The Relay, 199 miles from Calistoga to Santa Cruz - May 5-6th, 2007

On Wednesday May 2nd, I flew out to San Francisco to meet up with my favorite 11 Georgetown law students to run The Relay, a 199 mile road race from Calistoga to Santa Cruz, California (www.therelay.com). The Relay is broken up into 36 legs of varying lengths and difficulties meaning everyone on a team of 12 gets to run three legs. The first person on the team runs from the start line to the checkpoint at the end of leg 1 where the second team member is waiting to take off. The second team member starts running for checkpoint 2 where hopefully the third team member is waiting and ready to run. All the teams ride in vans from checkpoint to checkpoint and stop along the way to cheer on their running teammate.

Thursday turned out to be an awesome day - I rented a bike and rode across the Golden Gate Bridge and did 60 miles up in the hills of Sausalito and Tiburon. Wednesday and Thursday nights were rather tame but we did get to see the End Up until 4 in the morning on Thursday. Did some shopping and swam some laps in the USF pool on Friday before meeting up with the team Friday night at Chad, Mark, and Lauren's apartment in the Mission very near Delores Park for the pre-race BBQ throwdown. My favorite 11 Georgetown law students are all actually graduated now and are big time lawyers in various cities throughout the country. We were reuniting in San Fran for the race and everyone was very happy to see each other again. So happy the beer and Sparks drinking turned into hardcore boozing and we hit the Castro for a night of shenanigans that should have ended before 8:30 a.m. when it was time to start driving up to Calistoga for the start of the race.

Our starting time on Saturday was scheduled for 1 p.m. It took us a while to get packed up into the two big vans and get on the road for the couple hour ride north to Calistoga that morning. We got there in time to see the teams going off at the 12:00 and 12:30 start times and to make a quick stop at the grocery store for water, food, and supplies for the next 26 hours. The sexy Chad was led us off as the Rocky theme song "Eye of the Tiger" energized the 1:00 start for about a dozen teams. It turned out to be a typical beautiful California day and it was awesome following our runners through wine country as we trekked through Napa and Sonoma.

I was set to run legs 12, 24, and 36 for our team - meaning I didn't get to run until several hours after Chad started us off but also that I would be running the final leg of the race and get to cross the finish line for our team. My first leg was 4.8 miles, rated hard, with 400 feet of climbing in the first 3 miles and then gentle downgrade over the last couple miles going back down 100 feet. It was pitch black outside at 10 p.m. when Paul Lee came running into checkpoint 11 in his reflective vest and headlamp to pass off "the green bracelet" to me (see the picture). I took off on my first run of the day in my reflective vest and headlamp, but no sooner than about 30 paces did my headlamp fall on the ground and bust into a bunch of pieces. I was stuck going the distance in absolute darkness, and it was only by starlight that I was able to follow the white line on the side of the road that kept me aiming in the correct direction as I marched along. As my vision adjusted to the darkness and I could begin to see where I was putting my feet (which is always nice when running), the confidence started building and so did my pace. The hill was challenging but I managed to pass a couple runners on the ascent and then a few more when I took off on the downhill. It was nice to see Chad waiting for me at the checkpoint at the end of 4.8 miles. We had a good time driving and running all night.

My second leg was 5.9 miles, rated moderate, flat for the first 3 miles, then 200 feet of climbing over miles 3 to 5, and then gentle downgrade to the checkpoint. It was about 6 a.m. when I was getting out of the van in the morning to start stretching and getting ready to run. It was quite chilly and the sun was just peaking over the horizon when Paul Lee came running up to hand off the green bracelet. It was a beautiful fast-paced run along amazing scenery featuring a huge lake and mountains in the distance during an awesome sunrise. I was sad to have to stop running and hand off to Chad when I reached the checkpoint. However, with 2 legs down and only 1 more to run it was time to start the Sparks drinking, hula dancing, and tomfoolery. We got asked by numerous folks if we were really running or just drinking and partying the whole way. My final leg was scheduled for 4.7 miles, rated easy, downhill the first mile into Santa Cruz at sea level, across a pedestrian bridge, around downtown Santa Cruz for a couple miles and then onto the beach and along the boardwalk to the finish line. I was feeling good going into my last leg and took off at a lightning pace passing the few people in sight in the first half mile. After crossing the pedestrian bridge, the course took several turns through downtown on the way to the beach, and I must have missed one of the turns because I came to beach with no other runners or race signs in sight and everyone I asked responded "What race?". After running in circles for a couple miles I eventually found the boardwalk and ran onto the beach where the team was waiting for me. We all raced the last 500 feet along the beach together and across the finish line at around 4 p.m. after 27 hours of non-stop running. Chad, Paul Lee, and I all jumped in the freezing Pacific together to cool off, and we took a team photo on the beach before heading back to San Fran for margaritas and food.