Ville-to-Ville Relay

Ok, it's been a few days... I'm late posting but...

Man, what an exhausting and FUN day!

I participated in the second annual (and my second) Ville-to-Ville Craft Brew Relay - a 75-ish mile relay race from Asheville, NC to Greenville, SC. Last year I was the team captain and organized a group of friends to run, all of whom had done relays together before, and we had a blast. This year was different - I knew 2 people of the group of 7 on the team (6 runners + 1 driver) and we represented Quest Brewing Company, one of the local craft brewery sponsors of the event.

6AM Start Time

We met at 3:30AM and drove up to Highland Brewing in Asheville for our 6AM start. It was an early morning, but had a fairly calm and smooth drive up. I was Runner #2 (running legs 2 and 8), so I knew I had a little time before my first leg would begin. I enjoyed my coffee on the ride up and we all hung out to await the start of our race.

  

Headlamps eagerly awaiting the start

It wasn't long before the first runner was off, and we piled into the minivan to head to the first transition zone where I was to take over. I hit the port-a-potties and ate a snack as the rain started to sprinkle, but it tapered off as the sun began to rise and I spotted runner #1 coming into the transition. Time for me to go!

First Leg: The Hillman
5.95 mi @ 8:38/mi avg, 725 ft elevation

Why's it called The Hillman?

I ran this leg last year, and I remembered it well. I knew the hill was going to be KILLER even though I'd trained for it this year. My one goal: don't walk. I knew I had to save some of my energy just to get one foot in front of the other going up, so I took the first mile pretty slowly.

I enjoyed the scenery of gorgeous mountain sunrise...

...and watched the road wind ahead of me.

V2V!

The climb started and I just focused on steady pace, not pushing, not trying to "speed" up the hill, just knowing it would take a LONG climb and that it was about a mile of hard stuff before it would crest. I think being familiar with the climb and knowing about when it would end was very helpful this year. My pace on the climb (10:45/mi) was faster than last year when I walked a good bit, but overall I was slower on the leg as a whole. I'm ok with that. I felt good, and I also knew I had a long leg (the longest leg of the entire race) ahead of me.

Woo hoo!

Finished the climb up to the fire station for the transition and earned my sweet Hillman sunglasses.

😎

Not much time to relax, back in the van and onto the next leg!

And more mountain sunrise

The next few legs went by smoothly. I made sure to eat a good bit of the food I'd brought since my almost 9-mile leg would start around noon, so I knew I'd be hungry by the end of it. Before long, it was time...

Second Leg: 8.8 miles to Hotel Domestique
8.8 mi @ 8:32/mi avg
The trick of this second leg was the fact that it was about 6 miles of downhill running, followed by 2 miles of rolling flats, then a mile climb up to the transition. aka QUAD KILLER.

That downhill...

Honestly, 3 miles into the downhill, my quads were aching and I was wondering how the HECK I was going to make it through the straight flat road that I knew was ahead of me, not to mention the final kicker of a climb (it doesn't look like much on that elevation profile, but I promise, it hurts). I tried to take the downhill nice and slow/easy so as to save my legs for actual running, but it didn't matter. TOASTED by the end.

Started at the State Line

Down, down, down

I look happier than I felt. 

.... I was SO ready to be done by the end.

And just in time, too, because the storms rolled in as soon as I got to the van. We spent about 30 minutes on a rain delay at the next transition, but quite frankly, I didn't care because I was DONE!

The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying time with the team, cheering on the rest of the runners, chatting with friends on other teams, and just enjoying the gorgeous day. 

6/7ths of the Team at Swamp Rabbit Brewery - beer time!

We arrived at the finish line area around 5pm to await our final runner, and as part of the Quest team we had access to the VIP area (free beer!). The food didn't get served until 6pm which was a bummer, because we were all quite hungry by that point. But hey, it was all free, so I can't complain. 

Team finish!

Overall we completed the race in 11hrs 21 mins and some odd seconds, but that time included the rain delay so we really probably ran it in less than 11 hours. Super fast and better than our goal of 12 hours!! I'm proud of us, especially considering we went into the event with no goals. Plus, I made new friends, which is always fun. :)

Finish line in the distance

... until next year, V2V! 

(Yep, Team Quest is already signed up for the 2020 race... which sold out in less than 24 hours)