PM... 15.71 mile run over 3 legs. I was runner #3 of the MarathonGIS.com relay team, so I ran leg #'s 3, 15 and 27. Here's the synopsis of each...
LEG #3 (5.66 miles, 34:20, 6:03 pace)...
I received the wristband from Dustin Ence, who unfortunately ended up following a BYU runner off-course. Dustin's Garmin said that he had tacked on about an extra mile or so, so we figured we gave up around 6 minutes. All in all that wasn't a huge deal--only one team passed us (Runner's Corner--a mixed team). I took off a little bit hard for the first couple of miles to try to catch the BYU and Runner's Corner runners. I caught both of them about 2 to 2 1/2 miles into my leg--maybe a little too hard for a couple of reasons... 1) it was way hot and 2) my hamstring that has been bothering me since Wednesday was still not feeling good. After catching those two I continued to put distance on them, and by the exchange zone we had moved into 2nd place overall and gapped BYU and Runner's Corner by 2 minutes and change (maybe 3, I can't really remember). My pace had slowed down significantly and I was off my projected pace of 5:58, but considering the heat and how my hamstring felt--I'll take it.
LEG #15 (4.95 miles, 29:53, 6:02 pace)... I was a little worried about this leg. My hamstring was really bothering me after the first leg, and I wasn't too sure how it would hold up for the rest of the relay. I asked the guys in the van to make sure they didn't get out in front of me by much more than 1 mile. The temperature was a cool 47 degrees, but after the earlier legs there were no complaints from me. My hamstring hurt quite a bit, but I figured if I could at least hold around 6:00 pace I wouldn't be too disappointed. I was able to do that and handed off to Cody for a blazing 5K. LEG #27 (5.1 miles 30:53, 6:03 pace)... I was hoping to run a bit faster on this leg as there was quite a bit of downhill. However, the downhill really aggravated my hamstring and I had to back off the pace quite a bit to hold things together. I managed to hold roughly the same pace as the first two legs, but that pace was 2:00 slower than we had projected. Aerobically this leg felt entirely easy, my hamstring just was not allowing me to push myself any faster. I loved meeting everyone and being part of the team, and would love to do this again next year! Hopefully I'll be healthy and be able to make a little bit more of a meaningful contribution so we can drop our time even lower.
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