2012 Akron Marathon Relay: Beal's B*tches

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.

The logo leading us off with SPEED!!!

The man in black returns!!! 1st run only race since the marathon.

Stephanie flying into the Valley

Molly is literally floating out of the valley. 

Angela is making it look easy as she flies to the finish.  

You can find Jessica's race report here:  Akron Marathon Relay

You can find Molly's race report here:  Akron Marathon Relay