At this point in the day - about 9p.m. on a Friday - I was starting to get tired. The 6 a.m. wake-up call, all the driving and stress of getting our team where it needed to be, and the hard run in the sun were starting to catch up to me. I decided to curl up in the back seat of the van while Jay and John took turns driving us to the next transition zone. We got updates from Van 1 that Allen was rolling on his 7-plus-mile section, picking off several roadkills even though he had claimed he'd be taking it light this weekend (in preparation for an upcoming marathon). I was anxious to see how Josh would perform on the longest section of the race - the grueling 10-mile Grandfather Mountain section that was coming up after Allen was done.
If I was getting sleepy, the rest of the van was getting zany. I only really needed 45 minutes or so and then I felt refreshed again, waking up in time to prevent our energetic navigator from sending the van in the wrong direction. After Josh, there would be two short legs for Siobhan and Sarah and some relatively quick ones from Rob and Emily, so we wanted to be in position. We arrived at Plumtree Presbyterian Church somewhere in....well, I had no idea where we were.
If the Tangier outlet stop was a party, this one was pure chaos. It was pitch black outside but there were vans and runners everywhere. People were lined up in the grass in sleeping bags. One dude came up to our van to ask how things were going, then plopped in front of the door to the post office and proceeded to start snoring. We saw Hovis again and caught wind of how CRC's elite team was doing. We saw Stan Austin and the Three Stooges van as well. I don't think Matt Jaskot remembers much from our conversation, as the event's first-ever three-man team was about halfway through its incredible journey. We would see a headlamp and blinky lights and then a runner would come into view and scream his team's name. I was a bit worried that I might not know when Emily was coming, but at this point I still had plenty of time. I jogged past the exchange zone and into the darkness, trying to get a feel for the headlamp I was using. It was almost completely useless but a requirement. I had a 4.4-mile stretch of 19 East that I was prepared to be pretty fast as the leg description said it was a "gentle downhill." When I came back to the van I caught wind of an epic night performance from Van 1: Josh had annihilated Grandfather Mountain, chalking up 17 - that's right, seventeen - road kills. Wow! His time was somewhere around 65 minutes for the mostly uphill 10-mile section. Siobhan, Sarah, and Rob had also run very well and I would later find out that Emily's dark, grueling Leg 18 would be her top performance of the trip, as well. I remember cringing when we drove up some of the hills she would be running but she apparently crushed it.
This is the part where things went slightly wrong. I was talking to Josh after Van 1 arrived and soaking in the motivation for what I thought would be a short, fast leg when I realized my safety vest was going to fall off when I ran. He went back to his van and found another one for me to try. As I was jogging back to the EZ Rob came over yelling at me that Emily was standing at the exchange zone waiting for me. I panicked and darted over there to grab the bracelet and yell out my race number. I was embarrassed and knew I would need to apologize to Emily later, but first things first: I had to run! Van 2 was on once again as I took off through the night in search of roadkills.
I quickly became very angry with whoever described this leg as a "gentle downhill." It was more like a false flat with a couple of steep uphills. I had been determined to go fast, however, and so I churned on. I flew past a couple runners who offered encouragement as I tried to reciprocate it. 1,2,3 roadkills. I went up another hill in the pitch black night, unable to see much of anything until the other teams' vans started flying past me. I looked at my watch a couple times and realized I was turning 6:30 miles - not bad for someone who hadn't done much running this summer, huh? I kept mowing down every set of blinky lights that I saw as my roadkill total reached 8 runners in a mere 4 miles. As I approached the exchange zone I was really moving after coming up yet another hill. This was a small, crowded zone at the Green Valley Fire Department and I couldn't see anyone. I started yelling, "Stache and Dash!!" to the sound of cheers from my van mates. Jay was there and ready and we executed a perfect bracelet slap as he took off up the mountain.
Watching Jay pick off road kill after road kill in this tough seven-mile section was quite entertaining. He was flying. When he got back in the van I think he told us he had passed 13 people. Like me, Jay was pretty motivated by hearing how well Josh had run and didn't want to be outdone! After a quick warmup, Julie was off to run the shortest, fastest leg of the race - 2.4 miles of mostly downhill. She was flying as we passed her - clearly a talented runner who looked motivated and intense. As Lauren warmed up at the next exchange zone, Jay and I started goofing off. It was about 2 a.m. at this point and I was beyond delirious. There was an Ingles grocery store here and so Jay and I went inside in an attempt to refill our nearly empty water cooler. While Julie handed off to Lauren and Adrienne warmed up down at the parking lot, Jay and I stocked back up on supplies. Lauren and Adrienne were about to embark on two very long, very dark and desolate stretches of the course. I think this is the only time in the whole trip that Lauren wasn't smiling as I tried to reassure them both that the course was crowded at this point and they should see several runners as well as other teams' vans. Surely enough, when we passed Lauren on Leg 22 she was smiling again, and running strong. Julie had added quite a few road kills to our team total on the previous leg and it was time for Adrienne to get ready, as well. I was starting to lose it again and in dire need of sleep but I wanted to stay awake long enough to make sure my girlfriend was safe. When we passed her going up a hill, I was worried as it was very dark and we were in the woods in the middle of nowhere. But I noticed there was a caravan coming up the hill behind me and I felt confident there was nothing to worry about. I'd heard stories about weird things happening here during the desolate midnight runs, but we didn't have any problems at all. Jay jogged down the hill to look for Adrienne as she brought it in and handed off to John.
