Three years after running 2:47:55 at CIM, I came back with half the distance and a much less intelligent plan.
Ted Brakob and I were running the two-person relay. I would take the first half from Folsom. Ted would take the second half into Sacramento. Amanda and Ted's girlfriend Kristine had a relay team too, so the whole thing felt like a group project where everybody had to run thirteen miles.
Our team name was “CIM Relay champions 2022.” No pressure.
I went through 5K in 17:36 and 10K in 35:24. The 15K split was 54:10. I set PRs at all three distances on the way to setting a half marathon PR, which is one way to explain what happened next.
The hills started collecting their payment.
I made it to the exchange in 1:16:47, fifth among the relay teams. The handoff was not especially elegant. I got past the timing mat, put my hands on my knees, and let Ted pull the timing bracelet off my ankle so he could get moving.
My Strava title afterward was the complete race analysis: “1:16:44 did not respect the hills and paid for it.”
Now I had nothing to do except watch the tracker and send increasingly optimistic updates. Partway through Ted's leg I wrote, “currently in 3rd but seeking victory lol.”
Ted kept moving us forward. We were third at 25K, still third at 35K, second at 40K, and first at the finish. His half was 1:17:34. Our total was 2:34:21, good for first out of 418 relay teams.
The final update required less analysis: “Lol we won.”
I had not run a smart first half. I had run a fast one, hung on, and handed Ted a race he could still win. He did exactly that.
Big PR for me and a win. Love it.
The next morning we went to Napa, then back to the grind.