Virtual Running Date No. 30: Fall 50 recap

Hello Crushers!

Sorry for this delayed message, but life has been a little hectic. When isn't it though, right? Knock on wood, we are set to close on our house at the end of November and then move into our new house in December. I know that's not ideal, believe me, but we won't be homeless for a month or anything. We'll just be living with family. If you all feel like saying a prayer that all goes well, I'd appreciate it.

In between calling Realtors, house inspectors, banks, and such, for the first time we participated in a little 50-mile relay race last weekend called The Fall 50. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

The motto of the race is "Go up to Gills Rock. Turn around and face south. Don't stop running until someone hands you a beer." That summed it up nicely! Before the race, the director said he always reads an inspirational quote or passage. This year he chose to read a quote from Calvin and Hobbes, the classic comic strip by Bill Watterson.

Source

You've done all you can do. You've prepared as much as you can. Some days, even your favorite pair of underpants just won't help. I laughed when he read this because a) it's true and b) I was wearing my lucky race socks. Oh Calvin...

The race started at Gills Rock, which is nearly the tip of the peninsula of Door County, Wisconsin. Then you and your team (although there were over 170 solo ultramarathon runners) take turns running different segments to add up to 50 miles ending in Sturgeon Bay. I ran the first and sixth legs. Thankfully I didn't have any major hills. I was running pretty slowly, but this was the first time I was ever going to run a double (twice in one day). Although it was less than a half marathon (8 miles total compared to 13), I wasn't going to take any chances on getting overtired, overheated, or exhausted.

Steve had one major hill and some little ones, but he powered through like a champ! We were very lucky that the wind changed overnight. Friday, as we were driving up with running church friend, Kristi, the wind was so loud and so forceful, it was knocking branches down! Not cool, wind. Not cool. When we woke up, the wind had died down a bit, but the best news was that it was now going to be at our backs the whole time! We just had to dodge some downed branches, but otherwise, everything went very well. We left Gills Rock at 8 a.m. and finished at 4:07 p.m. GO TEAM!

Hopefully, I will get a picture of the van from someone soon. We decorated it with our team name, Dr. K and the IT Band, and wrote each leg on the back of the van so we could cross them off as we finished them! In the meantime, please enjoy a few of these.

The whole team at the start line: Paul, Debbie, Steve, me and Kristi. It was about 45 degrees.

Selfie at the start line

Steve is ready to run! Too bad he had to wait until leg 5 to start!

Ready to go at the start line! You can see the timing chip on my left wrist.
Yes, it's on a SLAP BRACELET! Fun!

Beautiful Lake Michigan in the bay.

The hill.

The sun came out!

It's hard to see, but that sign says "Good Thoughts".

Crazy wind (and hair) at the finish line. We made it!

At the end of the race, we all went into the after-race party for as much pizza, beer and soda as we could consume. By then, I'm not ashamed to admit, that I ate two plate-fulls of pizza. And I enjoyed every bite.

Fun food fact, in the Zagat article "50 pizzas in 50 states", the pizza at Door County's Wild Tomato restaurant was featured. Yum!