Top Row of Men from L to R: Tim, KPH, Trevor, Alex, Row of Women from L to R: Traci, Christina, Becky, Catherine, Caitlin, Winnie (above), Christine (below), Laura
How We Got Started and the Formation of the Team
About a year ago, when I was in the early stages of training for the 2010 Chicago Marathon, I heard from one of my coaches about this crazy relay race. You hop in a van with a few of your friends, drop one of them off in Madison, and then take turns continuously running segments of a 200-mile relay course all the way to Chicago. It involved running through the night, and would last over 24 hours. It sounded insane, ridiculous, and absurd. I was immediately interested.
Last December, while travelling with my wife, Catherine, and her crew of running friends to the Las Vegas Marathon, we brought up the idea of doing the race "for reals". They were also immediately interested, which is probably why I get along with them so well. At that point, we had already formed half of the team - myself, Catherine, Christine, Christina, Traci, and Winnie. It was just a matter of finding 6 more people just as crazy as we were.
Shortly afterward in January, Becky was quickly on board, and after some deliberation with the girls, we came up with the name: The Dirty Dozen. We registered the team with the maximum discount and it was time to recruit the rest of the team.
Winnie quickly recruited one of her co-workers, Alex, and his wife Laura, and they joined the team later that month, and then Christine added her long time friend Tim, and I was thrilled to have a couple of other dudes to hang out with. Finally in February, after a couple of people backed out of the race, we filled the last spot with Catherine's half-brother, Trevor.
Another important component of the team were the van drivers. We all unanimously agreed getting people who were willing to drive us around would really be helpful. Catherine's mom Celia, and Christine's friend Jeff admirably filled in to drive and the team was finally complete.
Race Prep
After seeing the distances of the legs in the race and trying to match everyone up with who they had recruited and make everyone as happy as possible, we decided on the following Van configuration:
Van 1, driven by Celia: Caitlin, Becky, Traci, Christina, Trevor, Catherine
Van 2, driven by Jeff: Alex, Tim, me, Laura, Winnie, Christine
Basically, Catherine and I decided to split up so we could better coordinate the two vans, and I was with three people (Alex, Laura and Tim) who I had never met, which could have certainly proven to be interesting. However, the gold star goes to Trevor for being willing to share a van with all women...by all accounts he won everyone over and was just amazing...in fact, most of the pictures you are seeing in this report as well as on Facebook are thanks to him.
The day before the start of the relay was easily the toughest part of the whole process and thankfully would be the only real major drama within the team the entire time (although Van 2 did have an interesting little experience which I will get to later).
I was really pushing to try to get everyone to the start, as I thought it would be really cool to have everyone there to cheer on Van 1 right from the beginning, but for many reasons, it just didn't happen. First, it was a struggle just to get everyone in town in time for the race. A nasty thunderstorm blew through Chicago on the Thursday morning before the race and both Trevor and Winnie's flights in got cancelled. Fortunately, both of them made it in, albeit very late that night, but I was really sweating that out. Winnie didn't get in until very late Thursday night, and Alex and Laura's flights were late as well, so we decided to have them meet up with us on the course later so they could rest up.
Secondly, Enterprise gave away the van Christine reserved for the second group. Under pressure from other branches to sell the rental, they sold our van to someone else even though we had reserved it. Christine called me at about 6pm Thursday night and told me the bad news, and I was just in shock. I called as many places as I could to try to get another one somewhere else...but literally every other 15-passenger van in the area was taken. I called her back a few minutes later and told her we might have to take whatever they had available...but as I was on the phone with her, a miracle occurred - someone returned a Suburban that they were not counting on getting back and we had our second vehicle. It worked out, but that being said - I will never rent from Enterprise again.
Catherine and I hosted a pasta party with most of Van 1 (sans Trevor unfortunately), and helped pack the goodies into the Van. The Van 1 girls stayed behind to catch up on the real housewives while I went to pick up Trevor. All of Van 1 finally at the house, I got to bed around midnight.
The Race Start
Finally all of the preparations were done and we were ready to begin the race. I woke up around 5:30 am to make coffee for everyone and do a couple of last minute preparations. I drove up with the Van 1 folks as I really wanted to be at the start to see what it was all about, as well as cheer them on as much as I could. The drive up was relatively subdued as a couple of the girls napped. I wondered aloud if we were going to be depressed at all that it took us less than 3 hours to drive up to Madison, but would take us almost 30 hours to run back.
We made it to the start area with plenty of time, and I ran into a bunch of people I knew, mostly from Chicago Endurance Sports (CES): Walter (NACN from RWOL), Dave, Daniel, and Del were all guys I had run with or currently run with, and I got to chat with each of them for a bit. Another guy I knew from Evanston Running Club greeted me, as his ultra team was completely outfitted with vuvuzelas.
From L to R: Dave, KPH and Walter
Then it was time to check in at the tent, and it's also time for another member of the team to chime in:
Traci: Some of you may have forgotten but things did not get off to such a great start. As you may remember, when we went to check in we had neither our headlamps working nor our taillights flashing. Ooops. Next, we went to the security talk where the safety coordinator had to remind Trevor to take off the lens cap if he wanted to take a picture. Things were not looking good.
The other thing I recall about this is that the guy giving the safety lecture was very hard to hear and people were talking through the whole thing, but eventually, after hearing the safety lecture, getting our bibs, doing a little shopping at the Ragnar store, it was finally time for Caitlin to get The Dirty Dozen's race underway.
Van 1 - Legs 1-6
The start was extremely festive as many teams were decked out in a theme of some sort. The announcer acknowledged every team, and then they were off. Suddenly, we realized Caitlin's first leg was a little over 4 miles, and we needed to get our asses to the van and figure out where the hell we needed to meet her, and we all quickly realized this event was part relay race, part scavenger hunt.
