This was not strictly my relay debut. I had gotten in my leg of the washed out Bayou Bash relay in the Spring when I was a late substitute runner on a Striders team. However this is the first relay that my team finished and it was my BARC racing debut.
As usual, it was most fun seeing all the runners before, during and after the race. Especially the HRB athletes who were out in force including Steve, Bill, June, Sarah, Cassie, Jon, Erin, Vic, Jessica and my wife, Gerlinde. It is very motivating to have the encouragement of our club members and I heard many of them pulling for me as I finished my leg of the race. While I did get to cheer for Vic on his rousing finish, I should have pulled my nose out of the free beer line and screamed for other HRBr's. I have a great chance to redeem myself at the upcoming 10 miler in two weeks.
I ran on a very solid Senior male team and our lead runner, Terry Mosley, got us off to a great start. I think both Terry and I ran under 16 minutes but neither of us timed our runs or paid much attention to the clock. I found it very difficult to judge my pace and the footing was quite tricky in many places. Indeed, Gerlinde, who ran the "A" leg for a BARC team, tripped on a root and fell on the way back in. Nevertheless she's one tough cookie and had a very strong run to finish not too far behind June. I think I saw Steeve at one point about 100 yards ahead of me, but he must of opened the gap further. I'll have to savor passing him for another day! His Senior male team took third and Striders walked off with a lot of trophies so congratulations. I did have a kick left in me at the end and passed three or four runners in the final 100 yards before passing the baton. I think our team finished in under 1 hour and 5 minutes, but I'm not sure as the results are not online yet.
I'm glad we scratched out of the Uptown Classic in Austin today. My left hamstring is pretty sore, so it is getting the ice and ibuprofen therapy. That did not stop me from doing 7 miles this morning at the BARC run on Seabrook trails. I was elected Secretary of BARC at last weeks club meeting so I really was glad to make the run this morning as well as the relay last evening.
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3 comments:
Good running, Joe. I sympathize totally with Gerlinde on the footing, well done by her to carry on.
If you saw me in Strider gray you would have seen Steve Bezner just a ways up in SMARTie yellow. It's a Steve thing.
Steeeve
I'm a bum for not showing up this morning. I slept for 11.5 hours! Trying to fend off a cold that had me sneezing all day yesterday.
This is why I'll never get faster. I like sleep too much. ;)
Much fun and great to see you and G.
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