MC200
My EB posse and I competed in a relay race from Madison to Milwaukee to Chicago last weekend. 203 miles, 36 legs split between 12 guys (14, including 2 VERY dedicated van drivers).
We won for the second year in a row. 20hrs, 43 min. A blazing 6:08 pace!
On a side note: A 203 mile relay race is a pain in a ass! When you're running, you're trying to maintain 1/2 marathon -or faster- pace. When you're not running, you're driving to the next exchange area where runners cycle through the line-ups. All the while, you're crammed in a sweaty, stinky, trash filled van with a bunch of other dudes... The only time for stretching is when you're out cheering for teammates. Warm-ups and cool-downs are a joke. You get no sleep. Food is garbage. Your body is constantly in race mode (ie, very dehydrated and shitting non stop). After 15+ hours, it takes a huge toll. You get extremely sore, tired, slap-happy, and cranky.... and you have to keep racing!
Last year, we ran with 9 guys (rotating the line-up 4 times each). This year we ran with 12 guys (3 legs each). It was significantly hotter last year, which really took a toll on our 4 legs... Simple math would say that it should've been easier with 12 guys this year, than 9 guys last year.... but I swear this year was equally, if not more difficult than last year.
Maybe for me, it's because I'm still just coming back after Boston and my hip troubles? Maybe I just didn't like being late in the line-up, and waiting longer for my final leg? Either way, last year or this year... the final legs hurt! There's something about staying up for 36 hours while doing intense physical activity. It isn't what I'd call fun. We were all pretty spent by the time we got to the finish line at Montrose Harbor.
Of course I can whine about it after the fact... but the victory was totally worth it! The sweet's not so sweet without some bitter.
There were about 115 teams in the race. We started at 4pm with 4 other teams. The 110 other teams started a little earlier in the day. Starts were staggered so that slower teams went earlier, and ideally everyone crossed the finish line relatively close to one another.
Our goal was to 1) claim overall victory in the race for the second year in a row, and 2) be the first team to finish line, road killing everyone else.
Our line-up:
1 - Johnny Lance Romance
2 - Pflipper Kepler
3 - Monster Martineau
4 - Kfan...dell
5 - Paulie Johnston
6 - Mark the kid Wehrman
7 - Hi Guy wanna be, Chris Woods
8 - Dan the hairless McDowell
9 - Eric Shak 'n Baker
10 - Verdo Giorty
11 - Jason Creamer
12 - Rabbit
After the first couple legs, only 1 of the teams starting with us put up a fight. The other teams were very respectable, but we were averaging sub 6:00 min miles through the first 2 rotations... that's kind of aggressive, given a 203 mile race!
Courgar Running Club became our challenger. They're from the western Chicago burbs... a bunch of college and high school punks with muscles made of rubber. We were the old farts (or at least in their eyes)... but with miles and marathons of experience on our legs.
Through the first rotation, the Cougars were actually ahead of us by about 20 seconds! The lead had exchanged number of times. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but we didn't think it would be this intense. We were actually sweating it. In spite of having a few very solid college runners though (even faster than us), the cumulative distance running favored us. We knew eventually at least some of their team would crumble. It was just a matter of miles and time.
By the end of the second rotation we were up by about 3 minutes, and running in some steady rain and humidity. Far from a comfortable lead, given there were 70+ miles to go... but it was a small improvement over the first rotation.
Late in the second rotation, the Cougars technically disqualified themselves by illegally changing their line up. That didn't really matter to any of us though. We still were adamant about beating them. This thing had gotten ultra competitive. Emotions were flying. We were sweaty, soaking wet from the rain, and had ~7 hours uf running ahead of us. Both teams were clearly stressed. The easy road kills were starting to roll in at this point, but that no longer mattered. We wanted Cougar blood, and they weren't going down without a fight.
Going into the last few legs of the race, we held the lead but it was difficult to tell the spread... it could've been 5 minutes... 10 minutes...? We weren't sure. The kicker was they had some solid studs for closers. In the first leg, they sunk about 3 minutes on Jason and I over 15 miles... which meant they could handle sub 5:30's without a problem, and possibly do it again. We needed a 10 minute lead to feel comfortable.
I had no idea how much cushion I had as I took the final leg. I got the baton from Jason and just started rolling with a constant eye over my shoulder. I was tired and dehydrated. I knew I could maintain 6's, but I needed to save a little energy in case I had to throw down 5:30's. It was like an invisible hand behind me at all times. In my mind, all of the previous 20 hours and 195 miles had come down to 2 runners and 8 miles. At finish though, the sweat went for naught... we claimed the victory by about 22 minutes! All but 1 road kill was caught by the end... but it didn't matter, because Back2Back baby!
Ultimately our experience did prevail. I mean come on, our average marathon time between all 12 of us is probably 2:50 - and we all have MULTIPLE marathons under our belts. What do they got... a few 5Kers?? I definitely give them props though. It was close, and could've probably been closer. Give them a couple years though, and those cougar cubs will grow up to be menacing lions.
