4:45am – Out of bed and ready to get my run on. Well not exactly, my leg (7) will get going around 10:00am but we want out whole team to be at the starting line together to see our first runner off.
5:25am – It’s a brisk 55 degrees outside this morning in Fort Collins. Coming from 85 degrees in the morning with intense Kansas City humidity, I could get used to this. The normal prerace nerves are taking hold but it’s not too bad, hell my first leg is 3.7 miles, which is a warm up for me so it’s not the run that eating at me. It’s the second leg (19) 8.8 miles starts at 7400 feet and ends at 9200 feet. Brutal for a flatlander like me. Anyway, the parking lot is a bee hive of activity. Giant white vans everywhere decorated with signs and shaving cream, streamers, and banners. Headlamps and reflective gear illuminate the morning with the MC providing the soundtrack in the background. Groups are going off every 15 minutes and we are set to bolt at 5:40am.
5:35am – I have now been introduced to everyone on the team. The only runner I know is my brother-in-law Chris. My sister was running and invited me to join the team, but unfortunately she took a header over her handlebars doing some downhill mountain biking and broke her collar bone about three weeks ago so she is now a driver. One quick note, a commonality amongst the running community here in Colorado, tan, slender, prepared, a well put together group which is reassuring.
5:40am – WE ARE OFF!!!!!
5:41am – Back to the vans to wish the first team members off. Six in one with a driver and six in the other. I’m in van two with my sister and Chris is in van one. He is a pretty particular fellow and likes his space so when my sister, Colleen, asks him, “are you ready?” He replies, “it’s not the run I’m worried about,” as he glances over his shoulder at the van. Chris, sitting next to people for that long in a cramped space is not something he dreams about, but we are all sacrificing something for the team. His contribution: comfort.
6:00am – Back at my sister’s house to catch a little more rest (or blog) and then off to our first checkpoint and my first leg.
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