Dateline: May 31, 2013, Cumberland, Maryland the night before Tom’s Run
Tom’s Run, a running relay, is held annually to promote fitness, team building, and community. The event is named in honor of CWO4 Tom Brooks, USCG, who contracted Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) in early 1999. Tom was an avid fitness promoter. He had a reputation for persuading couch potatoes to get up and get moving. When Tom was diagnosed with ALS, his friends decided to show their appreciation for the inspiration Tom had given them by organizing this event in his honor. So, Tom’s Run is about people. Tom’s Run is about who we are as runners and teammates and friends.
Jen and her Air Force Medical Service buddies formed a team called the Data Driven Nerds, and they were nice enough to let me be a part of this incredible physical and logistical challenge. Starting at 12:30 am on June 1, we had a biker and a runner on the C&O Canal Towpath, wending east and south toward Washington, DC, supported by the rest of us, in minivans, moving along with them and meeting them at 4-11 mile intervals to switch runners and bikers. Even Baby was assigned a running leg. This went on all day, all night, until we finished, around noon on – oh who knows what day it was- we ran and biked from night into day into and through another night and on into lunchtime the following day.
We shared a room the night before for a couple of hours with Raj, our lead off runner, and Baby, and Morgan. Here is what the dogs thought about our 12 am alarm and wake up call…
It was the last we would see of a bed for days. Our whole team showed up to see Raj off with his cycle companion, Rhonda, for an 11 mile leg at the start of the C&O Canal Trail, only 200 more miles to go:
Jen and I were slated to share a leg, with Jen biking and me running, around 6 am. It was a 4-5 mile leg. Canal towpaths have only a 1 percent grade, and we were going the downhill direction, and I had an easy go of it- finished way before I was expected. I must have been adrenaline fueled. The minivan was home base for the dogs, and they were snoozing while Jen and I were cruising. So fun, our team performing like clockwork- well, kinda, we did have one family with us with a very cute young son, but we learned early that morning, say 2 am, not to follow a minivan with a young child aboard to the next changeover spot- sometimes, parents of young kids deviate from the plans…
The logistics were daunting, even for the Data-Driven Nerds, and our leader, Julie, spent most of the last 3 months doing spreadsheets to assign runners and bikers to the various legs. Of course, 2 people had to back out at the last second, and all her work had to be re-done. She was incredible, and even arranged for us to have a barbecues lunch at a park along the route. Most of us got to spend hours recharging there along the 15 Mile Creek- but not Jen.
Jen was driving the minivan from placed to place all through the afternoon, except for when she was running. And it was HOT. Really hot. Too hot for Baby to run her own leg- Jen had to step in for her. I was resting all that time and didn’t even have to do any driving. By the time Jen got to the barbecue, we were packing it up… Poor Jen. Round 6 pm that evening, she had to do her own scheduled 4 mile leg, and I was her biker. It was a gorgeous and shady leg with caves and cliffs on one side, the canal on the other. Jen was exhausted- and I had to talk her through every step of the way, but that is what Tom’s Run is about- team-building. I would have my own meltdown later.
Leg after leg, we edged our way closer to Washington. Late evening, sitting in the minivan, waiting to change some runners and bikers, in a parking lot. Next part of the plan was to take advantage of a canal lock-tenders cottage, circa 1830, and rest there. We had to hike, with the dogs, about 2 miles up the towpath to get to it- pitch dark, humid, sweaty. When we arrived, there were coolers of food- but they weren’t ours; somehow we were sharing the cottage with people who weren’t even on Tom’s Run. And though it was midnight, they were noisy, had a bonfire… There were beds upstairs but they were occupied, so we lay down on the wood floor with the dogs… but only for 40 minutes. Because it was my turn to run, I had to get up and hike the two miles back down and go to the next changeover place. It was 2 am, and I am not a night person. I was cranky and complaining that the Lock Tender’s Cottage was not a super idea- I could have stayed in the van.
I couldn’t find my cyclist at the start point; she was sleeping in a van, had skipped the cottage… so as Julie finished her night run, Rhonda went with me and talked me through my run in the middle of the night, 7 miles on an overgrown section of trail with sawgrass cutting up my legs a bit. We got to know each other through good conversation about horses and dogs. As we finished, no one was waiting for us on the trail, so we walked up to the doors of my red minivan, which had been moved into position- I knocked on the window, and the next runner looked at me and said, “Who are you?” I reminded her that I was Kerry and we were on Tom’s Run and it was her turn.
The next phase was very blurry for me because I was hitting my personal wall. I think there was a lot of punchiness and I think someone needing to go to the bathroom behind the car and walking the dogs? and someone needing to wrest the driving from me- a guy, quietly offering to drive. I became unconscious. When I awoke, we were somewhere in DC, and there was a place to wash up and await the changeover to the final leg- Jen running.
Long story short, Jen and her cyclist went right by the entrance to the park which marks the finish line- and ran an extra 3 miles at least! We were all out looking for them, I was running around, adding miles to my total. Eventually they showed up and we got our medals and congratulated ourselves on a great performance. Maryland bagged, Tom’s Run completed, and if I can find a team willing to take me on again, I would do it. Everything about an endurance relay is challenging- running, biking, driving, staying awake, falling asleep when you should. Exhausting, exhilarating, extreme, excellent. I hear the C&O Canal Trail has been extended all the way to Harrisburg. I’d like to do that section.
