Running is Easy. Names are Not.

Saturday morning, November 9, 2013, dawned bright and COLD!  I had my thermal leggings on and my favorite running tank and I was ready to go. It was HOPE RELAY day!

The Hope Relay is one of my favorite races! It is a relay run that benefits my former employer, the Project Hope Foundation. Project Hope serves the autism community in the upstate of SC through many different services such as ABA Therapy, an award winning alternative inclusion school, a program for teens and youth who need continued support in daily life activities, and supporting families dealing with the challenges of autism.

The relay was redesigned for the 2013 race and it was a blast!  Like before, there were two relay races: a long course and a short course. Teams could be made up of 2-4 runners, each running at least one leg. For the 14 mile relay, each runner would run one 3.34 mile leg.  For the 34 mile relay, each runner runs 2 legs: the first being 3.34 miles and the second one being 5 miles.  The course was designed for runners to explore a scenic route through beautiful downtown Greenville, SC.  Each runner started at the Kroc center, ran their leg (which was a loop), and then handed off the slap bracelet to the next runner.  After all legs are completed, all four runners joined together and run the tunnel together to cross the finish line. 

All in all it is a fun day! This year we added two new members to the relay team! Since we were no longer just Tigers and Hokies, a new name was needed. After much thought, nothing came about so we became "Running is Easy. Names are Not."  A great name for us, however it was a bit long for the official race documents. The names on the bibs have to be short so our bib names only said "Running is Easy."  Whoops. For three of us, that name still worked (me, not so much).  

I am still not quite back in shape from the back problems sustained during the marathon in 2012. So, when deciding our running order, I kept joking about doing it "Olympic swimming relay" style. We had our Ryan Lochte (second fastest runner) go first, our third fastest runner go second, the slowest (me) go second, and our Michael Phelps (aka the fastest) go last.   Because we were no longer driving from leg to leg, all the teams got to hang out in the field. It was a great day to catch up with old friends and new! While each runner ran their leg, the rest of us hung out on our picnic blanket, filled up on PB&J sandwiches from Whole Food,s and just got to catch up on each other's lives.  

That part of the day was really nice. For me, the running... eh, not so much. I was still out of shape and the first leg was awful. I ran the first mile and was struggling from that point on. Then between mile 1 and 2, we ran uphill for a nice little chunk. I knew I needed to save energy for the second leg, which was even longer, so I did a lot of walking.  After our first runner came back from the second leg she said it was much easier: curvy, but much flatter. That made me feel a little better, but at that point I was starting to wish we were doing the 14 mile relay instead of the 34!  Well it came time for me to run my last leg and it started out ok. Then it became clearly evident I was out of shape. And when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I started having back spasms. I ended up having to walk all the way from mile 4 to 5. Finally, because I'm stubborn and prideful, I ran the last 0.1 mile to pass off the slap bracelet to our final runner. Some friends of mine were manning the chute and cheering me on. Afterwards they wanted to know why I looked so mad when I finished!  Needless to say, I don't like people watching me run, especially when I'm in pain. After my leg, I found a bag of ice and just laid on it.  Oi. When our final runner came in, the rest of us met her at the beginning of the finish line chute to run (more like sprint) with her across the finish line.

We may have come in last in our division (my bad, ladies) but we definitely had a blast! Everyone who participated (and came out to cheer us on) said they wanted to do it again next year! And I will be in better shape by then for sure!

For more information on the Hope Relay and why we run, check out www. hoperelay.org and join us next year at a great run for an even greater run!