After a blissful 2.5 hours of sleep at Julie and Lisa’s, I got a call letting me know Van 2 was an hour away from the next VTA. We hopped out of bed, thoroughly enjoyed getting to brush our teeth and wash up in a real bathroom. Julie and Lisa had even done a 5 am bagel run. They seriously are the best! We chugged some coffee and stuffed down bagels and we back in the van. By this time, the back of the van was a total disaster. You couldn’t get anything out without having to move everything!
It was a close call at the VTA. We passed our runner from Van 2 less than ¼ of a mile from the hand-off, so poor Jimi had to hop out of the van and start running after him to catch him. He didn’t even get to use the bathroom. We flew through our last rotation. Jimi handed off to Carissa. He looked done by the end of his leg.
Carissa handed off to Jason, who tackled his 8 mile leg like a champ. I would not want my last leg to be the longest! Jason passed to Eileen. Eileen handed off to me at a great TA, where a boisterous Santa was cheering the runners in.
Then I was off. It was warm and sunny again and my leg had more hills, but none of it bothered me. Just 4 miles and I would be done. We really went crazy showing the love to our vanmates on our last leg, and my leg was no exception. I felt like an elite runner with my choice of water and Gateorade, my own personal pump me up song playing (Some Nights by Fun), and customized cheers as I passed my van at 2 miles.
I held a 9 min/mile pace and cart-wheeled into my last TA. Leg 3 done!
I handed off to Tim who rocked the jester costume for his last leg.
When Tim finished we were officially done. Van 1 is the coolest!
After pictures we headed for the closest Dunkin Donuts. Ice coffee never tasted so good! Then we were beach bound! We reached the Beach!
We were all set to grab a beer and the amazing looking Baloco bowls at the end when we got a call from Van 2. Rich had gone down during his last leg. Gene and Dave had caught him and got him to the med tent, but they didn’t know what was wrong yet. We grabbed lids for our meals and ran for the van. We needed to go pick-up Henry who was stranded at the end of his leg. We hopped in the van and we almost out of Hampton Beach when the other van called us back. They didn’t need us after-all. Rich was dehydrated and had heat stroke, but was already doing better after some fluids. They were taking him to the hospital just in case and the rest of Van 2 was back on the road. Talk about leaving it all out on the road and sacrificing yourself for the team. Rich, we love ya!
So we went back to the beach and hung out down by the water. The ocean was frigid! I made myself stay in until my feet were numb because I figured it would be good recovery. About an hour later the Van 2 crew arrived and we stood by the finish waiting for our last runner to come in so we could cross the finish together. Except we got busy talking and totally missed him until he was across the line. Oops!
We stood in the sand after the finish and did our private medal ceremony that has become our tradition. And then I headed home, sandy, exhausted, and so happy. Reach the Beach 2012 was in the bag. Sole Sacrifice finished in 27:55:04, with an average pace of 8:15, good for 155th place.
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