GO! STL Marathon Relay Recap

Boston Marathon cheat sheet, BAA 5K records, Haile beats Paula, 2012 Boston, and historic Boston Marathon moments.

Friday, April 13th - 4 miles. Ran solo after work - 270 loop and some change. Nice and slow, don't remember time.

Saturday, April 14th - 4 miles. Ran around STL while I was there. The torrential rain didn't make it very fun. Ran downtown and felt ok but legs were a little tired for some reason. Worked the foam roller and the stick like no other to get loosened up.

Sunday, April 15th - ~13 miles. GO! STL Marathon Relay (2:53:21 - 2nd overall, 1st Coed Division). Great time with Gabe, Mike, and Crystal! We organized this race with the intent to compete for the win, but mainly have fun which was achieved. Woke up bright and early (early yes, still dark though when we left at 5:30 a.m.), then drove over to Crystal's house but saw all the lights were off, so assumed she had already left. Anyways, had this nagging feeling that something was wrong, but kept going - called her cell phone to find out where she was at, but no answer. Finally when we got downtown and parked at 6:15 a.m., Megan told me to call the house (didn't want to wake up Pat, but something clearly wasn't right), so decided to anyways just in case. Well, she answered the phone (groggily, might I add), and suddenly realized the situation. Meanwhile, grouped the team together and strategized since it looked like we weren't going to make the 7 a.m. start time. Anyways, 20 minutes later, got a phone call from Crystal saying she was already downtown but was having problems with the street closures, so I ran about 6 blocks over to meet her since she had all the bibs and timing chip, then ran back to get bibs on everyone and the chip to Gabe so he could get start on time. 6:50 a.m., she is in the team tent and ready to go. Not sure what was more impressive - our race which was solid, or Crystal getting up, ready, eating breakfast, driving to STL going 95 mph, finding parking downtown on a crowded marathon day, and into our tent all in under 30 minutes!

Gabe got into the corral with no problems, so headed over to the first relay point which was about 4 blocks from the start. Got situated, while Mike and Crystal headed to Crystal's relay point over in Forest Park. Sat around and stretched, while noticing the 20 mph winds and already pretty humid morning (60-70 degrees at race start). The first relay point was pretty packed with people and basically a circus with all the teams (500 teams overall) and all their friends and family standing with us, so tried to get in position where Gabe and I could see each other as he passed through. He came in 5th place, so took the timing chip and headed towards Olive feeling pretty good. Started the climb up, and worked my way west towards Forest Park. Got up the first huge hill where it leveled out, but then saw there was a bigger climb coming up so got caught by a small pack and started working with them. Got passed by a couple relay runners by this point, so was trying to hang on. Finally reached the top, where we turned on Vandeventer and onto Forest Park Parkway, before the half marathoners turned off. From this point forward, was very lonely out there with minimal spectators and no one to run with. Got passed by a marathoner, but would catch up to him later on. Worked my way up a ramp before turning into the park, and my legs were just tired from running hills and into the wind for the last half hour. Was starting to feel a little despondent from some bad splits and the upcoming FP hills, when I saw 3 relay guys not that far up front. Immediately snapped back into focus, and started working on reeling them in. Hit another big hill going up Wells, and concentrated on conserving some energy on the back stretch of my route. Caught the team that was leading earlier, then caught up to another guy before hitting the stretch where I'd hand off to Crystal. Had one last burst to get 4th place within close grasp for Crystal, then handed off right in front of the Visitor's Center.

Drank a ton of water, then jogged over to Mike's relay point which was 1-1.5 miles away. Backtracked through the course a bit, then got situated and started stretching out. Watched Jackie Pirtle-Hall (eventual female winner and new course record holder) zoom by, and chatted with the eventual marathon relay winners to figure out where the heck we were at in the overall scheme of things. Anyways, was watching the hill leading up to the point when I saw a bright jersey headed our way. Sure enough, it was Crystal, who had blazed through her leg, arguably the most difficult leg of all. Mike snapped out of it, grabbed the timing chip, then off he went. Walked over to the Metro, then took it down to Union Station where we got off and waited for Mike to come in. Met up with Gabe, and saw Jackie finish for the win, then saw the overall Marathon Relay Winners take off. After about 10 more minutes, saw Mike working down Market towards us with no one in sight. Ran him in the last few blocks, and crossed 2nd overall! Pretty cool feeling to make it through, and a lot of fun to cross the finish line together with the team. Cooled down with Crystal afterwards, then hung out for awhile and caught up with some of the other runners. 44 miles this week, 101 miles in April, 604.5 miles in 2012.

The relay was a blast, and ran ok for the most part but definitely some work to be done. Easy run and drills tonight, then watch the Boston Marathon replay and its thrilling conclusion!