Running the Colonial 200 Relay - Part 1

Last year I talked about our team's experience at the Colonial 70 Relay from Hanover to Williamsburg. It was my first experience with a long distance relay and it was nothing short of amazing. Our 2012 team consisted of six running friends from Cornerstone Striders and we ended up placing third out of a field of 16 finishers. Not too shabby for a first effort! We had hardly finished the Colonial 70 when we began to talk about the 2013 Colonial 200.

Although it was a year away at that point, we knew that it would take a good deal more work and planning. After all, the distance was almost three times that of the 70 and we would be running 36 legs over a period of almost 30 hours. More importantly, we would have to recruit an additional six runners to get our full compliment of 12. At the time, getting additional runners did not seem like it would be a problem. Indeed, we had lots of running friends ask us to be included in 2013 based on our experience with the 70.

When the Spring rolled around, I applied and was lucky enough to be selected as a Race Ambassador for the Colonial 200. This required me to spread the word about the race to vendors and potential runners. Given my experience with the Colonial 70, I was more than happy to do that and, in the end, I think I convinced a number of folks to give the relay a try.

As the relay drew closer, we began to formalize our team, which was dubbed the Cornerstone Century team. Although I had hoped to include all six members of the 2012 team, two were unable to join us. That left eight unfilled spots. Initially we got our 12 with a few to spare, but inevitably, injuries and scheduling conflicts dropped our number to 9 with less than 30 days to go before the race. After some scrambling, we filled out the team and on September 19, 2013, we headed up the Charlottesville in our rental van. Fortunately, one of our members had suggested taking a second vehicle as a chaser. That proved to be a real saving grace.

After a brief stop at Maggiano's in Richmond for dinner, we made it to Charlottesville in time for a good night's sleep. By the next morning, we were ready to go. We made it to the starting line at Beaver Creek Park in Crozet in plenty of time for the 9:00am start. The relay was originally set to start at the King Family Vineyard, but there was a late change, because that venue had a wedding scheduled. At any rate, Beaver Creek Park was beautiful that morning.



The start of the Colonial 200 is staggered to allow those teams running a slower pace an earlier start and putting those burning up the pavement at the end. We feel somewhere in the middle with a 9:00am start by our Cornerstone founder and co-captain, Andrea. Just like that, she was off with three other runners.

 

 One of the great things about a relay is that you work as a team. Many teams, ours included, see their runner off and then hop in the van to get ahead of the runner and to cheer him or her on. Because you are running on rural roads, you can't follow the runner, but we got ahead of her at Wyant's Store and let her know she had fans.

 

 

Yours truly assigned himself Leg 2, so I headed to the Mount Moriah United Methodist Church and began to get ready for the handoff. After almost four miles of rolling Albemarle County hills, Andrea was ready to hand off. It was my turn to start the second longest leg in the entire relay.