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River to River Run - RunOther


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LaRue Pine Hills, Illinois
United States
River to River Runners Club
57F / 14C
Precipitation
Total Time = 10h 35m
Overall Rank = 155/250
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 3 am. Laid in bed til 5 am trying to get back to sleep. Showered, dressed in warm running attire, nuked Kashi oatmeal in hotel microwave. Shoveled it in with a coffee stirrer. Met the rest of the team in lobby at 6 am. Loaded rental van with gear, stopped for ice for the cooler and started the 1 hour drive to the pre-start check-in near the Mississippi River. Stood around for one hour and 15 minutes. Borrowed a red paint stick from another team and decorated the rental van with our team names and logo. This is important as every white, 12-passenger, Ford conversion van in the tri-state area was at this race. The red paint helped picking our van out from the crowd much easier. Drove to the first transistion and dropped off first runner (me). Drove to next transistion.
Event warmup:

Nothing more than a few strides up and down the gravel road while waiting for my gun time. Five minutes before gun, stand around and evaluate the other teams running in your leg. Determine who you will pass and who will pass you. Line up accordingly. Chat up the person next to you and comment on the weather and how scared you are of the hills to come.
Run
  • 10h 35m
  • 76.3 miles
  • 08m 19s  min/mile
Comments:

My first leg was the easiest. My strategy was to pull back on this one to save my legs for the harder portions. In retrospect, I wish I had let it fly. No amount of saving up could have helped with the hills I faced at the end. My splits here were 8:41, 8:34, 8:45. I remember seeing at one point on my Garmin an 8:00 and I instantly pulled up thinking I was going out too fast. My second leg was slightly more hilly, but shorter in length. As near as I can figure, my splits were somewhere around 8:40, 8:21. Then I see a 10:30, but I didn't run the whole mile lap, only a portion of it and then walked around trying to catch my breath. My third leg was the toughest with the last mile and a half run uphill. My split times suffered greatly at the end. Somewhere around where my leg started, I find a 9:00, then a 8:53, then a 10:15 and a 10:54. These last two miles were my hill.
What would you do differently?:

Take another leg! For the course and the time of year, I was happy with my performance.
Post race
Warm down:

Ride in the van for the next 7 transistions, jumping out to video and bum beers from other team's vans. Wrapped an ice bag around my calf with an ACE bandage and applied Ben Gay patches to my knees. On last leg, waited 200 yds from finish line with other team members and ran (sprinted) in our last member across the finish line together. Walked around trying to exchange T-shirt sizes, looking for food and beverages, walked to the levee on the Ohio side and threw a rock into the river. Walked down to the bar for a celebratory beer, walked back to the van and rode an hour home. Sat in another bar too long waiting to be fed, ate, stumbled back to hotel room, collapsed in a heap of dried, salty sweat and slept like a rock til morning.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

HILLS!!! And nerves. This was a team effort and I didn't want to let my team down by bonking.

Event comments:

I would do this race again in a heartbeat. The atmosphere was electric! The fun level was out of this world. The race organizers are amazing, friendly, and helpful. This is NOT a technical, flashy race by any means. It is a down-home, whoop and holler good time! I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone looking for a challenge and some good clean healthy fun.




Last updated: 2008-02-19 12:00 AM
Running
10:35:00 | 76.3 miles | 08m 19s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/250
Performance: Average
We utilized an iPhone at the last minute as a lap counter. This worked well until the battery died. We lost the last few laps. But we also had one Garmin going non-stop thru the entire race. Only good for the first leg to determine splits, then useless unless you are timing the van. Note to self: next year, bring several stop watches and at least 2 Garmins
Course: An 80 mile race from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River. Mostly asphalt, some gravel, cross country fields, and this year, crossing small creeks! (This is an exaggeration, although one team member had soaked socks from running thru an overflowing creek across the bridge)
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %?
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 1
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2008-04-21 6:28 PM

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Veteran
171
1002525
Springfield, Illinois
Subject: River to River Run


2008-04-22 9:34 AM
in reply to: #1352933

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Master
1420
1000100100100100
Victoria, BC
Subject: RE: River to River Run
Sounds like a great race and a fantastic run Jenni! Way to go ... it's a lot of fun when it's a good team of people you're racing with.
2008-04-22 2:34 PM
in reply to: #1352933

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Veteran
245
10010025
Eden Prairie, MN
Subject: RE: River to River Run
Great race! It sounds like a good time. The hills looked brutal.
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