Traci: While Caitlin was off, van 1 quickly learned that getting from one exchange point to the next was going to be harder than anyone thought. This is probably the closest van 1 came to colliding with another vehicle while making the first of many illegal u-turns in Wisconsin. Detours and misdirection in the infamous RAGMAG would make this part of the relay much more difficult than expected.
After a couple of wrong turns, we spotted the first exchange and parked, and all of a sudden, there was Caitlin, looking fresh as a daisy. She was about 4 minutes faster than I had projected based on her 10k pace. She slapped the baton onto Becky, and our first successful exchange was made.
We drove ahead and saw Becky and screamed our asses off, then proceeded to exchange 2. At this point, you could cut the energy in the Van with a knife. Everyone was just super-hyper and charged up. After a couple more wrong turns (seriously, why is Madison so confusing..and why do the maps and directions in the Ragmag suck so much), we arrived at exchange 2. I snapped off a few photos of the exchange as Traci got ready.
Trevor starts to decorate the van as Celia and Traci look on
Traci: While Becky was on the course, I made friends with some fellow runners and was able to snag some markers. Our resident crafty person, Catherine, and her brother Trevor, went to work decorating the van. We then gathered to await Becky’s arrival. And this is where we spotted the guy in the speedo. Wow, that’s all I have to say.
We looked for Becky, and after a few minutes there she was, ahead of my projection by about 2 minutes, and Traci took the bracelet and started her first leg. We were getting off to a great start.
Traci: So much for Wisconsin being flat because my leg was certainly not flat. This leg was pretty uneventful other than the little collie (i.e. aggressive wildlife) that ran out to bark at me.
The next exchange was at a little farm as we were starting to leave Madison and get into rural Wisconsin. I ran into another guy I knew from CES and we chatted a bit. Christina was up and she was getting ready. Van 2 was also in the area, and I was coordinating with them via cell
phone. Suddenly, there was Traci, ahead of schedule, and Christina was off.
Traci: While Christina trekked through the trail run, we headed to the next exchange to meet up with van 2. It is at this point that Kevin left us (but forgot his pillow). After saying a teary goodbye, it was time to meet Christina and send Trevor off to his first leg.
As Trevor headed out we headed to the next exchange. As we waited for Trevor to arrive, a runner started approaching the exchange without a shirt on. That couldn’t be Trevor, the guy doesn’t have a shirt on. Could that be Trevor? No, that guy doesn’t have a shirt on. Oh, wait…it is Trevor…
Trevor, shirtless and loving it
Off went Catherine. Van 1 headed out and stopped on the side of the road to cheer on our awesome captain.
Above: Van 1 cheers on Catherine
Below: Catherine tearing up leg 6 and waving to Van 1
Catherine: My first leg was Leg 6 - 8 miles on country roads, running along farms and fields in Wisconsin. I started running at 3pm and the weather was cool enough so I was very comfortable in a singlet and shorts. I had my sunglasses on top of my hat (my fried egg hat!) but I did not put them on for several miles. I also decided to run with my fuel belt to make sure I could drink when I felt the need. As the 6th runner, I had the advantage of hearing everyone else's reports of it being humid, although cool. The terrain was gently rolling and I could see one or two people off in the distance. I took off at an 8:30 pace and was not sure if I could hold it, but tried my best. I remember that there were parts of the course where the fringes of the farms had wild flowers growing and one spot where there were new cat tails growing. From about mile 4 through 5 there was a terrible farm odor that made me want to run faster! The last 1.5 miles was around a small cemetery, up a moderate hill and when I saw the 'one mile to go' sign I was feeling ready to finish my leg. The signage had been very good throughout the run and I was never in doubt that I had had taken a wrong turn. I turned into the exchange area and heard a roar of cheering and noise. I was so excited to pass off the slap bracelet and gave one last sprint to the end.
Traci: Who knew at the time that we would end up back at this very same point while trying to get to exchange 13. More on that later. While Catherine continued we made it to the next exchange where van 2 would now take over. It was here that we all thanked God that it was not our team that had its van stolen. That Suburban looked pretty small to me and I am not so sure van 1 would have done so well had that fate been bestowed upon us.
Van 2 - Legs 7-8
After picking me up at exchange 4, Van 2 drove ahead to exchange 6, where we would eventually see Catherine finishing her first leg and get Alex on the course to give Van 1 a rest and get Van 2 started. I had Van 1 finishing their legs at 4:40 PM, and they finished just before 4:20, so they had gotten us off to a great start.
I had no idea what to expect from Alex. He had put a 9:30 10k pace in his profile, and I'm not sure how much he prepared for the race. His leg was 4.7 miles and I projected him to finish it in 43:55. He stormed out of exchange 6 like he had a bus to catch, and after saying our goodbyes to Van 1, we took off to try and figure out where exchange 7 was. We wanted to make sure and find it quickly because we all suspected he was going to finish it much faster than what I had down.
Alex launches out of Exchange 6 at warp speed as Caitlin and Christina cheer him on
After passing the exchange and having to turn around, we manage to park and Tim and I hop out to look for Alex. We see some runners coming over a hill and Alex is among them, still looking very strong. As Tim is getting ready to take the hand off, I am feeling like we just dropped Alex off and all of a sudden he is at the exchange and handing off to Tim. Sure enough, Alex's time for the leg is well under what I had him at -about 36:40 (a 7:48 pace). Van 2 is off to a great start.
Tim's leg is 6.7 miles and he is a pretty experienced runner so we all thought it would be fast. I projected him to run at about 8 minute pace for a 53:51 finish, but we all suspected his leg might be considerately faster as well. All of a sudden it occurred to me that I was up next and that I needed to get ready. After waiting all day in anticipation I was finally going to get to run!
