Wondering how that BRR team did?

Last week, I profiled a Blue Ridge Relay team consisting of 12 Charlotte-area runners. (Read that blog entry here.)

Gov. Sanford's Search Team didn't put up an amazing time at the 211-mile event, finishing 93rd out of 106 teams in 34 hours, 31 minutes, 53 seconds. And yet -- having had more than a day to recover from the grueling trek from Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia to Asheville -- it was clear they experienced an amazing race.

In an e-mail this afternoon, team member Alyson Vaughan wrote:

"It was a blast! We didn't make it in the 30:00:00 we had hoped for. But we did meet all of our other goals!

Right after the blog post we did find our 12th runner – a friend who flew in from Baton Rouge at the last minute. He did awesome, which was amazing given that there are NO hills in Baton Rouge!

Then we nearly lost another runner the day before the race to a bad cold. He was assigned to our longest legs, so it would have been a huge obstacle to overcome. But he rallied and joined us on Friday, and did a great job, including a 10-mile run up Grandfather Mountain! So props to Chris Murray for that!

All six of us in Van 2 were BRR 'newbies,' and all of us would consider doing it again – although I don’t think I’m 100 percent ready to commit just yet! To me the biggest challenge was figuring out when to eat and sleep. I was always so worried about how
I would feel in my next run, I didn't eat or sleep nearly enough. By the end of my second run, I was running +1:00/mile off pace and was so exhausted I ended up crashing for four hours, woke up, ate a pancake breakfast and drank a Diet Coke. My third run felt great after that! Who knew.

The other teams – many from Charlotte – were all very supportive of one another. Even though you really felt like you were running alone at times (kind of scary at 1 a.m.!), every so often you’d come across another runner on your leg, or get passed by another team’s van, shouting words of encouragement!"

Added team captain Amy Cobb: "We were close to the last team. It took us about 34 hours. Basically a 9:45 pace overall. But I don’t think that changed anyone’s opinion that it was a blast."

From left: Maggie Marie Dougherty, Amy Rebecca Cobb, Alyson Wheelahan Vaughan, Marc Shomber, Lynne Warholic Collins, James Rivenbark, Scott Lundgren, Geni Mezinskis, Charlie Haltiwanger, Joanna Dougherty, Chris Murray, Shashi Bathula.