Back on Track: BOOM! goes the Dynamite (6/22/13)

Me, as anchor leg finishing up with our team in 4th.
Photo by Sarah Wright

Race:  26 x 1 CLUB CHALLENGE CUP MARATHON RELAY
Location: Tufts University, Medford/Somerville, MA
Goal Time: 5:25
Actual Time: 5:46
Team Result: 2:35:47 - 4th Place

I came around and finished the first leg of my lap and looked at my watch: 1:22.  Oh, it's gonna be a bad run. I looked at Tim and Seth and just shook my head.

This is the third time I've run the 26 x 1 relay.   (It is what it sounds like. Each team has 25 runners who run one mile (1600 meters, actually) and one runner who starts the race with a 592 and later runs a mile him/herself.)  This year, I took on the role of team captain for SRR-Paper (Dynamite with a cuttable wick).  Captain is a lot of work - herding 26 cats each running 1 mile - each arriving at different times...

The day started early - 7:30.  (Although Tommy had to be there even earlier, so I didn't feel too badly).  As we stood at the captain's meeting, we were shocked that for the first time in three years there would be no delay and no need for Brendan K. to use his advanced iPhone meteorological skills.

As team captain, I decided to make Brendan put down the Doppler and pick up the baton for the "speed leg."

Speed leg with SRR-Scissor's Brendan K. in the lead
Photo by Ted Tyler

I had realized looking at the teams that registered, I realized that the first SRR team (SRR-Rock), Cambridge's 1st Team (CRCi) and Greater Lowell's A team (GLRRA) would be competing for the cup.  SRR - Paper (Dynamite with a cuttable wick) would be running for fourth and best B team - our own unofficial Calder Cup.  By the end of the first full mile leg, my predictions started to bear out.  We had dropped behind the monster duo of SRR-Rock's Larissa Park and GLLRA's Lindsay Willard.

The timers on SRR-Scissors
Photo by Robert Cipriano

As team captain, I was able to organize two husband wife handoffs - Tom Bok and Florentien de Ruiter and Dan and Ali McGinty.  (Korynn tried to get a pic of the McGinty handoff for me, but Dan's big head blocked everything out like an annular eclipse.)

Double SRR Handoff; Simon and Brandon handoff for SRR-Paper (Dynamite with a Cuttable Wick); Alex and Jake handoff for SRR-Rock
Photo by Tom Cole

Our last 4 runners leading up to me - Simon, Brandon, Tommy B and Jason - were able to hold off the hard charging CRCii team and give me an easy job at finishing in fourth. (Like, Hall of Fame reliever Dennis Eckersley once said, Lots of times the game was "saved" before I even came in.)

Jake breaking the tape and winning for SRR-Rock; notice no expense spared for the tape (Did you get Dan to borrow that from work or something?)
Photo by Robert Cipriano

This was fortunate since almost instantly, I realized my captain's duties that neglected a warm-up, hurt my chances of running well.  The first lap was too much effort and too damn slow.  Then i kinda tapered off from there.  In my head, this was my own victory lap as captain: I had gotten 26 people there on time, I like to think I assisted Culla in getting SRR-Rock to be the winning (and record breaking) team, I now just was going to enjoy this run without hurting myself (especially since I wasn't in shape to PR the mile...).  While I was able to still bring in a 1:17 last lap, those middle two were kinda crappy.

Final Leader Board:
 1. 2:17:26 SRR Rock
 2. 2:19:13 CRCi
 3. 2:22:41 GLRRA
 4. 2:35:47 SRR Paper (Dynamite with a Cuttable Wick)
 5. 2:37:45 CRCii
 6. 2:39:54 TMIRCE
 7. 2:46:09 MRC
 8. 2:51:18 GLRRB
 9. 2:51:23 WickedSpeedy
10. 2:59:31 GFRC
11. 3:14:11 TVFR
12. 3:14:57 SRR Scissors
13. 3:45:42 WickedMilers

Team Rock with the Challenge Cup
Photo by Tom Cole

Official Leg Times
Total        LegTime Lg    Runner          
0:01:34    01:34      S      Brendan Kearney
0:07:25    05:51      01    Michael Quinn  
0:13:37    06:12      02    KAREN ENCARNACION
0:19:48    06:11      03    Karen Serafin    
0:26:21    06:33      04    Laurie Gagnon  
0:32:49    06:28      05    Florentien deRuiter
0:38:02    05:13      06    Tomas Bok        
0:44:25    06:23      07    Bill Hees        
0:49:57    05:32      08    Brendan Kearney  
0:56:29    06:33      09    Elizabeth Cooney
1:01:43    05:13      10    Lino Mancini    
1:07:43    06:00      11    Eloise Marais    
1:13:15    05:32      12    Corey Maillette
1:19:26    06:11      13    Andy Marinelli  
1:25:06    05:40      14    Brendan Caffrey
1:31:36    06:30      15    Sara Radkiewicz  
1:38:04    06:28      16    Wendy Palto    
1:43:42    05:38      17    MATT NOYES
1:51:08    07:27      18    Alison McGinty  
1:56:49    05:41      19    Daniel McGinty  
2:02:20    05:31      20    Tim Morin        
2:07:31    05:10      21    Scot DeDeo    
2:12:55    05:24      22    Simon Anderson
2:18:08    05:13      23    BRANDON WILLIAMS
2:23:21    05:13      24    Tom Breider      
2:30:01    06:40      25    Jason Lachapelle
2:35:47    05:46      26    Jesse Morrow (C)  

Paper Scissors and Rock
Photo by Tom Cole

BOOM! goes the Dynamite with a cuttable wick! (Bill would like to mention, it's a "fuse")