2009 Reach the Beach
by Robert James Reese » Monday, September 21st, 2009 » 3 Comments
A little less than two weeks ago, I got an email from one of my Green Mountain Relay teammates: HELP! We need a Reach the Beach runner!!! Lucky for me, I had a couple vacation days available and a little money to burn and was able to tell Maria to count me in. And that's how I came to spend last weekend running in New Hampshire as part of team HurOn Fire.
I decided to use the three legs I'd be running as a test of my fitness since I wasn't exactly sure how well my recovery was going. The results were excellent – I ran two of the three legs at faster than P.R. paces for comparable distances, and still felt solid enough to bust out an 11 mile run in Boston the morning after.
My first leg was 7.2 miles over rolling hills. I started way too fast (a 5:48 first mile and 5:58 second mile) then burnt out on a big hill, but still managed a respectable 6:14/mile average. The evening was warm and I definitely felt the negative effects of that.
By the time I ran again, the sun had been set for a long time and I had my headlight on. This was my fastest leg – 4.4 miles at 6:05/mile – but probably worst run of all three. I over-estimated what I had left in the tank and started with a 5:48 first mile, then crashed and ran 6:19 for the second. Seeing that split pissed me off and then I over-compensated, running a 5:40 third mile. Nausea overtook me then and I got light-headed and there was nothing to do but slow back down to the mid 6:20s. For the next 4 or 5 hours, I was in agony. My digestive system did some horrible things that I'm pretty sure it's not ever supposed to do.
Going into the third leg, I was hurting pretty bad and decided to take it easy. As a result, I ran 6.7 miles at a 6:24/mile pace, smiling the whole way. I was amazed how easy the running became when I slowed it down a notch instead of pushing beyond my limits in the first couple miles. It was an amazing run and I'm happy that I was able to end on such a positive note.
But, as good as the runs were, they weren't the best part of the weekend. That honor goes to my team. Being stuck in a van with five strangers for the better part of four days sounds like a recipe for disaster, but I actually had a great time. There was a lot of laughter, and a lot of good teamwork vibes. Add that onto the fact that there's actually fresh air and stars in the sky up in New Hampshire, and you can see why it was such a good weekend. (And why it's so tough to get back to this city routine.)
I decided to use the three legs I'd be running as a test of my fitness since I wasn't exactly sure how well my recovery was going. The results were excellent – I ran two of the three legs at faster than P.R. paces for comparable distances, and still felt solid enough to bust out an 11 mile run in Boston the morning after.
My first leg was 7.2 miles over rolling hills. I started way too fast (a 5:48 first mile and 5:58 second mile) then burnt out on a big hill, but still managed a respectable 6:14/mile average. The evening was warm and I definitely felt the negative effects of that.
By the time I ran again, the sun had been set for a long time and I had my headlight on. This was my fastest leg – 4.4 miles at 6:05/mile – but probably worst run of all three. I over-estimated what I had left in the tank and started with a 5:48 first mile, then crashed and ran 6:19 for the second. Seeing that split pissed me off and then I over-compensated, running a 5:40 third mile. Nausea overtook me then and I got light-headed and there was nothing to do but slow back down to the mid 6:20s. For the next 4 or 5 hours, I was in agony. My digestive system did some horrible things that I'm pretty sure it's not ever supposed to do.
Going into the third leg, I was hurting pretty bad and decided to take it easy. As a result, I ran 6.7 miles at a 6:24/mile pace, smiling the whole way. I was amazed how easy the running became when I slowed it down a notch instead of pushing beyond my limits in the first couple miles. It was an amazing run and I'm happy that I was able to end on such a positive note.
But, as good as the runs were, they weren't the best part of the weekend. That honor goes to my team. Being stuck in a van with five strangers for the better part of four days sounds like a recipe for disaster, but I actually had a great time. There was a lot of laughter, and a lot of good teamwork vibes. Add that onto the fact that there's actually fresh air and stars in the sky up in New Hampshire, and you can see why it was such a good weekend. (And why it's so tough to get back to this city routine.)
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