KCCC night four: sprint relay

   On tonight's roster were the sprint & distance relays. Although I hadn't originally planned to run either, I was slated for both, as other women dropped out. (How hard can it be, right?) The sprint relay was tough. It was the very first relay I've ever run. I was teamed with Melissa (also a relay virgin), and Aaron & John, who are experienced speed demons. I was hoping to replace myself with someone who was actually fast, but didn't get any takers. Boo. And to add insult to injury, we had to scratch the distance relay tonight, as one of our men was unable to run at the last minute.    I had left work for a dentist appointment, raced home and was racing to get to the race. And there was an accident on 69 Highway and it was at a standstill. By the time I got to the track there were less than 10 minutes remaining before our heat, the first of the night. Awesome—no time to warm up, and no time to practice handing off a baton. I got a crash course from the guys, lined up in lane 5, and we were off! I took the first 100m leg & ran my little heart out, handing off the baton to Melissa. She handed off to John, who blew around the track in no time & handed off to Aaron, our anchor leg. Aaron fought harder than anyone I've ever seen. He was on fire! And he used up every drop he had in the tank. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for us to win, which I felt badly about, wishing I was faster & feeling like I let us down a bit. But my legs did their best given the workout they've had all week. In the overall standings we placed 32nd of 67 teams, almost 16 seconds off the 1st place time. Hey, I was happy just to not have dropped the baton!