Rum Runners Relay 2021

So I am a little late getting this blog post out, but better late than never. 

Craig and I chatted earlier in the year about possibly doing the Rum Runners Relay as an adventure run this year. The Rum Runners Relay is a Nova Scotian relay race with 10 legs that covers about 110km from Prospect to Lunenburg. Usually done in teams of 10, this race was not held the past 2 years, as the logistics of crowds during COVID in this kind of race made things tricky. As well, the big fun of this race is the social aspect. Take that away and it certainly is less of a fun day.

Last year I thought about doing this but Craig hurt his foot. This year we chatted about it, but the timing was tricky. Ideally it would have been held in September as it usually is, but I was close to tapering for my first Ultra Road race. Then I had a couple of half marathons in the weeks that followed, then the Movember Fun Run I host each year (which Craig ran in). Finally we had a date, November 27.

So we got up bright and early for the traditional 6:30 AM start. I feel I was about 70% recovered from all my racing. Craig was all healed up, but certainly had not been running really long distances in awhile. Forecast called for occasional showers, okay temperatures, and a fairly tough headwind for much of the day. 

We packed the car full of clothing changes, some food and drink got it started.

Craig went first for Leg 1. It was dark, so he was lit up. The weather was great until a few minutes after he began, at which point a big tail wind came in (nice) and a downpour (less nice).  

As the rain let up, the sun started to creep out, and Craig finished up Leg 1 crossing the finish line.  

Our goal was to keep well below the 6 min / km cut off time that Rum Runner allows for each leg.  Not much time for pleasantries either, as we passed the figurative baton, took a picture and began the next leg of running. 

Leg 2 was much nicer than Leg 1, and a bit shorter (about 4km shorter - though I would make up for this lack of distance later).  I had a brief sprinkling of rain but just enough to get damp, not a full soaking like poor Craig had.

Leg 3 is always a blast. Around 11km but with significant amount of down hill, it is fast. The trick today was holding back. Still, Craig took advantage of the free speed. Also I think it rained on him again.

Leg 4, the long one. 17km but generally flat. The head wind was strong here as this leg is quite open on the coast line. I switched shoes and socks. I tucked a small soft flask of Nuun into my belt as well, because we were not doing water stops.  

The temperature was climbing, and really I could have been in shorts here, but I certainly wasn't uncomfortable. 

So 2 legs in for me and 25km and I was starting to feel tired. Uh oh.

No time to think though. Craig took off on Leg 5 which is the shortest though the one with the two hills. At 3.8 km it seems easy, but the first hill is crazy steep up.

And the second one is a crazy downhill one to the finish. Craig opted to give it a little oomph on this leg for fun.

For most legs there is roughly 40-60 minutes of rest before the next person has to run. Between Leg 4 and 6 I had about 17 minutes of rest, so really it was a straight forward 28 km of running for the two legs. Leg 6 starts go up up up. Then you run a rolling terrain of up and up until you reach the top of a decent climb and have a few kilometers of fast finish. 

Again, more sun for me. Yes, there were a few brief rain showers but nothing too crazy. Leg 6 offered much better protection from the wind as well, which was nice. 

Craig set out on Leg 7. Another shorter one at 9 km, but don't get too excited. This one has some of the worst hill climbs. 3 really big climbs on tired legs. In November it wasn't as bad temperature wise, but during September, this is often one of the hottest legs as well.  

Somehow I didn't get a good hill picture of Craig.  I did get to the end of the leg though and noticed the softflask I had put in my belt had decided to empty its contents down my back. So I managed to find a place to get changed into my second pair of tights and a new pair of socks. I stayed in my favorite shoe, the On Cloudflow though. It was still doing great.  As I got over to the finish line, Craig came zipping in. The finish here is nice and speedy, and I managed to just get the finish line down in time!  

Now in fresh dry tights, I set off on Leg 8. Getting started on each leg was getting tougher. The body would stiffen up while waiting for the next leg. You would want to eat and drink but not too much. I knew Leg 8 would be tough (it is the second longest leg and again, spends a lot of time on the open coast line, so heavy wind).  

After a couple of kilometers and some bad road shoulders, I had to take my first walk break up a steep but short hill. Running was just slow enough that a short walk made more sense. 

For the first time, I was getting thirsty on the run, so I knew I was well into the dehydration territory. A few more walk breaks up some steep hills were needed. I was well past marathon distance now and I will say, starting the day at maybe 70% recovered from previous racing in the weeks leading up to this was taking its tole. 

Ouch.

Craig was now on the cusp of marathon distance heading into Leg 9. While he had run longer in some events the previous years (last person standing type events), these usually were done at a very slow pace with less consistent running pace. 

He sent me to the start of Leg 10 because I needed all the rest I could get. And of course it started to rain. How tired was he? He didn't notice the rain.

Craig finished up Leg 9 and it was certainly pushing his limit that day. The poor weather, the start and stop nature, and just coming back from an injury with little solid base buildup had hit. He did awesome pushing through all that. His marathon split was 3:29, without any marathon training.

I won't lie. Going into Leg 10 after what wasn't a great Leg 8 didn't feel mentally great. We still had tons of day light (I put on my Noxgear vest just in case) and the clouds were clearing, so that helped. I had been sipping Nuun electrolyte drink while waiting for Craig to finish, so I hoped to be better hydrated. Also Craig was going to stop at a couple of key points to offer a drink on this leg and make sure I didn't take a wrong turn. 

I planned on a run walk strategy to finish things up, and I did use it a bit, but not as much as I had planned. Craig was stopping every 2 km to give me a drink, and frankly, when I would see him I would run. The walk breaks were not many, and as each kilometer ticked away, mentally I was able to get it done. 

I was well into the high 50km range (well beyond anything I had run) as I entered Lunenburg. I passed on the final drink stop which was literally 0.5 km from the finish and pushed through. The school was in site! 

I rolled in and stopped the clock with a personal distance of 59.2 km and a total time of 4:52 (marathon split of 3:18). Craig ran 49.7 (in way more rain than me) in a total time of 4:16. Our average pace was 5:03 and we hit a 9:09 on the clock for almost 110km.  

Per tradition of Rum Runners we stopped at Subway for subs and pop (not cold subs and warm pop this time).  

It was great spending the day with Craig and doing this adventure run. Neither of us are big fans of the giant runs, so this may be a one off but it was worth doing to see out the year on a high. I feel sorry for Craig's family using the car after we were done though. 

Go BLT Runners.