Thanks for starting a good thread April. I got duped into my first race. I was running a lot at lunch time and my Sergeant at the time asked if I wanted to go in "The Race in May" and I said sure, thinking I could do a 5k or 10K in Ottawa with some friends from work. The same afternoon I got an e-mail from the Major thanking me for signing up for the Cape Breton Relay, and I'd be running with the Combat Training Centre team! I was an Air Force electronics tech working in a school! I thought I was a goner, doomed.
I trained like a madman. When I arrived in Cape Breton and met the combat and paratroops I'd be running with their disgust was almost palpable, an Air Force tech on their team! They didn't respect the fact I had once been infantry and artillery, and gave me the toughest leg, leg 9:
http://www.cabottrailrelay.com/legs.html . It started with a steep 6.2km climb up a switchback to the top of North Mountain. It quickly got cold and dark. I had to dig deeper within myself than I ever had, I wanted to slow down or give up SO bad! To make a long story short I did OK, I beat their leg 9 time for 2007 by almost 10 minutes, for 16 of 70. I'll never forget feeling fast and tough in the last 2k, like a big strong Army guy or something, when this tiny lady pulled up beside me, wearing a TUTU! She was my age or older, about 100lbs and 5' tall (I'm 6'2" and 175), she was from the Maine Road Hags. She said "I had a hard time catching you, well, see you later" and then blew me into the weeds like I was going backwards.
I've been hooked ever since. Damn those Road Hags!
