Beach to Bay

 Today we ran the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon!

The day began very early.  Chris, who ran the first leg of the race, got up at four in the morning to head out to the bus pick up that would transport him to the start of the race.  Here is a picture of the line for that bus:

 

My day started much later than Chris'.  I began by having two dreams:

Dream #1

I was about to leave to go to the race when Chris comes home (it was 7:01).  I asked him why he was home since I knew he hadn't run yet (the race starts at 7:00).  He replied that the race had been cancelled and motioned for me to look outside.  When I looked out the window there was a huge storm with lightning and pelting rain.  I was devastated.  

Dream #2

Chris came home before my alarm went off (6:15 am).  I ask him why he is home and he tells me that he was disqualified from the race.  I asked him how he got disqualified and he replied that he got caught smoking weed.  I was shocked and sat up in bed to look at him.  You what!? He told me that he had been eating and it was offered him so he took it.  While talking to him I noticed that it was just his head on the floor beside the bed.  I mentioned to him that his body was missing.  At that point I realized I was dreaming.

I was beyond relieved when I woke up (at 6:15) and it wasn't raining.  I was even happier when I received a text from Chris at 6:30 letting me know he was all set to run.

I carpooled with half my team and was dropped off at my starting point at 0800.  My leg of the race was the last (sixth) leg so I had plenty of time to wait around.  I took pictures of the end of my leg of the race:

 

Essentially I was to run around the bay.  (I did not swim across the water. )

I had a lot of fun cheering on the runners that came by while I waited for my team mate.  I was giddy the whole three hours I had to wait for my turn to run, and squealed with excitement when I heard my team number announced indicating that my team mate was almost to the exchange point.  The baton hand off happened in this chute:

It was a beautiful day to run.  I started my leg of the race at 11:17 and finished the race at 12:07.  My leg of the race was 4.86 miles.  I figured I ran a pace of 10:10 per mile.  It was hot and I was wearing my Vibrams.  I mention this because I have learned not to wear my vibrams when running on blacktop in the heat of the day.  The road was so hot!--and my feet felt it.

I had fun cheering for the other runners and getting the spectators to cheer for me.  I always enjoy meeting runners before a race and chatting with them.  I liked the free pizza at the end too.  But the best part of the race was when Chris joined me for the last half mile.  He ran with me and let me sprint to the end ahead of him (he said he let me beat him because he knew I'd punch him if he didn't and he was right.)

Here's the part of my team that was able to make it to the end of the race party.  It was crowded and parking was difficult to find so two teammates couldn't join us.

 

 And here is my whole team.  I can say "my" because I am the team captain.  I was somehow able to convince these five people to run this race with me.  (Thank you!)