Two weekends ago, this amazing group of ladies ran a 200 mile relay from Columbia to Charleston without stopping! Incredible, right? We were one of only two all-female groups in the entire race.
My cousin, Ashley (on the left) was part of the other all-female group.
And my cousin, Alan ran with another guys’ group.
This was our awesome van, that was home to us for two days. A little backstory, about two months ago, my sister Anna asked me if I’d take one of her friends’ places. Their group has done it for four years. I said I would, but wasn’t sure about the amount of miles I could do. I’m used to only running one mile a day. I do some strength training with weights and play tennis, so I felt like my body could handle it. My sister ran the most miles, totaling about 25. I ran around 8. I was more like a sub, in case other runners in our group needed someone to take their place. Each of us ran three legs for the race. I ran about 2.5 on Friday morning, another 3.5 on Friday night and then another 2.5 early Saturday morning, after sleeping a few hours in the van.
A few photos of me passing off the slap band. I was worried it was really going to be a baton. This was such much easier.
I loved getting to do this with my sister. We’re the closest in age of all of the six girls – 16 months apart.
After our van finished our final run, we had to wait on the second van to finish the race, so we celebrated with brunch at Acme.
This hit the spot! Brussel sprouts, eggs and fried green tomatoes on top of cheese grits!
We had a great time celebrating after the race! My youngest sister Mary-Chase even came over on Saturday night to visit! You can kind of see her baby bump here. Still can’t believe she’s due in July!
To close-out our awesome weekend, we met for brunch at The Obstinate Daughter. You know I was excited about this – my favorite!
On whether or not I’d do it again, I’d have to say, yes! I know it’s crazy and the whole idea of it sounds miserable, sleeping in vans, running during the night and day, not showering between runs, the weather, all the packing and prepping, it’s a lot. But when you get to be part of one of only two solely female relay groups that conquered 200 miles like that, as a team, there’s just such a feeling of accomplishment and pride there, that it makes everything else worth it! A truly awesome experience!
And because I always have people that ask about my running shoes, I continue to love and where these! I’m an 8.5 and wear an 8 in these. I also wore these shorts to run, go up a size. They run small.