We stopped on course to cheer Tim on and he looked very strong. I had to take a nervous pee as well on the side of the van, as we were in the middle of nowhere at this point, surrounded by farmland. I was pretty much planning on hammering my first leg, as I had a ton of energy and hadn't really raced anything since Green Bay, so I needed to warm up a bit. After a little jog with a few pickups, the team warned me Tim was close. As he came into the exchange, I held out my arm to give him a good target to slap the baton on. 50:11 after starting his leg (a blistering 7:29 pace), Tim was done and I was on the course.
KPH - Leg 9
Well this is my blog, so of course I get to be selfish and expand a little bit about my legs, since I did, after all, run them. I was really excited as well to do some racing in my new Mizuno Ronins that I bought after much deliberation. Once I got the baton from Tim I adjusted it so that it was comfy on my wrist and then I was off.
I got out to an incredibly hot start as I had been waiting all day to run and I was so happy to be on the course and wanted to start picking off runners right away. I looked down on my Garmin after the first few hundred meters and saw a 5:5x pace and thought "yeah, I can't sustain this" so I tried to calm down and settle in. I blow by a couple of runners in my first mile and see a 6:32 split in the first mile and it feels pretty comfortable. The Ronins are so light on my feet and I am loving the feeling of passing people right away.
After that, the course turns into a headwind and we start to go uphill and I try to just take it easy and maintain an even effort. Not surprisingly, I clock off a slower split of 6:43 for the second mile. The scenery is very nice, rolling hills in the countryside and I am just blowing by one runner after another, it was making me very happy and stroking my ego. Most that I pass are cool about it though, and I generally acknowledge them with a "rock on" pose or something of the sort.
More rolling hills the next couple of miles, clocking a 6:26 and a 6:34. Still feeling very comfortable, trying consciously not to push it too hard. I see my van mates and they cheer for me and I remember remarking something to the effect of "I'm loving this weather, I can run all day in this".
After mile 4 the route turns onto the Glacier Drumlin State Trail, and the trail is wonderful - crushed gravel and dirt and plenty of room to run. It's also incredibly scenic, through the woods, completely canopied at times and very cool. Here's a pic from the stretch I ran (credit to www.glacialdrumlin.com):
The Glacial Drumlin Trail
Next three miles: 6:26, 6:34, 6:37. I am settled in pretty well at this point, but it is starting to get tougher to hold this pace. I am also trying to enjoy the scenery as it is plentiful, but I also start thinking about all of the crap I'm going to eat in the van afterwards.
Last full mile: 6:44. And then something goofy happens - I'm going along, working on picking off another runner, and I see a HUGE tree blocking the entire trail. The downed tree is about as tall as I am, and there is no way over it. There is a small opening underneath the tree on the left side of the trail and I see the runner in front of me bend down to go under it, so I follow his lead and slow down and do the same. Now I have to get going again and finish up the leg, which proves to be a little tough.
Down the trail a little further, I see a couple of volunteers standing in front of a tunnel which gets me excited that perhaps the leg is almost over and I start pushing the pace again. They cheer me on and then I get on the other side of the tunnel and see nothing. Turns out they are just the spotters for the actual exchange, which I encounter after a little bend in the trail, and hand off to Laura to finish the last .27 miles at a 6:16 pace, and the leg in 54:20 (an average pace of 6:34).
The team hands me a Gatorade and I am feeling great...I definitely left plenty in the tank for the next two legs. I probably picked off at least a dozen runners as well.
Van 2 - Legs 10-12
Time to hop back into the van and hit the next exchange. Laura was running the first "non-support" leg, which means we were not supposed to get out of the van to support her during the leg, so we headed over to exchange 10, which was at a really nice little park along the Glacial Drumlin trail. I run into Dave, who greets me and is pretty fired up to run his first leg for his team, Njoy Racing...apparently he has leg 12 and hasn't gotten to run yet.
I also screw up and cross a street without carrying a flag, and without anyone from my team carrying a flag, and a woman from another team quickly reminds me of this. I get paranoid about getting a strike and decide right then and there to make sure I follow that rule from now on (fortunately, no one saw and we never got a strike and it became kind of a joke from then on).
Alex, Winnie, Christine and Tim await Laura's arrival
We are at the park shooting the breeze and I am still pretty fired up about my leg, and then we see Laura, who is in at 1:08:xx, but is nursing a sore leg and feeling a little self-conscious about her time...and it suddenly occurs to me that our van is pretty packed with some accomplished runners and I start to understand how she's feeling...like when my brother in law who is amazing at tennis takes me out to the tennis courts and then just beats the crap out of me with a serve that I can't even get my racket on at times, or a forehand that has a shitload of topspin which makes it impossible for me to get into proper position for a return. I try to console her my saying "Look - I can tell you right now - we will NOT win this thing. I mean, we are 'winning!' (Charlie Sheen) but we have NO chance to finish first here, so just go out and enjoy yourself and do the best you can, don't worry about letting anyone down." I just still hoped she was having a good time.
Then it was time for Winnie to get on the course, and so we took off...in the wrong direction. We quickly realized this, so Jeff pulled into a driveway to turn the Suburban around. The problem is, a couple of other vans blindly followed us and as we were backing out of the driveway one of the vans following us quickly turned around as well and before I knew what was what, we collided with them.
Funny enough, I stayed calm, but then again, it wasn't my ass on the line for the van, either. Jeff got out to assess the damage, and the Suburban was FINE. Literally nothing except for a little paint that would easily be wiped off. The other van, unfortunately, had a huge dent. Shit. Without seeing it for myself, the evidence and laws of physics suggest that WE hit THEM, as opposed to us hitting each other. The guys in that van agreed to try and work it out at the next exchange, and I just hoped for their sake they paid the little extra for accident insurance.