We inked ourselves into the Great Midwest Relay / MC200 Results once again:
Year - Overall Winning Team - Time - Distance
2005 - Fleet Feet Chicago - 20:42:51 (6:27 pace) - 192.4 mi
2006 - Stephanie Skladzien - 21:52:44 (6:54 pace) - 190 mi
2007 - Victorious Secret - 19:55:45 (6:17 pace) - 190 mi
2008 - Fleet Feet Electric Boogaloo - 21:31:40 (6:27 pace) - 203 mi
2009 - Fleet Feet Electric Boogaloo - 20:43:37 (6:08 pace) - 203 mi
My EB posse and I competed in a relay race from Madison to Milwaukee to Chicago last weekend. 203 miles, 36 legs split between 12 guys (14, including 2 VERY dedicated van drivers).
We won for the second year in a row. 20hrs, 43 min. A blazing 6:08 pace!
On a side note: A 203 mile relay race is a pain in a ass! When you're running, you're trying to maintain 1/2 marathon -or faster- pace. When you're not running, you're driving to the next exchange area where runners cycle through the line-ups. All the while, you're crammed in a sweaty, stinky, trash filled van with a bunch of other dudes... The only time for stretching is when you're out cheering for teammates. Warm-ups and cool-downs are a joke. You get no sleep. Food is garbage. Your body is constantly in race mode (ie, very dehydrated and shitting non stop). After 15+ hours, it takes a huge toll. You get extremely sore, tired, slap-happy, and cranky.... and you have to keep racing!
Last year, we ran with 9 guys (rotating the line-up 4 times each). This year we ran with 12 guys (3 legs each). It was significantly hotter last year, which really took a toll on our 4 legs... Simple math would say that it should've been easier with 12 guys this year, than 9 guys last year.... but I swear this year was equally, if not more difficult than last year.
Maybe for me, it's because I'm still just coming back after Boston and my hip troubles? Maybe I just didn't like being late in the line-up, and waiting longer for my final leg? Either way, last year or this year... the final legs hurt! There's something about staying up for 36 hours while doing intense physical activity. It isn't what I'd call fun. We were all pretty spent by the time we got to the finish line at Montrose Harbor.
Of course I can whine about it after the fact... but the victory was totally worth it! The sweet's not so sweet without some bitter.
There were about 115 teams in the race. We started at 4pm with 4 other teams. The 110 other teams started a little earlier in the day. Starts were staggered so that slower teams went earlier, and ideally everyone crossed the finish line relatively close to one another.
Our goal was to 1) claim overall victory in the race for the second year in a row, and 2) be the first team to finish line, road killing everyone else.
Our line-up:
1 - Johnny Lance Romance
2 - Pflipper Kepler
3 - Monster Martineau
4 - Kfan...dell
5 - Paulie Johnston
6 - Mark the kid Wehrman
7 - Hi Guy wanna be, Chris Woods
8 - Dan the hairless McDowell
9 - Eric Shak 'n Baker
10 - Verdo Giorty
11 - Jason Creamer
12 - Rabbit
After the first couple legs, only 1 of the teams starting with us put up a fight. The other teams were very respectable, but we were averaging sub 6:00 min miles through the first 2 rotations... that's kind of aggressive, given a 203 mile race!
Courgar Running Club became our challenger. They're from the western Chicago burbs... a bunch of college and high school punks with muscles made of rubber. We were the old farts (or at least in their eyes)... but with miles and marathons of experience on our legs.
Through the first rotation, the Cougars were actually ahead of us by about 20 seconds! The lead had exchanged number of times. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but we didn't think it would be this intense. We were actually sweating it. In spite of having a few very solid college runners though (even faster than us), the cumulative distance running favored us. We knew eventually at least some of their team would crumble. It was just a matter of miles and time.
By the end of the second rotation we were up by about 3 minutes, and running in some steady rain and humidity. Far from a comfortable lead, given there were 70+ miles to go... but it was a small improvement over the first rotation.
Late in the second rotation, the Cougars technically disqualified themselves by illegally changing their line up. That didn't really matter to any of us though. We still were adamant about beating them. This thing had gotten ultra competitive. Emotions were flying. We were sweaty, soaking wet from the rain, and had ~7 hours uf running ahead of us. Both teams were clearly stressed. The easy road kills were starting to roll in at this point, but that no longer mattered. We wanted Cougar blood, and they weren't going down without a fight.
Going into the last few legs of the race, we held the lead but it was difficult to tell the spread... it could've been 5 minutes... 10 minutes...? We weren't sure. The kicker was they had some solid studs for closers. In the first leg, they sunk about 3 minutes on Jason and I over 15 miles... which meant they could handle sub 5:30's without a problem, and possibly do it again. We needed a 10 minute lead to feel comfortable.
I had no idea how much cushion I had as I took the final leg. I got the baton from Jason and just started rolling with a constant eye over my shoulder. I was tired and dehydrated. I knew I could maintain 6's, but I needed to save a little energy in case I had to throw down 5:30's. It was like an invisible hand behind me at all times. In my mind, all of the previous 20 hours and 195 miles had come down to 2 runners and 8 miles. At finish though, the sweat went for naught... we claimed the victory by about 22 minutes! All but 1 road kill was caught by the end... but it didn't matter, because Back2Back baby!
