Last weekend I ran a relay race in California, and I’m very excited to share stories from the whole event!  The race, organized to raise money and awareness for organ donation, took place over two days, from Calistoga to Santa Cruz, California. Our team, the Footloose Peeps, was made up of a fantastic crew of friends from NYC and California.

Let me start you out with a few statistics so you can get a sense of the whole thing:

• The course was 199 miles long, divided into 36 legs;
• Our team had 2 vans and 12 members, with each member running 3 legs;
• We finished in 34 hours, on less than 4 hours sleep; and
• Consumed countless amounts of bananas, bagels, M&M’s, and gatorade in the process.

My favorite leg had me running 6 miles at 1:30am on Saturday night, climbing the steep hills of Sausalito before crossing the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. No other pedestrians were allowed on the bridge, and it was intensely moving to run alone across the Golden Gate in the moonlight. It will definitely remain one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

I’m not sure that any of us really imagined what we were getting ourselves into, but it turned out to be a fantasic challenge and wonderful accomplishment, despite the aches, pains, and utter exhaustion. I admire the tremendous effort by all of my teammates, who stretched themselves further than they thought they could go.

Peep peep!