Click here to return to 2007 Results
I called this race, "The toughest, longest and happiest run of my life!" I had never been in a race like this. I did an early trail run with Rick Cronise and he spoke of his passion for ultra marathon running. I finally fielded a team of 4 runners to do the course. TheRun4Life Rockets were made up of Nate Donaleski, Jon Hickey, Vin Gleason, and Dan Townsend.
Before I ran the race I read the website. Many races are put together and tough for the runners to figure out where they are going. Not this one. I loved how everything was mapped out for each leg of the relay.
I had been battling the flu bad for the past 48 hours. If it has been any normal race I would have stayed in bed. Instead we loaded up the van full of teammates and set out. I watched the first two legs while trying to keep fluids down. It was nice to be able to watch my teammates run. Nate the Great got us a nice lead from 4th place and stayed close to the front-runners. It was a great experience to cheer and join other teams. I could not keep anything down. My first leg was #3, Bopple Hill. I had underestimated this hill. I ran my first mile around 6 minutes, then I started my climb and I ran out of gas. It was the most challenging hill I have ever run in a race. After Bopple Hill I clapped and cheered for everyone. I felt like we were all in it together.
None of the places seemed to change all day. We stayed in third overall all day. We just tried hard to maintain that. My next leg was #7. Dan came in after a nice steady run and handed off to me in front of the church. I started my climb up the hill. I had doused my self with tons of water. I had been sweating out my flu. Only thing I could keep down at this point were the electrolyte caplets we were given in our race packets. I started my climb up the valley. About 20 minutes into my run I encountered another runner. I was excited because I hadn’t seen many runners out on the course. I ran next to him to see if he was ok. He was running the entire 50 miles. I told him how I was running for my kids and their childhood illness. My daughter with kidney disease and my son with cranial surgery. He told me that he was running for his daughter who had battled cancer at 4 months old. I thought he was very courageous and I wished him the best. He then told me to go on my way and run. He didn’t want to slow me down. If anything his story lifted me up and got me to the finish of that leg. I handed off to Jon and waited for the runner I had just seen to come in. I clapped as he ran in with a pacer. I did never get to see him again but I now know there is another runner out there that runs for a cause like I do.
Jon came in on leg #8. He looked exhausted and dizzy. The heat was starting to take its toll on us. Dan ran leg 9 and his non-wavering attitude and pace kept us together. I was worried about running leg #10. I had been sick all afternoon and had eaten nothing. I felt good for the first two miles. I kept my pace under 7 min miles. Then it was like the lights went out. I turned a corner and got lost. It started raining heavy. I saw an arrow turning right and found out later it wasn’t right. The team that was behind us saved me and told me I was going the wrong way. I find them very commendable because they could have pulled away to have their team beat us. I got back on course and all I could feel was the hard rain pelting my face. I could not see for miles 45-46. Around Mile 46.5 my team was waiting for me. I felt finished. My knees were swollen and I was sick. I felt I couldn’t go on. That I bit off more than I could chew by running sick. Jon said to me that he saw another runner coming. So I gave him the bottle of water and took off running as hard as I could. I then felt alone out there. I counted miles 47, 48 and then before 49, I read a sign that read, "FLCC 1 mile! It felt so good knowing the end was near. I followed the arrows and I saw a sign that read, "Dead End!" I thought I ran the wrong way again. I was thinking it had cost my team at least 3 positions and dropped us out of the top. I was really down. I saw the arrow down the hill at the sign and I felt ecstatic. I was so tired and beat up from the flu and no food. I ran down the hill and saw a biker at the stadium before FLCC. He asked me if I was ok. I told him I was hurting. The flu took its toll and the knee surgeries were being felt at this time as well. I jogged into FLCC. I ran up the hill and heard a cowbell. The man told me to run to the right and save myself some pain. When I came up the hill I saw my team and other teams cheering me on. I was down on myself all day for running so slow that day, but I learned that it is your team that picks you up when you are down. After I regained some consciousness at the finish, we were handed Silver Medals. It was a nice feeling for our 6:23 performance as first timers. We then headed to the post race feast. We thought this was very well done. It was a wonderful reward for all of the hard work. The facilities were great and we really felt like home at the event. We will definitely see you next year!
Vin Gleason, TheRun4Life Rockets and Founder of TheRun4Life.org