Ultimately our experience did prevail. I mean come on, our average marathon time between all 12 of us is probably 2:50 - and we all have MULTIPLE marathons under our belts. What do they got... a few 5Kers?? I definitely give them props though. It was close, and could've probably been closer. Give them a couple years though, and those cougar cubs will grow up to be menacing lions.
We inked ourselves into the Great Midwest Relay / MC200 Results once again:
Year - Overall Winning Team - Time - Distance
2005 - Fleet Feet Chicago - 20:42:51 (6:27 pace) - 192.4 mi
2006 - Stephanie Skladzien - 21:52:44 (6:54 pace) - 190 mi
2007 - Victorious Secret - 19:55:45 (6:17 pace) - 190 mi
2008 - Fleet Feet Electric Boogaloo - 21:31:40 (6:27 pace) - 203 mi
2009 - Fleet Feet Electric Boogaloo - 20:43:37 (6:08 pace) - 203 mi
3 out of the 5 years running, our Fleet Feet team as dominated this event.
Here's copy from the Electric Boogaloo Twitter:
8:12 AM Jun 12th - Time to cowboy up!
8:34 AM - 40% chance of precip in Milly - WAU - KEE tonight - we might be able to out-run this thing.....PJ's house at 11 bells, the party begins.
10:00 AM - In 6 hours, we'll be burning the streets of madtown!
10:39 AM - Waiting for the other boogalooers.
11:47 AM - JoJo, the boys and the vans are headed to Madison.
11:53 AM - Getting lost on a detour.
12:05 PM - Kathy just mooned a 'Benz.
12:18 PM - Approaching Schlongburg... no time to stop at Ikea tho.
12:41 PM - Listening to one of Ken's cds. awesome!!
1:01 PM - J - you have to see a doctor about that.
1:24 PM - Made it to the land of cheese.
1:51 PM - Saw road sign for gentlemans club: chasin chubbi's.
2:03 PM - I'm been driving 3 hrs from Chicago, you just have to get into it.
3:02 PM - Wally World done. Death star approaching the hotel.
4:04 PM - And were off, lance is bringing up the rear.
4:53 PM - Phlip closed the gap.
5:50 PM - Lance picked off 2, Phlip took 1, monster took the lead.
6:35 PM - 2nd place after leg 5. The cougars are feeling confident. Suckers!
7:03 PM - Van 2 is killin time.. Cw is getting ready.
7:24 PM - Stride for stride through 6.
8:06 PM - Is Dan killing cougar?? Time will tell if we're allowed to mark our 4th road kill. Still havent caught the earlier runners.
8:08 PM - Baker shakin and bakin! Dan gave him 1:30 lead... Cougars are for real right now though.
9:27 PM - Pulling away slowly, new roadkill have been sighted.
10:45 PM - Through 1 rotation- tight race, Cougars brought out the college boyz for the last legs.
10:52 PM - We've got a race! Thru the first 12 runners, we were 20 seconds in 2nd place. They got solid closers!
11:42 PM - After 14 legs we're back about 2 minutes.
12:03 AM Jun 13th - After 15 we're up about 3 minutes.
1:46 AM - Thru 18 - 15 secs up. This is going to be work.
2:39 AM - 20 seconds up after woods... both teams got lost for about 2 mi!
3:17 AM - After Danny boy, solid minute.
3:58 AM - Man down on Cougar's!! They're moving runners up 1 slot. Lance's guy will go 4 legs.
3:58 AM - Thru baker, Verdo had a 245 lead.
4:01 AM - Verdo's guy down, so their studs slide up. Pay attention to your competition!
4:16 AM - Verdo put the smack down. about 4 min spread.
4:18 AM - Their guy is getting stopped by a train crossing!!!
5:23 AM - Competition DQ'd. We are still trying to finish first though.
5:25 AM - There's no trying about it. we MUST beat them to the finish line!
5:26 AM - Lance was in the toilet when his leg started. About 4 min spread.
7:19 AM - Up by 4 min over the DQ'd Cougars after leg 27.
7:27 AM - Cougars DQ'd when injured runner went down, then illegally changed roster.
7:27 AM - ~40 roadkills out there to be had. We must finish first.
8:03 AM - Last leg for van 1. ~5 min lead. Less than 30 roadkill left.
8:04 AM - FF rock steady in our sights.
8:32 AM - Entered ILL.
8:49 AM - 22 to go.
9:13 AM - 15 to go. Go Dan.
9:18 AM - Why so serious, Robert?
9:20 AM - Road killing at its best right now!!
10:04 AM - Dan picked off 8, 7 to go Baker.
10:06 AM - Watchin some talent.
10:30 AM - Three legs to go. At least 8 minute lead.
10:48 AM - 3 more roadkill ahead. They have 22 min lead.
11:22 AM - Somehow we got a girl in our van. And she immediately started stripping!
11:30 AM - Another road kill down.
12:00 PM - Last leg. Go get'tem rabbit. Our championship awaits.
12:12 PM - Roadkill sighted. Robert it's yours.
1:00 PM - Back2back.
3:09 PM - After party at Emerald Loop 6:00.
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