[RACE RECAP] KT82 Relay 2019

For years, I claimed to be a solo runner…I LOVED my daily runs because it was time to myself… all alone. I’m extremely introverted and hate small talk, so the thought of having to hold a conversation with someone for more than 10 minutes terrified me.But, when some of my local Instagram friends started a running group right up the road from my house, I decided to get a bit out of my comfort zone and join the group. For weeks, I probably said about 2 words total. Small talk is terrifying, but talking in a group is even worse for me. However, I ended up LOVING it and continued to go back week after week.The people who used to be people I just followed on Instagram became some really great friends. So, when the lottery opened to get into the KT82 Relay for 2019, I asked if they wanted to do it with me. And guess what?!THEY SAID YES!There really wasn’t much planning or training that went into the event. We really barely even talked about it until 2 weeks before. Most of the group I run with are marathoners and had just had great spring marathons we finished. So, we decided to try to be competitive, but really just enjoy the chance to hang out and run as a team.A week before the race, we received an email from GO! St. Louis that the race had to be changed due to flooding. The significance of this race is that you run 82 miles of the Katy Trail to Hermann, MO. The Katy Trail just so happens to run along the Missouri River, and with the amount of rain we’ve gotten this spring, the river levels have risen dramatically and not only was the trail partially flooded, but the park that the finish line was at in Hermann was under water as well.So, instead of putting on a point-to-point relay, the staff at GO! St. Louis found a way to still hold the event, but make it a little different by creating an entirely new relay - a basecamp relay held at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE).I’ll be the first to admit that I was pretty disappointed at first because this was definitely not the event we had signed up for and we had no way to defer or get a refund. But, as someone who has done the relay in the past, I was pretty happy that I wasn’t going to have to sit in a car all day.We met bright + early the day of the race to pack up all our stuff into a few different cars before carpooling out to the event. (SIUE is about 45 minutes from where we live and about 20 minutes east of the city of St. Louis.) We had a pretty great order, with me going smack dab in the middle, running the 3rd leg.The relay was set up a little differently than the Cowbell Uncorked basecamp relay I did a few years ago. Instead of everyone running the same route the first leg, the same second route, and then the same third route, there were 3 routes we rotated through. So, the 1st runner had route 1, the 2nd runner had route 2, and the 3rd runner had route 3, and then it repeated with the last 3 runners. Then, the next leg of the route you’d run a different route.Let me tell you, I was THRILLED to have the 3rd leg because I got the 2 hardest legs out of the way FIRST. My first leg was 6-miles on a paved route, my second leg was a 5K cross country route, and my last leg was a 3.5-mile paved route. I was so happy to get my longest leg out of the way because it made the other 2 seem really short (ummmmm, more on that in a second…).I’m not going to go into a ton of details about each route because honestly, it wasn’t all that exciting. But, I will tell you I felt pretty good given the weather we had. It was HOT + muggy. There wasn’t a ton of shade, especially on the XC route, and by the end of the day, we were sore + exhausted.The 6-mile leg felt great! I was able to hold about a 7:15/mile pace throughout, but the hardest part was that it was downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back. It wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t great.The cross country route was a different story though. It was basically like the world’s worst maze. First of all, there’s a reason my blog is the CONCRETE runner (well, this isn’t the real reason…): running on grass SUCKS. I’m SO thankful that it was a short route because half way through I was OVER IT. My calf seized up because of the uneven surface and my weak ankles. It was hardly shaded, which made it even more miserable. There were ridiculous hills (not as bad as the 19% grade hill). And it just SUCKED. By far my slowest leg of the day (I think most people will agree with that).Which brings me to the best run of the day, my third leg. 3.4 miles paved?! I will take it! After the XC course, those miles were FLYING. I was passing people left and right and surprisingly felt amazing (albeit it was HOT). The only thing that slowed me down was a GIANT black snake crossing the trail the last mile of that run. Now that I definitely didn’t need. I just about 15 feet in the air seeing that.While we were really hoping to place in the co-ed division, given having to find a replacement runner at the last minute the week of the race (thanks Liz for stepping in!) and the tough conditions, we were happy with how we did.At one point during the day, two of my teammates told me that they kicked me out of our “friend group” because I convinced them to do this with me. But, as soon as we got home, we were already texting, talking about wanting to do another relay.My racing days might be few and far between now, but I think I have a new found LOVE for relays! We’ve already decided we are doing the event next year (they’re actually making the basecamp relay into an actual event!) and are looking for other relays we can get into!