1 post tagged “gmr”

On  June 8-9, 2007, Over 170 teams ran the Great Midwest Relay (GMR).  The GMR is a two-day, 190 Mile relay race, beginning in Madison, WI and finishing at Chicago's Montrose Harbor and I was part of an 11 person team, comprised mostly of fast and uber fast runners.  The race took us about 27 hours and there is no way I could describe everything

 in less than that time, so I will simply try to capture the essence of what we went through so that others might benefit.

You can read the details on the website, but in a nutshell 12 person teams start in Madison Wisconsin and run along bike trails, running paths and small town roads and running paths until they reach the finish line at Montrose Harbor.  Essentially you divide into two groups and each person runs three legs of the 36 leg course (we were down one person so our leader Willie took on extra legs -- after having run a marathon last weekend!). 

After each runner in the first group runs their first leg, the last runner hands off to the first runner of the second group at a Transition Point.  This is the only time the majority of your team is together although there is always one person off running.  After the hand off, the group that just finished their leg is free for a couple of hours (depending on how long it will take the other team to cover their combined six legs) so this is a good time to grab a meal or some rest. 

Our team, Cheat to Win, was divided into two groups:

CTWVan1                    CTWVan2
Howard                        Me (driver) 
Katy                            Sara
Lora                             Amanda
Thorsten (driver)            Dan
Willie (Driver/Leader)     Jose (driver)
                                   Benjamin (anchor)

 
CTWVan1 headed out to Madison Thursday night and stayed in a hotel.  I was supposed to be on that crew but circumstances prevented me from leaving until Friday AM with Van2.  The plan was to gather at Sara's home and head out to a point about 30 miles outside of Madison and meet up with Van1 at the First Transition point.  When I saw how much food we had, I thought, "Well, at least we won't die of starvation...or resort to cannibalism."

Our first underestimate was how much time we had.  We thought we had to be at Lake Mills, Wis much sooner than we needed so there was some drama with me picking up Amanda and driving to Sara's.  had we realized we would not actually start our run until noon, I could have picked up everyone on the team (and got more sleep from the previous night's Away Mission which I won't detail here), arrived at Sara's and had a leisurely breakfast before embarking on the two hour drive to Lake Mills.

When we got to the first Transition point we saw that other vans were marked up with team name and motto.  Some key favorites were Run-A-Saurus-Rex,  Put On Your Big Girl Pants and Run!, and Girls Gone Running.   When our teammates arrived we were pleased to see that we weren't to be left out as Howard had come up with CTW: Free Paris".  They reported that they had encountered wind and light rain during some of their legs.

It can't be this easy

By luck or design, my combined legs of the race only amounted to less than 14 miles.  I think it was because I was one of the drivers and Willie didn't want to fatigue me too much.  In retrospect, we learned that it would be better to have a dedicated driver and navigator who can focus on getting to either the next transition point.  We watched and cheered as runners came up the path and handed off the wristband "baton" to their teammates.  My first leg was 3 miles exactly and as I was fresh, I wouldn't need water or gel, only sunscreen as it was peak tanning hours.  When Willie came into sight I got into the transition area ready to take off.  He slapped the flexi-wristband around my extended wrist and handed me a fanny pack which contained a cell phone and other essential supplies a person might need on a remote path cut off from their team.

My three miles was pretty much a straight shot down a mostly shaded bike trail.  Although I didn't know exactly how long, I knew my next leg would be many hours from now so I ran my leg as fast as I could.  I averaged 630s and passed two runners along the way.  Even though it had been a cool morning and I felt no heat during my leg, I was dripping with sweat when I finished.  In the span of less than 20 minutes, the temperature had increased.  My teammates would feel the heat that I had been spared.

 

That's Sleepy, not Sweet Pea

Each of my teammates finished their respective legs fairly quickly in spite of the heat, most of us had passed a runner or two.  After passing the baton to CTW:Van1, we decided to get some dinner.  Our choices were Hooters or Appleby’s and somehow two girls outvoted four guys and no hot wings for us.  Ironically, after sitting in a van for the better part of the day, we got to sit even closer as six of us were squeezed into a booth that can comfortably seat four.  Our waitress was something else.  She took turns calling everyone a different term of endearment, such as dear or honey.  The team noticed and kept reminding me that she "seemed sweeter on me" because she called me sweat pea twice as many times as she called anyone else dear or hon. 

Our second set of legs (Leg 19-25) started around 8pm, which was still light enough to see but the racing rules stated that all runners must were reflective vests and lighted head gear after 8pm.  I tried to argue that I would be done with my 5.66 miles before the sun was completely down but my teammates didn't want to risk being disqualified for a technicality so in the spirit of teamwork, I donned the headlamp and the vest.

