How to have fun on a Sunday morning!

Our group sponsored a race walking relay team for the marathon last week. I
thoroughly support and encourage anyone who has not done a relay to give it
a try. It was a blast. We all got there early, we picked up or packets,
loaded chairs, food, water and warm clothes to the start area. The start
was bitter cold (34 degrees is bitter cold for us). We cheered each other
out and screamed each other in across the pass-off line. The course was
uphill in the desert with a strong wind at the turn-a-round. By the time I
went off in the middle, it was pretty warm and by the time our last team
member finished with her 10K, it was in the 70s and the rest of us were
working on sun burns.

One member of our group had noticed a marathon Relay just two weeks prior,
so we gathered up 5 willing and able- bodied, ENTHUSIASTIC women and entered
the race. We were the only race walking TEAM. We did see a few walkers
along the way, but no other teams. We were definitely the loudest, most
enthusiastic group there, and we were all in out red, white and black team
shirts-easy to spot.

AZTECH RACEWALKER
FEMALE, 40 to 49
4:51:43
Diane Brandt started us out and set a brisk pace for her five-mile lap.
Diane wanted to do 53 minutes and beat her goal. Her stint: 52:24
Vicki Pritchard went out second. She was looking for a sign that read 2.5
miles (as mentioned in the directions) but didn't see one. She looked at
her watch at the five-mile turn-around marker, but it was too soon for that
turn to be the right one. She had never done 2.5 miles that fast, so she
kept going. After not finding a marker for 2.5 she decided that she had
gone way too far. Her time for her 5.8-mile trip was 1:01:00.
Ellie Kallal (me) went out with a goal of 54:40. That hill was tough and I
just didn't have the juice to go any faster. However, I did get and give
lots of High Fives and cheerful calls from runners and the two race walkers
doing the half-marathon. Since my goal is to just have a good time in every
non-judged race, it was perfect. My time was 55:28 for my five-miles.
Susan Lichtsinn was next to the last. She has been walking for just about a
year, now. She looked great going out and strong coming back in. Her time-
57:18
Kathy Balser competes a lot at the national level. She took the final leg
of the event. Her goal was a sub 1:05 10K. She did 1:04:57.

Okay, we were the last relay to finish, the only team with no runners. We
had all just done the Rock n Roll half marathon three weeks prior, (I had
even donated blood two weeks before), had races coming up this week and next
and had not planned for or trained for the race but what the heck. We each
kept out pace up. We held form both up and down hill. We all looked fast
coming down that short steep hill at the turn-around/finish line, and we
looked good in the team picture at the finish.

Next year we'll field at least two teams.

Ellie Kallal

the Sunshine Kid

elliekallal.com

Save the Earth: It's the only planet with wine and chocolate

_____

.

.

.

<http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=452564/grpspId=1705066486/msgId=
17209/stime=1171312624/nc1=1/nc2=2/nc3=3>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]