Hardwear Sessions

The Relay is "California's Longest Party" and is organized by Organs 'R' Us. The course goes from Calistoga in Napa Valley to Marin, across the Golden Gate Bridge under a full moon, through San Francisco and Silicon Valley and ends at the beach in Santa Cruz. Teams are made up of 12 members, each running three legs in rotation. The 36 legs through 36 cities are 3 to 8.9 miles and are rated from easy to very hard. And, even though it's a "party" the purpose of the event is to raise awareness and funds for organ donation. Every year, the event is dedicated to organ recipients, many of whom are children.

This was my fifth time running The Relay but this was the first time I organized a team and it was more stressful than I anticipated. In years past, I would hear the team captain complain about various issues and I would just tell him or her "that sucks!" and move on. The team started out with four members; my lovely girlfriend Jennifer, her parents (Claudia and Brian), and me. We would have to recruit another eight runners and I figured there would be enough Mountain Hardwear employees to fill the team. There were, and in fact, we ended up with four very important alternates (Mark, Tracey, Chris, and late add Ted a.k.a. Ned). So with a full team of runners and two volunteers (Nancy E. and Stephanie F.), I started to feel good.

Now we were getting serious, but there remained an insane amount of logistics to work out. It's a good thing we had resident Operations pros on the team to work that out. I sent an inquiry into having the still relatively new and often forgotten Mountain Hardwear Gives Back program to sponsor the team and donate to Organs 'R' Us through an Employee Grant, and it was approved (many thanks to Chris S. and Paige). Employees should really take advantage of this program! After a few more weeks we would have Mountain Hardwear "uniforms" and headlamps that were donated to the team (thanks to Chris S., Jack P., and Jill S.). Even the week of the race, I managed to score free reflective vests (thanks to Erik at Sanderson Safety). Come race day, we were fully fitted with Mountain Hardwear Wicked Ts, , Dipsea Shorts, Training Caps, "Sanderson yellow" reflective vests, and some new Princeton Tec lights (Scouts and Pilots). We may not have been the most in shape team at the starting gates, but we were definitely looking sharp.

Finally, race day had arrived. We were in Calistoga about an hour before our start time and we had a full team. Some were nursing injuries, including pulled leg muscles, and a bout with bronchitis that led to severely sore and feared fractured ribs.

At just a few seconds past 11 a.m. Tracey ("they call me Mamma") started the first of 36 legs (by herself, not the entire team as I had dreamt a few days before). "Ignoring the pain" was her motto as she ran the first leg. Jay and Suzanne then crushed their predicted paces on legs two and three, before Matt took over a gruelingly hot 7.4 mile run. Ted ("Don't call me Ned") and Adrian finished things off by running through Yountville and into Napa in the blistering Napa Valley sun. Van one ran much faster than anyone thought and they made it to the exchange over 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Adrian actually ran the fastest pace of the event for team Nutz'n Boltz (6:40 pace on a 4.5 mile run). Van one took a much deserved break and drove to the next van exchange.

Van two took over, and we would collectively run over ten more difficult miles than van one had just run in more of that nice, very toasty afternoon sun. The first runner, Brian, went off course for a few minutes. Then it came my turn to run 7.4 miles and I could just not beat the heat, so I ran pretty slowly. Chris ran next and posted a very respectable 8 minute plus pace (Chris's training consisted of running once the week of The Relay). Then Claudia took over on her exhausting 8.9 mile very hilly run, and partway through was "stalled" by cows that would not get out of the way. Luckily, another runner came to her rescue. Jennifer and mark finished things off in style. So, when van two handed the baton back to van one at about 9:30 p.m., we had lost some of the time they had gained but we were still ahead of schedule. Very tired, we drove to San Francisco and took a nap at Mark's house for a couple of hours.

Even though van one was supposed to have a "full moon" it was nowhere to be found when Tracey and Suzanne began their runs. "Mamma" ran off into the darkness of Pt. Reyes Petaluma Road with a "Sanderson yellow" vest and only a headlight shining the way. When it came time for Suzanne to run, the road climbed through some sort of forest according to her, and afterward she mentioned "it's really f#@&%n dark in the woods." When it came time for the guys to run, the moon and street lights appeared. Jay, Matt, and Ted continued into Marin County and had encounters with deer, late night cheerleaders, and a few inebriated patrons from a local watering hole. The last leg went through Sausalito, up to and across the Golden Gate Bridge. Adrian said that the "view of the moon glistening on the bay and the shimmering lights of San Francisco were breathtaking."

Meanwhile, van two's nap at Mark's house almost proved regretful. We drove to the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge, where the exchange would take place. As soon as we arrived, there was a message from "soccer mom"/van one driver Amanda anxiously (understandably so) telling us that Adrian was running across the Golden Gate Bridge and we better get to the exchange. Brian jogged to the runner exchange area, where Amanda and Ted began screaming at us to hurry because Adrian was just seconds away. Brian hurried to the runner exchange area and just as he made final preparations, Adrian came bolting through at just before 2:30 a.m. and handed off the baton to Brian. We later learned that Ted was getting ready to run that next leg if we had not shown up on time. (Or maybe it was Ned, since Ted had just finished running!)

This was about our halfway point, and van two would go on to run for the next four plus hours, through the wee hours of the morning. While we were running, we learned from another team that "kids" were throwing rocks at runners near Ocean Beach so we should be careful. Then, as I prepared myself to run, we found out from race staff that a runner had been "attacked" on the run I was about to do. Evidently, someone got out of a car and hit a runner with a two-by-four. Strange things happen in and around San Francisco after 2 a.m.! We were lucky to finish our legs and hand back off to van one without incident.

After a few restless hours on the floor of the Canada College Gym, van one again assumed control of the baton at just after 7 a.m. on Sunday. Tracey ran her fastest pace of the weekend and the Mentz duo again shattered their estimated paces. Matt brought the team to the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains before Ted and Adrian trudged up a combined 2,100 feet of elevation in 6.1 miles to meet van two at the intersection of Highway 9 and Skyline Blvd at just after 11 a.m. Van one was very tired but done!

From here, and with weekend high temperatures ahead of us, van two pushed through. Brian, Chris and I would all have mostly downhill runs, though the heat again made things difficult. Then Claudia had to run a very hard 6.2 miles, which ended near the top of a rock Quarry (not a good place to be on a hot day at about 2 p.m.). Jennifer then finished off the hill and quickly dropped into downtown Santa Cruz, where Mark worked his way through the city on a very hot day. We finished at 4:17 p.m. and all twelve of us ran across the finish line as a team.

It had been over 29 hours of continuous running, little rest, and adventure but everyone felt good about what we had just accomplished. Van one had patiently waited for us and soon after we finished, they took the tired drive home. Van two, very tired but hungry, went to treat ourselves to steak, burgers, chili cheese fries, and beer.