This past weekend I was fortunate to be able to join the acidotic RACING Reach the Beach Relay team. We started out on a rainy Saturday morning at Cannon Mountain in Franconia NH. The rain was pouring as my friend and team mate Scott lined up at the start. It soon began to rain harder and he was off and running leading the pack and representing aR. This was my first experience running RTB, I had an idea of how it worked but the logistics were a bit of a mystery as we began our adventure. I didn’t really know anyone that I was going to spend the next 24+ hours with except for Scott. Good thing we had 3 RTB veterans in Van #1 as we set out to support our first runner and meet him at the next transition. By the time Scott reached transition #2 he had created a very strong lead and finished his leg less than a mile behind the runners of the group that started 20 minutes before us. He handed off to Bob who ended up passing a number of runners (“Roadkill”) on his leg. In the meantime I was waiting at transition #3 as the GI issues kicked in and I found myself vising the porta “Dave” several times. This is typical for me in any event that I participate in. Bob handed off to Austin with aR having a very strong start in the 2013 RTB, the bar was set high and I was next. My GI issues were under control as I waited at Transition #4 and I was excited to be able to run through anther one of my “happy places”-Crawford Notch. We transitioned at the AFC hut and I was to sprint just a little under 3 miles DOWN the notch to the Wiley house. About 50ft in I looked down at my watch…crap…no watch. I passed one person and was onto the next, she was fast and I ended up chasing her down the whole run. We passed one more runner and before I knew it the Wiley house was in site. Despite it being all down hill, this was a tough run, fast an furious. I handed off to the other Scott and chased down the runner who I had been chasing to see if she had recorded the time. Wouldn’t you know it she had watch issues but one of her team mates clocked her at 17:40. Sweet. I finished my 2.9 miles under 18 minutes. I was pretty happy about that!
After a couple pics we packed up and were off to support Scott on his run then hurried off to the transition point where he and Fab would hand off. Unfortunately I didn’t make it out of the van either times to get a picture for them. I am committed to speed up my run recovery/changing of the clothes so that I can get out for all the transitions next year. Scott made great time and handed off to Fab who was on a 9 mile run! She rocked her run as well and after a quick stop to give her some water we were off to the next transition at Attitash ski area. This is where Van #1 will be handing off to runner #7, the first runner of Van #2. Jay was ready and waiting and Fab came in strong, Jay was off and running and Van #1 was off to dinner at Moat Mountain Brewery-I love this place. It was hard not to order a beer and it even harder staying focused and gluten free/LowFODMAP but I did. While waiting for dinner my stomach started to go into motion and I became worried, all I could think was “Oh, no. Not now.” I had been sticking to my low FODMAP/Gluten-free diet and prepared accordingly with all safe foods. I don’t know why it was starting. I finished dinner, bun-less cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato and good French fries…not too greasy. I thought about a salad but sometimes salads trigger more grumbling and I need something hardy that would stay with me. We finished dinner and headed to the Tamworth where we would wait for the last runner in Van #2 (Nic) to hand off to Van #1 (Scott). We had some time at the transition area so I was able to get some coffee and do some stretching. After a slightly confusing handoff (it was now dark) Van #1 was off and running again. I wasn’t up for another 15 miles but I was nervous because my GI issues were making their presences known. Nothing was happening yet, but they were knocking on my door if you know what I mean 😉 I was given some advice about my leg and all the vets were talking it up-hills. It started out on one big hill…then I was to expect another one down the road. I was nursing my GI, took in some of my natural energy (baby food) stuffed the pouch into my hand held water bottle pocket and made my way to the transition. I was having issues getting my shoes tightened and feeling the way I wanted it to. I am super picky about my foot comfort. I tied and retied my shoes and as I was tying the right one again for the 3rd time I hear-he is coming. Crap. I quickly threw in a 3rd knot and was off. Crap…start the watch. Fiddled with my watch as I headed up the hill. BRING IT ON! I felt strong as I made it up the hill. It was dark and I love running at night. I could see a couple blinking runners ahead and set my targets. It was a long hill but I didn’t mid. I was loving it. Loving it until I got passed. Two men passed me at the same time. No biggie. I had my targets and that would pull me up the hill, that and the support of my team mates driving by and the party that happens every year about 700 ft from the top. We head right on a gradual down hill and I turned it up passing more and more blinking lights. We headed left and that was where I hit the second hill. Still feeling strong, still passing. What the heck was going on with me? I was running strong, passing peeps and pacing under 8 minutes, closer to 7 minute miles. Other than feeling like my right shoe was coming untied (even though it was triple knotted) I was feeling good. Another down hill then some more smaller down and ups. Wow. So much fun. As I was getting closer to the transition as I ran past a bank-1:30 a.m. Whoa, I was running super strong and having a great time and it was 1:30 in the morning! I had totally forgotten what time it was until then. As I was nearing the end of my leg I was focused on road kill #18. I never got her but I ran close to a 7 minute per mile pace in the last half mile. Not bad for 1:45 in the morning! 😉 I handed off to Scott and joined the team. Ah yeah. I was high. I couldn’t shake the smile from my face. My team mates were smiling and laughing…”You have a runner’s high, don’t you?” Yep. I have experienced it after a training run and after some races but never as strong as this. I couldn’t and didn’t want to shake it. Nothing like it! I have never been “high” off of drugs and don’t need to be-this is good enough for me!
