The Relay Story - Episode 3

[Note: Part III (concluding part) of a 3-part series. See Part I and Part II as well. ]

Sunday Oct 16, 12 noon: Having had a few hours of attempted rest and relaxation, we "Van 2" folks were on our way to the last rendezvous of the relay (not counting the finish) - Saratoga Gap, at the intersection of Hwy 9 and Skyline Blvd. Driving down Skyline Blvd, we saw a whole horde of bikers (motorcyclists) - just as my colleague Jean-Michel had warned us we would. Rather I should say - "heard" - man, those bikes were really loud. And fast, and hugging the curves rather scarily. Luckily for us, they were mostly going the other way, and presuming that the runners would be staying on the right side of the road, the possibilities of being bumped by a crazy biker were low. Still the noise kinda freaked you out. I just don't get it - why do them bikes need to be so loud?

12.30pm: We reached the Van Exchange point - at the Santa Cruz county line. We were expecting Tim to show up around 1pm or so - he would be coming up Hwy 9 - a 3.1 mile "very hard" leg. Now - my first instinct was to wonder - how can a 3.1-mile leg be "very hard"? Then when I looked at the map - 1150 ft of elevation in 3 miles! Thats how.

It was a clear day, and the sun was out - but there was some tree cover. I was still in somewhat of a zombie state, and starting to get petrified about my upcoming run. While we were waiting, I found a shady patch of grass, and lay down for a bit...

Linda, our captain, and the rest of the Van 1 crew (except Tim) also arrived at the exchange point shortly - they were all done with their legs, and the relief was evident in their faces. Now all they had to do was to grab a good meal, and meet us Van 2 folks at the finish line.


1.00pm: Tim pulled in almost on the dot. Trevor, our van's lead runner, was waiting, looking fresh as always (Its amazing). He had a 6.2 mile (10 K) "moderate" leg, the beginning phase of our trip through Santa Cruz county - from the Santa Cruz mountains, to the ocean. As the rest of us hopped on to the van and rolled past him on our way to the next stop, we could see that he was looking good, and all set to have a good run.


1.45pm: We were joking earlier that Trevor was lucky to get an almost exact 10km leg - here was his chance to set a PR (personal record) for the official racing distance! But as Trevor pulled in, just past quarter-to-2, we realized we weren't that far off after all - he had just pulled off an amazing leg - 10K in ~45 min, averaging ~7min 18sec per mile ! Nicely done. Trevor handed off to Jaime for the last time, and Jaime took off. Literally. This was a 4.7 mile "easy" leg for Jaime - and we knew he was just going to sprint this one. We hurried back into the van, and drove as fast as we could to the next exchange point, our goal being to get there before Jaime did! As we passed Jaime, we could see that he was already closing in on a few people, and they would all be "roadkill-ed" in the next several minutes...

2.11pm: Mary had just enough time to get out of the car and start to get warm, before we spotted Jaime in the horizon. He pulled in with a lightning-fast average of 5min 29 sec per mile! Just to put it in perspective - I cannot even run 400m at that pace, let alone ~5 miles! Mary had another ~10km leg - down Hwy 9 through to Ben Lomond, and the rest of us hopped back on the van to get to the next interchange.

3.11pm: Mary emerged in the distance, with a blissful smile on her face - looking very relieved. I was looking forward to having that feeling very soon. Chris took over what would be another of those most-brutal legs. He had a 6.2 mile "very hard" leg that involved about 600 feet of climbing in the last 2 miles alone. It was turning out to be a warm afternoon, and Chris planned to carry a water bottle for the first 4 miles of it, so that he could be well hydrated before the climb. We met him at the intersection of Hwy 9 and San Lorenzo Ave - the last two miles would take him up into Felton quarry. He handed us off the water bottle, and started the climb, while we hopped back into the van and headed to the interchange. My turn would come next, and I was starting to get the butterflies in my stomach. As we headed up the hill, we got to see what "very hard" meant, first-hand. Man, that was one helll of a nasty climb - the road just kept snaking up and up! We climbed in the van for what seemed like forever..

4.00pm: We reached the exchange point, and I started to get warmed up and stretch, as we waited for Chris to pull up. My leg was a 6.5 mile "hard" leg, that would take us from Felton into Santa Cruz. To say I was "a bit worried" would be an understatement - having seen the hill Chris was climbing up - and knowing that I had a mile or so of the same hill (350 ft elevation - thankfully, much less insane than Chris's leg). Also, the memory of screwing up on my previous "easy" leg by starting off too fast was still fresh in my mind. If I ran out of gas in an "easy" leg, what was to prevent me from losing it in a "hard" leg? I spoke to Trevor about it, and he advised me to "become ONE with the hill" in the first mile. He suggested that I start off really conservatively, not think about time, etc - just chug up the hill, use it as a "warm-up" jog, and treat the mostly-downhill ~5 miles that followed, as the real run. Soon enough, Chris pulled in, looking red, sweat pouring down his body - he had just finished the hardest, most-brutal set of legs in the entire course. Now there was an accomplishment...

