Baltimore Marathon Relay

Saturday was the big day - the Baltimore Marathon Relay!  Friday night, we headed to Baltimore to grab our goody bags, bibs, and t-shirts.  Checked out the Expo at Raven's Stadium (which is nice...but not as nice as Lincoln Financial Field) and grabbed a pair of running sunglasses.  Been using my prescription glasses, but the nose cushion is missing on one side and it's just not a good thing.

After the expo, we headed to the hotel for dinner.  Had a great meal with hubby and our friend at Schula's Sports Bar - a yummy turkey ciabatta.  We had just finished dinner when our fourth runner, my sister-in-law made it to the hotel.  Intros all around and our friend headed home for a good night's sleep, while we headed up to the room to do the same.

Got up really early Saturday morning.  Just in case you didn't know, I'm not a morning person.  Got up about 5:30 a.m. and prepped.  I'm pretty quick to get ready...when I need to.  LOL!  We were all ready and out the door by 6:30 a.m. and met our fourth at Raven's Stadium.  We did a bit of coordinating to make sure we were all on the same page for the race - who was passing what to whom and how we would all meet up after wards.  Our friend headed off to the start line about 7:20 a.m. (for an 8:00 a.m. start) and the rest of us went off to find the buses, as I needed to be on by 7:30 a.m. to go to Exchange 2.

Buses headed out EXACTLY at 7:30 a.m. and we were off!  It seemed like an easy ride and we hit the Johns Hopkins campus about 8:00 a.m.  I experienced my first k-turn in a bus as we totally missed our stop.  Got to the right spot and found the exchange point.  I will say, it was chilly.  We all SAW the sun up in the sky, but it chose to ignore our little area and keep us in shadow. 

The first racers we saw come by us were the wheelchair division.  They were booking it!  Amazing.  Very shortly after they came through, the Kenyons came through.  Man.  They were strong!  They made running seem so effortless.  After the first few groups of elites passed us we realized our people would be there shortly.  It was fun waiting for the first relay runner to come and exchange. 

Our friend thought she would make it to the exchange point about 9:30 a.m., so I had a blast watching all the runners coming up and meeting their partners.  There was one poor soul who's partner wasn't there for 20 minutes while he waited.  Just as the first runner was about to double up and run leg two, his partner came booking up the hill behind us all.  Apparently, he missed the bus and RAN to the 2nd exchange point.  Wow. 

My exchange went off perfectly!  20 minutes earlier than anticipated our friend made her way to exchange point 2 and off I went!  Up the hill and off for my 7 miles.  I worried a tad about not being able to manage 7 miles, but I figured I had time to worry about that.  Had lots of people pass me...full marathon and relay members.  Whatever.  I kept my pace up and just enjoyed it for what it was.  Through lots of neighborhoods and around Baltimore.  There were fabulous cheerleaders on the sides and a fabulous pastor outside his church cheering us on.  He made me smile. 

My leg took me through the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and up Key Highway towards Fort McHenry (of Francis Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner fame).  The funny thing is, I've run that area of Baltimore twice already this year, so I kinda went on auto pilot when I hit that area.  There were some cute schools out cheering the runners on at Key Highway and handing out Sweedish Fish.  Yum!  I didn't take any as I don't take water or food while running (I don't train with anything so I don't know what it would do to me).  But, it was fine. 

I got to Exchange Point 3 about 5 minutes earlier than I thought I would and had a seemless exchange with sister-in-law.  After we exchanged, I walked back to Raven's Stadium, at which point I realized I injured myself.  Ugh.  I've been running for two years now steady and this is my first running injury.  Hurt the muscle behind my right knee.  :-(  But, made it over there and met up with our friend to wait out the rest of the relay.  We grabbed some food and water.  I grabbed a bottle of water to take my hydration drink my running guru Kim insisted I drink after wards.  I will say, it didn't taste as bad as I thought it would and my legs feel pretty decent (minusing out my knee issue).

Hubby crossed the line and we all met to congratulate ourselves of a race well run.  We got our donuts (hey!  We are named Team Earn Your Donuts after all!) and had our photo taken.  We enjoyed our complimentary beers and then due to prior commitments, we were all off.

Thank you to all those who organized the Baltimore Running Festival, all the volunteers who spent long hours making sure everything was available, all the police who kept some pretty persistent cars from squishing us, and the fabulous side line cheer leaders.  I'm not usually one for people cheering me on, but you were FANTASTIC!

And yea...I'd do it again.  Anyone want to be on my team?  ;-)