I'm the one they call Beal: October 2012

Post race beers with Angela, Molly, and Steph

This past weekend I competed in the relay division of the Akron Marathon. Akron is my favorite race of the year for several reasons. Before I was a runner, I would always admire how fast the leaders of the race were as I would watch them run through my neighborhood. The race also special to me as I grew up in Akron and my first road race was in the half marathon event 2 years ago. I can not recommend this race enough. It is very well supported by the town, has a challenging route, highlights the whole town, and is extremely well organized. If you ever get a chance to run this race. I highly recommend doing it.

This past Spring I met with my sister and some of her friends for happy hour and a little Melt. They were forming a relay team for Akron and asked if I would be interested in joining. How can you say no to a bunch of good looking girls who like beer, running, and Melt! So, I joined the team. Jokingly I said we should name our team Beal's B*ches. They loved the name, except for my sister who would be running her first race with us. Sadly, due to a work conflict. My sister had to drop out. With an open space, I decided to reach out to someone who would fit in with our team and that person was the Logo. The Logo has been fighting injuries since April and I couldn't be happier that she was able to make her return to racing with Beal's B*tches.

Waiting at the finish with Jess and my buddy John (who crushed his 1/2 PR that day)

I was running the 2nd leg of the marathon. This leg starts downtown and winds through lower Akron and Firestone park then ends at Akron U. I spent most of the summer working on running after riding for Triathlons. My comfort and speed had improved a lot. I figured that I would immediately switch to running only and be faster since I wouldn't tired from the bike. Well, this wasn't the case. I struggled mightily in the week leading up to this race with my run. My pace was about 1 minute off from my brick workouts. I was really worried I'd hold my team back with a bad run and even considered riding to the race to help warm up. I decided to rest as the more I tried to get my run straight, the worse I felt and hoped it was just due to fatigue.

My route was 4.9 miles and I felt good at the start. After taking the slap bracelet from Jess, I immediately began a climb up the on ramp back into the race. Yes, the first exchange was under a bridge. Nothing like kicking a race off with a climb. This route is mostly uphill. You only get two moments to catch your breath around Firestone park and on Brown. I felt pretty good on my run except for a little shin discomfort. I had a great run by making it through the 4.9 miles in 40:37!

After passing off to Stephanie, Molly and Angela jumped in and rocked this course. Our team finished in 3:41:03!!!! Good enough for 183rd place out of 1,224 teams!!! Needless to say....My b*tches are fast!! I had a blast running with this team and hopefully we get the chance to do it again.