The van was just buzzing with "it's their fault", "what the fuck" and the like. At this point I just tried to get everyone to remain calm, and when we got to the exchange, encourage Jeff to just be cool and not play the blame game...hopefully these guys would realize we're in the middle of a race, no one was hurt, and that it benefited everyone (especially us, ha) to just move along. When we got to the next exchange, the other van driver confessed that the guy renting the van was currently running and that they would just exchange contact information and deal with it later, so that's exactly what happened. At the time of this writing, I haven't heard any more about it.
At this point, we just wanted to collect Winnie, get Christine on the course and get the hell out of there. While walking up I see a runner with a dog that reminds me a lot of Rudy (my dog) and I immediately miss her. I try to be friendly with the dog and it nearly bites my hand off. Whoops. It's too bad all of this crap happened at this exchange because the area we were at was quite charming...a neat little town along the trail (Dousman) where everything was kept up really nice.
Winnie is running a 5.8-mile, non-support leg and it is starting to get pretty dark, but we collect her after 49:45, and Christine is on the course heading for exchange 12. Christine is running a 7-mile leg that has limited support, but we manage to spot her about a mile into her leg as we are leaving the town (where, thankfully, we don't make any wrong turns or hit anyone) and yell maniacally for her.
We then proceed to a large park in the town of Wales to meet up with Van 2 and it is PITCH BLACK by the time we get there. We start coordinating with Van 1, and eventually hook up with them near the exchange point. There are hundreds of vans and even more runners outfitted with headlamps and tail lights and reflective vests and there's food cooking on the grill and it's foggy and misty everywhere else and the whole scene is out of some bad horror movie, it's just completely ridiculous and crazy and unbelievable unless you were there.
Something out of Star Trek...
I'm just standing there chatting with my crew and all of a sudden, there's Nick standing right next to me (my GB marathon buddy) we start to shoot the breeze for a bit. His team started at 12:30 so they are pretty much kicking ass. Catherine gets a picture of us, which comes out hilariously bad due to the misting going on. Pretty much, I look like Sloth from Goonies ("EH YOO GUIZ"), and Nick looks like something from a Pokemon cartoon:
The Green Bay marathoners, reunited!
Nick and his team swap runners and they are out of there in a flash and that's the last I see of him. Shortly after that, Christine shows up, looking like she had just been rescued from the mines:
Christine after leg 12
Catherine: It was misting outside and the exchange area was a sea of head lamps and vests. I treid to take several pictures and they look like something from Star Wars or a Science Fiction movie. Good thing that Trevor has an awesome camera and was able to get good night shots.
I can totally understand now why it is critical to have each runner outfitted with a reflective vest. It was also helpful that we had one head lamp for almost every runner as they are just a helpful to walk around at the exchanges as they are for the runners.
And just like that, our first legs were over and we were off to get some rest and some dinner (since we hadn't had any yet). It was 9:40 pm, we had been on the course for a little more than 5 hours and 20 minutes, and we about 30 minutes ahead of where I thought we'd be at this point.
Van 1 - First Off Time
Traci: As we drove off to our next exchange point we all were excited about the prospects of food and rest. However as we began driving for what seemed like miles, it soon became clear that we were pretty much back where we started. Oooops. We straightened ourselves out and headed south. Becky asked us all to close our eyes (and open them again) and imagine where we most would like to eat. There lots of votes for Applebees and prayers were perhaps said and Applebees appeared. Things were looking good. After our first sit down meal, we pulled into what would be out lodging for the early evening. Ceila, Catherine and Christina braved the playground. Caitlin, Traci, Becky and Trevor opted for the van. Less than two hours later (with lots of loud teenagers in the playground and incessant texting from Kevin) we were all up and ready to go….well, sort of…
Catherine: As the 6th runner in the van, our group had a break while Van 2 ran for the next few hours. We headed over to the next major exchange and tried to get some rest before the next time we had to run. I volunteered to sleep outside and we choose the playground area as it had a very soft, rubbery bottom that was perfect for sleeping. The only bad thing is that right after we got into our sleeping bags, some people showed up to “play” on the jungle gym. This really equated to a very loud group of people sounding like total idiots and making a lot of noise. Now if this was the middle of the day, have at it. But it was already 10 pm AND there were a dozen or more people all around the playground in sleeping bags trying to get some rest. I kept trying to think of what I could say, in a forceful but appropriate way, that would get them to leave. I never came up with anything that did not include me getting mad and saying something rude, so I just let them go on. After about an hour, they left and I think that is when I felt asleep for 45 minutes or so. I forgot to tell the other van that we were sleeping, so I kept getting text message updates on how they were doing! It was at least good to lay down and be still for a little while. When we “woke-up” it was dark and time to get changed for our next legs.
Catherine, sleepy but in good spirits
Runners at Exchange 12 trying to get some rest
Van 1 - Legs 13-18, as told by Traci
Leg 13 Caitlin – As we waited for Christine to come in we helped Caitlin get ready. However, as Caitlin took off, the taillight fell off and brief chaos ensued. Eventually, Caitlin was ready to go and found a friend to run with her through her nighttime run. Little did we know that Caitlin
and her new found friend would be running at warp speed. So we headed off to the next exchange. Becky got prepared and even remembered to take off the crocs and put on the running shoes. The next 30 minutes or so were all a blur and I cannot seem to remember exactly what happened…all I know is that….
Leg 14 Becky – Becky was off on her night time run. While Becky was off in the dark we proceeded to the next exchange.
Becky: I "chicked" 3 people on my second run. :)
Leg 15 Traci – Once again, my leg started off straight up hill. I was starting to wonder if I didn’t get the worst legs and sounds like you guys were thinking the same thing. My leg started off through a residential neighborhood and one of my favorite times of the race occurred here
when you guys came by and very quietly cheered me on as not to wake the neighbors. The run was amazing and petrifying. I think I am the only one who actually encountered road kill. And as I also understand it, it was during this time that Becky was very concerned about my whereabouts and made sure that van 1 never left without me despite the fact I was running my leg. Thanks Becky!
