This past weekend I got an opportunity to participate in one of the Kansas area’s great running traditions. It was the 14th annual Brew to Brew relay from the Kansas City, Missouri Boulevard Brewery to the Lawrence, Kansas Free State Brewery. The race covers approximately 43 miles in 10 legs. The legs are unevenly distributed, ranging from a little under six to a little more than three miles.
My buddy Jess McNeely put together the team of four runners, it consisted of the following: Jess McNeely, Frank Schoffner; and Joe (Jess’ nextdoor neighbor). We ended up getting third place out of relay teams. Pretty amazing considering that we had never done it before and were running with only four people instead of the five allowed by the rules.
The race was a great adventure, with great weather and awesome sights. Teams started at 6:00 AM or so, but coming from Wichita we decided to opt for a 10:00 start. Fortunately, we arrived early and were able to start at 9:30.
I started the first leg while my teammates drove to the first handoff position. I ran the first leg pretty hard and was able to shock everyone by getting there before they were expecting me ha. The other teams we started with were quickly left behind. Joe was the next runner. He was expecting a short leg ha. It was pretty funny because shortly after getting in the vehicle to drive to the second handoff position, we realized that he had actually gotten the longest leg of the race.
Joe kept up a great pace during the second leg and we were soon catching up to teams that had started at 9:00 and earlier. He handed off to Jess. We passed Jess in the team car and yelled lots of things to motivate him as we passed by. About half a mile pass Jess we stopped at a train crossing where the train was stopped on the tracks. After a brief conversation with a Sheriff’s officer we discovered that we needed to collect Jess and convey him in the team vehicle to the other side of the train ha.
Five minutes later on the other side of the train, Jess took off like a rocket and we were well on our way. Jess handed off to Frank at a convenience center. Frank motored through his leg with no problems and caught us up even further. Frank handed off to me at a highway barber’s shop.
The firth leg, my second, was really long leg. I’m sure it was about six miles long, not the 4.3 or so advertised ha. It wound through a small town, up and down lots of little hills. By the end I was really tired and looked up to see a very steep hill curving to the right. Fortunately for me my leg ended right at the base of the hill. I handed off to Joe and he took off up the hill.
After passing Joe, in the team vehicle, we realized that Joe was in for a very hilly leg, practically involving mountains ha. Joe caught up to us at a small farmhouse and commented that he actually liked that section of the course because it was so short.
Jess took off from the little farm and quickly came to the fork in the road where he had the following decision: go for the out bridge and the little boat river crossing; or go for the safe route the long way around the out bridge along the highway. Being the daring ultra runner he his, Jess of course went for the boat ride. Along the way to the boats he passed lots of of folks. Of course, when he got to the boat, they waited for all those folks to catch up and fill the boat ha. This collection of runners even included a guy and his little white dog.
In the next town, Frank got the handoff. He took off down a little dirt road out of town. The road appeared to be pretty flat off into the horizon. We were unable to follow along in the vehicle, and so we took another highway to reach the next handoff location at another little farm. The next time we saw Frank he was running down a flat dirt road for the handoff. Later we would learn that the seemingly flat 8th leg of the race is actually one of the hilliest and toughest of the entire race (way to go Frank!).
I got the handoff for the 9th leg. I was tired near the start and exhausted by the finish. It was great. It was filled with lots of rolling hills on country roads that lead down to the Kansas River. Coming up the hills I would pass lots of people walking to the tops of the hills. According to the country miles, I was running close to 6:30ish miles. It felt great given the wind and all.
Joe and Jess ran the 10th and final leg. It was mostly smooth with the last few miles along the Kansas River dike on the south side of Lawrence. By the time we got to the finish we had caught many of the teams involved in the race. At the finish line there were hundreds of people wearing all sorts of costumes, including Boulevard beer bottles, hooters girls, ninjas, and blind mice.
As with any good race, we finished everything with beers at the Free State. It was a fantastic finish to a great run. Later looking at the results, we discovered that we had gotten 3rd place, only beating out the 4th place team by less than a minute ha.
Here’s a link to the Brew to Brew website…
http://aircapitalwadle.blogspot.com/
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