M2M Iowa

After having such a blast at M2M Nebraska, my sister and I decided M2M Iowa was a must! We recruited 2 cousins and a few of her friends and formed a team of 7 to run the 75 mile relay between Jefferson and DesMoines. Friday night we loaded into Julie's suburban and headed for Jefferson for our packet pick up and a little carb loading before checking into our *sold out* hotel. (*when we arrived in Jefferson it was a ghost town. only two other tables at the restaurant had people and there were only 2 cars in the parking lot at our hotel, but they assured us the place was sold out so we had to be stuck in a smoking room). After check in, (and a little air freshener, a new pillow case, a debacle over cost, and a promise that we're really not that high maintenance to our new 'friend' at the front desk) we tried to get some sleep before the big day. 

At the starting line! Our start wave wasn't until 7:45 so we had a nice slow morning. We learned that M2M Nebraska is the hardest (who knew there were so many hills in NE), M2M Iowa the flattest, and M2M Ohio the most beautiful. I guess we may just have to take on the trifecta challenge and head to Ohio next. 

A little cousin love. So fun to be able to run a race with these ladies. We're somewhere around exchange point 14? by this time. This race was so organized, however, I think we still missed at least one turn every leg as we adventured from exchange point to exchange point. 

My first leg was fantastic. I started off too fast (almost a minute too fast my first mile) but my legs felt good. My second leg was hard. Almost 4 miles of it was along the highway without any trees or shade in the 80 degree afternoon sun. It truly was a beautiful day, but my body wasn't used to the heat. I was so thankful (and ready) to make this hand-off. 

Coming in on my last leg. It was a cool, beautiful run through the trees in Ashland Park and along a small river. It was slow as my legs were definitely tired by this leg, but it was definitely the most enjoyable of the three. 

The finish line 12 hours later. Great work, team "Chafing the Dream!" Some of us definitely lived up to our team name as running in hot weather without a cloud in the sky was a little rough after having not run in the hot temps. It was a beautiful day though!

Forget finishers medals...we enjoyed our finishers beer glasses! (Notice it didn't take long to down our free beverage). Cheers to a successfully fun day.