River to Sea Relay

7 competitors (3 river-women and 4 sea-men)set out from Delaware river in Milford, New Jersey to conquer the 92 mile course to Manasquan and the Atlantic Ocean. It was hot, sunny and humid, some would call it stifling but everyone performed better than expected.

We arrived at the start with little time to spare, grabbed our numbers, hit the bathrooms, laid down some ground rules and suddenly Lee was on his way running the first leg of the course. You'd think 92 miles would drag, that the day would seem forever long, especially when your waiting for someone to run a 9 mile leg but this really isn't the case. You are constantly in motion, supporting the current runner every couple miles, moving the next runner into position, and running.

Lee nailed his first leg and Devon followed with 8 solid miles in leg #2. By now the competition and the temps were heating up. Shanley passed a few on the 3rd leg and Ian took the baton for leg 4, "The Beast". Somehow he finished it in an insane 49 minutes and then it was my turn for leg 5.

A somewhat hilly leg with limited shade and a lot of sweat. It was 6.5 miles and I was hoping to finish in under 42 minutes. I didn't want to go all out because I would be running later in the day so I tried to keep things around tempo pace. My stomach cramped early, I think because of to much water before starting, but it eased up after a few miles and I fell into a groove. It's tough to race in the full heat of day and by mile 4 I was really praying for the finish, just counting down the minutes.

There are no mile markers so your never sure of your exact position or pace. I felt like I was on target for sub 42 but with about 1/2 mile to go I could see the end of the leg I was going to miss 42, but not by much. I tagged Heather's hand somewhere around 42:20 and she was on her way. I felt like I raced hard but not all out, just about the effort I was looking for.

The next several hours were incredibly hot and I could see it in the pain on the runners faces. It was the hottest portion of the day and the shade was limited. People were walking, and struggling to get through. I was proud of my teammates for running well in such miserable conditions. We really did pull together with great support which enabled everybody to run their best in the conditions.

I was up again for the second to last leg of the day, 8 miles to the shore town of Manasquan. It was tougher than I expected and after an initial quick mile my pace started to fall off. Miles 2 through 4 were really a struggle and I was just trying to maintain pace. My team was there to support me nearly every mile and half until I reached a more secluded trail for the last 3 mile of the leg.

I concentrated on my form, breathing and passing the guy in front of me in the last 3 miles. There was shade and things were cooler but I was still struggling. The final 1.5 miles were marked in 1/4 mile intervals and I could see that my pace was almost exactly 7:00. I was hoping for better but it wasn't in the cards. In the last 1/4 mile I was able to pass one more runner and hand-off again to Heather who wrapped up the race with 2.5 miles to the beach.

We finished at 7:14 pm, 10 hours and 24 minutes after we started, and sub 7:00 pace for the race. A truly great showing for our team and better than I think any of us expected. We were the 6th mixed team to finish. We took a dip in the ocean and then headed back to Ian's friends house for a great meal, a few beers, and then bed.