After about 20 minutes I started to come down and quickly fell into a GI nightmare. Nausea and the urge to “go” set in. Nothing was really happening but I felt like crap. We finished our portion and I was still feeling ill. It lasted on and off all night and once we got settled at Bear Brook (the start of our 3rd leg and the handoff from van #2) I snuggled into my cozy back seat of the van where I layed awake in awkward pain and then managed about 3 hours of sleep. I got up in the morning and headed past the tent city and made it to the “Dave”. The place was much busier and the lines were a lot longer than they were when we arrived. I was worried. I couldn’t shake this feeling and I hoped I made it in time. I made several more visits, waited in long lines, and camped out for minutes on end in the nasty porta Daves. I was feeling dehydrated and tried eating but was afraid that I wasn’t able to keep up with my nutrients and electrolytes etc. My team mate Fab helped me form a plan to get me going again. She informed me that the sorbitol in my Nuun is often used in the health care field to get people to “go” so I was to stop drinking that immediately (I had been drinking more water and had only taken in about 10oz of nuun up till that point). I have used Nuun many times, and the amount of sorbitol wasnt high enough to have caused this issue, and have never had any side effects from drinking it before but it wasn’t going to help me get over the issues I was having. I have been trying to stay gel free for the past year but after reading ingredients of the different electrolyte and recovery items we collectively had in the van it was determined that I would eat a cliff shot block and mix up some of my cliff raspberry gel with some water. The maltodextrin would provide some fast absorption. I slowly came back to life and was starting to be able to eat some more real food without feeling nauseous. Thanks to Fab I was feeling okay by the time the transition was made to van #1. We were off again. There was about 14 miles of fast running before my transition. We stopped to support Nic and I got out to try to go for a warm-up run. Oye…my muscles were tight. No amount of running stick rolling and stretching was going to work this out. I expected that it would take at least a mile to work it out. We got to the transition spot and after another visit to the porta Dave, a quick warm-up, I decided I needed a lil more water in my bottle (it was getting hot). I jogged back to the transition area and I heard “Sarah, Sarah” Was that for me? yep, I missed Austin. I was being cheered on by strangers who now new my name as I headed out on my run. I was running strong but slow and felt okay. There were a few hills on the route and this run ended up being a little slower but I was able to gain some ground with about 11 road kills. I was passed by four men, I was “woofed” at by one of them (so strange) but overall I felt okay about the run. I managed to run all three races (around 15 miles) under an 8 minute mile pace. My GI issues were under control for now and we had 2 runners to go before we hit the beach. Both Scott and Fab had strong races and Fab walked off her run with the same runners high I had earlier in the morning. Perma-grin from ear to ear. She just set a 5k PR for herself. After Fabs run we made our way to the beach where we waited for Nic. We enjoyed a few beers, had lunch, and made our way to the beach. Van #2 could not get into the main parking lot and were worried they were not going to make it back to cross the finish line with Nic. We soon spotted Nic in his hot pink fish nets and wig supporting the aR buff. Around the same time we saw the rest of our team running to get to the finish. The whole team was able to come together and join Nic crossing the finish line. Bling was accepted, team pics were taken and RTB 2013 was in the books. What a great experience. Its funny how in a little over 24 hours, team mates that didn’t know each other were no longer strangers. Much laughter was shared, many memories were made. As a runner, I know I became stronger from this experience. I pushed myself harder than I thought I would and found out what my body can do. I told my body to do it and it didn’t let me down. I took away a little something from my team mates-running advice, health advice, words of wisdom, and a lot of positive energy. #RTBacidotic