LIVESTRONG Challenge

5:00 AM the day started. Adam, Nate and I got up and ate some oatmeal and got on the road by 5:45. Teresa wanted to go with us so she was waiting outside. All before the sun really came up.

I already had my timing anklet on and number pinned to my shirt. I.....was....ready.

After sitting in 1.5 hours traffic, we arrived. At this point my stomach was completely in knots and I was extremely nervous. A lot of prep had some up to this and I wanted to do my best.

After a quick warm-up run, the three of us got into position near the front of the line. There were so many people there I could not believe it. It was really inspiring to see so many people come out to raise money for cancer research. I think overall the entire race raised 3 million dollars!

We were addressed by Lance himself and got us started. The cyclers left first, in different groups for the 100, 70 and 45 mile distances. Nate and I decided that we are going to do the biking next year and we are really going to go gun ho on raising money. $25,000 would be amazing.

So we started the race about an hour later because it took so long for everyone to get going. The frustrating thing is that we started in the middle of the pack so we were behind walkers and slow people, it took us about .25 of a mile to really get out of the crowd. Nate was like weaving in and out of crowd to get a head.

A man on a mission.

I took to the grass on the side of the course to get out of the congestion. My only comment is that next year they should really let the runners go first. I mean it only makes sense.

The first mile felt amazing. It was in the second mile that I started to falter a little. I felt really hot and I was getting psyched out because at that point you could see the leaders doubling back and it just made you wonder how much there was to go.

And in the moment where I made the final turn and saw the crowd of hundreds cheering and showering the Cancer survivors with yellow flowers, it hit me. This was a big emotional thing and I should soak it all in.

I somehow managed to find a burst of energy in the last 20 seconds of the race. I mean it wasn't much but I passed 3 of 4 people at the end.

Official results are not posted yet but I think my time was around 25 mins and Adam's around 23. Nate finished 7th (which is a HUGE deal considering how far behind we started) and I am sure he is sub 20 mins. He could have easily won the entire race. Great first showing.

We met up with the rest of the team afterwards and got some free food. All in all it was a great day.

Here are some pics and I will also post 2 videos and many more photos as they become available.

Till the next race!!!

Cheers,

e

*****UPDATE****

Times:

Nate: 21:00.3
Adam: 22:06.8
Eric: 26:30.3