I discovered a whole new way to run races today and I have to say I’m head over heals in love with the marathon relay! Specifically with the Tacoma City Marathon Relay!
Team Kicking Asphalt had a blast out there today!!! We finished in 3:49:34 and had so much fun along the way!
From L-R Chuck (Michelle’s brother), Michelle, Alicia (long time friend of Bob and Michelle), Me, Dev (Josh’s son), Elya and Josh…pre-race. Photo credit – Bob
I can’t tell you how much fun we had waiting at each exchange, cheering friends and strangers alike as we waited for our runners. I saw Amy come through the water station at every exchange (except the one at the end of my leg) and we all cheered and screamed our heads off for her, and all the runners really.
It was kind of cool because we got to each exchange (always at a water station) so quickly that we would see everyone (minus the speedsters that were leading) up to the 3:35’ish pace group go through over and over again, and it was awesome and fascinating to see how some changed over the course of 26.2. The best part was cheering those same runners across the finish line. It was extra special when someone we knew ran past, but we were pretty excited for complete strangers as well.
In race group selfie, waiting for Alicia to arrive and send me on my way. Photo credit – Michelle.
I LOVED being able to cheer and observe the race, but also get to run as well. It’s the best of both worlds really. I knew we’d have fun as a team, but I had not anticipated how meaningful it would be to cheer other runners on, and watch my friends who were taking on the full marathon.
I also found out what it’s like to run when you have a team waiting for you. I set a new personal record…5 Mile Drive in 52 minutes, which is the fastest I’ve ever run it, and that was with a couple extra miles tacked on as well!
I decided to just go for it and see what I could do. My legs felt it…I was so ready to tag in Chuck when I got to the exchange. But, it was worth it…I’m really happy with the pace I kept and how I felt doing it…hard, but I got it done!
I’ll tell you though, there is no pride in passing full marathoners when running a relay leg. I was fresh and only running 6 ish miles, and they were on miles 12-18 and doing their best to get up and down the hills. I felt bad every time I passed a marathoner because some of them were clearly in pain and ready to be done.
Finished! Photo Credit – Josh
Tacoma City Marathon Association put on another great event. Tacoma City Marathon is the biggest race of the year around here and they were very organized and runners had everything they needed along the course. They even had wicked cool medals for us!
Race medal turned bottle opener…brilliant!! I opened a few bottle with it today! 🙂
I seriously want to go find as many relays as possible to run now! Can’t wait for whenever the next one is!
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Who else ran this weekend? Tell me about it!!!
todaysadventureis 