See here for the race report on legs 3 and 15.
...I don't know all the details, but I what I do know is that a participant was struck by a vehicle while trying to cross the Carefree Highway to support his teammate. I hear he's in critical condition. The race officials stopped the race and had everyone collect their runners and meet at Exchange 24. From here, the race started again. Teresa had about a half mile to go when they picked her up. Michael didn't get to run his second leg. I assumed they wouldn't be handing out awards, but they did ask us where and when we stopped running. I gather they're trying to figure something out as for team placing.
Like I said in the previous entry, we were ahead of most of the 350 teams until then. Now we had to start running again 1 hour and 40 minutes behind schedule. At least there were a lot more teams to see now, and we could play the passing game again. I was still worried about how sore I was. I had massaged my foot real good at Teresa and Seb's house. Then I put Icy Hot on my legs. Thankfully everyone in the van loved the smell of Icy Hot. My legs did start to loosen up a little. But would my foot hold out?
I projected a 7:52 pace because I had an 887 foot descent with hardly any ascent. I figured I'd get passed by the customary 2 teams again, but was only passed by the Cobra Kai. They showed me no mercy. I'm just glad they didn't sweep my leg and send me home in a body bag. I got three kills myself even. My first mile was 7:46. Although it was nice that I ran faster than what I wanted, it was hard because the stomach cramps were back. The next mile was worse at 7:57. Then I started feeling better. I'm not sure when the cramps stopped, but I found myself moving pretty good. The third mile was 7:49. Next was a 7:53. Now I was thinking to myself that I only had a 5k to go. I ran the fifth mile in 7:41. The sixth mile was 7:56, and I was getting worn out. Then I realized that I had just run 21.5 miles. I only had 1.1 miles to go. I pushed it a little faster and ran a 7:34. My Garmin measured the route a little short, so the last 0.01 miles was a 5:50 pace. I had got outkicked by a guy that I had just passed. I'm not sure where he pulled that kick out of, but it must have come from some smelly orifice. My average pace on that last leg was 7:48.
Anyway, I was done and actually felt good; no stress fracture. Everyone in the van was so fun. Eddie wore his turtle costume the whole time. People loved it. We went to Andy's house after our third legs to shower and freshen up. It was nice of his wife to allow us in and let us raid their cupboards.
Another fun thing was seeing so many people I knew. I saw Dan, Margene, and Jacob from Athlinks.com. I saw Ran, Chris, and Dion from my hometown of Kingman. I saw Br. and Sis. Teuller, Br. Lorsch, and Br. Causey from previous wards I've been in. I saw Drew from last year's team. I saw Jennifer, Emma, and Todd from my team two years ago. I'm not even that popular!
After almost 32 hours, Rio's Ruthless Runners finally crossed the finish line in the Tempe Marketplace. Tired and stinky, we were elated to be done.
We said our goodbyes and wondered if we'd ever see each other again. It was all together happy and sad and every other emotion in between. I can't wait until next year, but I call the easy legs!
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