Good morning! It's post-race day!

Wow!  What a truly incredible experience this has been!  I write this to you as I sit in a chair, overlooking the water, with the sun rising just to my right and boats going by, all from the Key West Navy Base.  Does it get any more awesome than this?

Let me catch you up on where things left off (blog-wise) yesterday.  So Hans was doing 2 miles (from MM4 to MM2).  The last place where a runner change could happen was right by Key West Airport, so the team van pulled in there, and we all got out to go wait for Hans' arrival.  I had my music going and was pumped to be the official runner of the final relay leg of the day!  At certain points during the race (the start, 25 miles in, 50 miles in, 75 miles in, and the end), a runner has to wear a timing band around his/her ankle and go through the designated area in order to get the time recorded.  I had the band strapped to my ankle & was set!

One of the race rules is that if anyone is running after 7:30pm, that person must where reflective gear that can be seen 360 degrees around and there must be flashing lights on the front and back.  The team purchased a reflective harness/belt/suspender type thingy on Friday.  Because I was going to be the official last-leg runner, I had to have that on, so when Hans got to MM2, he transferred the get-up to me.  Together, we both ran the last 2 miles down toward the finish line where we met up with the rest of the team with about a quarter mile to go.  It was amazing to be able to have the whole team cross together!  Beau had a Coast Guard flag that he carried, and we all wore our blue Run to Remember shirts.  (Note to self: get a picture of the shirt!)

So here's an ironic moment.  All day, I've had my phone with me so I could have my RunKeeper app going in order to know my pace, distance, and time.  I was pretty good about starting it & stopping at at the right times.  Of all of the times when I ran yesterday, when do you think was the ONLY time I forgot to stop it immediately?  Yup, the finish line!!!!  :-)  But have no fear, it didn't take me that long to realize that it was still going, and I stopped it in time to still have that final leg's average pace be under 8 minutes per mile!  If I had truly stopped it when we crossed the finish line, the average might have been another second or two faster; but at that point, does it really matter?  We finished the Keys100!!!!!

Below is a snapshot of the day's activities from RunKeeper.  Not too shabby, huh?

Here's a picture of the team after crossing the finish line.  Notice the beers in our hands!

(The glowing stuff you see me trying to tuck behind my back is that reflective vest/harness/suspender thing-a-ma-bob.)

In addition to the finisher medals (which are quite cool, by the way), each person got a Keys100 sticker.  I went back later & asked for a second one; I want one for my car and one for a yet-to-be-gotten race memories bulletin board that I've been wanting to do.

 

 

So, you're probably asking yourself, how did we do, right?  Well, here it is!  (http://keys100.com/index.php/2013-results/2013-teams)  The winning team, which wasn't us, had a time of about 9 hours and 24 minutes.  I haven't done the math yet, and I don't think my brain is functioning at that level yet, but I know that's fast!  In fact, both the 1st place team from this year and the 2nd place team beat the previous record for a relay team that was set in 2010!  Team 5 finished in 14 hours, 29 minutes, and 23 seconds.  We were 39th out of 104 teams that did finish!  Go Team 5!!!!

 

Overall, I couldn't have been more thrilled with this entire experience.  And to think that it's been less than a month since I knew I'd be doing this makes it all the more special!  Going into races, I usually set 2 goals for myself.  (Well, maybe I should say "3 goals" with the first one being just to finish it, regardless of the distance, but that's probably understood, right????)  My first goal is always a "I'd be happy if my pace was ____" type of goal.  My second is a "I'd be really, really happy if my pace was ____."  After joining Team 5 and learning that their pace last year was 8:22 per mile, my level 1 goal was to be able to have my overall pace average be under that, even if it was just by 1 second.  (Notice that left me some leeway in case I had one really good run but then 2 not-so-good runs.)  My level 2 goal was to have my overall pace average be under 8 minutes per mile.  I truthfully wasn't sure I could do that.  I knew I'd have a good run in the morning while the sun was still low, but didn't know if I'd blow it once it got super sunny & hot.  You've got to ask Dave about my texts to him!  After each run, I'd send my pace and be super excited that it was under 8 minutes per mile.  As the day wore on, and (truthfully) I got tireder and tireder, I didn't know if I could keep it up...but I did!  I met my level 2 goal!  Woo hoo times a million!!!!  Later today, maybe on the ride home, I'll try to do the math and see what the overall average pace was over the 6 legs I did.  Have no fear, blog readers, I'll share it with you!  I also want to see what my final distance was.  Just estimating it from the RunKeeper info, I'm betting it was in the 18-18.5 mile range.  Not too bad for these chicken legs, huh????

 

Speaking of the chicken legs, I'll be honest, they're sore.  My calves feel like a million bucks, and I really think that's because I wore the Zensah compression sleeves all day!  (So happy I never took them off despite the heat that was upon us from about 10am to 6pm!)  Those sleeves are worth every penny!  Plus, they're pink tie-dye!  Does it get any cuter?!  So the calves feel great, but my upper legs are sore.  Maybe my million dollar idea should be for a compression thigh sleeve!!  My feet feel good; no blisters at all!  (Love those $15 Thorlo socks!!!)  Didn't get sunburned at all, and that might be the biggest feat of the day!  (I thought the UV index only went up to 10, but the Weather Channel app had the UV index at 11 yesterday!!!!)

 

I'll post more later, but before I go (for now), let me say "thanks" to each one of you who's either read the blog, emailed me, called me, texted me, or even just said "have a good race" before I left on Friday!  Love & hugs to you all!!!!