So Fradicken Excited!!!!!

Everyone knows the excitement of your first race of the season, right?

The nervous excitement building up...  The butterflies you just can't wait to let loose when the gun, buzzer, or timer goes off...  The hours you plan on sleeping that never actually happen...  The visualization of the race...

I'm so excited!!!

I have my very first race of the season on Saturday.  Additionally, it is quite the special race in and of itself.  It's the New England Relay.

For those of you who have ran similar relays like Hood to Coast, Ragnar Relay, or Rouge-Orleans, the New England Relay is the same deal.

I get out of work at 9PM tomorrow (Friday), I'll drive straight up to Boston to meet my other 11 teammates, sleep for a couple of hours, and then we will all head down to Rhode Island.

At 6AM, our team - Comrades in Legs - will start in Rhode Island.  Runner #1 will head off and the rest of us will follow in two vehicles.  From RI, we'll head into CT, turn up into MA, enter VT, cross over into NH, and finally finish in southern ME.  The total distance is 223.1 miles and we have 30 hours to finish.  Each runner will run three separate legs.  I am runner number two and I get to run a total of 24.1 miles.

This is obviously not my A race - that comes next month - but this is a complete "have fun" type of race.  I'll get to test my endurance and recovery while having a ton of fun with other crazy runners!

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Now for some fun!

I want to know what you predict as my running pace.  But in order to give you all a fair shot, here is the information.

I run legs #2, 14, and 26...

Leg #2 

(8.5 miles)

Leg #14

(8.1 miles)

Leg #26

(7.5 miles)

Feel free to take a guess at my overall pace, the pace of each individual leg, or a mix thereof.  I'd like to know what you guys think. 

Stay fit.  Stay healthy.  Stay safe. 

NERelay: New England Running Relay

New England Running Relay

220 miles

36 legs

12 team members

6 states

20-30 hours

Sounds crazy doesn't it?

And that's exactly why I'm doing it.  I had heard about the Hood to Coast Relay out in Oregon, a 197-mile relay race that has grown to quite the popular race.  I mentally added that to my bucket list, but figured "when would I really travel out to the west coast just for a race?"  Then Jenn, the friend from Boston who came down to run the Hartford Half Marathon with me last October, texted me asking if I had heard of the New England Relay, NERelay.  Why go 197 miles when you can go 220?  Why run in one state when you can run through six?  Why be normal when you can be insane?!  I'm in!

Are you normal?  NO, and I don't ever plan on being it.

The race is July 11th and 12th (Saturday & Sunday).  It begins in Rhode Island and winds into Connecticut, straight up through Massachusetts, into Vermont, across New Hampshire, and ends in Maine.

The whole race is broken into 36 legs ranging from 3.3 to 11.6 miles.  These are split between 6 or 12 team members depending on where the team falls on the Insanity Scale.  I will be on a team of 12 and will run somewhere between 13 and 26.2 miles in total.  We are informed that we need to maintain an average pace of 9 minute miles, which would put the finish at a max of 33 hours.  (hahaha!  The more I sit down and really work out the numbers and description of this race, the more I realize how crazy it is.  I love it!!).

If you're man (or woman) enough to give it a shot and know people who are just as insane and fun who would join your team, I fully support it!  But for those who think this is a bit nuts and will make bets as to when I'll pass out (aka: die) on the course, you're the people that make this worth it.