500k relay: Day 1

First, thank you all for your encouragement & enthusiasm. I apologize for the delay in writing this but as many of you know I have had numerous computer problems the past few weeks so it has taken a while to work through it.
This past weekend was my 500k Endeavour Relay. I cannot describe such amazement! Well...I can, but not to any worthy degree. In my mind there were three types of runs: the cri’s (criterium), the mass starts, and the champion runs. I ran two of each. In this blog I’ll describe Day 1: Mt Gravatt to Warwick.
The day started at 2.30am to start the race at 4.45am. I was a bit nervous of that wake up time – I’ve never gotten up so early for a race before! There were 15 teams with a size between 12-30 runners. Our team had 21 total members – 18 runners + 3 support crew. I ran the very first leg of the race, which was a cri. To run the 500k relay, you do it along highway. Some stretch of highway is too dangerous to run on, so instead you run a “criterium”. In this first cri we had two waves of seven runners each. All 14 runners ran 7km. 7km x 14 runners = 98km travelled. This allowed us (after our cri) to drive the 98km down the highway to another place where we started the highway running. Everyone with me?

So, back to the race. Today’s total for both runs was 12.31km (distance “advertised” 11.90km). My total distance run of the weekend: 28.31km.
I hadn’t eaten brekkie beforehand. Big mistake!!! The runs are all categorized for level of difficulty with 10 being the most difficult and 2 being the easiest.

Leg #1: The Cri.
Difficulty rating: 8
Time start: 4.45am
Total distance: 6.98km
Total time: 43.03
Average pace: 6.10/km
Fastest pace: 4.59/km
Elevation: +64m
Temperature: hot & humid
This leg was also the longest leg of the entire weekend at 7km. It was around Griffin University Campus and we had to do 3 laps around. The course was on a hill, so our option was to go up...or down.
The best part was finishing the race with a teammate and having another teammate right there at the finish line with a chilled bottle of water and lots of encouragement and congrats. You see, we had designated “water boys/girls” in the race. This was non-running team members whose job was to be at the finish line with said bottle of chilled water. I have always dearly loved my support crew but the support this weekend absolutely spoiled me (you will learn why as you read on).

Leg #2: The Champion Run
Difficulty rating: “4” which was agreed to be under-rated for that leg of the trip (all agreed a 6 would have been more accurate)
Time start: 1.20pm
Total distance: 5.33km
Total time: 32.50
Average pace: 6.12/km
Fastest pace: 4.25/km
Elevation: +51
Temperature: over 36C and humid. Hot enough that the tarmac started burning my feet. Not the “stepping on hot coals” burning but the “my feet are cooking in an oven and I want to pour ice on them” burning.
The Champion Runs were without a doubt the highlight of my weekend. I mentioned we had 3 support crew on our team? One drove the bus for all us runners, one a “follow vehicle” and one a “water truck”. The follow vehicle was supplied by Endeavour, the “water truck” was a car supplied by a support crew.
Here’s how the Champion Run works: you run down a stretch of highway (always secondary highways – usually pretty quiet). The distance is between 3-6k depending on the leg and then you tag off to the next teammate who continues on down the highway. At all times you are followed by your follow vehicle, which has a flashing light and large banner proclaiming “runners ahead”. It’s job is to make sure you don’t get hit by other cars. For me, I felt like I was running at the head of a championship race with my own personal escort.
About every 700m our water truck stopped to provide chilled water to us. When you are running in ++36C, even 700m is not enough! The water truck had two teammates: one at the back holding a water bottle out for you, and one further up the road (say, 10-15m) who would collect the bottle from you when you were done. Then they hop back in the truck and zoom ahead to meet you at the next 700m point.
Fortunately in the spirit of the race I received water from other teams’ water trucks – just as our guys gave water to other runners on the road. Some teams had spray bottles. Genius! It was like a cooling mist before the heat beat you down again. As teams drove by in their buses I could hear their screaming and cheering of encouragement. Some made a point of coming up to me later that day or the next to congratulate me on my run.
In the end I was happy with my run – considering the conditions. I tagged off to the next runner and was greeted with an umbrella for shade (there was no shade elsewhere) and an icy cold bottle of water – already opened, of course. But no time to cool down! I hadn’t yet caught my breath before I was herded onto the bus to drive with my team to the next tag point of the race. I was given the “glory seat” on the bus at the front, draped with a towel. Others called it the “sweat seat” but I prefer “glory seat”. On the way past the next runner of course, the bus slowed down so we could pull down the windows and cheer them on. Then the windows quickly went back up...it was hot outside, and everyone preferred the air con!