Race Recap: #runthefred 2014 Fred Meijer White Pine Trail 200 Mile Relay

For the second year in a row, I had the privilege of  living in a van for 36 hours and running the beautiful White Pine Trail from Comstock Park to Cadillac and back with 11 of my closest friends (well, only 5 of them were also in the same van as me).  Team Screaming Thunderboxes made their debut this year.

Leena, me, Leon, Andi, Jenn, Susan, Bill, Chris, Glenn, Eric, Mike, Jen

We started bright and early Friday morning - 6:30 am to be exact - which meant I was up at 4 am.  After getting a group photo, we tagged as many other runners as we could with Screaming Guy tattoos.  Those tattoos, the incredible shirt design by Jenn's son Mac, and our awesome sign helped us win a "best dressed" award.  We were going for the social media award - HELLO! We have our own twitter @screamingtboxes - but I guess they couldn't give us both :)

That might be me behind Leon's arm getting a Fred tat :)

I was in Van 2 and was runner number 12, so this meant a lot of sitting, getting out and cheering, more sitting, some trying to rest, and some eating before I ran my first leg at 4:30 pm on Friday.

This is the surface of the sun, not to be confused with Paris, MI.
6.34 miles in 1:06:49 (10:32 pace)

I was worried about my hass acting up, but luckily, it really didn't give me any problems.  My ankle is still cranky but I'm having it worked on again tomorrow.  After Van 2 finished, we headed up to Cadillac to get some rest before we needed to take over again around midnight.  This year, my van was Van 1 so I had the luxury of sleeping and riding in a 9 passenger van.  I highly recommend this over the minivan.

Leg 2 started for me at 5 am.  I had an out and back section and decided to run it alone (ie - no one biked with me).  It was peaceful but long.  At least there were lots of other runners to say hi to on the course.

Safety first!  7.05 miles in 1:18:10 (11:05 pace).

When I finished, we were able to get some breakfast and head back out to cheer for Van 1 on their last legs.  We then camped out in Pierson until it was time for us to take over again.  The final 12 legs of the relay go pretty quickly, with all the distances under about 5 miles.

I was so pumped to be the last runner and bring it home!

The Screaming Thunderboxes had the tag line, We Run Full Throttle, and that's how I wanted to run the last leg.  I didn't quite make my pace goal, but I came pretty damn close and managed to have 4 kills in that last leg! Pretty good for starting at 3:40 in the afternoon and running in full sun.  Last year, I was runner number 1 and I got to cross the starting line.  This year I was going to get to take us across the finish. Closing out the relay was such an awesome experience.

I took off Full Throttle - with numbers in the low 9s for the first 1/2 mile until I reigned it in.
4.3 miles in 44:06 (10:15 pace).

The Screaming Thunderboxes crossed the finish line together after 36 hours and 32 minutes (a 10:47 overall pace).  

I absolutely LOVE this race.  It's funny, this is only one of 2 races I've repeated, and I plan on getting many more of these medals to hang on my wall.

My screaming guy might be a little worse for wear, but I'm feeling good and ready to get back into marathon training.  In fact, I ran already this morning!

Have you ever run a relay?  If not, would you?