Running on Fumes

This month is flying by, jam packed with soccer practices and games and work trips and concerts and stuff. But once again, I took a few days to do Reach the Beach, the 24-hour, 200-mile relay I've done for the last four years. Most of last year's team returned, but we added two women to our group of 12 including my good pal Molly. On Friday, we met in Salem, NH, and headed up to Cannon Mountain for the 11:20 a.m. start.


I was in van 2 again this year, which meant we wouldn't be running until late afternoon at the earliest. We grabbed some lunch at the same Italian place in Lincoln we hit last year; I opted for the chicken parm and garlic bread. We ran into Bethann, who was on the team a few years ago, and a couple of us went over to her parents' ski cottage near the transition area to hang out for a while and use the bathroom (as opposed to porta-potties). Finally van 1 passed the baton to us just before 5 p.m., with Molly running first.

The weather was perfect; we've been really lucky every year I've run this. I was the third runner in our van, and started running at 6:30. Unfortunately, we hit a lot of traffic during the second leg. We got to the transition area ahead of our runner, but I had to go to the bathroom quickly before I ran. When I got out, our runner was already there, so I just took off without stretching. The 6.36-mile leg was extremely hilly, which proved a challenge. I've been struggling with some plantar fasciitis in my left heel, but that didn't bother me. However, the chicken parm I wolfed down earlier proved troublesome as I huffed and puffed up the hills. But the last two miles were all downhill and I took advantage, hauling ass about as fast as I could. I finished in 53 minutes (an 8:19 pace) and actually came in faster than the next runner expected. I had to wait a few minutes before he got to the transition.

We wrapped our first legs (with two more to go) and handed off to van 1. We grabbed some food at the transition area and then drove the 40 or so miles to the next transition area at NH Vocational Technical College to wait for van 1 to finish up and hopefully grab some sleep. Actually, everybody slept on the ride over except me (I was driving) and Len, who was providing navigation via his iPad.

We got there a little after 11 p.m. and I ended up catching about 90 minutes of spotty sleep in the driver's seat, which wasn't exactly luxurious. Finally we got word at around 1:15 that van 1 was about an hour out, so we got Molly up and started to get ready for the transition. Sure enough, van 1's sixth runner showed up exactly at 2:15 and we were on the road again. The overnight legs are tough because they're hilly, but also because in the middle of nowhere, you can't see anything, even with the headlamps. My second was an 8.5-mile beast starting in Gilmanton. I started after 4 a.m. and was about a half-mile in when my right contact lens popped out. I kept running because what else could I do at that point? I could still see, especially when a van's headlights lit up the surroundings, but when I was on my own, it was tough to make out much. Had to aim my headlamp down every so often to make sure I didn't run off the road. I felt a lot better than my previous run and definitely got a second wind after the first few hills. The damn thing ended on a hill. My time was 1:13 (8:35 pace), which wasn't bad at all. I was just glad to be done.

After our team captain Mark left on his second leg at around 7 a.m., it rained for about 20 minutes but it was a quick storm front. We handed off to van 1 and then went to Manchester to the Airport Diner, where we've eaten breakfast every year. I didn't feel like having an omelette so I went with the French toast; I was so hungry, I inhaled the whole thing and instantly wondered if I'd made a big mistake. I was also starting to feel extremely tired, as I'd slept the least of anybody; I did much of the overnight driving. I caught about a half hour nap as we drove to our next transition in Kingston.

Van 1 showed up around noon and we were headed off on our final legs of the journey. Molly blazed through her last 2.43-mile leg, running 7-minute splits. Len took the 6.7-mile, hilly leg from Kingston to Exeter like it was nothing, just crushing it. I took the handoff in downtown Exeter and almost immediately felt a sharp pain in my heel. I tried to maintain a steady pace and hoped it wouldn't happen again. Fortunately the French toast didn't bother me at all. There were some hills at first as I ran past my mom's old workplace, Exeter Hospital. I felt like I wasn't going very fast, but once I got closer to the end of my leg, the Timberland office park in Greenland, I kicked it into gear. I ended up running the 4.1 miles in 33 minutes (8:00 pace), my fastest of the whole shebang. Even though both my feet were killing me, I was so psyched to be done. I pounded a celebratory Harpoon IPA in the van.

Unlike last year, we actually got to Hampton Beach before our last runner and were able to run in with the whole team. Of course, van 1 had been there for a few hours. We ate but ended up skipping the beer tent and had a quick one in the van before we drove back to Salem. We were all dead tired and ready to go home. I was home around 7:30 and in bed an hour later.

In the end, we finished 144th out of 425 teams with a time of 28 hours, 20 minutes, 21 seconds (8:22 pace). Nice. I've been dragging ass the last few days as a result, but it was worth it.