Race Report: Madison Chicago 200 mile Relay

In mid June I joined a group of friends to run the Madison to Chicago 200 mile relay. I've never done anything like it before so I was looking forward to a new type of racing experience. Basically you have two vans, 12 people (you can do it with less if you want) and a neon slap bracelet that gets passed from runner to runner as everyone runs 3 legs of varying distances from Madison, Wisconsin to Chicago, Illinois.

Our van left Chicago for Madison on Thursday night. After a short stop to get fried cheese curds at Culver's we checked in at our hotel near the race start and met up with the rest of our team to go over logistics before some much needed rest. We woke up the next morning to watch the other van start the race at 7 a.m. We were in van 2 so we had about 5 hours to relax before we had to take our first turn. We went back to the hotel for some continental breakfast and more rest before heading to the first van transition area in the middle of Wisconsin.

Since I had just done a marathon I had some of the longest race distances of our group. My first leg however was only 3.5 miles along the Glacial Drumlin bike trail. My goal pace was 9 minute miles, but I treated it more like a slow 5k and ran about 8 minute miles. It was at around noon so it was hot outside. I was able to pass one other team on my leg, which I think was the only time that happened during my runs. I was glad to be finished and to have another 10 hours of rest before my next run of 7.5 miles. While we waited for our fellow runners to complete their legs we were able to relax and throw around a frisbee and have some fun. Eventually we met up with the other team to pass the "baton" for their second legs. Afterwards we went to get some food and found a fantastic burger place called Five Guys. We need one of these places in Chicago. It was amazing. We then went to the next van transition area at a high school in South Milwaukee to rest for a few hours. A few of us couldn't really sleep so we threw around the frisbee some more as it turned to night and the other van met up with us to start our night leg.

My second leg was 7.5 miles through South Milwaukee in the middle of the night. This ended up being my favorite run of the relay. With only a headlamp to light my way it was easy to zone out and go on auto-pilot. About 5 of my miles were a straight shot on one road that was kind of dark and shady, had several bridges to cross, but not always a sidewalk to run on. It was cool outside and even rained a little which felt great. I kept about an 8 minute mile pace for this entire run and finished strong at a high school parking lot. This was definitely the most memorable part of the race for me. Or at least enjoyable.

The next van transition area was at a Lutheran church in south eastern Wisconsin. We were all ready for sleep at this point, unfortunately that wasnt in the cards. Eventually we found a small room where 5 of the 6 people in our van slept on the floor. (we lost one member of our party for the night, turns out he was in the sanctuary.) I think it was a storage room. It was uncomfortable at best, but we somehow slept for a few hours. We were very tired and groggy in the morning and it had begun to rain heavily. Here is where the race got painful.

We drove to the next van transition area near the Wisconsin-Illinois border trying to mentally and physically prepare ourselves for the hardest leg. I had to go 8.5 miles on my last run. My longest leg and actually the longest leg of the entire race (for 12 people teams anyways). I was definitely fatigued and sore from the night before and quickly became cold from the falling rain. Around half-way through my run my team was there to cheer me on momentarily. As I made my way through Waukegan into Lake Forest the rain finally began to let up, but I was hurting so badly it didnt matter. I think I was more happy to complete that leg than any of my four marathons. I ran over 20 miles in all and would much prefer to run all of that in one leg, but that wouldnt make the relay as fun (or as challenging) I think. The weather turned for the better as we made our way into Evanston and Chicago and we all ran into the finish area as a team at Montrose Harbor.

We finished in about 32 hours and 29 minutes to finish in 103rd place out of 116 teams that finished. Our average pace was 9:36. It was exhausting and painful and occasionally stressful but in the end I would totally do it again.