Lake to Lake Race Report

Can I tell you how fun this race was. It was fun to run with great friends. It was fun to take second place as out of 22 mixed teams. It was fun to take that second place from the third place team by a mere minute. It was fun to ride around in the van and cheer on my fellow team members and Tom's team for the first half. (He was so much faster than us that by half way, he would be gone from the exchanges before we got there.) It was fun to run the final leg with my team supporting me. It was just a great experience and I can't wait for the next one.

The Lake to Lake relay is a 50-mile relay from Gunlock Reservoir to Sand Hollow Reservoir. The race is divided into 10 legs of more or less 5 miles. Each team of 5 or less runners takes turns running at least two legs until the finish. Some legs are downhill, some up, some legs are dirt trail, some are paved bike paths, some legs are on city streets, all are spectacular.

The race began at 8 am. We dropped of Kasie and drove down the road to the exchange where we dropped of Darrel and then off the the next exchange. There we picked up Kasie from the bus, waited for Darrel and sent Ben packing.

I ran the 4th leg. It was 5.18 miles on mostly bike path. 7:08 pace.

The profile shows it as a mostly downhill run, but it didn't feel like it. There were plenty of little climbs. I was passed by one guy right at the exchange and one more at mile 3. I couldn't re-catch either but just tried to keep them in my sights. When the second guy caught me he told me he had been trying to do so since the beginning of the leg. He gave me a compliment and then was on his way.

Luckily for us the next leg was run by Glen and he rocked it. He passed 5 people, putting us into 7th place overall and 3rd in the mixed division. Kasie ran the next leg and held off all the teams Glen passed, plus passed one more. Darell ran the next and lost only one spot. Ben ran the 8th leg and gained one overall spot. Now it was Glen's turn again. I told him he needed to get me a pretty big buffer if we wanted to keep a hold of second place. At each of the exchanges there were 5 teams, including us, very close to eachother. 4 of the teams were mixed teams and one was an all men's team.

Leg 10. 4.4 miles. 7:32 pace.

I started the final leg in second. I had no idea how close the other teams were, but I did know that many of them had their strongest runners running this leg. I just ran the generally uphill route as fast as I could. I got a few hollers as friends passed in their vehicles and Tom stopped at a few spots to encourage me since he was long finished. It really helped. He warned me there was a guy gaining fast on me. The last half mile of the route is a substantial incline. I have run it before in other races, but always suck at it. I just motored up it where my team met me for the victory run across the parking lot. We held off the other team, but only by one minute. The guy was running 5 minute miles. Had the race been a half mile longer he would have caught me. The 4th team was less than a minute back. Full results can be found here.



It was a blast and I felt great with my times. I think we got second because we strategized. We had our two fastest run the two hardest legs and gain enough ground to allow me to bring it home on the less difficult leg. The other teams put their best runners last, but they couldn't make up for the slower runners on the very hilly and sandy legs.

Go team Saturday's Warriors!