Team Spider Pigs: Saylor, Brian, Bryant, Paul, Ty, and Andy
The Spider Pigs T-Shirts
The Red Rock Relay was last weekend and although I realize now that I was not fully prepared, it was a lot of fun. I feel great at was I was able to accomplish. Now I will be better educated for my next relay experience. We got down to Moab Friday night around 10 and got settled into our hotel. We all tried to sleep. Some with more success than others. I'm not sure I got too much that first night. We got up at 5am so that we could make it to the starting line early enough to check in at the starting line for our 6:30 am start time. It was great fun to drive along and cheer on our runners as well as other teams and take photos. It wasn't until it got close to my turn that I started to get nervous. I took an Imodium on the advice of one of my runner friends and I'm glad I did because when I get nervous so does my stomach.
After watching all our other runner go, it was finally my turn. I was nervous. I hurried and peed but I forgot to puff on my Albuterol and put on my knee strap. Before I knew it Saylor was closing in so I ran to meet him and then just took off running. It didn't take me to long to remember that I didn't use my Albuterol. Fortunately as the truck was driving by I signaled to Ty that I forgot my inhaler. And even more fortunately he uses that same thing. He handed me the inhaler while I took two puff and hit the road again. I held out for quite a while but then felt like I needed to walk a bit. At one point I realized that the sky was all overcast and I thought "Well at least that is one thing to be thankful for!" During the my leg I got passed and I passed another runner. But when I was closing in on the baton exchange this petite lady in pink passed me up. I thought "Hell no!" and kicked it up a notch passing her. She hung out back there just waiting for her moment. I sensed it when I could see the hand-off location. She darted ahead and I fought to not let her pass me. She did pass me but in passing the baton I worked it out better and Paul was out of the shoot before their runner. :) Check out the action in the photos:
My second leg was the last of the relay. The weather had warmed up a lot. I looked at how far away we were from the park on my iPhone and it didn't look too far. It gave me hope even though I knew it was 7.62 miles. What I didn't realize is that we would not be taking a direct approach to the park. I followed the main road for about 2 miles I think and then it took a sharp right and went on the other side of the city up a hill. I had gotten close to passing another team in front of me but the hill took the wind out of my sails. The other team would pull ahead as I took a little time to catch my breath and walk a bit. Several times I got close and then need a break. At one point I decided to power past her. Fortunately I didn't see her again but I meanwhile did get passed by two guys. At one point I realized that my nipples were getting worn raw. I signaled my support team that I needed my body glide. It worked out nicely. They swung by me, I quickly applied it, and I was off again. Once I got further into town the trail went under the road and I thought off to the right on the sidewalk and over a bridge. Once I was halfway across the bridge, I could hear someone yelling at me that I was going the wrong way. I turned around and sure enough I was supposed to be on a sandy path going through a park. I made the U turn and rushed off to follow the two teams that had just passed my while I was going the wrong way! Running in the sand was a little unexpected. That lasted for about a mile or two. After I got back on the street to run who comes up passing me? You guessed it the girl in pink! She was very encouraging, telling me that we were almost there and to keep going. I got to say that was the best part of the relay. Everyone was always cheering on each other. My team was excellent especially during the last leg. It put a huge smile on my face as I would hear them drive by, honk, yell, and cheer my on. They were awesome!
The Home Stretch Joined By My Teammates
Apparently I was supposed to be wearing my medal. I did get one!
We earned our stripes! After each leg a runner earns a stripe and then one when the team finishes.
After getting cleaned up we headed over to Pasta Jay's. Ty and Bryant said that it's the best food. I was a little skeptical at first. We were told that it would only be 20 minutes for a table for 8. It ended up being an hour. The place was packed. The longer we waited the more we all got grumpy I ordered the Stuffed Chicken Genovese as shown below. It's a chicken breast stuffed with Italian sausage, roasted red peppers, provolone cheese and mushrooms, baked in a fresh tomato and sweet basil sauce, with a side of pasta. Once the food came everyone was much more cheerful. It was delicious! I dare say it was the best Italian food that I have ever had! I might have to visit Moab more often just for the Italian food. It was just THAT good! I even celebrated by ordering a Diet Coke with my meal. I did limit it to just one refill though. Go me! :)
Now that I've had a few days to recover I think that I'm ready to maybe think about another one. :)