John dominated his short, 3.2-mile leg and the crew helped themselves to some baked potatoes at the transition zone while I crawled in the back seat. Stache and Dash had completed 24 of 36 legs after flying through the night. It was about 4:30 on Saturday morning when I finally fell asleep.
If I was getting sleepy, the rest of the van was getting zany. I only really needed 45 minutes or so and then I felt refreshed again, waking up in time to prevent our energetic navigator from sending the van in the wrong direction. After Josh, there would be two short legs for Siobhan and Sarah and some relatively quick ones from Rob and Emily, so we wanted to be in position. We arrived at Plumtree Presbyterian Church somewhere in....well, I had no idea where we were.
If the Tangier outlet stop was a party, this one was pure chaos. It was pitch black outside but there were vans and runners everywhere. People were lined up in the grass in sleeping bags. One dude came up to our van to ask how things were going, then plopped in front of the door to the post office and proceeded to start snoring. We saw Hovis again and caught wind of how CRC's elite team was doing. We saw Stan Austin and the Three Stooges van as well. I don't think Matt Jaskot remembers much from our conversation, as the event's first-ever three-man team was about halfway through its incredible journey. We would see a headlamp and blinky lights and then a runner would come into view and scream his team's name. I was a bit worried that I might not know when Emily was coming, but at this point I still had plenty of time. I jogged past the exchange zone and into the darkness, trying to get a feel for the headlamp I was using. It was almost completely useless but a requirement. I had a 4.4-mile stretch of 19 East that I was prepared to be pretty fast as the leg description said it was a "gentle downhill." When I came back to the van I caught wind of an epic night performance from Van 1: Josh had annihilated Grandfather Mountain, chalking up 17 - that's right, seventeen - road kills. Wow! His time was somewhere around 65 minutes for the mostly uphill 10-mile section. Siobhan, Sarah, and Rob had also run very well and I would later find out that Emily's dark, grueling Leg 18 would be her top performance of the trip, as well. I remember cringing when we drove up some of the hills she would be running but she apparently crushed it.
 |
| Things got a little weird at Exchange Zone 18. |
This is the part where things went slightly wrong. I was talking to Josh after Van 1 arrived and soaking in the motivation for what I thought would be a short, fast leg when I realized my safety vest was going to fall off when I ran. He went back to his van and found another one for me to try. As I was jogging back to the EZ Rob came over yelling at me that Emily was standing at the exchange zone waiting for me. I panicked and darted over there to grab the bracelet and yell out my race number. I was embarrassed and knew I would need to apologize to Emily later, but first things first: I had to run! Van 2 was on once again as I took off through the night in search of roadkills.
I quickly became very angry with whoever described this leg as a "gentle downhill." It was more like a false flat with a couple of steep uphills. I had been determined to go fast, however, and so I churned on. I flew past a couple runners who offered encouragement as I tried to reciprocate it. 1,2,3 roadkills. I went up another hill in the pitch black night, unable to see much of anything until the other teams' vans started flying past me. I looked at my watch a couple times and realized I was turning 6:30 miles - not bad for someone who hadn't done much running this summer, huh? I kept mowing down every set of blinky lights that I saw as my roadkill total reached 8 runners in a mere 4 miles. As I approached the exchange zone I was really moving after coming up yet another hill. This was a small, crowded zone at the Green Valley Fire Department and I couldn't see anyone. I started yelling, "Stache and Dash!!" to the sound of cheers from my van mates. Jay was there and ready and we executed a perfect bracelet slap as he took off up the mountain.
Watching Jay pick off road kill after road kill in this tough seven-mile section was quite entertaining. He was flying. When he got back in the van I think he told us he had passed 13 people. Like me, Jay was pretty motivated by hearing how well Josh had run and didn't want to be outdone! After a quick warmup, Julie was off to run the shortest, fastest leg of the race - 2.4 miles of mostly downhill. She was flying as we passed her - clearly a talented runner who looked motivated and intense. As Lauren warmed up at the next exchange zone, Jay and I started goofing off. It was about 2 a.m. at this point and I was beyond delirious. There was an Ingles grocery store here and so Jay and I went inside in an attempt to refill our nearly empty water cooler. While Julie handed off to Lauren and Adrienne warmed up down at the parking lot, Jay and I stocked back up on supplies. Lauren and Adrienne were about to embark on two very long, very dark and desolate stretches of the course. I think this is the only time in the whole trip that Lauren wasn't smiling as I tried to reassure them both that the course was crowded at this point and they should see several runners as well as other teams' vans. Surely enough, when we passed Lauren on Leg 22 she was smiling again, and running strong. Julie had added quite a few road kills to our team total on the previous leg and it was time for Adrienne to get ready, as well. I was starting to lose it again and in dire need of sleep but I wanted to stay awake long enough to make sure my girlfriend was safe. When we passed her going up a hill, I was worried as it was very dark and we were in the woods in the middle of nowhere. But I noticed there was a caravan coming up the hill behind me and I felt confident there was nothing to worry about. I'd heard stories about weird things happening here during the desolate midnight runs, but we didn't have any problems at all. Jay jogged down the hill to look for Adrienne as she brought it in and handed off to John.
John dominated his short, 3.2-mile leg and the crew helped themselves to some baked potatoes at the transition zone while I crawled in the back seat. Stache and Dash had completed 24 of 36 legs after flying through the night. It was about 4:30 on Saturday morning when I finally fell asleep.
