Market to Market

We are home from a successful run at this year's Market to Market Relay. This was our first time running the race, and our team was a hodge-podge of people who hadn't all met before. Many of our teammates met one another in the van yesterday morning at 6:45 when we started. I have to say---I was a bit nervous about finishing in a decent time, being in a van for people we hardly know for 10+ hours, not puking while running, etc. But...it was a GREAT time. We finished the race in 10 hours and 25 minutes---a little over an hour faster than our projected finish time; we ran at an 8:19/mile pace for the entire race. And we finished 123 out of 250 teams!

Here were some highlights:

1. Hanging out with chill people all day long. We had never met Tyler and Nolan; Tim and Analisa were acquaintances before, but we got to know them much better yesterday; we knew Ryan pretty well, but got to know a new side of him, and Lena is an old friend who we haven't talked with in quite some time. Despite being sweaty, tired, and hot--the day flew by because we enjoyed ourselves so much.

2. Watching everyone push themselves to new limits. Some of us ran two legs of the relay, some ran three--but we all pushed it. After Nolan's two runs he said those were the hardest runs he'd ever done. Ryan (who is not a runner and signed up for our team on a whim) pushed himself to the point of puking during his last leg; and as Lena handed the baton to Tyler at our last exchange point, the sheer look of determination on her face was enough to scare anyone away! Nate came across his first exchange point after his 5.41 leg looking like a million bucks; Tyler, Analisa, and Tim (who are all experienced runners) ran excellent splits, pushing themselves to pass as many teams as possible. I earned two new PR's running my first 4.68 hilly run at an 8:08 pace, and my last 2.66 flat run at a 7:54 pace. It was so awesome to cheer on one another throughout the day and witness a new level of accomplishment for each person.

Nate and Ryan are actually in the background of this news clip (Market to Market Relay - the Race from Omaha to Lincoln) if you're interested :) Here's a few photos from the event:

These are before and after shots of Ryan...I'm sure you can guess which is which! Ryan did not train much for the event, but he did an awesome job with some brutal runs. His sense of humor was great for our team!











Our team: The Undecideds
Tyler, Tim, Analisa, Ryan, Lena, Nolan, Me, Nate