Colonial 200 Relay

What An Adventure It Was

When the idea of running a 206.83 mile relay came about I thought “sure why not…how tough can this be?”  The answer would lay in wait for the next 6 months.

Running 206.83 miles from Charlottesville to Jamestown Va was physically challenging. BUT the adventure came in battling the elements, the isolation of a country road at 1 o’clock in the morning and exposing yourself to the varying terrain and population along the route…THAT was tough.

Tough was the start.  The start of a marathon can be intimidating to some.  In a marathon that first step is the beginning of a 26.2 mile battle.  When I started the Colonial Relay…I was very aware that I was taking “our” collective first step, one that would be followed by 206.83 miles.  The next 35 legs of our adventure would provide a new challenge at every turn.  If starting the relay was tough, not running proven to be the toughest.

Tough were the times I was not running.  As crazy as it may sound, running for me was the easy part.  When I was running I felt in control…it was the time in between that for me may have been the toughest.  Being wet/damp for nearly 36 hours, packed into a van, unable to really relax or stretch out after laboring over 5, 6, 7 or 8 miles.  That was tough.  

Tough was getting out of that van 7 times to run your part of the relay, at times stepping onto an unfamiliar road,  stepping into pure darkness and into an environment that was not always runner friendly.  If the environment was not always friendly we also learned our bodies are not always runner friendly.

Tough was keeping your body (stomach) in control.  Most long distance runners get pretty attune to their needs for fuel and rest.  They know how to feed the machine, to get the maximum amount of work out of it.  And they know when to rest and recover.  For this trek across Virginia we asked our bodies to cycle from ON to OFF and back ON again between 4 and 7 times (legs), covering from 20 to 40+ miles sometimes with as little as an hour of rest.  Feeding the machine meant keeping your stomach under control as you tried to consume and burn nearly 8000 calories.  Then there was the battle to deal with all the nagging injuries, chaffing, blisters, and all the little aches and pains.  Our bodies made this adventure tough on us, but the reward at the finish line was worth every uncomfortable hour, longest of miles and the loneliness (yes, I was scared) of a dark road along the way.

TOUGH WAS OUR TEAM!  Team Enofuse!  Our Ultra team of 6 rocked the 206.83 miles in just under 35 hours.  Tough was the way our support crew, Mark and Eddie cared for us.  It was comforting and reassuring knowing that they always had our backs…we just had to run, they took care of everything else.  Tough was the mutual support of our team, when it was tough to get out of the van, climb the toughest mountain, run in the pouring rain or when the night seamed at its darkest…the team kept things light and positive.  Tough was no one on our team was a slacker…other teams complained about running to much, our team of runners wanted more miles.  Our team was tough…we may not have finished first, but our Team was TOUGH 

And finally TOUGH was realizing it was over.  Crossing that finish line was a great accomplishment.  I was so happy to be done, so happy to have been part of this event and happy to have been part of this team.  BUT I was also very disappointed that it was over.  Tough was being alone after the van was unloaded and we all went our separate ways.  

Tough is Josh, Cara, Jon, (myself) Tim, and Terri

Tough is Eddie and Mark

Tough was trying to keep this blog post at a manageable length, because the stories I could tell, The missing foot long sub, We lost a runner, The Indy 500 drive to the only gas station open in five counties, The VA Creeper and his Bride, The chasing dogs, The Tortugas, The disco lights, That’s my pocket, It’s Yoohoo not Yoo Hoe, The horse whisper aka Eddie and The someone here smells.    

Oh, what an adventure it was…