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tuna run 200
Sleep deprivation? Check. Running fast for the team? Check. Snoring in a van? Check. Smelling like goats? Check. Making some new memories with great friends? Check check check.
On Saturday night as we drove to the next big exchange point after what was supposed to be a quick bite at Wendy's I sat in the back seat of the van with my legs kicked up and my Richmond half marathon blanket draped over my sore legs and watched brown-gold fields chase the sunset. Some fields were cotton - half-harvested or brow-beaten with white balls - the closest to snow that ever settles on those furrowed fields. Some fields contained soybeans - either thin from recent harvest or heavy with dry or moldy bean shells for crop rotation, already longing to burrow and return to the soil and elude the dull grey winter that in this Indian summer seemed impossibly far away. But the crops knew that winter is coming. Brown naked stalks of tobacco stood sentinel in some fields, though there were much fewer fields than there were twenty years ago or even ten years ago. As we drove east I looked behind us at the shrinking fields and watched the sky purple into twilight, a soft nostalgic smile curling at my lip corners. Tuna Run 200 this year was very different from last year - check out the full race report!
It was starting to smell like goats in the rented sprinter van - Vincent Van Goats! Gear was scattered everywhere, sweaty running clothes were basically stewing petri dishes in sealed ziploc bags. The string lights were tangled on a head rest. And I was done with all three of my relay legs.
An old church. Bentonville Battlefield. Torrential rain. The Orionids meteor shower. All of this and more happened before and on my second leg of the Tuna Run 200.
t's not a race for me unless something goes wrong. We had a double team of twelve runners so that we would always have someone to run with. For my first time running a relay - especially one that included overnight runs on small country roads - this was a comfort. Unfortunately though, because of Hurricane Matthew several legs were cancelled, including one of mine. I made up for it by running as a companion runner for leg 1.
Tomorrow morning bright and early is the start of the Tuna Run 200! Of course I'm packing right now. So here's my final packing list!
Raleigh to Atlantic Beach. 200 miles. By car it's just about 3 hours, but by foot? Oh man, by foot! It's the Tuna Run 200 and I'm going to run it this weekend!