Taking Trevor's advice, I started off real slow up the hill. Felton Quarry was a dirt road, and involved a series of switchbacks. The scenery at the quarry was odd - on the one side you could see the redwoods, and on the other side, mountainsides carved up to reveal their white underbelly of limestone . I allowed myself to be distracted by the scenery, and momentarily forget about the hill I was climbing. Soon enough, I reached the end of Felton Quarry Road, and merged onto Empire Grade. There were no mile markers of course, but from the map I realized that I was pretty close to the 1-mile marker, and there-by, the end of the hill. I figured that I'd know that the hill had ended when I'd suddenly get to see the valley below. But Empire Grade, this stretch of it, had tree cover on both sides, so you couldn't look very far. I continued running, but didn't quite reach any point that cried to me "top of the hill!". Soon, the road turned into rolling hills - I'd either gone past the hill, or I was going the wrong way. I started to worry just a tad bit until I saw another runner up ahead. Good - this meant we were on our way down!

This stretch of road was surprisingly beautiful - it was late afternoon and a super-clear sky. I was expecting it to be hot and brutal with direct sun, but the tree cover ensured that only slivers of sunlight came through, making it quite pleasant. I overtook a couple of runners, and continued down - well, up and down actually, through the rolling hills. On the left, the tree cover changed into hillsides, and I could spot horses roaming around. A few steep downhills (with signs for trucks to use lower gears) followed by another small stretch of uphill. And then - the trees on the right suddenly gave way to clear meadows. And as I came up the road, suddenly, the whole world opened up below me. To the right was the beautiful blue ocean - and below, you could make out the town of Santa Cruz - further down, Capitola, Aptos, the factory at Moss Landing, the Gabilan Mountains behind Salinas, the beaches at Monterey, the mountains of Big Sur. Just jaw-droppingly beautiful and crystal clear, for miles and miles. This view alone was worth the price of admission... I kept gawking for the next half mile or so as I continued running - I had to force myself to look down once in a while to make sure I stayed on the road and did not trip on something.

Very soon, UCSC emerged on the left, and I knew I had less than a mile and a half to go. I stepped it up a notch, and soon enough, people came into view at the interchange. But this was already Santa Cruz town, and I had to cross a signal to get there - a signal which was just about to turn red. I hesitated, then stepped on it, and got onto the road before the light changed - and then, it was all over - as I handed the "baton" to Angelique, for the final leg. And at that instant, I remember thinking - "gee, it would have been cool to have another set of legs to run". This thought faded quickly and I reverted back to reality as my legs started to stiffen up. But I was exhilirated from the run. Checking the time, I noticed that I had made it in ~48 min, averaging 7min 25sec per mile - which actually is *pretty fast* by my standards!. But I am sure that the thing I'll remember from this run won't be the time I finished it in, but rather, the late-afternoon views from Empire Grade...

["Asleep at the Heel", at the line at Santa Cruz beach. Trevor is missing in this picture]

5.30pm: All of the "Asleep at the Heel" team, (except Angelique of course, who was running) assembled at the finish line - at the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. We were to run the last 200 yards together as a team. Angelique had not been keeping well, and we were a bit concerned for her health - but she hung in there, and made it through. Soon enough, someone spotted her running down Beach St., and all of us gathered our stuff hurriedly and prepared to run with her. The last 200 yards are on soft sand, and boy, that was painful - the slowest 200 yards I ve ever run. But the finish line ultimately came, and we went through it. We were DONE! 5.46.34pm - we had been on the run for a total of 28 hrs, 45 minutes. Mixed emotions filled the air - physical pain coupled with mental relief and joy - and anticipation (of the beds that we would all hit within the next few hours). And a tinge of sadness - that a very memorable experience had come to an end.

And to conclude - what makes this kind of experience memorable is the people that constitute it. I was extremely lucky to have a fantastic group of folks to hang out with, and that made all the difference. And yes - many many thanks to our fearless captain Linda, without whom none of this would have been possible - and Chris, for all those training hill runs, and advice that enabled me to run smart (for the most part) and get the most fun out of my runs. And yes, I am still amazed by the three guys of Van 1 (Tom, Tim and Joe) - the "extra-leggers", who so ably compensated for the missing runner in our team. Cheers!