Controlled Aggression: American Odyssey Relay Race Report

A few months ago, there was some chatter amongst the lunchtime running group about running this race. This was primarily the result of the surprisingly fast sell-out of entries into the Broad Street Run. This is the quintessential road race in Philadelphia, drawing something like 30,000 entries this year. The Centocor Running Club always puts out a team, but I think with the quick deadline, it was impossible to organize everything and get the results submitted in time. So talk shifted away from the Broad Street Run to the American Odyssey Relay.

The AOR is a 200 mile relay from Gettysburg to Washington D.C., traversing over mountains, through small neighborhoods, and along trails and canals. The route makes its way through Pennsyvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, before finishing along the Potomac in Washington D.C. Our team was part of the Corporate Men division, even though we had several females on our team. With 12 people, we each had to run three separate legs along the way, totaling 15-21 miles. We took two vans with 6 people each and leap-frogged the route down to DC. I was in the first van (the first runner, actually) with Paul, Laura, Evan (from McNeil), Frank, and Brian. My first leg was a 5.8 mile route through Gettysburg. The start was anti-climatic: the race organizer said some muffled words through a faulty bull horn all of a sudden we were off. It was windy and cool, but the wind was either at my back or cooling me off and the temperature was perfect. The course was well marked, but I still carried the printout of the directions with me so I would know how far to run on a particular road. The rest of the field got off to a slow start with the exception of myself and another young-looking runner. I sized him up as maybe a local cross-country athlete, but after the first mile I thought differently. I haven't raced a strict road race since the 2010 Broad Street Run and had no idea what pace felt like. I told Paul my PR for the 10K was somewhere around 6:20 pace and he calculated my leg times accordingly. I kept a steady pace (or so I thought) threw the back neighborhoods of Gettysburg and was pleased that the road signs were clearly visible. It was a winding, twisting course, which eventually finished with a long, straight stretch through the middle of downtown Gettysburg. Luckily, the course description had this marked as exactly 1 mile, so I took note of the time on my watch as I started it. I had to dodge several tourists and Civil Was re-enactors, navigate around a roundabout, before straining up the slight incline towards the finish at 6:30 pace. I had no idea I was hoofing it at this pace, because it didn't seem as hard as I thought. I wanted to save some gas for the later legs and was pleased at this result. In the end, Paul told me I finished within 2 seconds of my target finishing time: 39:10 for 5.8 miles.

I had underestimated the time we would be spending in the van. We meandered through Pennsylvania for the next 5 legs before meeting up with the other van at the T5. They would take over at the next transition point, but some of us had never met before so it would be good to say hello and give any tips we had learned. I was feeling sort of sluggish at this point, but Paul looked ready for his leg, a long and tortuous 6.7 stretch up an 1100 foot mountain. I wish I could say he had the same fervor at the finish. We made a few pit stops at the top of some of his steeper climbs to give him some motivation, although I'm not really sure it did him any good. He finished strong, but I'm sure the effort took a toll on him and we all hoped it wouldn't have an overwhelmingly negative effect.

It was about 5-6PM when our van finished our first legs and we decided it was time for dinner. We drove around Smithsburg, Maryland for a while and all we could find was a run down biker bar called "Chocolate Park Tavern" and an American Legion. The pizza place we found on Google was shut down and some rusted over cars sat in the front yard. I think we left skid marks on the driveway as we peeled outta there. Paul opted to drive with his wife who had volunteered in the race earlier, which proved to be a problem as our van headed back towards civilization in search of some safer grub. There was some miscommunication about where exactly we were headed (Paul chose to follow his iPhone instead) and ended with Paul begrudgingly following us to an Applebee's, which luckily stood at T10. We each ordered a beer and got our booth. On any other day, Applebee's would have sounded terrible, but it was our first real meal of the day and nothing looked better. Chips and Queso, Spinach Dip, and pasta lined the table and I couldn't help but think about how this was going to turn into glue in my colon. It's one of those little things I think most runners think about during the day. I didn't really have a chance to crap earlier in the day and it pretty much stuck in the back of my mind throughout the rest of the day. It was impossible to take in enough water and green vegetables to keep things regular and it took a couple of failed attempts before I was finally successful the next morning. But that's another story... The second van made their way into the restaurant as they waited for Becky to finish her leg and their eyes became wide with jealousy as they stared at our finished plates.