Leg 16 Christina - As Christina was running we headed to the next exchange. It is here where we encountered truly aggressive wildlife. As we pulled in to park we saw a huge raccoon dart up a tree.
Leg 17 Trevor - We were off again. I don’t remember too much excitement during this time. I guess without Trevor we were not much fun.
Leg 18 Catherine - As Catherine was running it was now time to head to the school with the promised endless hot showers and Smores. We once again met up with van 2 and once again thanked God that we had our van and were done with our legs. We decided we would drive on
after Catherine finished and sleep at the next major exchange point but not before Trevor took advantage of the Smores’ bar.
Van 2 - Second Off Time, as told by KPH
While Van 1 was enjoying the mist and the darkness, we decided to go on ahead to Exchange 18, where those who felt tired could get some rest, and those of us like myself who wanted a decent meal could get one. We arrived at the exchange at shortly before 11pm.
I cannot even tell you how amazing the folks were at Martin Luther High School, the site of exchange 18. Christine, Tim and I scored a massive plate of spaghetti and meatballs for the modest price of 5 bucks, and it tasted like heaven. They also had a huge room in the gym where it was dark and littered with runners in sleeping bags trying to sleep, so we set up camp with the rest of the crew. I'm not sure if I truly slept, but it did feel good to lay down for a while and just rest up. I thought Van 1 would be along at around 1:30am, so I got everyone up at about 1:00 so
we could get ready.
Eventually the seven of us, tired and weary, made it back to the Suburban and began prepping for some night running. I changed into my running clothes because I had two speedsters going before me and both of them had short distances to run (3.7 and 2.5 miles, respectively). It was going to be interesting to see how we did, but surprisingly, I felt really fresh and ready to go.
We made our way to the exchange area and sure enough, there was Catherine, smiling and looking great as always. In a flash, the slap bracelet was on Alex's arm, we visited the Van 1 crew for a bit and then we were off.
Van 2 - Legs 19-20
We followed Alex's route out of the high school and eventually found him running on a desolate road following a river. It was spooky outside - foggy and misting. There was nobody on this road except for runners...just little bobbing tail lights and head lamps, and the reflective vests lit
up by the headlights of the Suburban. It was pretty cool. After winding around the river road, we turned off of that road and onto a normal looking street that could have been in just about any metropolitan suburb and found exchange 19. We only had a few minutes to get Tim ready
to run and collect Alex.
In true Van 2 form, there was Alex, looking strong. I projected Alex to finish this leg (3.7 miles) at 34:04, and he came in at 28:20 (7.39 pace). I'd love to see what this guy could do if he actually did a proper training cycle for a race...clearly has has some natural running ability.
Tim's leg was really short, so we hurried off to the next exchange, and I suddenly realized that I really needed to poop. When we arrived at the exchange, I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw a row of porta-potties with no line and jumped out and handled my business. When I got out, I
only had to wait a couple of minutes until Tim appeared, who had smoked through his leg in 18:17 (7:18 pace), and before I knew it, leg 2 was underway.
KPH - Leg 21
I didn't get a proper warm-up in thanks to my impeccable poo timing, so I wanted to make sure I eased into this one, and I felt like I accomplished that with my first split, 6:45. The road I was on was pretty unremarkable, just a straight shot with a couple of random buildings here and there. I managed to pass a couple of runners right away, and due to how straight this part of the course was I could actually make out several more runners ahead.
Next split was 6:38, and I'm shocked how good I am feeling. At this point I am mostly running on feel and I am not obsessed with hitting a particular pace, as I only have 4 miles or so to go, so I just decide to pick off as many runners as possible. The next two miles are just a straight shot on a boring suburban road and I am on the sidewalk just cruising and enjoying the mist. I clock a 6:21 and a 6:24 without really batting an eyelash, and I am still feeling very strong.
The course turns onto a trail and suddenly all I can see is mist and darkness. It is very spooky, but also really cool. I go a few paces and I start seeing tail lights again and I am excited that there are a lot of people on this leg as it is making me not worry about going the correct way and also giving me a lot of motivation to continue to push the pace. I also feel like I am running slightly downhill which is also speeding me up without a lot of extra effort.
The last two miles are 6:16 and 6:20, I am just flying through this leg, passing runners right and left. All of a sudden, there's the exchange. All I can make out are bright lights and some orange cones. I fly into the area and I'm looking for Laura and I don't see her...but after a few seconds she calls my name and I hand off the bracelet. The last .26 miles of the leg I did at a 6:10 pace and the time for the leg ended up being 40:26 (6:27 pace).
I'm a little disappointed I didn't break 40 minutes for what was essentially a 10k, but then again, it was in the middle of the night, on little to no sleep, and I had no idea I would be feeling this strong at this point in the race. I'm pretty sure breaking 40 minutes at the 10k distance is just a
formality at this point, I still had tons of energy when I finished. Who knows if I will ever get motivated to race shorter distances again...they are just over with too fast for my liking.
Van 2 - Legs 22-24
Laura was on the course now and I retreated with Alex to the Suburban to enjoy a Gatorade and get out of my wet clothes. I wrapped up in a blanket in the front seat and started changing, apologizing to my Van mates that my bare ass was making contact with the blanket, but hey, that's how you gotta roll when you're rushing from point to point.
I get into some comfy clothes while Alex helps Jeff navigate to exchange 22. This part of the race is a bit of a blur to me. I am at the same time really excited about my leg but also completely exasperated and delirious. We collect Laura after a leg time of 43:20 and Winnie gets on the course. Laura reports that she is feeling better after leg 2 than after leg 1 and it looks like she's going to be good to go for the rest of the race.
