Running Is A Team Sport: Palmetto70 Complete
By admin
This weekend was one that I will never forget. The Palmetto70 has come and gone and I am left with so much.
This race was like nothing I have ever done before. I know I’ve said in the past, I prefer individual sports, but after this weekend, the comraderie and support that comes from a tight, close group… words can’t explain (which kind of sucks for a blogger).
But hopefully the recap of pictures will help put it into perspective.
Friday was filled with running last minute errands, and some pre-race team bonding.
Sign making and car painting.
Which by the way… I did not come up with our team name. Though, it was pretty cute.
A few of the girls stayed at my place and we headed off to a very restless sleep at around 10, though all of us were still up at 12… not cool when you have a 2:30am wake-up. But we made it happen, and lucky for us our excitement helped us to wake up and get moving without a problem.
Palmetto 70 Time Cordesville –> Charleston
Then it was time for all 6 of us to meet up and head off to conquer 65.5 miles (I was a bit upset when I realized the course wasn’t 70 complete miles) but that was fine by me!
At 5:15, I kicked off the race for my team with just under 9-miles ahead of me. In the dark, back woods of Cordesville, SC (I had never even heard of this city). I just kept thinking about my team and wanting to start it off on the right foot, so those miles seemed to fly by! What helped was that I started in the second wave of runners, which were ALL guys. I just kept telling myself I wasn’t going to let them all overtake me.
The race continued on, one runner at a time, with us stopping the car about half way to show support and pump her up for the second half of the run.
We also decided that we should have been awarded “Team Congeniality” because we were the only team that would roll our windows down for EVERY runner we saw to cheer them on… I also think we were the only team with a cowbell. Not just any cowbell… but a Palmetto Cowbell. Oh yea.
It was a long day, but an amazing day… Here are some more pictures, as seriously I think they do a lot better of showing the experience than reading about it:
All smiles at the end of each leg!
Work never ends… at least I LOVE it!
Lots of team bonding
Bubble blowing on the side of BIG roads for other teams and of course our girl Kim!
“Hurry up, Van #1 is already drinking beer!”
Finishing up leg 2… all physical pain at this point. And tears of joy, pain, relieve, and exhaustion
Team love… the best! Need some water on your head for a quick cool down? You don’t even have to ask. We got your back.
Realizing you ran the most miles ever in a day… 15.3 total = pride.
Finishing off leg after leg = bliss and realization of how tired you are!
Finishing the race as a team, the best feeling of accomplishment.
Sprinting to the end side by side with your friend that has already done so many “firsts” (here and here) with you… appropriate.
Love. Pride. Accomplishment. Support. Motivation. Exhausting. AMAZING.
Thank you to the Palmetto70 crew for giving us this opportunity. And thank you to all of my amazing team members (left to right): Ashton, Me, April, Jeanette, Felicia, and Kim for working so hard and making this such a memorable and positive experience. We heard of some craze team experiences and I felt so blessed ours worked together so perfectly.
As for our time? I have no freaking clue. All I cared about was finishing without any drama or injuries.
What did I do after? I was asleep by 6:30 and slept soundlessly until 7:30 this morning. Surprisingly though I feel great today! My butt my hurt a bit but nothing I can’t handle.
Lessons Learned From The:
– We all agreed that the 1st run you do is all MENTAL. Not knowing what to expect or how you will perform. The 2nd leg is all PHYSICAL. Your body is exhausted, your legs are tired, the temperatures were much hotter and you just want to stop.
– Adrenaline can get you to do some amazing things. After only 2 hours of sleep we were able to accomplish some great things.
– They play far too much Maroon 5 on the radio… we had a count going on the side of our van and by the end had 10 tally marks.
-Being a motivator for other teams is a lot of fun. And watching the ultra-teams (there were teams of just 2 running all 200 miles) was inspiring.
-The race was put together REALLY well. Organized, great volunteers and signs placed to help us not get lost. I am sure it’s not an easy event to keep it running smooth.
– Focus on hydrating and fueling. After a run, I have no appetite and this was the case after my first leg. But knowing I still had another run made me eat even when I didn’t want to simply to make sure I had the energy and fuel to make it through to the end.
– Relay races force you to make friends fast. No one in our van new EVERYONE at the beginning. But that all goes out the window and you make friends fast. Running creates “issues” and you gotta get be comfortable with it.
– After looking at all the pictures, I have declared Ashton “Most Photogenic” on the team as seen:
The picture I think should be in Runner’s World:
J- all matched out and oh so serious!
And that’s a wrap!
During the race, we were debating who had the best matching outfit… we decided to leave it to my awesome readers:
Ashton or Jeanette (from the above picture)?