Running the Colonial 200 Relay - Part 2 - Albemarle County

Much of Leg 2 was run on unpaved road

 

One of the benefits or burdens of being a relay team captain is that you get to make the leg assignments. It's a benefit, because you get to see the whole array of available legs and make the decision on which runners best fit which legs. It's a burden for the same reason. I spent many hours matching up 12 runners with 36 legs.

Leg 2 was the next to longest leg of the entire relay at 8.88 miles over rolling hills. After considerable thought, I decided that I should not ask one of my team members to do something that I was not prepared to do myself. So I put myself down for Leg 2. It was fine for a while, but as I continued to run, I was afraid I had missed a turn. The course was marked by yellow signs telling you where to turn and reassuring you that you were still on the right path. After running what seemed like several miles without seeing a sign, I began to become convinced I was on the wrong road. What to do? No other runners around me. I had not seen our team van. I did not have a cell phone to call anyone. All I could think was that I would end up running needless miles to get back on the course.

About the time I was getting ready to reverse direction and back track, I saw a cyclist approaching. I waved him down and asked if he had seen any runners. He said "no", but to my relief said that a group was ahead to cheer runners on. I cannot tell you how relieved I felt. Sure enough, about another half mile ahead, my team was by the side of the road waiting for me. At that point, I made the turn happy in the knowledge that I was on track. What I did not know was that I had just started along an unpaved portion of the course and that I would be running on loose gravel and concrete for the next several miles. At one point, I rolled my ankle slightly, but recovered; however, not before I cut loose with an "F bomb."

Steve making a turn on Leg 2 in Albemarle County

The approach to Leg 3 was up a good hill, but looking at my Garmin, I knew I was close. I pushed hard and made the hand off to Mike. The distance and the terrain had been more of a challenge than I had imagined. The great thing about a relay, though, is that you know a fresh runner is just over the hill. It's your job to get there!

Steve approaches Leg 3 to hand off to Mike

Mike takes off on Leg 3

Melissa in her trademark tutu waits at
Leg 4 in Earlysville

A Word About Pace

When I first started running, I didn't give a whole lot of thought to my times or to my pace. Running was about finishing a certain distance, regardless of the time required. At some point, however, pace became more important to me. It became the standard by which I measured myself against other runners. It also allowed me to judge my compatability with running friends.

When you run with other people, one of the first questions they ask is "so what pace do you run at?" If you don't know the answer to that question, it is likely because you are new to running and have not given it much thought. Pace is, literally, the speed at which you run a mile. Your pace can vary depending on the length of a particular race. For example, my pace in the 2013 Virginia Is For Lovers 14K was about 8:16 minutes per mile. For most people, that's a pretty fast pace and it translated into a nice new PR beating my 2012 time by a whopping 22 minutes. On the other hand, my marathon pace in Richmond was almost 2 minutes per mile slower and was designed to allow me to finish the 26.2 mile course. In short, you adjust your pace to suit your running objective.

When you run with a group, you may want to adjust your pace to allow you to keep up with the group. Most running groups have members that run at a wide variety of paces, so it is not hard to pair off with a compatible runner. I have also found that running with others, who have a faster pace, can also help you increase your pace. My Garmin helps me adjust my pace to finish my races successfully and with the occasional PR. Now that I know what pace is, I like it!