Reach the Beach: Leg 1

After the New Balance Factory tour, I was pretty pumped for the race.  Definitely nervous about my legs (8.6-very hard, 5.8 hard, 3.1 easy), but excited for the weekend ahead.

We arrived at an adorable townhouse set in the most magnificent mountainside.

It was rustic and charming….

And as all good cabins in the woods should, it had a wind up gondola in the stairwell.

After setting down our bags, we met up with about a dozen other new balance teams for a delicious team dinner.  As I had worked until midnight the night before then had to be up at 5am for my flight in the morning, getting sleep was high on my priority list, I crashed like a baby at 10PM. I actually felt refreshed when I woke up and put on my pre-packed outfit for leg 1:

Leg 1 included a New Balance Racerback Tank Top and long running pants that had these great zippers on the ankles.  Remember when jeans had zippers at the ankle? Plus a long sleeve pull over that matched the tank top.  I am obsessed with grey and baby blue color palette!

Probably the most clutch items of clothing of all was the lounge wear.  Never underestimate the importance of your down time clothing when doing a reach the beach relay.  You’ll immediately want your wet clothes off and warm, soft clothing on.  Not that I ever need a reason to don sweats and leggings.  My pumped up kicks were the New Balance 1260s, which are stability shoe that are great for overpronaters like me!

These went on over my race clothes since it was chilly at 5am.

The morning was hectic to say the least.  We were all rushing to get out and on our way but that was easier said the done.  Things went further downhill at registration.  It’s a 5 step process of which the team completed about 3.5, but somehow after several laughable fails at the security table, we were passed on to orientation. Carrie and I sat for while the rest of the team made sure Jess got to the starting line.  It was already past our original start time, which meant we skipped the team photo. But we did get to see Jess off and into a trail in the mountains.

Once Jess was off, leg 1 was a lot of fun, all smiles and positivity.

Here is Carrie ready to take the snap bracelet from Jess (who FLEW through leg one). Carrie destroyed her hilly 9 mile beast of a leg.

Gia was flawless on her run.

Then Theodora killed her tough leg and finished with gusto

This part of the race was so stunning. I can’t even describe other than to say it was breathtaking.

Christine also had a tough leg and made it through like a champ.

I was next and last in my van. I had an 8.9 leg that was deemed very hard by RTB–mostly due to the length.

It had a few hills at the beginning but the real tough part was that the shoulder narrowed to just an uneven dirt path.  The first 4.5 miles went okay. I was just more bored than anything on the last 4.4, which I struggled through. The beautiful mountain landscape was gone  I was running through a tiny town with only railroad tracks for scenery. I met quite a few people along the way, everyone was super friendly and encouraging.  I really just felt like the leg would never end. But end it did and all was well again.  Not going to lie, I was elated to see Allie waiting for me at the transition area. We were also outfit twins, which was a nice little bonus.

Most of van 1 happy for a break.

We all celebrated the end of our legs with a delicious lunch at Flatbread Company.  The flatbread seemed the same as pizza and that was fine with me. This post is getting long, so I’ll stop here, but stayed tuned for more RTB recaps!