Winnie has a 4-miler to knock out, and we had to really hustle to get Laura settled and get going because Winnie definitely got the memo that this is a race. To be honest, I did not really realize how fast Winnie is until we did this race. At some point during the race (I have no idea when, the second half is kind of fuzzy to me time-wise when things happened) I ask Christine if Winnie has ever done a marathon, and she told me that Winnie just isn't interested in it. Still, even if she never decides to run a full, she could be quite competitive in her age group at other distances with her speed.
Winnie ran her 4 mile leg in 31:22, a 7:51 pace and well under what I had her down for. Just for kicks, I put this into the McMillan calculator to see what she would project out at - and he's got her at a 1:50 HM and a 3:53 marathon. She is another runner who I would love to see what would happen with a higher mileage training regimen because she has very good speed.
Christine and Winnie are rocking the matching Georgia arm warmers, and at exchange 23, the handoff is made and Christine begins the last leg of Van 2's second set. We move on ahead to a small church, where there is a huge grass parking lot, and I contact Van 1 to get Caitlin ready, as
Christine is coming in soon.
Even though most of the team's second legs were shorter, she has a 5.4 mile run to get through. Due to Christine's marathon experience and being trained up to handle more mileage, we gave the second most mileage to run on the team, and that was a smart choice. Christine is a very strong runner who I think is only starting to realize how strong she is. She is very petite and has a very efficient stride and was probably the most experienced runner on the team, having done cross-country in high school and numerous other road races since then. We actually talked at one point and she asked me if I thought she could someday qualify for Boston. Without hesitation, I told her she absolutely could. Like most stronger runners, she has the speed to be able to do it, but just needs to build endurance with a lot of slow mileage. I think she needs to convince herself that she can do it if she puts in smart training and then just go do it.
True to form, she smokes her 5.4 mile leg in 41 minutes (about a 7:36 pace). Again, for kicks, I put this time into a race time predictor (not McMillan, he only has standard race distances). It projects out to a 1:44 half and a 3:38 full. This just shows how strong and deep Van 2 was...in fact Catherine told me later that we were getting through our legs so fast that we weren't giving Van 1 time to rest!
Once the handoff was made to Caitlin, the seven of us in Van 2 desperately needed rest. Fortunately, exchange 24 was located at a church that had several quiet rooms for sleeping and we CRASHED. I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep and I was going to need them for the challenge that lay ahead.
Van 1 - Second Off Time, as told by Traci
While Van 2 was covering 19-24, I think we all agree this was the low point for Van 1. Faced with a detour on the suggested route we took matters into our own hands. While it was probably only 30 minutes the drive to the church seemed like hours. Yet spirits remained high and we made it to the grassy field full of white vans. After about 2 hours of sleep it was time to get ready for the third and final legs. Within minutes of waking, Caitlin was ready to go.
Van 1 - Legs 25-30, as told by Traci
Leg 25 Caitlin - Off Caitlin went. The sun was coming up as Caitlin began her run. It was during this time that I decided it was easier and more sanitary to pee in a cup in the van than trek the .3 miles to the church. Yes, I admit, I peed in a cup in the van! And wouldn’t you know, Kevin picked that very time to call on my phone! Off we went to the next exchange.
Caitin after wrapping up her third leg
Leg 26 Becky - Next up Becky. First, we got lost but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for one lost runner. We picked him up and brought the little duckling back on course and sent him on his way. I believe this is the leg where Becky encountered the boy with the tattoo and what she thought was a car hitting a runner. We later learned (when Becky noticed the cute boy’s tattoo at the end) the runner hit the spoiler of a car that almost hit a him. Apparently an effort was made by the overweight smoking driver to give chase to the runner but the plan was quickly aborted. While I waited for Becky to finish her leg, I continued to debate whether I should use the potty. With Becky not in sight, at the last minute I made a dash for the bathroom. Wouldn’t ya know, as soon as I left, here comes Becky. I hear Trevor yelling for me as I …(you don’t need details). I made a mad dash back out to the exchange with no seconds to spare.
Becky: On my 3rd run (leg 26), approximately 5:55 am, I saw a runner and the driver of a Ford Focus have a bit of road rage. I heard a loud bang and saw the FF stop in the middle of the street and a very large man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth get out of his car in a rage
and start to go after the runner. The runner kept going and the FF guy realized there was no way he was going to catch him, so he got back in his car, turned his car around, and started driving after the runner. When the runner turned left, the FF pulled into a gas station. I had my phone out ready to call 911 but luckily the incident was over. At this point, I had no idea what really happened.
After we finished Ragnar at Montrose, when Traci, Christina and I were walking back to the van, I noticed the same runner guy (due to the tattoo on his calf) and said, "Hey, are you the FF guy"? He said, "Hell yeah!" and gave me a high 5. I asked him what happened and he said the FF almost hit him, so he hit the trunk of the FF with his hand and thus, the fat guy was pissed. He also said, "I told my friends one of the runners behind me probably got the license plate (I did) and was paying attention (I was). What are the odds I see him at Montrose and the only reason I knew it was him was because of his tattoo!
Leg 27 Traci – I was now off on a leg without hills. It was a beautiful path and was a great run. This is where I had my one roadkill. In an unexpected, but truly appreciated turn of events, you guys were there to cheer me on through the park.
Christina awaits the handoff from Traci
Leg 28 Christina - This is another leg where we spent a lot of the time lost. But luckily we made it to the exchange before Christina.
Leg 29 Trevor - This was the shortest leg on the course being run by our fastest member. We had very little time to get to the next point. But we did make it with time to spare. Trevor came in to the exchange with help from the gorilla and off Catherine went to finish our legs.
Catherine takes the hand off from Trevor
Leg 30 Catherine - Once again the map directions were useless as we encountered an immediate detour. As we navigated on our own, we stumbled on the course and decided to pull over to see Catherine. It was here where we encountered the unmanned water stop and decided to do our volunteering for the day. As we waited for Catherine, we filled water cups, cleaned up and help runners cross the street. Good job team.
