My first run was at dusk, 7 miles of rolling hills. It was on all on dirt roads through the high desert. About 1 mile in the sun went down and I was running by headlamp. The temp was dropping fast! I ran hard to keep warm and I'm really happy with my pace, avg 7:39. My team was awesome. They drove ahead of me to heckle and take pictures many times. After this fisrt leg I had a long break to eat and rest. I could not get sleep though. Next year I must find a way to nap.
Before my second leg there was an accident where a car struck a runner. Our team runner was beyond the police road block in the 2AM cold, so I ran ahead to being her a jacket. I hung out with her and the cops for an hour before race officials cancelled legs 18-23. We ran back to the van and drove to the restart location.
My third run was 8.5 miles of rolling hills, a lot of it was on the bee line highway. Even though this race had 350 teams, I only saw a few people. My legs were pretty beat and my heart rate was elevated; I blame no sleep and mild dehydration. I drank as much as I could, emptied my 20 oz of water in 4 miles. Thankfully they had an aid station and I refilled my bottles. I pushed it hard and managed an avg pace of 8:03. I'm thrilled with that. There was a red light 400m from the finish line and I had to wait for it to turn. Me and another runner sprinted the finish he beat me with a NASTY kick, lol. Done!!

Tailgating with the team, Corona and girl scout cookies. The to california pizza kitchen for awesome pasta.


This is a must do event for every runner. They did an amazing job restartigng the race after the tragic accident.
Here is more info on the poor kid who died in that accident. http://www.abc15.com/content/news/centralsouthernarizona/wickenburg...