HURT: race'n in the rain

A few months ago, one of Zack's frisbee buddies asked him if he would like to be a part of a 12 man team to run a 200 mile relay. Zack was at first resistant to the idea as he has not been doing much running, but the second time that Charlie asked him, the had started to get the bug. So, about 8 weeks before the race, Zack started trying to train. He was going to run 3 fairly short legs equaling about 10 miles altogether. About 2 weeks before the race, Zack got an email from Charlie to let him know that his legs in the race had changed and he was going to now be running a little bit further, up to about 15 miles altogether. Zack was able to get an 8 mile long run in before the race, and that at least made him feel confident that he could at least finish his legs of the race.

The team consisted of a bunch of guys that Charlie knew and they flew in from all over. It was quite a conglomeration of people and it was interesting to get to know them a little over the weekend. The Thursday before the race, Charlie and his wife Tressa invited everyone over the their house for a prerace pasta dinner. Tressa had made huge pots of spaghetti and meat sauce and a big bowl of salad. It was delicious. They finished the meal off with some A-mazing petit fours that Tressa had gotten at a local bakery.

Friday morning, I dropped Zack off at Charlies house at around 8 and he and the other guys climbed into 2 vans and headed off toward their race. I had thought about going to watch them run initially, but the nature of the race would make it hard...they would be running through the night and on small windy roads...it just would have been hard.

Zack called me after he finished his first and longest leg. He was happy with his time, as he was able to maintain a faster pace than he had anticipated. It was starting to get REALLY windy and overcast here. So, I told Zack that it looked like it was about to start raining here and that they should be prepared for when it got to them...and BE CAREFUL.

the race was 200 miles of beautiful scenery throughout North East Georgia.

In between legs, the guys rested in tents while waiting for the other van full of guys to finish their legs and their van to be active again.

Zack texted me a few hours later to let me know that the race was being postponed for an hour due to the weather. After an hour they started the guys back on the course. Our friend Zach was running and Zack said that after about a mile Zach was caught in a torrential downpour with lightning and wind. The course was already difficult without adding wind, rain and darkness on top of it. About 8 miles into his 12 mile run, they went and picked Zach up. At that point the race directed decided that they would be postponing indefinitely. Half of the guys on Zack's team decided to get a hotel room and stay the night, the other half decided to drive home that night....Zack was among those that decided to head on home....although, he would have preferred to sleep on the floor at the church that the race was using as a storm shelter and finish the race the next day.

Zack and the guys made it back to our little town around 1 or 2 o'clock that night. I was still awake...taking down our Christmas tree and making a cheesecake...when he got home.

At about 3 oclock the next day, we all headed back over the Charlie's house for a crayfish boil. Those of you who know me well know that I REALLY do not like seafood...tried it...don't like it. So, I was planning on eating just the potatoes, mushrooms, and corn that is cooked with the crayfish. I ended up sitting right next to our host and I felt that it might be rude not to at least eat one or two of the crayfish...as he would notice after a while if I didn't. So, I reached over and picked one up....looked into his beady little eyes for a minute...swallowed hard and then peeled it and popped it into me mouth. I was....surprised. It actually had really good flavor. It wasn't chewy like shrimp or fishy tasting like most seafood...I actually enjoyed it. I probably ate about 8 crayfish when it was all said and done....shocking, I know! I still cannot believe it myself!


I had made a chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake to take along for dessert. I was REALLY worried about taking it....these were mostly people that I didn't know or didn't know well...and that is a lot of pressure....I mean this is your one shot. If what you made is not good, then that is the only way they remember your cooking. So, I was feeling pretty concerned...Zack, of course thought I was crazy to be worried, but I was. I had decided that the cheesecake looked too plain right before we left home and so at the last minute I made some whipped cream and piped little stars onto the top and placed chocolate chip cookie halves in each of them....then at lease it would be pretty if not tasty, right?!?! Thankfully my worry was for nothing. It was the first time that I have ever taken a cheesecake somewhere and had no leftovers to take home....Thank goodness these people were cheesecake people.

It was a really fun weekend and Zack and I both really enjoyed the experience. I think that Zack would sign up to run a race like this again...even though they didn't get to finish this one...and I really enjoyed getting to meet and talk with some new and interesting people.