. :) Men, women, and combined.
It was my first marathon experience as a spectator and I can honestly say I've never witnessed something of such emotional stature as the marathon. The spectators, the families cheering, the general unity that is a pack of 8000 people running and thousands more rooting for them floored me. It is such an emotional upheval to complete such a feat. Maybe someday....for now I am content to run one fifth of it. Thanks a million times over to the ladies that competed with me and the tens of thousands there to witness it.