Above: The team cleaning up the water stop
Below: Becky hands out water to a thirsty runner
Once again, Catherine came by in a blistering pace, and we were off to meet van 2 and be done with our legs. We met up with van 2 at the next exchange and waited for Catherine. Again we all said silent little thank you prayers that our van had not been stolen and that we were all done.
Catherine, AKA Digits, brings it home for Van 1
Van 2 - Third Off Time
Just before Van 1 brought home legs 25-30, it was about 5:15 am when Van 2 arrived at exchange 24, which was a small church on the outskirts of Racine, WI. I heard a rumor that they had cushioned pews at this church to sleep on which sounded at the time like an incredible luxury.
That rumor turned out to be true, but they weren't very wide, so I ended up on the floor anyway. I definitely did sleep at this exchange however, which was great.
I woke up a little before 8 am and sat down at a table in the kitchen of the church and found some coffee and it was amazing. It occured to me that I was really in the middle of something special and amazing and I updated my Facebook status accordingly. I looked around the room and it appeared the volunteers were wrapping up the aid station and so it was open season on all of the goodies - toasted bagels with cream cheese, coffee, danish, brownies, cookies, pizza...they had a smorgasbord of items and were only asking for donations. It needs to be stated right now
that these volunteers were amazing. They were up all night, housing and feeding these nutjobs doing an overnight relay, and were as kind as can be. They could not have been nicer to us, and were just happy to be there and be helpful.
I roused the rest of the crew after having my little zen moment with my coffee shortly after 8, and got everyone into the kitchen to get some coffee and some food. They told us to take whatever we wanted for the road, as we were literally the last team to leave the exchange since
Van 1 and most other teams were approaching exchange 30 by this point, and we had no problem taking them up on the offer.
We got on the road at around 8:45. I figured we had a little over an hour until we had to be at the exchange, so we had plenty of time. We made it over there with plenty of time to spare and hooked up with Van 1 before 10 am.
KPH escorts Tim across the dangerous streets of Zion, IL
Van 2 - Legs 31-32
I'm excited to see Catherine and the crew but this is also a bittersweet moment for me, as we are about to begin the legs that will ultimately end the race. It went by so fast.
Catherine makes the hand off to Alex through a Dirty Dozen power arch
Alex is getting ready to take the handoff, and he's pretty tired, but he's ready. He's got just under 5 to do, and I'm sure he will tear through it. Tim has his longest run of the day coming up, which is also the longest individual leg of the race at just under 10 miles. Winnie and Christine
are resting up and are planning a Starbucks run.
Catherine comes in to conclude Van 1's legs and she looks as good as ever, wearing the "Digits" singlet from Green Bay (which, on the back says "Math is Sexy"). Alex takes the bracelet and we are on our way. Van 1 looks relieved that they are done running, but they are still in great spirits.
Of course, Alex tears through his 5-miler in 38:40 (7:53 pace). Seriously this guy is a horse...he did this race on almost no training...could you even imagine what he would do if he actually trained? Tim takes the hand off for his 10-mile leg and we plan both a Starbucks run and pick a
good spot to cheer him on. Now I remember - it was at Starbucks that Christine asks me about Boston. Anyway...
I exchange text messages with Catherine and it looks like they are going to try to spot a few of us on the course and cheer us on to the finish. They are foregoing warm showers at our home in Wilmette to cheer us on...amazing.
Trevor: My final and most cherished memory came when the race was over, at least for Van 1. Catherine (our fearless leader) proposed that, instead of showering, we spend the last few hours cheering on the other runners at various points along the route. And that we did! Armed with a chorus of cowbells, our van speakers and oranges, we cheered on the multitude of milers and our Van 2 teammates. Among the appreciative runners were comments like, “you just made my day,” “you guys are better than my own team,” and “couldn’t do this without you!”
Traci: We were looking forward to those hot showers at Catherine’s house…As we headed to the finish line our fearless leader suggested that we forego showers and cheer on our teammates. While the idea did not seem so appealing at the time, I concur with Trevor that this was the highlight of the relay.
We get to about the 7-mile mark of Tim's leg and we are cheering on other runners as they go by. Some of them look exhausted. One guy runs by moaning "coffee....COFFEE...." and we all laugh and try to encourage him to keep going. We see Tim and he looks good...he stops to grab
some Gatorade and then he is off to wrap it up, and we head to the Van and I start to get ready for my 6.3-mile final leg.
Lake Forest High School. Yes. I said "high school".
We pull up to Lake Forest High School and it is like something out of a 90210 episode...just an amazingly beautiful building. They have a few bucks in Lake Forest, apparently. I do a little warm up in the grass near the exchange and I am wondering if my legs are going to
hold up for one more hard effort...they are already a little sore, but energy-wise I feel pretty good all things considered. After a few minutes I see Tim and hop into the exchange chute. Tim is in at 1:21:19 (8:08 pace) and I am off.
KPH - Leg 33
Legs are feeling a little heavy at the start, and I am also confused about where to go, as Tim had just come off a bike trail and I thought I was going to go onto it, but the volunteer waved at me to continue on the sidewalk I was on. The route is along McKinley Rd. in Lake Forest, and I pass through a pretty downtown area in Lake Forest which is nice and picks my spirits up a bit, as I run by a young family with a girl on her bike with training wheels. The first mile clicks off at 6:37, and I've loosened up, feeling like I might actually be able to run this leg as hard as the last one.
I turn onto a bike path and suddenly I see some other runners and I pick it up. If there's one thing this race has taught me, it's that in a race environment, the will to pass other runners pushes me to go faster and harder than I even thought possible. I click off a 6:28 and then a 6:23 running more on feel and getting energy from picking off runners. It occurs to me that I'm already halfway done with my leg, and I start entertaining thoughts of breaking the 40-minute barrier.