 

I looked at the course map and this time it wasn't exactly a straight path.  I asked one of my teammates to drive to the first turning point so I'd know where to turn.  After our afternoon of driving mishaps, there was concern that the van would need all the time it had to find the next Relay Point.  Our map had the mileage and the turning points listed, so this time I decided to take the map with me.  My leg went through the Root River Parkway and had the sun set it would have been very dark if not pitch black because there were not a lot of lights. 

About halfway through the course, I was looking for Highway 36 to make my first turn.  I thought that my team had left me behind to make sure they got to the Relay Station in time.  I came across a highway and wondered if this was the one I should be turning at.  Dammit, why couldn't my team be here waiting for me to direct me to the proper path.   I fumbled with my headlamp so that oncoming cars could see me in case I had to run on a shoulder. 

I took a deep breath, slowed to a walk and took a gel pack.  The Highway I saw was a double G or some letter of the alphabet and I figured it was best to assume that unless I saw a distinct red arrow, I should keep going straight. 
About a half mile later I saw a teammate!  He stood by the red arrow to make sure I would see it and ran with me.  I handed the emergency pack to Jose and told him I couldn't run with it.  Amanda and Dan had water and gatorade for me. Yay!  My team had not abandoned me.

At this point I was leaving the Root River Parkway and running along a subdivision sidwalk.  The lighting was better and in the distance I could see a couple of other runners on different sides of the street.   Off in the horizon the last rays of sunset slowly disappeared. 

No Rest for the Wicked

I made it the transistion point and there was water and gatorade waiting for me.  I gave Sarah the wrist baton and she and Jose took off.  Because of the darkness, Sarah wanted to use the buddy system.  Amanda would do the same later with Dan.  I probably should have volunteered but I had driver duty and Dan is a young guy with strong legs. 

Since Sarah had a long stretch, we decided to meet her at two key points along her route.  On the map we were looking for 15th Street but the street signs seemed to skip it.  Based on our experience that afternoon, we assumed we simply missed the sign, although with some skeptism.  We doubled back and didn't find it -- the streets went from 20th to 13th (or something like that).  Dan suggested that we were in adjacent small towns and that we needed to go further East to find our 13th Street. 

Sarah made it through her run with relatively no incidents, at least none I should describe in this blog.  Next up was Amanda and her running buddy Dan.  Dan was using this as a warm up for his short 3.04 mile sprin. 

Their path started with some curves but then leveled off into a straight shot, a right and then another straight shot.  We met them along the way a couple times to give the fluids and take photos (see left).

Jose's leg of the journey was not very well lit.  We decided to ride behind him to provide some light and occasionally he would accept water or gatorade.  Benjamin had a 4 mile leg so my major goal was to simply get to the relay station before he did.

 

What were you thinking!  And why did we agree?

During the last couple of legs for CTWVan2, we got calls from Van1 because Howard had an Away Mission of his own.  He had to be in New York for a bar mitzvah.  We got that.  Even though he made plans for the race long before the invite for the bar mitzvah arrived and most parties, celebrations, events can survival the absence of a guest or two (heck, I've been to some weddings where the groom was frankly in the way) Howard felt a strong obligation to be there.  We get that.

And we get that he wasn't able to get a sufficiently late enough flight to allow him to be at the finish line with the team.  What we don't get is that he wanted to leave after his last leg in order to meet his CARA pace group at Montrose Harbor.  A group he wasn't going to be able to run with.  A group he will spend the next 17 weeks with running in the heat and bonding with under the sun.  But he insisted that he be there to meet them on the first day. 

So he wanted CTWVan2 to wait for him to finish his nearly 5 mile leg and then take him to his car.  After all, it was on the our way.  Sure, we could have said no, but we didn't realize that we we would be giving up over an hour of valuable sleep time especially since we managed to get lost on the way to his car.

Being the first runner of our group for the last leg, I did have the option of switching to CTWVan1.  In hindsight, it would have made sense since we would have just had to transition one leg later and there was more room in CTWVan2 with Howard being gone.  And had I realized what an order sleeping would have been, I would have done so.

And that's not even the worst of it

Only Amanda was smart enough to bring a sleeping bag.  So at the final Transition Point she was able to sleep on the grass outside of the noisey van.  There were five of us trying to sleep in a messy van that was only designed for 3 or 4 to nap comfortably.  We were quickly getting on each other's nerves.

In the morning we gathered ourselves for the final leg of this race.  We assumed with daylight and getting closer to home, it would be easier.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Once again, my leg was very short

 

TO BE CONTINUED