Race Recap: Akron Marathon Relay

A couple months ago Julie asked me if I wanted to run a leg of the Akron Marathon Relay. Being the raceaholic that I am, of course I said yes. Fast forward several weeks and September 26 was suddenly upon us. My leg was 3.6 miles at the back end of the race. I was jittery for this race for so many reasons. Not because of the distance. More because we were traveling to a place I had been once in my life, my team was made up of people I didn’t know (with the exception of Julie), and the Akron Marathon is a huge race. And of course, Julie and I completely feed off one another with our anxiety issues, which makes commiserating fun, [sometimes] worse, and [usually] very needed!

The day started at o’dark thirty, which technically translates to 4:30 am. We were meeting up with the rest of Team [Something Clever] at 5:15, so I needed time to get dressed, make some coffee for the road, and pack up my snacks. I pulled in the parking lot at 5:11 and waited for a few minutes until everyone else arrived. We made our quick introductions, Julie’s friend Matt handed us our bibs and shirts, and we piled into our cars and headed to Akron. 

Julie and I drove together and arrived at our parking location with plenty of time to spare. Too much time, really. We sat in the car debating what to do until about 6:37. We got out of the car and decided to head over to the starting line or the shuttles to take us to our locations. We didn’t make it out of the parking garage when we realized how early we were going to be. And we weren’t entirely sure where to go or what to do, so we went back to the car to regroup.

The race started at 7:00 am. From our calculations, our legs would start around 9:15 and 10:00, respectively. After sitting in the car for a few minutes and observing a couple other carloads of runners leaving, we ultimately decided to head to a nearby McDonald’s for some coffee and flushing toilets.

By this time it was just after 7. The race hadn’t even started yet! We got to McDonald’s and were sitting down looking out the window by 7:30/40 or so when we saw the first runners pass. It’s impossible! How were the runners already at mile 8! The race had just started! Mind. Blown.

We sipped our overly scorching coffee, used the facilities a couple of times, and decided to head back to our parking garage at 8:30. A few wrong turns later, and we were back in our parking spot. We gathered up our stuff and walked over to the shuttles. Now the original plan was to hang out together at the 4th leg start (where I would start running), and then Julie was going to walk over to the start of her leg. We ultimately decided against that, which was probably a smart move because I ended up running much faster than anticipated, so we boarded our separate shuttles and were off! Now some time around 8:30, I received a message from the leg 3 runner who said she was getting ready to go. I began to panic as the shuttle drove away and frantically texted Julie that I thought I was going to be late. This nice young guy sat next to me and we chatted about the relay. He had run it the year before, despite not being a distance runner (he was a sprinter in high school), and kept my mind from spilling into the panic zone of not making it to the starting line on time. 

Would you believe the shuttle ride took 20 MINUTES?! #panic

I hopped off the bus as quickly as they allowed us off, made a beeline to the port-a-potties (thank you, McDonald’s coffee), and hauled ass over to the hundreds of runners lining the exchange zone. O.M.G. What the heck did I get myself in to?! I literally had no idea what to expect so I asked a woman next to me what happened when our runners came in and she said you just stand in the relay zone and wait for the bracelet. Now of course I started getting paranoid that I was going to forget my relay number so I kept looking at it over and over again until finally I heard “0-0-4!” on the loudspeaker. ME! 

I jumped into the relay zone, saw my teammate coming up fast, turned on my watch and music, grabbed the bracelet and I was off!!

My leg itself was fantastic. I was running much faster than I had originally anticipated (thanks, coach!) and I really felt great. I never pushed pace any faster than necessary and I was in the “comfortably hard” zone for the duration. I also must have missed the hills because, contrary to popular belief, leg 4 did not have that many hills. Or, I’m so used to running hills that the ones in Akron are little match to the ones in CLE.

No sooner had I started off did I see the exchange zone where I would be handing off to Julie. I waved so she would see me and boom — off she went! After I finished I wandered aimlessly for a few minutes to get my bearings. I wish there had been a race representative directing runners to the shuttles because for a while I was quite confused. I snapped a selfie after I finally found the direction of the shuttles, grabbed a water, and got on the bus. I sent a message to my leg 3 runner to ask her where the rest of the team was, and made my way to the stadium.

The ride back was nice. I sat with a very nice woman, likely in her 50s, who told me all about her running experiences. This was her first year running the relay as well, but said she has been a runner since she was 18 and has run all over. We had a very pleasant conversation and I was thankful for the company. There’s nothing worse than having the runner’s high and no one to experience it with!

The shuttle dropped us off and then I had to walk to the stadium. Upon entering the stadium, I was a bit stunned and overwhelmed. It was packed! There are tons of runners there milling about, celebrating with their pizzas and beer, and waiting for their teammates to come in. I hung out with my teammates who were quite awesome, and we waited for Julie. I was hoping to see her come in and cheer her on, but next thing I knew, she was standing right next to me with medals on her neck!

We took the obligatory team photo, and hung out for a while, snacking and imbibing. I ran into another fellow runner, Rachele, who had just finished her first marathon! I met Rachele in person at the Rock Hall Half in August and was following her training on Instagram. I was hoping to see her but given the craziness of the pre-race, I was sure I wouldn’t. It was a nice surprise to see her and congratulate her after her amazing finish!

After hanging out for a little bit, we headed back to the CLE. The Akron Marathon Relay was really fun. I don’t know if I’ll do it again but I definitely won’t take it off my list. Next time I might go a little later if I have the later legs because by 2:00 pm, I was exhausted and had to take a nap so I could function for the rest of the day.

All in all, great day, great race. Two thumbs up!

Have you run a marathon relay? What did you like? What did you not like? Will you do it again?

xo