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Hey Zoomy! Have I got some hills for you! (Read 408 times)

    Too bad you're not loving the hills anymore. I was thinking about you during my race yesterday. (I kept wishing you were there running it instead of me! LOL!) It's called the Illinois River to River Relay and it runs 80 miles across southern Illinois from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River in Golconda, Illinois. Teams have 8 runners and each runner runs 3 sections of the race for a total of about 10 miles each. It's almost *all* hills. Shocked It was a cool race and we had a lot of fun but I don't think I've ever run a race where I was so wiped out at the end. LOL! I ended up running about 10.2 miles and did my part in an unofficial time of 1:32:30 and was *thrilled*. I can't wait to find some races over here in Indiana where it's all flat. Wink All that running through the freezing temperatures and snow this winter really has paid off. I felt much stronger than I did last fall. The hills did kick my butt but I motored through them and only walked about 10 steps at one point on my final leg in order to catch my breath enough to kick it in after I crested the hill and ran down to the exchange zone. (You have to look good for the cameras, you know! Big grin) I also enjoyed blowing by other racers on my uphills (where I was purposely taking it easy.) It was awesome to see how much stronger I've gotten over the past 6 months. Cool Our team won third place in the Women's Masters division. (Go Tailwinds!) The team has placed two years in a row. I was really lucky they invited me to join them this year. It was an awesome race. If anyone ever gets the chance to do it, it's *very* well organized. With 240 teams of 8 people each and a race course 80 miles long, it's got to be a race directors worst nightmare. And to compound that it also runs through the Shawnee National Forest so you have to coordinate with all the federal officials as well. The did an incredible job. Everything went off like clockwork. We never saw any traffic jams. When we hit an exchange zone, things moved smoothly. Plenty of Porta-Potties, parking spaces. Everything we needed. Best organized race I've ever run. Here's the race website: http://rrr.olm.net/ Click on "Course" to see the elevation maps. I suppose if you live out in Colorado somewhere, these may not seem like much but to us flatlanders for Indiana ... yikes! LOL! I also mapped my runs out and made them public (I think) if anyone is interested. Leg 5, Section 5 was labeled the hardest but all 24 sections were pretty tough. Teresa
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    rectumdamnnearkilledem

      Too bad you're not loving the hills anymore. I was thinking about you during my race yesterday. (I kept wishing you were there running it instead of me! LOL!)
      No thanks--I just looked at your maps of your legs and those look evil, too! You still posted an excellent time for your 10.2 miles, though. I think I might stick to flat "easy" courses from now on. My body is still pretty ticked at me for what I put it through yesterday! Tongue k

      Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

      remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

           ~ Sarah Kay

        Tell me about it! Smile My legs feel okay when I'm sitting still but climbing stairs ... ouch! I can definitely feel it when I walk across the room. Especially when the Advil starts to wear off. LOL! I just got an email with my official time and I did better than I thought. 10.2 miles in 1:31:03 instead of 1:32:30 that I had on my watch. Woohoo! ;-) I'm already thinking I can't wait to get back and run this one again next year. Smile Teresa
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        rectumdamnnearkilledem

          Yeah, as awful as yesterday was DURING the race, within 15 minutes of finishing I was already planning to do it again next year... Tongue k

          Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

          remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

               ~ Sarah Kay