Big long race.

Once again, even though terribly out of shape, I got sucked into the Mt. Tussey 50 mile relay. My combined total of preparatory training runs? 2! And, it didn’t help that they gave me the 2 hardest legs in the course, (well… according to their website. I think John’s leg#5 was as hard as my other two, but whatever. It sounds good).

However, I got used to biking about an hour a day or more in Japan, and I haven’t been slacking here. I try to keep my heart rate up when I bike, and I wanted to see how I would handle doing both an uphill 6 and uphill 5 mile leg for them.

Turns out it went pretty well. I actually sprained my ankle 3 minutes before the race, and it was already swollen by the time Scott handed off to me. But, somehow I managed to do both legs alright. I opened up a big lead on the PSU cycling team (we’re “best enemies”) on my first leg, and after they passed us again, I opened up another big lead on them in my 2nd leg. My angle was like a softball and dark red the next day, but… worth it

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and I took some shots. Here they are. Enjoy. Oh yeah, and I – took a photo of the shell from the Striker, I’ll put that at the end.

 Morning. From my balcony.

 Walking to the Weis Market to meet the team and pick up some food items.

Scott – on the team, and a Christian brother

Weis – closed until 7

 2 power bars, 2 bagels, 6 flavored waters and a Gatorade. And an applefritter. I think people are waaaay to worried about what they eat beforehand. I spent the previous day loading up on donuts, and between legs ate the apple fritter. mmmmm. But I did run out of water, after my 2nd leg. That sucked.

 Ryan, munching on something healthy

Jason, team organizer

Dave – loong distance guy. He picked up the tab for the race. Nice guy.

 Chris – on the team last year, and also a Christian brother

 Mmmm. Bagel. Actually, I don’t really like bagels. I like donuts. Oh well.

 Driving to the course start.

Messing around before the race

 The cycling team – Ryan’s friends

Play our intro music here

 Ryan cruising up the first leg

 Ryan hands off to Jason

 Jason hands off to Scott

 Scott fiddles around with the baton

 The cycling team

 I hand off to Chris.

 Random runners

 Dave hands off to Ryan, for his second leg

 Jason neck and neck with the cycling team… around mile 30. It’s amazing we are still so even after 30 miles.

 Jason hands off to Scott again. The red haired guy is cycling team, again

 Dave finishing up the last leg. We are about 3-4 minutes ahead!

 I tragically miss the finish. But here we are, all lined up and happy like. Good race!

And also, you don’t want one of bullets housed in these things to be fired at you.

~ by timu on September 26, 2007.