The Relay: 200 miles from Napa to Santa Cruz

Congratulations to our SBV'er, "Dr. S", and her Impala teammates for winning the Relay and setting a new course record! Below are excerpts from captain Flora, the mastermind of the entire operation:

Despite the cool and wet conditions, The Impalas finished 5th overall with a time of 23:19:23 in The Relay, the 200 mile race from Caligstoga to Davenport (Yes, Davenport. It's by Santa Cruz). The Impalas beat the next closest women's team by 6.5 hours and also broke the Open Women's Record, which works out to be a 7:00 pace, but if you add the extra 2 miles Jeannie did, it was 6:56 pace.

I was truly inspired how each and every one pulled through the horrible conditions with a great attitude. This relay was a great mix of fun, laughs, adventure & competition, and the masochistic sleep deprivation and bad weather showed how truly tough the impalas are.

VERY Special thanks to Soeren (& thanks to Jodi D. for lending us this wonderful guy) and Ed (my husband) for driving us through the night and keeping us even keeled! I love it how some stranger called Ed, "Yo Impala Driver!" And also to Brooke S. and Keri H. for volunteering for 5 hours in Napa County! And also to Terri O., for help in organizing. And to Nga and Karen (& Scott) for letting us crash and shower at their beautiful homes in the middle of the night for a refreshing 1.5 hour nap.

Here's a recap of the race:

Erica S. started out the relay always ready with SMILE (whether it was 2am or 6am) her contagious positive energy kept us chugging along! Erica just ran a 30k the week before! Angie L. got tons of roadkill with her consistent pace and her fast hands, fast feet. Angie sported a sports bra and reflective vest for her night run and totally mastered looking sexy, sporty, and safe all at the same time.

Nga D. was a super competitor outkicking an innocent guy in the last 100 meters of her final leg (but then gave him a hug afterward). Nga also did a great job of cheering, screaming "kill em'" to Jacqueline as she passed people who were struggling to get up that crazy run to the bridge at 2:30AM. Nga was also the master time keeper, diligently taking everyone's splits! Carrie R. was super speedy on all of her legs. It could have been the double espresso gel in the middle of the night (which can provide quite a jolt for a non-coffee drinker) or perhaps it was because of her awesome varsity history bag. We may never know. Michelle F. was the energizer bunny. Michelle was a last minute add-in but despite having a great race at the Big Sur marathon just one week ago, she was still able to run all 3 legs seamlessly. WOW. She was such a great cheerleader and supporter, getting out of the van in the cold, dark night to hand off water to her teammates. Jacqueline T. was the last leg of Van #1 and is seriously part mountain goat, as she powered up the hardest climbs in Sausalito and Santa Cruz mountains like she was doing 400 repeats on the track! Amazing.

Knox B. kicked off the 2nd van, consistently knocking out spectacular splits each time, including a 36 minute 10k (PR)! Smoking! Knox also kept our van bumping with her awesome music mix. Megha D. powered through a very tight hamstring, and ran awesome splits. While waiting for her to come through, I heard the crowd exclaim, wow, she is hauling! Who is that girl? Next came Emily Leahy, an Impala out of the woodworks, who has an uncanny ability to pleasantly smile during her race like she was on a casual Sunday run, but behind that innocent smile, she is deadly - knocking off 22 roadkill at 4am - the record amount in a single leg. Jeannie S. followed up with the HARDEST legs and has been voted MVP due to her courage and perseverance. Jeannie had to run up a dirt hill with 6 inch deep mud at a cow ranch at night through thick fog and almost ran straight into a random black cow on the trail (but since it was pitch black you could hardly see it was there, except that you could hear it breathing), but once she got on flat pavement for her last mile of the first leg, she pulled a 6:00 mile! Then, for her last leg, due to down power lines, she was a diverted onto an alternate path which added an additional 2 miles to her Very Hard leg! Jeannie is a rockstar and practically ran a marathon by the end of all her legs! In additional to her awesome running splits, she brought so much laughter with her trashtalking and energy. =) Flora L. (me) had to follow up Jeannie's leg, and even though there were times going uphill on my 3rd leg, I wanted to let up but everyone's performance inspired me to keep chugging up the hill. Karen R., our very own president, carried us home to record time, looking incredibly strong and smiling with a fist pump too. Karen gets the award for most creative cheer - her signature a$$ honk... =)

There are so many more stories and adventures to be told! Congrats to all the Impalas who raced so well this weekend!