Key to key

Key to key, that's were me & 10 others went when I accepted the challenge. What challenge? read on!

Weekend agenda-team run!

This is was first team/relay of the year. I had to turn down Disney & the goofy challenge to accept another, thanks to Berta. However, in order to take advantage of this, I had to forfeit the following races:

1. Disney Goofy challenge (half on saturday, full on sunday)
2. river run 5k (Boca)
3. run for the animals 5k
4. tropitrot 5k
5. walk for haiti 5k
6. flipany 5k/10k

In keeping with my promise last year that that Goofy would be my last scheduled one (except for an anniversery year), I passed on #1, opening up the weekend for other races. By taking this new challenge, the 1st 3 events were automatically eliminated. Since the van drivers wanted to stay overnight, the last 3 became impossible, making this yet another 1 race weekend, a frequent runner's nightmare.

My experience was incredible. I was the anchor leg & I was in van 2. Gene, my hand picked partner in crime, was the start leg in van 1. We met only when it came time to exchange & the finish. Just like I do when cycling in a du or tri, I handed off to him. This is my synopsis:

1st Leg: 8.8 mile run to & through the Homestead speedway. rank-very hard. no shade & seemingly the hottest point of the day, about 4-ish. I began to break down as I got near it.

2nd Leg: 8.5 mile run toward the 7 mile bridge. rank-very hard. very dark (4 am, the earliest I ever started to run) & began on a path. last half=city street/sidewalk.

Final leg: 2.9 mile run toward the finish line. rank-easy. finally, but the pressure was on as the anchor. Plus, at noon-ish, it was quite hot. The tutu team was blocking the sidewalk, forcing me to go to the outside & outsprint their anchor runner. My team didnt run in with me, partly because of that.

My total mileage was 20.2 over a span of 29:33 hours. The 191 mile journey was split by 11 people (1 quit at last minute). We were the 53rd open team, 110 overall, out of nearly 300 teams that finished. The finisher's medal was nice, as was the post race. The biggest challenge was the wait between legs. I had to figure out how to eat & rest so as not to struggle significantly.

Thanks to team Beach Running Club:

Berta Rios (did not run but is the Chief Running Officer who made this possible)
**van 1**
Gene Ruotolo (hand picked by me to fill a void)
Carollee Kvaska
Dennis Vivanco
Samantha Malallana
Jonathan Barker
Erin Olbrichi
**van 2**
Yours truly was surrounded by the fantastic four beautiful women, like a dream
Katie Swedrock
Carly Bruder
Cecile Legras
Sandra Schibler