From that point we headed to our next transition area. After Paul's grueling leg and his nagging back injury, he wanted to head over to Boonsboro high school, which was serving as an oasis for runner's to eat, shower, and sleep through the night. Laura stayed with me and soon the other van arrived and we waited for Jen to pass through. I guess she had grossly underestimated her finishing time, because I was just starting off on a short warmup jog when I heard the screams of Becky and Laura rushing me back. Thankfully, I had stopped just over a ridge to tinker with my headlamp and hadn't made it out of earshot. I slid down the hill and frantically ripped off my warmup pants. Luckily, I was ready to run and flew down the hill that lead up to the transition area. The run itself was really dark. The were a few street lights that lined the early part of the run, but soon I was running along a ridge with a great view of the horizon. The first part of the run was pretty steep, but after 1.5-2 miles, it was all downhill and I was flying. I had some concerns about sore quads for the third leg, but I was feeling good and just kept cruising. I wouldn't say I was red lining, but definitely putting in some effort. I passed 6-7 people on this stretch, all of whom were nursing the downhill portions. The only thing that broke me out of my zone was a telephone call about 0.5 miles from the finish. I almost answered, but thought better of it and figured I was almost finished anyway. Turns out it was my van, trying to find out where on the course I was and if I had finished. THEY WERE STILL DRIVING! I saw them pull into the lot as I was coming through the finish and Frank hopped out, grabbed the wrist band and was on his way. Couldn't have planned it any better than that.

The next few hours were pretty blurry. It was after 10PM when I finished my second leg, but I had to tough it out in the van for Frank and Laura's leg before I could get to the high school to sleep. When we finally did make it, I was concentrating on sleeping so hard that it consumed my thoughts and actually kept me awake. I'm sure the hardwood basketball courts played a role as well. Everyone in the gym was extremely considerate and it was much quieter in there than I had expected, but when you are trying to fall asleep, every little sound becomes deafening. It was an uphill battle against an orchestra of snores, sleeping bag zippers, and cell phones alarms. I didn't realize how many people out there have iPhones. Every ring, alarm, or text message jolted me awake, thinking it was my own time to get up. In the end, I think I ended up getting 2-3 hours of interrupted sleep, before Frank came along and woke me up for good. Later, we joked around about whether I set an alarm or not and I guess I had just counted on someone else waking me up. Pretty good for all of us that they did.

I was extremely groggy for this last leg. It started out with Jen crossing the Potomac into West Virginia where I was waiting. It was crisp, almost chilly outside and all I had was shorts and a Tshirt. In hindsight, I was under-prepared for this race, thinking all the while it was going to be warm and comfortable. I never anticipated nighttime lows in the low 40s. I waited with no intention of warming up, thinking I would get enough warmup on the first mile. Jen exceeded her goal pace anyway and made her way into Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV. After a quick U-turn, she handed off the bracelet, I made my way back up to the U-turn (traffic law), back across the bridge, down some steps and onto a gravel tow path that would be my home for 8.2 miles. I wore the MT-101s, wanting to give them a try in racing conditions. It turned out to be a bad decision. The ground was very uneven, with larger rocks and roots strewn about the path. Even with a powerful headlamp (which was starting to flicker, giving warning that the battery was almost dead) it was tough to see the ground more than 10 feet ahead, making each step precarious. The ground was also much harder than expected and soon my joints were feeling the impact. It might have been the lack of sleep, water, and vision, but for the moment I was focusing all my frustration on the shoes. I still managed with pass several people, before running into a few runners trekking in the other direction. This brought temporary panic into my mind, but soon realized that they were looking for another lost runner. Coincidentally, the lost runner happened to be from another JNJ team, who had made a right, instead of a left at the bottom of the stairs onto the tow path and ran almost 8.2 miles in the wrong direction. At the time, this was the least of my worries, as my target finishing time came and went and the end was nowhere in sight. I kept hoping to hear faint cheers and car horns in the distance, but couldn't make out much over the sound of my labored breathing. Finally, I saw the headlights in the distance and pushed out just a little harder for the finish. Paul told me (although I'm not sure how truthful he way after seeing the disappointed look on my face) that the course was actually 8.7 miles instead of 8.2, meaning my 66 minute finishing time was still good enough for ~7:30 pace. Not what I was hoping for, but still decent considering the conditions. I made straight for the van where I passed out for about 30 minutes during frank and Laura's leg, cursing under my breath that they sun was coming up just as I was finishing my run.

Now that my contribution was over, I was feeling much more lighthearted, almost to the aggravation of the rest of my van. It had been a tough race mentally, always knowing that there was another run ahead of you. I brought along my compression socks, which I think helped pretty well, but I still did a pore job of rehydrating after each leg. We followed along until Paul finished his leg and then headed to a diner in Gaithersburg, Md, before finally making our way down to DC for Jen's final leg. All in all, we did a great job, exceeding our target finishing time as a team by almost 30 minutes, giving us 2nd place in our division and 11th overall. Pretty good considering there were over 150 teams in attendance. Things got pretty bumpy at times, personalities clashed here and there, but overall it was a good race. After a few beers and barbecue at the finish, we hit the road. Maybe in a few weeks we'll decide if we're looking forward to it next year.