Fat Kid #4 Recap

I was at Tina's house at 4:45 on Saturday to start our 2 day adventure, AKA The Relay. 6 Fat Kids loaded up into the van, along with sleeping bags, pillows, gear bags, food and cooler. We arrived in Calistoga with plenty of time to spare for our 7:30 start time. We met up with Van #2 and took an (almost) complete Fat Kid group photo. Fat Kid #12, Allen, is taking the pic.

Fat Kids (L to R): Phil, Rudy, Lael, Linds, Olivia, Sean, Tina, Allan,
Leslie, Kat, and me at the bottom

Fat Kid #1, Kat, took off on time and before long Tina was off, then Phil, then it was my turn. The first run went fine, although it was a little hillier than I expected, having been told it was pretty flat. Yeah, I've mentioned how evidently I think of flat a little differently than most people. There was one discouraging thing...all the people I was running with seemed to be long legged men! I was getting passed and not doing much passing. I did manage to pass one guy in the last few yards...and in a skirt no less. :-) I passed the 'baton' to Linds and then Sean took off like a shot for the last leg of the first set.

Beat a guy....and I'm wearing a skirt...that makes me happy

Come to find out my team was more enamoured with supporting Team Dean (Dean Karnazes) then with supporting Fat Kid #4. I'd have to say they were border-line stalkers, cheering and yelling for him every time he went by. Sean didn't even want to wash his hand after giving Dean a high five. ;-)

Just like last year, it was amazing how quickly the time goes by. Before long we were eating lunch after having passed the 'baton' to Van #2, and then we were at our first rest stop where I tried to nap, however unsuccessfully. A few hours later we were up and getting ready to head out again. The wind was amazingly fierce and it was really chilly. I felt bad for Kat who had to battle some hills along with the wind. Before long it was my turn again. Running through the darkness I tried to keep my pace up, because at this point we were about 45 minutes ahead of schedule. Finally we cycled through all the Van #1 Fat Kids and handed the 'baton' off once again. We headed to our rest stop where we were able to shower and catch a few hours sleep. I think I probably slept about 2-3 hours. YAWN!

We got a call from Van #2 that they had kept us ahead of schedule and we needed to be ready to go by about 6:30. Wow. We met up with them and took off for our last legs.....on our last legs. :-) Kat kicked it, then Tina, then Phil, then me. At some point the team of the long legged guy that I passed in a skirt had gotten in front of us again, but I managed to make it up the hills faster than he did. Okay, okay, so he wasn't looking all that good, but who of us was at that point?!? I'll take my victories where I can. :-) Finally Linds and Sean finished up with a couple of super nasty, hilly routes. And then we were done and handing off the baton for the final time.

Happy to be done, yes sir!

We made it to Santa Cruz to hang out and wait for our fellow Fatties around 12:30 on Sunday afternoon. Grabbed some lunch (sorry about that vegetarian thing Phil!), then hung out on the boardwalk until our fab Van #2 showed up just before 4:00. We finished in 32 hrs 29 min, placed 176/201. Waaaay better than second to last! Way to go Fat Kids 2!