“California’s Longest Party” The Relay San Francisco 2012
194 miles non-stop from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. Two days of running. 12 runners, 2 van drivers, 2 volunteers per team. 3 legs per runner. 205 teams participating. Fundraising for Organs R Us. The defending champion Team Google runs against Team Facebook. Sounds like fun, right? My running club, San Francisco Front Runners, has been doing this for a while now, and I’ve been wanting to run the Relay, so I decided to run for the team this year. I’m told they have fun every year.
You might have heard of Ragnar Relays, and this is pretty much the same thing as Ragnar, though The Relay San Francisco started back in 1995. No idea when Ragnar started. Has anybody done Ragnar before?
Anyway, the three legs a runner has to cover are somewhere between 12.6 miles and 18.5 miles, so it is not a huge amount of running. The tricky part is, though, a runner has to be ready in eight hours or so, depending on how fast the team is, for the second leg, then the third leg after another eight hours or so. This is definitely going to involve running in the middle of the night with a head lamp and a reflective vest. It will also involve sleeping in a van with five other runners or sleeping outside. I am told showers and toilets are provided at certain exchange stations. So, this is sort of a weekend road trip with a bunch of runners. Still sounds like fun, except that I don’t know these guys super well and that we cannot bring in booze in our vans! What kind of party is that?! So, we’ll see how it rolls. We are meeting this Sunday to get the three legs assigned, which will tell me who will be in my van. I am pretty low-maintenance and drama-free, but my tolerance level for certain types of people may be not too high, especially if I am hungry or I don’t get enough sleep! May 5 & 6. I will let you know how it goes.
Boy, this place smelled so GOOD! Sweet aroma of barley or some sort of grain roasting or fermenting hit me, and suddenly I was in euphoria. And there were quite a few fellow Boston survivors from the previous grueling day waiting for the tour. A huge contrast from the day before were the proud faces and lots of energies among them. A happy place! I hit the gift shop while I waited for the tour. I bought a T-shirt and refrigerator magnet.
I am not very sure if the tour-takers were seriously interested in touring the facility, or just wanted to taste beer and get the freebie, but we followed the guide, a fun and friendly chap, John. This facility in Boston is pretty small, and obviously, not the only Sam Adams brewery. But Boston 26.2 Brew was crafted here. John took us around the small facility and explained the brewing process, which reminded me of my own personal brewing back in the 90s.
I guess I could blame it to the cool weather here that rarely goes above 80F. And when it does, I ain’t runnin’ =)
In contrast to last year’s race day, it was such a pleasant morning at six o’clock. It reminded me of summer morning we rarely have in San Francisco. At the Athlete Village, I was in a singlet by 8:30 am for the 10:00 am start. I stayed in the shade in an attempt to prevent the body temperature from raising and kept hydrating. By the time I got to the waiting area for Wave 1 Corral 7, my Weather.com app said it was 71F, though it felt like 80F. By then, my thought of going for sub 3:00 time went out of the door, but I still hoped for a possibility of a PR. After all, 7:10/mile, compared to 6:52/mile, is a much slower pace, and I had run three 20-milers in nice-and-easy 7:20/mile pace.
The first four miles went quickly and I was pacing at 7:15 or so, thinking this wasn’t too bad. That was, of course, until I hit the second water station and splashed a cup of water over my head. Potentially an adverse effect of such cooling effort, as soon as my hair dried, it seemed the temperature shot up and I could do nothing but slow down a little. The next few miles saw a slow decline of my pace and a steady increase of temperature. I ran for a water station and looked for a patch of shadows to run in. At the same time, I tried not to panic and tried to keep a cool head. I gave up the hope for a PR, remembered to fuel myself according to the schedule, have some fun and appreciate the opportunity. But such positive thinking became harder and harder to keep as it got hotter and as it took longer to get to the next mile mark. A splash of water at the water station became a quick shower, which only gave me a short relief of not even a half mile. I felt guilty of using much water and worried they might run out of water for the runners behind me. Judging my bib number (6263) alone, there must have been more than 15,000 runners following, at least as thirsty and over-heating as I was. At each water station, I stopped and grabbed a Gatorade and a few water, then started to run again in the sea of empty green paper cups.
After the climb, if it was not this hot, I could be cruising down at around 7:00/mile pace. Instead, I did 8:10/mile, feeling tightness in the left quad, but not as bad as it was before. I felt blisters on my both feet and sensed I was losing a big toe nail on my left foot. But the pace was already slow enough and none of these slowed me down. Now, there was no trees or shades around. There were brick buildings, concrete sidewalk, and lots of spectators. No breeze. Hot! An article said it was 89F at some point on the race course, and I felt 89F right there then. Somewhere along the course, I don’t remember where, I picked up a sponge and I held onto it to cool off my head and face. But it was almost no use since it was drying up quickly. So, at the next water station, I picked up an extra water cup and ran with it with the sponge in it.
The rest was kind of hot blur. Garmin says I ran 8:30/mile, more or less. On Commonwealth Ave., Hereford St., and Boylston St., I was running strong but everything seemed moving in a slow motion. Spectators’ cheering sounded even louder, echoing between brick buildings and tall office buildings. My head had the image of the crowds on both sides of the streets going by, almost as if they were the ones moving and I were the constant, motionless. Weird. Just before crossing the finishing line, I raised my arms reaching out for the sky, soaking up the sound from the crowds. Victorious moment. I stopped running and walked toward volunteers who were handing out bottled water. Another Boston complete. I saw Jonathan Warner from Front Runners New York in the finish area. He said he had a rough race, too. I thought about waiting for other Front Runners, but I decided to keep moving and went back to my hotel.
Quite frankly, I feel I became a better runner. It was not a BQ, or PR, or good time by any stretch, but fine performance. I might have started out not quite right, but I was able to make adjustments and finished the race. In spite of what B.A.A said, it was a race as much as an experience. I raced and tested my ability to run the marathon under the demanding running conditions. And of course, it was an experience. The experience I will not forget. The roadside crowds, volunteers, organizers, Kelly, Team Hoyt, and all the fellow runners who gave their best. Congratulations to all. See you again next year!