The next mile screwed me though. The path dumped me out onto Sheridan Rd., and I got stuck at a traffic light, which really sucked. After a few seconds, I was moving again, but the damage was done. Spirits down, I'm trying to follow the signs, and after about a half-mile, I don't see
runners, and the delirium of running on very little sleep starts to set in, and I get paranoid that I turned the wrong way. However, directionally, I am familiar enough with the area to know that I am going in the right direction, having studied the map of my leg, so I just kept going, hoping that I was on the right path. The fourth mile split was 6:38, and that was probably going to end my chances of running a sub-40 leg.
Then I finally saw a runner, and then a sign, and I had followed the course correctly, and I was relieved. I turned left, then right, and saw a bunch of goofballs cheering, and I suddenly realized it was Van 1!
Van 1 parties like it's 1999...
I get a huge surge of energy and toss them my handheld water bottle and get ready to try and push hard to the next exchange, where Laura would be waiting. Mile 5 clicks off at 6:19, my second fastest mile split of the day, and I am wondering if sub-40 might still be in the cards.
Traci: We pulled up on Kevin’s route, opened the van doors, cranked up the music and brought out some serious cowbells. I am not sure if the excruciating pain in my quads is from running or my awesome reenactment of the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders getting their freak on.
After that huge adrenaline burst, I have to zig-zag through a few streets and the twists and turns just kill my momentum, and now I am coming down from that adrenaline rush and holding the pace becomes HARD. It's at this point that all of that energy that I have had throughout the
race just isn't there any longer, and I just can't push myself to maintain pace, and mile six predictably is slower, 6:34. It was a real mental struggle just to stay moving at that pace.
Eventually the course turns into familiar territory in Highland Park and I recognize some landmarks from when I ran the North Shore Half Marathon last year. I see Laura in the exchange and I am on fumes, but I push hard and get the baton ready to give to her. Then some jackass who is not looking almost walks across the sidewalk in front of me, so of course I yell at him to WATCH OUT...very reminiscent of the final moments of Green Bay. Then I slap the baton onto Laura's wrist so hard it bounces right off and goes into the street. Shit.
KPH bringing home leg 33 in Highland Park, IL
Sadly, I missed sub-40 by quite a bit, 41:40, for a 6:30 average pace, but it's what I had, and still markedly faster than my official 10k PR that I set back in November of 2010 (43:21). In fact, I had covered 10k faster in all three of my legs than I did in my official 10k PR, so that PR will fall
as soon as I decide to race a 10k again.
Van 2 - Legs 34-36 and the Finish
I am soaked from my last leg and I need to change. I wrap myself in a towel standing up in a parking lot and it is my only barrier from my bare ass being seen by the good citizens of Highland Park, but I needed some dry clothes, STAT. I am both relieved and sad that the running portion of my race is over.
However, Laura is on the course and she has 4.3 miles to cover for the team, so we are off to find a spot to cheer her on. We see her and she is plugging away, and looks like she is going to make it in just fine. Then we get to the exchange and after the hand off to Winnie, we see that she had a bit of a wipeout near the end...apparently she dropped her iPod and in her struggle to get it back she scraped her hand up pretty good. Poor Laura, she had a tough go of it, but hopefully still had fun.
Winnie and Christine are still left to go and we are en route to cheer Winnie on and Catherine gets a hold of me and they are in the exact spot where we were headed. When we pull up, all of Van 1 is rabidly cheering on runners, ringing cowbells, blaring music, and in general having a
great time.
Traci: Having had so much fun we went to the next exchange and then another train stop to cheer on Laura. Still not ready to give up, we drove to the middle point of Winnie’s route where we were joined by van 2. Clearly disturbed by our delirium and energy van 2 just looked on with
amazement as we continued to dance and cheer. It was here where we encountered another speedo wearing runner who stopped to dance with us.
When Winnie runs by we do a little organized cheer for her, and she smiles - clearly we raised her spirits. Now we are off to Northwestern for the final exchange, and it smells amazing as the soccer team is having a little barbecue. Winnie wraps up her 8.2 mile leg at 1:11:26, and now it's all up to Christine.
Winnie makes the final hand off to Christine
We made a wrong turn out of campus, and then got stuck in Evanston traffic, but then we made it back onto Sheridan Rd. and saw Christine, and pulled off to the side for what would be the last time we cheered a runner on during the race. Christine was really moving...it was a good thing
we got out of the traffic when we did otherwise we would have missed her. After a couple of other runners passed, we saw her and cheered her on.
We headed down to Montrose Beach and Ragnar had a really nice finish area set up. When we saw Christine approach, most of us started to run with her so we could all cross the finish line together:
The Dirty Dozen wrapping up the race
Traci: Besides the dancing and cheering, seeing Christine come into the harbor and gathering with the Dirty Dozen to cross the finish together was the highlight of the relay. While I never doubted we could do it, I wasn’t sure what shape we would be in. It was at this time that I knew
we could always be friends, we didn’t need help from Santa, we were authentic and there was no need to reenter!
And just like that it was over...in just under 29 hours. The Dirty Dozen had done it. We had trekked 197 miles from Madison to Chicago. What an unbelievable, unforgettable experience.
A pose by the sign
Van 2 after the race
Christine, AKA Geneva?, checks off the final leg
If you've never done an overnight relay like this before, I HIGHLY recommend it. It was an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Catherine and I are already working on planning another one...possibly an ultra. We are hooked.
Your 2011 Dirty Dozen co-captains
Trevor: Indeed this amazing experience could not have happened without the contributions of the Ragnar organization, the countless wonderful volunteers who worked in the rain in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, our fearless captains Kevin and Catherine, our resident impressionist/van driver Celia, all of my teammates and all of the other 435 teams! To all of you, Thanks!
As the races get longer and longer, so do the reports. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as we enjoyed writing it.
-KPH
