Lead Me, Guide Me, Run Beside Me

Question of the day:

What is 197 miles long and takes a team of 12 Mormons, in 2 vans, 30 hours and 40 minutes to complete?

Answer: 2011 Madison, WI to Chicago, IL Ragnar Relay!

What a race . . . what a crazy, ridiculous race. The first six runners of team Lead Me, Guide Me, Run Beside Me started off in Madison, WI on Friday, June 10, 2011 at 10:30 AM. They met up with my van, Van Two, 35.5 miles later, in Lake Mills, WI. At that point, the six runners in Van 2 took the next 37.9 miles. We rotated vans every 25-40 miles and each runner ran one leg per van rotation. Each runner ran anywhere from 12.6 to 20.7 miles. Of course, there were some really crazy teams of only six or three runners . . . they were insane. Here are my van-mates, then everyone except for Mike, who was running at the time:

My legs of the race were pretty cool - I really got lucky on my sections of the race. My first leg started in Dousman, WI around 8:30 PM. By that time, the sun had set, there was a light mist and a few drops of rain, and the temperature was somewhere in the mid 50's . . . perfect running weather. I ran a pretty good pace (I lost my time sheet so I haven't done the calculations yet), but my legs never loosened up. I was really tight the whole 6.9 miles. I guess that happens when you run a race after sitting in a van for the most part of 11 hours.

However, I must say, Wisconsin is beautiful. Lots of open, rolling hillsides, farmland, and forest. Just check out someone coming in to Exchange 6:

 

Here's our strongest runner, Rich, somewhere in Wisconsin:

Anyways, my first section of the race started off kind of dark-ish, but by the time I handed off the "baton" (a sweaty, reflective slap bracelet) to the next runner (one of our friends who had never before run in any kind of race before, but who did an awesome job), it was pitch black. All I could see as I was running into the Exchange was headlights and reflective vests. It was a pretty surreal experience. Actually, it looked pretty much like this:

After handing the running back to Van One, we piled our sweaty selves into our van and drove to the next point where we would meet up with Van One - Martin Luther High School in Greendale, WI. The school had showers, but somehow I got stuck with one of the only showers that didn't have hot water. Let's just say it was a short shower, which I then followed with sporadic and shallow sleep on the floor of the high school gym with 200-300 of my closest and sweatiest friends from 11:30 pm to 1:30 am. Around 2:00 am, Van One's runner came in and passed off to our first runner.

We spent the next few hours trading off runners. I got to start my 5.4 mile section around 4:30 am. I ran through Racine, WI in a light mist. Again, the weather was awesome and I got to run from completely night-time conditions to early dawn (5:20 am). I had never been running at that time of morning and it was really cool - at first, it was dark and quiet, but during my run, the night slowly, but steadily, turned to morning, the birds started chirping, and my run was strong.

At the end of my run, we met Van One at a church which was allowing runners to sleep in its building and Van One started on their last rotation. I crashed at the church. I crashed hard. I have never slept better on the bare floor, wearing sweaty running clothes in my life. I got to sleep about an hour and a half (from around 6:00 am to 7:30 am) before we had to pack up and drive into IL to meet Van One.

We met up again with Van One a few hours later in Zion, IL. Here's the actual footage of Mike handing off to Michelene:

By the time of this hand-off, everyone in Van One had finished all of their running and they were pretty tired. They said the last leg was the toughest . . . and they were so right. Our runners got to run long routes through the suburbs north of Chicago - some of the nicest communities I have seen. Huge houses, big yards, nice downtown areas - just really beautiful. Just check out this high school . . . yes, this is a high school:

As we sent off our second-to-last runner (I was the last runner), the guys in our van were complaining about how hungry they were . . . so we stopped at Mustard's Last Stand in Evanston, IL. There was no way I could eat a greasy hamburger or hot dog just an hour before my race. I ate a garlic meatstick not too long before my first run and I did not appreciate it around mile 3.

My final leg started right on Lake Michigan on the Northwestern campus. My route took me 7.8 miles down the lake's shore, through two college campuses, lots of lake-front parks, and downtown roads, and finally to Montrose Beach. I bonked hard just about a mile and a half from the finish and had to walk about 0.5 miles to avoid passing out. I definitely should have eaten more . . . maybe even one of those greasy hamburgers at Mustard's Last Stand. Seeing the finish line and my team, I "ran" the last 0.25 miles through the finish line, with my awesome team, at 5:10 pm, June 11th, 2011. Everyone was in high spirits and lovin' life. Today, we're all still in high spirits, but we're plenty sore.

I don't remember much of the ride home . . . I fell asleep just as we left downtown and woke up when the car stopped at our team's meeting point at our church in Westchester.

One of the best parts was coming home, though. Ashley made me fajitas (the most incredible fajitas ever!) and Brazilian lemonade, then she got us some caramel apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. It was AWESOME. I put down a couple of fajitas, a few cups of lemonade, and most of my apple, took a nice, long, warm shower, and fell asleep within less than a minute of my head hitting the pillow.

I'm a little sore today . . . . ok, so I hurt a lot and I'll probably lose two toenails, but it was such a crazy adventure. I made new friends, got to know friends better, saw Wisconsin, ran 20.1 miles over two days with maybe 3 hours of sleep, and had a grand old time.

Thanks team Lead Me, Guide Me, Run Beside Me!