2 vans. 12 friends. 38 hours and 6 minutes. 204.3 miles (16.3 were mine). 1 very cool teammate. This isn't going to be my usual race report. I experienced something very different with this year's Fred Relay.
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| Team Screaming Thunderboxes at the start |
I always have the best time on the Fred, if I didn't, I wouldn't have been back for round 3. But this year was different. I came into this knowing I was injured and horribly undertrained. I knew I wouldn't be running like I had the previous 2 years.
I knew the night leg would be my favorite. I don't run with a biker and this year I got to run the handoff leg around Lake Cadillac at midnight. It was beautiful and my best run. Something about running in the middle of the night and chicking a guy makes for a good time.
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| That's Mars in the sky! |
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| Ready for bed! |
I knew that the 3rd leg would be incredibly hard. I wouldn't have been able to finish that 8.9 miles without Kaylee biking with me, being my water sherpa, and keeping me mentally strong.
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| Very happy to check of that final run! |
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| Van 1 DONE and ready to find beer (for at least 5 of the 6) |
This year the Fred wasn't about me. It was about my girl. See that tall one in the picture up there? She CRUSHED her first relay. Being able to experience this race with Kaylee and watch her grow as a runner this year has been amazing. From her hating running, to having run a couple 5ks to sticking with a training plan while keeping up with her freshman year of college, to running her first 10k and then her first half and finally her first relay and covering almost 17 miles in a day and a half (faster than her predicted pace!) is what I will always remember from this summer and Fred 2016. Her other 10 teammates taking her under their wings and cheering her on was so fun to watch as well.
I've always been proud of Kaylee - she makes it easy - but I'll never forget how blessed I am to experience things like this with her, not just as her mom but now also as her teammate. The fun shirts, swag and bling are just icing on the cake.
