Orange Line Legs 2, 3, and 4.

Rodger slapped the team wrist band on Sue and off she went! For those who do not know Sue she is an incredible runner. She is the second fastest grand master half marathon and marathon runner in a ALL of Connecticut! Add to that her recently completed first half iron woman triathlon and the team had, justifiably, high hopes for her runs. She did not disappoint flying through the course. Our spreadsheet forecast her finishing in a 8:15 pace instead she did it in 7:54!

Sue arrived into the transition area and off I went! Up a road affectionately named the, "Kanc." This is 7.7 miles of highway that climbs 1,500 feet. Fortunately, I had great support throughout. Indeed, the Orange Line support crew worked like a well oiled machine. We were great! :) Prior to when a runner would take off we would get a list of their preferred support stops and what they wanted. No matter what we would stop to check on people a couple of miles in. You cannot begin to imagine how important all this is to whoever is out on the course. Here Sue is handing me my water bottle a few miles into the leg.

There is a bit of relay race jargon that our team took advantage of to help with the team's spirit during the race. When you pass somebody they are known as "road kill." We had no delusions of grandeur and figured we were as likely to be passed as to pass people. So we kept count in both directions! We had a chart to which cute animal stickers were added when we did the passing and Halloween stickers when we were passed. Rodger quickly abbreviated this to "puppies" and "bones." We then made a sport of calling out our puppy and bone counts as the van came by. Encouragement for the runner often include the driver yelling things like "two puppies ahead," or "a bone closing behind!" On the way up the Kanc I scored a total of 7 puppies! Here I am letting the van know the current score.

After my climb up the Kanc the wrist band went to Paul who then had a 4.8 mile downhill jaunt! Our spreadsheet had predicted that he would run it in an 8:45 pace. Instead he toasted the route at a 7:06 clip! At this rate the team might even put in a respectable finish! As you can see he looked great afterwards as well.

Next up was Sally and then Amy both of whom would also greatly exceed their predicted paces!

Matt