About mid-way through her 9.3-mile third leg of the relay, Jacqui’s calves were screaming at her. I got my Theragun Mini out of the van and worked on her lower legs. Jacqui is petite and her calves felt no bigger than corn cobs as I worked to loosen the muscles. After a few minutes of massage she felt good enough to continue running.
This occurred at about 8 am on the second day of the Blue Ridge Relay. The first day was clear and dry but the rain started sometime after midnight casting a touch of gloom and discomfort on everyone’s last leg. Navigation became dicey in the dark and sometimes poorly marked route. We had just retrieved Jared who had the presence of mind to text us his location after realizing that he had taken a wrong turn and was a few miles off course. Reluctant to let Jacqui face the same outcome, we decided to shadow her in the van. That let her focus on running while we navigated for her.
Shadowing was against the rules as was providing the runner on-course support, such as massage therapy. We also violated the ban on indecent exposure (I had to pee) and the goal of finishing under the presumed 35-hour time limit was slipping away.
I was ecstatic. The Team Synapse story of 12 runners all living with Parkinson’s disease taking on the Blue Ridge Relay was becoming ever more captivating. We couldn’t have asked for a better scenario.
This was well before Greg broke his leg and we suffered an outbreak of COVID-19.
The Blue Ridge Relay is a 208-mile race that starts in Virginia’s Grayson Highlands State Park and ends in Asheville, North Carolina. The course is divided into 36 legs of unequal length. The difficulty of each leg is determined by the combination of its length and its elevation profile. Though the course drops more than 2000 feet from start to finish, there are intervening hills to climb to the tune of greater than 16,000 feet of combined elevation gain.
Each runner takes on 3 of the 36 legs and the combined mileage for each runner varies from 12.1 to 25.8 miles. A runner’s legs are separated by 10 to 12 hours, time which is spent hydrating, fueling, and resting. (If you are interested in more details of the race logistics, scroll down to the bottom of this post.)
We had two minivans on the course. Laura, who volunteered as a driver for the team, drove Van 1 which held Rhonda, Jared, Jacqui, myself, Scott, and Bill, who comprised our runners 1 through 6 respectively. Janet volunteered to drive Van 2 thus transporting runners 7 through 12: Greg, Peter, Renee, Jason, Steven, and Allison.
A brief digression is appropriate here: A single blog post can’t do this story justice. Full treatment would require at least 100 pages to relate all the character, story thread, landscape, and cultural details that permeate the adventure. Some day, maybe, but not now. For brevity’s sake, let’s focus on the last third of the race.
Exchange zones (EZ), where the “baton” (actually a slap bracelet) is passed from one runner to the next, are lively affairs. Large spaces that can facilitate parking, porta potties, and enterprising groups selling food and drink are employed. Many of them were churches of one denomination or another but there were also parks, schools, fire departments, etc. Team vans come and go while runners mill about preparing to run or cheer for incoming teammates.
Such was the case at EZ 18 when the runners of Van 1 finished the last of their second legs and the Van 2 runners took over for their second legs. The two vans would meet again at EZ 24 where the third and final legs began.
The rain, which had been threatening all of Friday, started at about 2 am Saturday while Van 2 was on the course and the occupants of Van 1 were catching a few z’s at an Airbnb in Burnsville. By the time Van 1 was on its way to EZ 24, the rain was coming down hard.
Upon pulling into EZ 24, it was clear that the nature of the race for us had become radically different. The contrast was striking. It was so desolate that it took us a few seconds to convince ourselves that we were in the right place. Two die-hard volunteers under a single pop-up tent checking off runners as they came in was the only official activity taking place.
What had happened while Van 1 runners were resting in Burnsville?
Clarity came from a conversation with the volunteers under the tent. We already knew quite well that Team Synapse was one of the slower teams entered in the race. Between our stops at EZ’s 18 and 24, nearly all of the other teams had passed us. We were one of at most 15 teams still on the course as far back as EZ 24.
Everything had changed. Early on, we’d been happily going about the course along with the other teams and actually improving upon our projected finish time, which was already within the course time limit. Towards the end, though, fatigue had slowed our collective pace so that meeting the time limit, never a slam dunk, had become precarious.
Allison came into EZ 24 and passed the bracelet to Rhonda who took off into the rainy darkness to complete her final leg. Allison had a tough time on her leg. She got drenched by passing cars and at one point stepped into a pothole twisting an ankle. Chris, who was our alternate runner in the event of a pre-race scratch, escorted Van 2 to the Burnsville Airbnb for some rest.
Rhonda’s run went well and she handed off to Jared. Van 1 went ahead to EZ 25 to wait for him. While there, some of us chatted with a runner waiting his turn. He related that his teammate currently on the course had gotten lost and the rest of the team had gone to look for her. It was disquieting news. Shortly afterward we received the text from Jared saying that he, too, had taken a wrong turn. With a race official’s blessing, Van 1 went to retrieve Jared to bring him to EZ 25. Jared had already run a distance beyond what his leg required so we were justified in moving him ahead to the end of his leg.
