If you put together a group of four men of similar ability to run a 4 x 2-mile relay race, they might be likely to debate over who’s the fastest. Put four women together, and we good-naturedly argue about who’s the slowest. (I post the following because I know all four of us are able to laugh at how silly we are sometimes.)
“Woohoo, our team is registered! What order should we run in?”
“I’m not fast, but I can do 2 miles at 8:30 pace.”
“Whoa, I’m slower! I can do 9-10 minute pace.”
“It’s funny that you guys are arguing, because I’m slowest. I’m hoping to do 10:30 pace.”
“Last time I did 10:30 pace and it almost killed me. I win! I win!”
“Ok, back to the original question — order. I’d like to go 2nd, so I can take start and finish photos for the HARRA website.”
“I’d rather not go first because I’ve never run this race before.”
“Ok, conventional wisdom says put your fastest two runners first and last, and slower two runners in the middle. How about Randi, Sarah, Jen, Margo?”
“I’m not really faster than Jen! And I’m already running 11-13 miles that morning. Let’s switch those two.”
“Wait, ‘fastest’ and ‘running’ are two words that are not associated with me…I don’t think I should be last.”
“What about Margo, Sarah, Jen, Randi?”
“I sort of wanted to go first, but I’ll go last if necessary.”
“If I’m the last person on the course, you guys better cheer for me.”
“This is really funny! I was worried that I was going to be put on a team with a bunch of runners fired up to have a PR or place or something.”
“Heck, let’s just flip a coin for ALL of the spots.”
We still haven’t figured out our race order. Good thing we still have a week before the race.
Love it! We’ve got a great team!
heres the way i look at it, and am handling it for our team.
i’m the team captain, i paid the money up front, and I’m running long that morning.
i run whatever slot i want.
the others can flip for it.
At least 3 — if not all 4 — of us are running long that morning as well. And the funniest thing is that for the most part, I don’t think any of us are that picky about which leg we run. The conversation has been funny though. 🙂
Great post! It did not occur to me until now that you have 3 fall marathoners on your team. In my experience the debate you describe is not a “chick thing” 🙂
A goodly percentage of the CCR field will have run long or even done a race that morning, or will be pulling in the reins as they’re doing a tri the next morning. The SMART schedule has its long run on Sunday that week, but the turnout is often on the light side 🙂
I note also there’s an additional conflict with the CCR this year – it falls on Yom Kippur.
Glad ya’ll are having fun with the CCR. Regardless of the order, I’m sure you will all do great.