Seneca7 Relay!!!

This weekend was the long-anticipated Seneca7 Relay! 77.7 miles of running split 7 ways = 7 happy (and stinky) people. :-) Since I took a ton of pictures I'll try not to type sooo much and tell the story more through pics.

Preparations:

There was a lot to get ready... hotel reservations, renting a van, deciding what to wear running at different times of the day, figuring out what to eat while running all day long... and of course the fun parts like ribbons for the girls' hair and signs for our van.

Starting the pile for packing...

Shopping for supplies

Saturday: Katie, Andy, and I all had to work Saturday morning/afternoon. Once Katie got off work, she and Scott went to pick up the van we had on hold. Who knew that rental car places closed at noon?! That was quite a stressful time, but with a lot of calling around we managed to find the best price possible at Hertz. A little later than anticipated we loaded up the van and headed off for Geneva!

At the hotel we met up with Sarah, Tim, Emily, Jon, and Dylan (the newest member of the Field family)! Then it was time for a pasta dinner at "Deluxe." It was not fine dining, but it did the job. :-)

Katie and Scott

Emily, Dylan, Jon, Tim, and Sarah

Babs and Andy

Ok, so I handed my phone to Scott so he could take a picture of Andy and I at dinner, and then told Andy, "pretend like we don't know he's taking a picture." I decided to make a funny face, and had NO idea Andy was doing the same. I have looked at this picture probably 10 times now and every time I look at Andy I can't help but laugh out loud. Yep - just did it again. This might be my favorite picture of us, hehe.

After dinner it was back to the hotel for hanging out, fingernail painting, and eating puppy chow! Then it was time to go to bed... in a double bed. Andy and I shared a room with Katie and Scott... it took awhile to get comfortable haha.

The battle for bed territory

Sunday: RELAY DAY!!!! Sarah and I had to leave the earliest so she could get to the start line and so I could board the shuttle bus to take me to the first exchange point. It was SO cold (I think it was in the 20s).

Sarah: Runner 1

Babs: Runner 2

I won't go into all the details, but the basic overall day looked like this... while someone ran, the van would drive to the next exchange point, we would roll down the windows and cheer as we drove past our runner, then once the van got to the exchange point the next runner would hop out, someone would try to find a bathroom, the rest of us would cheer the runner on that was finishing, the runner that was finishing would pass a slap bracelet off to the next runner, and it would all start over again. Then throw some good times while in the van... lots of eating, laughing... you've got a solid relay experience.

Emily: Runner 3

Andy: Runner 4

Tim: Runner 5

James: Runner 6

Katie: Runner 7

Scott: Our driver

Scott was actually way more than a driver. He ran every single one of Katie's legs with her, so he actually did the whole relay AND drove. Now for a few more highlights in pictures...

One of our van signs (our team name)

Van fun - Tim is navigating with the race map

Fun in the backseat

Not so excited for my last leg...

Ok, I know I said I wouldn't write much, but I just need to say that the last leg is tough. You've already run twice, the rest of the time you've spent sitting in a van, which..while fun, is not the best for your legs. By this point I was sleepy tired, my knee hurt, my legs felt tired, and I still had 4 miles to go. Turns out my first mile was trail running which included getting over a wall of boulders (I actually had to have a race volunteer help me get down). Then I spent the next three miles running on a less than smooth path that had TONS of clouds of gnats all over the place. I'm pretty sure I ate a few. But I can tell you... there is no better feeling that seeing the mass of people at the exchange point and knowing you're almost done. :-) Oh I also want to note that the race required reflective gear for a few of the legs. I'm not wearing my suspenders just for fun, haha.

Happy Birthday Emily!

Emily's 30th birthday is tomorrow, so for her last leg we stretched out a "Happy Birthday" crepe paper for her to break through. After the race we gave her a cookie cake which we then all immediately destroyed haha. 

At the very end, your whole team meets up and runs the last 0.1 mile together to cross the finish line.

The home stretch!

We got medals for participating. I'll be adding it to the collection!

Team "This is a 5k, right?"

Katie and Scott

Sarah and Tim

Sarah and Babs

Sarah and Babs "in the hood" har har har

Andy and Babs!

It took our team 11 hours and 15 minutes to run 77.7 miles around Seneca Lake. That's an average pace of 8:41/mile. I of course was not running that fast, which just goes to show how fast the rest of my team was. They were really amazing - not only because they were all so fast, but because everyone was just so nice and friendly and positive. I could easily see how a full day of running, being stuck in a van, smelling, etc would wear on people's nerves, but I think it's safe to say everyone had a genuinely great time from beginning to end. It was an awesome experience. I'm so glad I got to share it with people I love and new friends too.