Reno-Tahoe Odyssey: Year 3

Where’s Walden struck again with another great year.

Another year, another relay run around Tahoe, through Virginia City, and back to Reno.

This year though I pulled the dreaded Leg 4 out of the hat, and I enjoyed the challenge. This series of runs is supposedly the hardest of the twelve. The first leg runs up Dog Valley, with an elevation gain of 1500 feet in 8 miles. The second run goes for a quick 3-miler, and the last run is along the highway for a 400 foot gain. I even ran two trail half marathons to help me prepare.

I actually would contest that this is the hardest run. But either way, I did better than I thought I did.

The thuggish ruggish Bridget had the third hardest leg and she did a great job, with one knee and all. She cruised up Kingsburry Grade as if she could eat a 1000-feet gain for dinner. Despite her constant knee battles, she’s had some great runs to help train for this.

Rob and Jason picked the 2nd and 4th hardest runs, so it was interesting that the Geary/Weaver/Walden connection definitely had its challenge ahead of it. But with a great team, we finished all 178 miles in 24 hours, 10 minutes, which is our fastest time so far. That’s a 8:09 average per mile… which sounds fast on paper.

Here’s what we ranked:

Overall: 31st of 206 teams
Division: 6th of 91 mixed coed teams
Donnor’s Downfall (My Leg 4) – I finished 96th of the 207 with a 9:23 mile (75 minutes flat). That doesn’t sound so good. I guess there goes my olympic bid. (Sigh)

And the overall results. (Click on it.)