Merry Christmas Relays

The SF Christmas Relays were today, so Kevin and I headed up to Lake Merced for the morning. We were a couples team called 'Run n Ralph' with Alisyn and Matt, named after Ralphie from A Christmas Story. I didn't realize how many teams, especially very fast teams, run the event, and I enjoyed watching the fasties come through. It's always so motivational to watch and cheer.

Leaders out of the start.

We joined the event with the Running Addicts group in the Bay Area, a group I'm just starting to meet. It's a great group of runners, and I hope to be more involved with their events in the future. The Running Addicts set up two tents with a table for food, so we were well stocked. Everyone hung out at the tents while waiting for their turn to run. 

Alisyn finishing leg 1.

I ran leg 3, and considering my long post-marathon break I did ok. Each person ran 4.5 miles and I paced it around 9:30; my last 10K pace was just slightly over 9:00. I expected this run to feel hard if I pushed pace at all (all of my runs since CIM have involved some walking) and it definitely felt hard today. I gave it what I had for the team! I know I'll get back to feeling good in the next few weeks, but I also realize taking it slow will be good for my body right now. I learned that lesson after the Seattle RnR Marathon.

Matt finished for our team with an awesome 6:00/mile average pace. We didn't win anything, but more importantly, we all had a fun day. We even received fun green Christmas-y tech shirts and finisher ribbons.

Matt finishing for our team.

Team Run n Ralph at the finish.

 With Kevin, sporting my brand new SF Marathon Ambassador shirt and ProCompression socks.

With Alisyn.

Merry Christmas races to all!