Mitacek Madness - River to River Relay Part 1

Saturday, April 20, 2013 – the Illinois River to River Relay - 80 miles.  From the Mississippi River to the Ohio River!

In honor of a husband, father, son,  brother, uncle, and friend to so many – we ran to honor the life of Tim Mitacek.

And so, the Mitacek Maddess team was started!

We left Marion, IL around 6:45 for our 8:15 pm start time.  We had a deal with two other teams to get an earlier start time, but the arragement was made too late in the game and the race officials would not allow the switch.  So, we knew it would be  a close day against the clock.  We needed to reach the finish line by 8:00 pm which meant an average of 8:48 minute miles.

The relay begins on the west end of the state on a bluff looking out towards the Mississippi River; the relay then heads East.

 Up Up Up we went in a line of vans to the start line; we were behind Washed Ashore…

We kept with this team ALL DAY LONG.  It became much of a laugh for us as we were continually just on their tails all day.  We thought we had them in the end, but they ended up just a couple minutes ahead of us.  A lot of the vans were decorated and it was fun reading the names, seeing some pass us...catching up and passing others.

Rob started us off – DOWNHILL from the bluff; he was speedy.  He handed the baton to me; I had my easy and best leg of the day (probably the fastest 3.6 miles I have run in many many years).  I handed the baton to Abby where we got a glimpse of what was ahead…HILLS!

Meet Alex! We had an illness on the team and picked up Alex at the last minute.  He had to work until 7:00 am in Harrisburg, and met us at the second transition.  What a runner he is!

Alex brought us into the start of section 5 – which handed the baton to Sarah.  This transition was staffed by bikers!

Poor Sarah.  As we headed past her in the van, it was a fairly level 2 miles…and then…UPHILL.  This was one difficult leg!   Sarah brought us into Coben; a lovely little town. 

Each transition had its own identity – some memorable, and some not so much…  We all remember the volunteer women of the First Baptist Church who deserve a round of applause– fresh fruit and coffee were on the menu!

Sarah came into the transition strong (we all felt so bad for her after driving the route in the van)!  Off to runner 6 - Brian...he shot off like a speeding bullet!

So much of the day was filled with beautiful scenes from Southern Illinois; the weather was beautiful!

 Some legs were very picturesque – others were more highway oriented.

 Runner 7 was Beth – wow.  Beth is a terrific runner!

And finally – runner 8 was Joe – the closer; he put together 3 very solid legs passing many. 

Once 8 came, it was back to runner 1 – Rob...

To be continued...