Five Fast Femme-Fatale Freaks

Last year started the tradition for me of running the Akron Marathon relay. Despite a poor showing on my part my team last year snagged 1st mixed and we were hooked. This year we decided to round up a ladies team. We had 4 but we needed a fifth and by Wednesday we were getting desperate. Luckily we snagged a local superstar last minute to finish out as our fifth and she was up for higher mileage so she took the long leg! Always nice when your speedster wants to go long!

Once again I was sick for the race this year, but the weather was much better and my sickness was contained to a slight cough making running much more feasible. We rallied at T's place again and this year JP and I watched the start and the 5k to cheer before heading to the buses. I had tons of friends to cheer and I had fun watching the beginning of their day. T and MT actually got to start the race with Bill Rodgers! That must have been exciting.

My leg went much better this year. I was waiting in my assigned corral when Solar came blazing in and I managed to actually pass some female marathoners and not get passed by any ladies doing the relay or full this time. It's the small victories right? I felt pretty good the whole way but the hills were just too tough to do anything spectacular out there. I settled for sub 7 pace and after scoping out the results and seeing not too many men ran that leg faster than me I feel better about it. (I should clarify, despite knowing that leg was damn tough I still kept my hopes up I could come close to sub 20 because I have been running hills pretty well lately, you'll never know if you don't go for it, so once I ran the 7:08 I knew that wasn't going to happen and I wanted my overall pace to be sub 7, I really wanted to be sub 21 but that last stretch of Sand Run really brought my pace down)

Wacko splits for those that enjoy them:
25k to mile 16: 3:06 (6:39/mile pace)
16 to 17: 6:37
17 to 18: 7:08
18 to 30k: 4:28 (6:58/mile pace)
Handoffs: 3 seconds
Official Time: 21:23

After finishing I wandered backwards through the course cheering on my friends. Decided to get in a cool down and spotted AP. I had considered running the last 7.6 of the marathon with the 3:50 group as practice for San Fran but decided to return his NERC 5K pacing favor and ran with him until the end. He had some rough patches and I had my first experience watching someone lose their juice, literally. But we had fun (well I had fun) finishing out the race together.

Once I made my way through the crowd I quickly grabbed a food bag and my three beers, then it was party time. Found my girls and we managed to snag second in the female relay. We got some sweet trophies which I turned into my beer cozy. Unfortunately the race ran out of brews before I had my fill of fun and before many of the marathoners were finished. Hopefully they will plan accordingly next year. After that T, Solar, and I hit up the Indian buffet and it was off to get cleaned up and head to a wedding shower then off to pick up the rents from the airport. It was a long day!


All the girls look cleaned up and I was still stuck in my sweaty running clothes, gross!

I took a few days off to fix this cold and now I am back up and running. Last long run before San Fransisco is this Saturday. I'm looking forward to an easy 20 with my parents keeping me company on their bikes on my old home turf. North Country Trail recap is still on its way!

22 comments:

Brett S. said...

great job with the 5k uphill. I think I would have loved to just run that part of the course. And thanks for giving a thirsty guy your last beer :) it was much appreciated. It's amazing you ran with me so much during buckeye season and never witnessed someone loosing thier juice.

Good Luck in the city I'm sure you'll do great.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on team trophy, and a nice 5K by you! Glad you are feeling better and running again!

Shame on me, never noticed the Patti Sue Plummer quote before at your blog header. I've read about her attitude toward racing, and I love it...leave it all on the course!!

Ben, aka BadBen said...

What a team effort!
I've always found it strange how much faster I can run for a team.

Anonymous said...

congrats, liz. amazing that you can run that fast and still do the long stuff too. i have a cold as well; pretty miserable, eh? get better!

Backofpack said...

You scare me - I mean, you "settled" for a sub-7 pace? Holy moly! I'd better get a chance to chat with you pre-race or I'll never see you at all!

Let me get through this weekend at Portland, then we'll work on SF. I don't know the city at all, so it could be a challenge figuring out a meeting spot.

Lloyd said...

Nice!

Thanks for running with me for that bit.

Good luck in SF, Pacer Chica

Kate said...

Nice work! You guys are scary fast!

Janet Edwards said...

That day was one of the highlights of the season as it was MAD FUN!

You kicked some major butt on the hilly leg!

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

Awesome job!! You girls are some seriously fast chicks!

B Bop said...

Good seeing you @ the afterparty and congrats to the Femme-Fatale Freaks on the hardware!!

Did you hit the Saffron Patch for beans/rice? IMO, hands down the best Indian food in Akron.

Have a great time in the Bay!!!!

Anonymous said...

I *love* when running becomes a team sport a la cross country or a relay such as this.
Great report and wonderful blog.

Steven said...

Sounds like tons o fun! And great job on the race itself.

Unknown said...

Sounds like a fun time was had by all while you still had a great race. Congrats. Have fun in foggy SF.

The (IRON) Clyde said...

Way to go Elizabeth!!! Just another trophy to add to your mantle, speedy.

A. M. Mericsko said...

Have a great time pacing in San Fran! That is so awesome!

Adventures with MS said...

Congrats on an awesome race...I was cheering there somewhere.

Papa Louie said...

Good job with the ladies. You all rocked the course.

Soapin' Cindy said...

I just love the picture of the fast girls. Great job out there. Maybe in another lifetime I can run a sub 7 pace...wow!

RunBubbaRun said...

Great job out there ladies... Congrats on the bling bling hardware.

ps. Great job on the punxsy race also.. cool video

GP said...

If you didn't say that you were sick before Akron, I was going to conjecture that the aid stations were laced with the flu (I've been sick all week and desperate to find a fall guy other than my failing immune system).

Congrats to you and your relay on an awesome race!

All the best, also, in San Fran.

Anonymous said...

congrats and good luck. try not to humiliate the field.

Rae said...

Way to go!! You guys look like a group of fast chicks!!