A Hot Time at Red Rock Relay

Team Girls’ Day Out, the coolest team that has ever run the Red Rock Relay, arrived in Moab late in the afternoon of May 13.  This year our captain and official housing arranger, Dawn, secured a beautiful condo for the entire team, including Helen and her very brave husband, Bill.

Helen made the decision last year to transition to alumna status on the team, so Dawn’s niece, Merissa, took her place in the lineup. We showed up at 5:30 AM – in the dark – wearing our new team shirts with this year’s logo, and sent Lyndsay, our first runner, on her way.

The temperature was pleasant – until the sun came out.  And then it started to warm up.  And then it started to really warm up.  We knew that hot weather was in the forecast, but we didn’t think we’d be affected by it until the last few runners of the afternoon.

We were wrong.  Once we started the heavy climbs, everyone started to feel the effects of the heat.  We started dumping water on ourselves.  We ran in our sport bras – yes, even those of us who are old enough that we probably shouldn’t run in our sport bras.  But the heat still took its toll.

Even with the heat, the race was a lot of fun.  We bantered back and forth with several other teams, including a team that came all the way from North Carolina, a bachelorette party, a really fun team that had brought a large spray bottle and used it liberally, and an ultra-running team, 3 men that were all veterans.  We picked the team we had to beat – the girls in the blue tanks.  Why?  Because they changed clothes in the porta-potties.  Note to all relay teams:  never do this.  Porta-potties have one purpose and one purpose only.  To use them for any other purpose is just sick and wrong.  And yes – we beat them.  By about 5 minutes.

My personal experience was that I really couldn’t run more slowly, so I found myself running a while, walking a while, drinking/dumping water, and doing it again.  I felt so sluggish, and felt that I’d let the team down, until we realized that we really had done quite well.  Our finish time was 10 hours and 18 minutes – only 2 minutes slower than last year – for a 10:06 pace.  I finished leg 7 – that horrible uphill with the switchbacks – in the same time that Lyndsay had done the previous year, and I finished leg 12 in 58 minutes – only two minutes slower than my projected time.

As we debriefed, we realized that this was the first time the Red Rock Relay had been hot.  We decided that if it’s hot again next year, we’ll split the late afternoon legs so nobody has to do six to eight miles in 90 degree weather.  And we’ll bring our very own very large spray bottle.  Oh, yes, we’ll be back next year – only we’ll change our title to “Hottest Team Ever.”

Red Rock Relay Moab

Last Saturday, May 9, team Girls Day Out ran their third Red Rock Relay together – this time in the Red Rock country surrounding Moab, Utah.  The decision to run Moab was pretty much made for us when Red Rock Relay canceled the Dixie run for 2015.  We were a little bit nervous about the course, but the thought of a girls’ weekend away and running together again far overshadowed the anxiety of a more difficult course.

Our team has become known in Red Rock Relay circles as a team of “experienced” runners, referring more to life experience than to running experience.  Our oldest team member was 70 years, 11 months and 10 days on race day.  And while she may not be the fastest runner on the team, she is by far the most inspirational. 

And not only to us!  When we approached the exchange for Helen’s second leg, a much younger runner saw her coming and said out loud.  “This lady coming in is my hero.  Whose team is she on?”  Of course we claimed her in a nanosecond and told everyone her name.  So when she came in, the entire group of runners who were either waiting for their teammate or for the bathroom cheered and shouted her name.  Way to go, Helen!

The course, combined with the weather, did present its challenges.  Our first runner had to hop two fences to get back on course after a large group of early runners were misdirected.  And nobody told her about the steep switchbacks on her second leg.  The difficulty rating of leg 7 was seriously underestimated. 

The runners on the high elevation legs 7, 8, and 9 got the treat of running in snow.  It was light and not sticking to the ground, but it was SNOW!  So as I waited for my final leg, 11, I put on a long sleeved shirt and a jacket.  Too soon!  When it was my turn to run the sun was shining and the temperature was in the low 50s.  Off with the shirt and jacket.  Toward the end of my 8 mile run I was really wishing for a little of that snow.

Warning – this is the place where I seriously brag about our team.  We finished the 61 mile course in 10 hours 21 minutes for an average pace of 10:09, which was well under the 11 minute mile pace that we had predicted.  A few of us, me included, set personal records for speed over distance.  We all felt good after the race.  We finished early enough for some great photo ops before we had our traditional Mexican food dinner (with margaritas, of course,) and champagne at the hot tub. 

In the end the course was far more difficult on paper than it was in real life.  And while before the race we were thinking about what new relay to run next year, after the race we are seriously considering running Moab again.  Go Girls Day Out!