Palmetto 200

As you may have gathered from reading our blog, we enjoy physical activity, and one of the things that has made its way into our lives is running. Over the past few years, we have done a fair number of races, from half to full marathons. It has been a lot of fun, but as you know as a runner for the most part running in one of those is a fairly solitary event. You do it by yourself.

About a year ago I found out that Jason Guffey, a missionary who served in Rio de Janeiro at the same time that I did, was living in South Carolina. He was really into running as well, and we frequently would email or facebook to talk about our different races that we were doing. It was a lot of fun to find another friend with some of the same interests, as well as the mission connection. Well around January he contacted me and told me about the Palmetto 200.

What is the Palmetto 200? Well it is a simple 200 mile (204) relay race that goes from Columbia to Charleston, S.C. You can do the race as a 6 person or 12 person team. You begin sometime on Friday and then end on Saturday. Well, Jason invited me to run his race with him. Kathleen was going to run as well, but with her recent running injury, we weren't ever able to get her to run long enough or consistently enough for her to be able to do it. I was going to run about 20 miles of the full distance, which is right around normal for two days for me. I wasn't really concerned about the distance, but running three different legs about 12 hours apart was going to be very different. I practiced running at my respective times (1 pm, 1 am and 1pm), I even practiced sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag.

Finally the day of the race came. I had driven down to Columbia and stayed with the Guffey's, and then our 12 man team got up early and we began the race. We had two vans, with 6 people per van, which we decorated with our awesome team name, the fighting tortugas (turtles).

Me getting ready for my first leg, just outside of our van

Our van with the designated mileage. I was deemed Hermes in our van,  as I had the  fastest splits

My view from the backseat for the duration of the run

The race was great. We were moving a long really quickly. My first run was 9.8 miles and I did that in 1 hour 15 minutes (a 7.33 minute/mile pace). My second run was shorter (3.7 miles) but it was at 1 am. I did it in 23 minutes, under 6.30 minute miles. I was the proudest of this run, I passed two runners in this leg, but I also was able to get a roadkill (someone that you passed) of a support bicyclist.  I felt pretty good about passing a biker, as did my team, and they made note of it on the van. The volunteer at the end of the leg was just blown away at how fast I came down the hill. She was all screaming and excited. It was pretty cool, I really got into it, and really appreciated the runner from the other team who said "you have almost perfect running form". I am grateful for comments like that, even if they do come from extremely tired individuals who can't see.

Jason Guffey and I cooling down after our first legs of the race. The lake water was perfect for an ice bath

At this point we were about 2 hours ahead of our expected finish time, and we were doing great. Unfortunately, this is also where the wheels came off. As our group was sleeping, the other group was doing their runs. They were doing great until their four runner, who they somehow lost. He was running through the swamp area of S.C. (you know gators) and somehow took a wrong turn. The end result was that instead of running about 5 miles, he ran over 3 hours, and we estimated he completed close to a full marathon distance, before he found a police officer. That made our two hour lead turn into an hour deficit.

My final leg of the race was 6.4 miles over the Cooper River Bridge, into Charleston and threw the Battery. It is a beautiful town I loved seeing it (Although it was only in passing, and by passing I mean as fast as I could). Jason came out and helped me. I was a little lost coming off of the bridge, and there were tons of people milling around. I was trying to dodge everyone, and not doing a fantastic job. Then I saw him, and I just used him like a lineman. I let him blow holes in the people and I just followed in suit.  I was so exhausted. My run went well, I had a 7.28 minute mile pace, finishing in 47 minutes.

Before going over the Cooper River Bridge

Me going over the bridge

We finally finished the race with Jason running in the final leg of the race. All in all, we finished the 200+ miles in just over 33 hours. The race finished at Folly Beach, and although it had been a very sunny and hot day, by the time we got there it was too cold to get into the water.

Our final race time

Me at Folly Beach

Our van after the race, with our tally of Road Kills and Got Killed. Note the bike on the road kill portion.

Team Fighting Tortuga at the end of the race-tired and sweaty

Me performing the Fighting Tortuga Call

The race was a lot of fun. It was quite exciting to see how fast I could go without holding back for a longer distance. It was also great to see Jason and meet his family. He was a great missionary, and from what I saw is an even better husband and father. So in the end, I have to cheer on the Fighting Tortugas with the official Tortuga war cry "                                          ".  There, did you hear it?