Just two days after picking up & moving 7 miles to our dream home, I ran the Raleigh City of Oaks marathon relay with my running team, the Oiselle Volée. I had signed up for the race months ago, before I knew I’d be moving. Since it was only our second night in the new house, and we had just dropped a small fortune, I REALLY didn’t want to spend the night in Raleigh. So, I did what any dedicated RunNerd would do… woke up at 4 AM and drove the 1.5 hours to Raleigh to meet my team at 6:15! Ughhhhh to the 4 AM 🙁 The only thing that made it slightly better was daylight savings time, so I blessedly got an extra hour in there. As it was my first time meeting my teammates, I didn’t want to be late so…. I drove SUPER fast to Raleigh. Made it in perfect time 🙂
Race: Raleigh City of Oaks Marathon Relay. I was leg 4 (anchor leg), 6.2 miles. Oiselle had 5 teams, so I met a ton of awesome teammates!
Goal: No goal, other than running hard and trying to do well for my team. For a 10K, I figured I’d be able to run low 50’s. I had forgotten about the HUMONGOUS hill along the course, from when I ran the marathon in 2012. It’s right around mile 22 and it’s a doozy!
Gear: Decked out in Oiselle gear, of course! Shorts, bra, and team tank, from Oiselle. Pro Compression socks. North Face warm-up coat. Mizuno’s, Garmin. Once again, forgot iPod (doh!) I’m used to running without it now.
Gut: Did well to hydrate for the 4ish hours I was waiting. Had coffee and a snack on the drive, then an egg sandwich from the Bruegger’s Bagels where we met up at 6:15. We were at the relay exchange, next to a McDonald’s, for awhile, so I had some Powerade in addition to my Nuun electrolytes.
Weather: Chilly but not horribly so. Partly sunny. I was fine to wear shorts & my team tank.
Pre-race: Hung out with the team for several hours, which was awesome! Had plenty of time to digest and warm up. My teammate Liz (check out her blog–the pics are amazing!) handed off to me after running a 5 mile segment.
Race: It felt strangely familiar to be running Raleigh again. Raleigh is my 1 and only (thus far!) marathon, and I have raced there about 6 times total, so it’s got a special place in my heart. I felt decent, considering my low mileage and lack of any kind of speed work. I just chugged along, grateful for the crowd support, and even more thankful that I got to run the anchor leg. I felt like a rock star, cruising down Hillsborough Street to the finish line, reliving the memory of 5 years ago, when I ran in honor of my Grandma. It was this moment when I started to think, Maybe I should run another marathon?! More on that in a few.
*Interesting tidbit: I recognize the guy behind me in the above photo as my pacer from Raleigh Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon in April!
Results: 2 of my 3 teammates were waiting for me, so we could all run in together. Which was just so freakin awesome!
Watch the video of us crossing the finish line here!
Our time was 3:49:20, just 1 second behind another Oiselle team (and of course, competitive me is like, seriously, 1 second?! But it’s OK, at least it was another Oiselle team!)
We took some pics and waited for our other teammates to come in.
Also, a quick shoutout to my teammate Jacky, who is an amputee and wrote about her experience here. So inspiring!
Recommend: Most definitely would do this race again! I actually hope to run with the Oiselle team again, as I had an absolute blast!
Afterwards, we walked over to Carolina Cafe for some breakfast. I was pretty much starving, so I grabbed a donut and oranges and chocolate milk on the way there… so by the time we got there, I only really wanted a snack, so I ordered a Belgian waffle that didn’t disappoint.
You know what else didn’t disappoint? Getting to watch the NYC marathon with my fellow RunNerds… and watching Shalane Flanagan WIN the whole &%*$! thing!!!!!!!!!
So after running the anchor of the marathon, with all the amazing crowd support, THEN watching Shalane win NYC… Yes, I definitely have a marathon on the brain for 2018. Now the question is, Which One?! Comment below with your suggestions, please!
Icing on the cake? The medal was a spinner.
Head up, wings out!
Garmin data if you’re curious:
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