Whew! What a long day; but a productive one. I got up at 4:30 a.m. and we took off for the Brew to Brew 43-mile relay race from Kansas City to Lawrence. We had 5 guys, each running approximately 9 miles, give or take. My legs were the last two, for a total of 8.95 miles. I waited about 5 hrs. and 15 minutes to take the baton.
When I took off, it was into a stiff wind out of the west. The first 4.3 miles were on hilly gravel roads. I felt really good and strong, but took it a bit easy during this stretch so I wouldn't wear myself out. I knew the last 4.6 miles were on the dirt track on the Kansas River levy, and I wanted to run it well, if I could.
I opened with an 8:58, and followed that with an 8:30, 8:31 and an 8:38 on the hills. Normally, I'd consider that too fast, but you pace yourself according to the distance, and once those hills were gone I still thought I could turn it on for the last stretch.
All I needed was a bit of Gatorade after the hills and I'd be on my way. Unfortunately, my team got lost and couldn't find the handoff point between the last two legs. I ran right through the station and saw no one. It wasn't a tragedy, though, since it wasn't hot and I knew I could stick it out for the rest of the run.
The miles on the levy were a little slower than I thought I might do, coming in at 8:21, 8:22, 8:27, 8:11 and 7:39 (which my Garmin said would have been an 8:03 had I gone a full mile instead of .95). My overall time was 1:15.39, or an average of 8:27.
Maybe the lack of a drink slowed me a little, but who cares? I felt great all the way, and I think that with the next two weeks of taper, I'll be as ready as I can be for the St. Louis Marathon.
When I got home, the grandkids were here, and all they wanted was a trip to the park. So, off we went, followed by dinner and more play time until about 8 p.m.
Yes, I'm tired. But the whole day was worth it.
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