Mt. Si Relay

On Sunday Christine and I ran in the Mt. Si relay race with a doctor from her work (the Polyclinic), her boyfriend and his friend (both employed at Amazon). We ran under the name "Team Polyzon"; certainly makes more sense than "Polyunempzon" :P

Christine had given me the impression that Dr. Frownfelter and friends were into running, but maybe this was going to be more of a "fun" event than a competitive event. All hopes of such an outcome were dashed when Christine put in a blistering sub 6:30 per mile pace for the first leg. The bar was held high throughout the whole day. We ended up 6th out of 115 teams, and 2nd in the "mixed men/women" category. I ran as hard as I could, but I'm not in the hottest running shape. These folks were serious! Everyone was laying down fast times.

Each competitor ran two legs. Most of us ended up with a longer first leg (6 - 8 miles) and a shorter second leg (3 - 4 miles), save for Matt who made a very heroic 7 mile run up to Rattlesnake Lake for his second leg. I ran a 6.1 and 3.4 mile legs, and felt more wasted at the end of the day than if I had run 9.5 miles all at once.

Matt had an awesome GPS watch that gave current and average pace estimates, as well as distances travelled. I now have a serious case of tech envy for such a device. It's a real motivator while racing, as I worked to keep my pace high.

This was a really fun event, and a cool way to make a running race more interesting. Thanks for inviting me along!