River 2 River Relay

On April 18th the Pope County League of Extraordinary Sportsmen tackled the 80 mile River to River Relay. We had Damon Turner, Dustin Turner, Jess Taylor, Clint Taylor, Brian Levin, Allen Clay, Justin Wolff, Gordon Dugan, and myself. This was my 2nd year participating. I don't enjoy running, but have a good time hanging out with the guys and telling stories. We all met at the Dixon Springs Chocolate Factory, after loading Wolff's suburban, and exchanging the customary insults to one another, we headed over to the start. Apparently the insults took longer than expected and we missed our start time. Oh well, we just had to start 30 min later, and they corrected our time. During the drive over, we decided who runs what stages, through intense negotiation and peer pressure. Damon has always been our ringer, but broke his foot falling out of a deer stand this year. (side note: It was his 2nd time falling out of a deer stand. 1st time fell asleep, 2nd time stand broke) He got no sympathy and still had to run the hardest stage. Since I signed on last year as an alternate, I used that to my advantage to only have to run 2 stages instead of 3. I did however get stuck doing the 2nd hardest stage and the longest. My goal earlier in the year was to average under a 7min/mile. During training I could do it no problem if the terrain was flat, but considering the elevation changes on my stages, I was hoping to keep it under 7:30.

I started with Stage 7. I knew the first hill would be hard, but didn't realize how steep it was the last quarter mile. It took me 8 min to get to the top. Unfortunately the downhill was just as steep and hurt just as bad. I finished the stage in 23:14 for a 7:44 min/mile avg.

As soon as I finished I grabbed some water, and put my Ted Hose on, and grabbed some lunch. I tried to keep my feet elevated and stretch at every stop, but it gets a little crowed with 8 grown men in one car. My next stage was 16. Knowing how bad the downhill on my first stage hurt, I knew I was in for more of the same. The stage didn't disappoint. I also got to run in the rain, which was good and bad. It made the downhill a little slippery, but gave me something else to think about besides my legs. I ended up finishing in 29:30 for a 7:17 min/mile avg. Overall I was happy with my performance, next year I think I'll try to find some flatter stages to run, or at least cut out the long steep downhills.

Our team goal was to go under 10 hrs and we finished in 10:00:37 so we have some unfinished business there. We finished 21st in the open division and 53rd/232 teams overall. Not bad for a bunch of guys just getting together.

Also my Newton shoes were great on the flats and uphill, but were awkward running downhill. I still really like them, and I felt more efficient and didn't hurt near as bad after finishing compared to last year. I personally think they are the real deal.

Pics courtesy of Clint Taylor






I should also mention this race finishes in my hometown of Golconda, Il. We even got our team pic in the local weekly paper. Glad we didn't choose Renis Pinkles as our team name.