by Michelle Kalinski
On May 21, 2017,
I had the pleasure of taking part in my very first marathon relay. We ran to
raise funds for There with Care, an organization that provides
support to families that have a child with a critical illness. Sounds pretty
awesome, right? Well, they are. And when they suggested that maybe BRINGtheKIDZ
could put a team together, I was super excited to help out. At first, I tried
to get people to choose distances, but since Colfax offers so many (5k, 10k, 10
miler, 13.1 miles, full marathon…), it got too complicated and the relay
ultimately seemed the way to go.
The race
itself is well-known, and I had been curious about it for a few years, but
found the idea of a full marathon a bit daunting. I’ve done some before, but
it’s been a long time, and training for a full marathon is no joke (don’t let
those untrained people who run them “just to see if they can” fool you!). The
Marathon Relay is really well-organized into 5 legs of between 3.4 and 6.7
miles. Basically a 5k or 10k and change. Totally do-able!
It was a bit
of a last minute scramble, but ultimately, Laura, Marcie, Andrew and Jay agreed
to be my teammates, and off we went! Jay (who, in the interest of full
disclosure, is my husband) took on the painstaking task of mapping out who
would do which route and how/when drop offs and pick-ups would happen.
Laura took
the first leg, starting at City Park in Denver and finishing at Sports Authority
Field at Mile High. She was a rockstar and after handing off the baton turned
around to re-do her 6.7 miles in reverse to get her training mileage in for the
day!
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| Laura (far right), our first leg runner, with some other friends at the start (Way to go, Allison and Erin!) |
The van
dropped me (Michelle) off for leg #2 at Sports Authority Field early in the
morning, like six something. We all stretched and used the facilities before the
rest of the team headed out to the next exchange point. I waited in the sunny
but chilly (because we were in the shade of the stadium) morning until Laura
ran up and baton-ed me.
Up Colfax I
ran to Sloan’s Lake, which was beautiful. Lots of advertising around the lake
informed me that they’re building a whole new community in the area, so stay
tuned if you are looking for lakeside urban living!
After what
seemed much longer than 3.4 miles, I handed the baton off to Andrew, who blew
through his leg so fast he surprised us waiting at the van at the next exchange
in Lakewood!
Jay made his
way from Lakewood back to the stadium, braving a head and chest cold but
stepping up to complete his leg and hand off to Marcie for the final stretch.
At this point it was sunny, clear and warm. A perfect Colorado spring day!
As Marcie made
her way from the stadium to City Park, we tried our best to get there in the
van, but were repeatedly thwarted by road closures. I suppose that’s why they
provided alternate directions…
 |
| Andrew, Michelle, Jay, and Marcie following the Colfax Marathon Relay |
In any case,
we made it to the finish just in time to see Marcie cross the line and gather
our medals. We all enjoyed a nice post-run lunch and a lovely after party in
City Park.
Huge props
to the race organizers for putting on such a nice event, to Mother Nature for
giving us such a nice day, and to my teammates for going along with all of
this! Special thanks to everyone who donated to There With Care. Every bit
helps!
Lessons
learned: Next year, we’ll pull the team(s) together and start fundraising
earlier, plan some cool t-shirts, and get a better full-team post-race photo
and celebration.
Save the
date, May 20, 2018!
