The Story of NER - Leg 2

2/3 of the way done, but boy I'm beginning to feel it!

About 2 minutes after we left, we got a frantic call from Van 1... they couldn't find the next transition area. Both vans got there ahead of Ben, but only just slightly, which meant Laura B. got almost no warm-up. I think Gavin almost lost his life over this, and very well might have had it not meant that someone would have to run his 2 remaining legs. However, Laura again ran quick, and we got a text from Lauren a little later that her leg had gone well too (she somehow managed a faster pace on her second leg, which featured a pretty grueling climb). A bit later we learned that Mike D. had practically sprinted his ridiculously hilly 8+ miles, and Erica had run a strong as well. Van 2 managed to get a little rest before their leg (very little owing to the fast pace of their teammates), which was good because I'm pretty sure that Sean fell asleep while eating a piece of pizza. Gavin handed off to Sumner, making a sub-6 pace look like a walk in the park. As Van 1 headed off to the next rendezvous having successfully completed their second legs, Sumner began her 4+ mile uphill climb to kick off round 2 for van 2.

Again, Sumner somehow made running up a hill look like a piece of funfetti cake, and handed off to Sean who completed the rest of the nearly 9 miles up the hill (we voted this the worst leg of the entire relay). To give you an idea of what Sean had to run, the van even had trouble making it up. While I bounced up and down at the transition area to wake up (ask Dave for an imitation of me in the van... just make sure I'm not around because I won't be able to breathe from laughing so hard at how deadly accurate he is), the few people that I saw hand off looked absolutely miserable, and one guy almost threw up. Then I saw Sean come powering over the hill, and I began my 9+ mile downhill leg. It's hard running downhill in the dark, and James and I took bets on how many times each of us would fall (we both lost because neither of us did). The van kept me company for a bit, which was good because I had to eat a Blackberry GU to stay awake because I realized that I was incapable of running in a straight line in the state I was in. I eventually made it to the transition and handed off to James, who all but sprinted his 4+ mile leg. Passing a few people at the end of his leg (which was good because one guy almost took a wrong turn), James handed off to The Duke, who continued the speedy running trend despite the fact that his leg was entirely uphill. Dave completed the second leg of the relay for Team #13, passing Thor just before handing off to Ben. That's right, Dave passed a Nordic god, or at least a runner that looked just like one!