Two runners getting lost on the same leg had us a spooked. I don’t remember who first suggested it but Van 1 decided that from then on, rules be damned, we would shadow our runners through their legs. From a safety perspective, there was no point in chancing any more wrong turns.
It made me realize how foolish I was for not carrying my phone with me on my first leg. I also had missed a turn and ended up adding nearly a mile extra to my run thus penalizing the team by 9 minutes while I retraced my steps. If it hadn’t been for the kindness of another team’s runners who noticed my mistake and redirected me, the damage would have been far greater.
Yet, I consider my blunder to be a great contribution to team building. After belaboring the potential for such errors during our pre-race team meeting, the fact that I was the one to screw up took some pressure off of the others. Several members of the team expressed relief that it was me and not them who lapsed.
Jacqui took over from Jared and she was very pleased to have the van shadow her. Shadowing consisted of leapfrogging the runner — driving ahead to the next intersection then directing them through it while cheering for them. After the runner passes, the process is repeated. It gave the runner an emotional boost while allowing them to concentrate on running.
Jacqui also had a rough time. When she handed off to me she said that she was in a lot of pain.
My last leg was uneventful and I handed off to Scott for his final turn. In his earlier leg, Scott had been sideswiped by a car forcing him off the road whereupon he fell onto his shoulder. He was bloodied in a few spots and his shoulder ached. He soldiered on though despite the pain.
We drove ahead to EZ 29 and found . . . nothing. EZ 29 had closed up shop and went home.
By this time we may have become the last team on the course. We feared that the race director was contemplating yanking us from the course thinking that we no longer had any chance of finishing under the time limit.
It turned out that EZ 29 was the only exchange zone that packed it in early. It had me worried though. From that point on I took to chatting up the volunteers at each remaining exchange zone to tell them about our team of Parkies in hopes of garnering the sympathy vote in the event that it was needed to convince the race director to keep the course open longer.
As it turned out, chatting with the race volunteers, although delightful, had no bearing whatsoever on any decision by the race director with respect to letting us continue. In fact, as I would find out much later, there was an established and quite rigid protocol that the race director, Ken, was following and Team Synapse’s performance was dancing right on the edge of that protocol. To assist his decision-making, Ken turned to Bill, our team captain, for updates on our progress.
Bill took over from Scott and ran perhaps the most bizarre leg of the race. At one point he had to fend off a pack of tiny dogs bent on running him out of town. On top of this, dystonia in his left foot was making it painful to run. He tried taking off his shoe and that felt better but while running with one shoe in his hand and spying a race official up ahead watching his approach, he decided to toss the shoe off into the bushes along the roadside. He didn’t want to give the race official any reason to terminate the team’s effort (i. e. “They’re getting crazy now. Look, this guy’s running with his shoe on his hand!”).
While Bill was fighting off the dogs and dystonia, Van 1 and Van 2 converged on EZ 30. Bill was the last runner of Van 1 and Van 2 had come back to finish off the race. But there was some debate going on in Van 2. It was becoming clear that we weren’t going to finish by our 6 pm target, the rain was coming down hard, and the last 6 legs were going to be very difficult. At this point was it worth it to continue if we were just going to be yanked off the course anyway?
First Jared and then I worked on convincing the Van 2 runners to keep going. My argument was that our story was becoming so much better. We wanted to inspire people living with PD to exercise to overcome their challenges. Think of the message we would be sending if we held on now? Or the one we’d send if we quit?
This convinced everyone to keep going at least through the next leg. Bill handed off to Greg and then went to talk to the Van 2 runners. By the time Bill was done and after we conveyed that every runner would be shadowed from here on in so as to address any anxiety over becoming lost en route, all of the runners decided to carry on. If the race director forced us to stop, so be it. But we weren’t going to end our effort unilaterally. We had come too far to only get this far.
Each leg was assigned difficulty ratings based upon its length and its elevation profile. 34 of the legs were rated Easy, Moderate, Hard, or Very Hard. The two remaining legs had long stretches of very steep terrain and were rated as Mountain Goat Hard (MGH). Greg had just started in on the first of these MGH legs.
Greg’s leg was 6.7 miles of unceasing uphill with an elevation gain of 1405 feet (4% grade). Most runners choose to walk the route. Greg also walked at first but surprised us all by deciding to run the last mile. It was a noble effort that energized the rest of the team.
What goes up must come down. Peter took over from Greg for his 9.3 mile, 2074 feet downhill leg. Pre-race, Peter asked me about downhill running and I gave him a briefing on how to run downhill quickly without risking injury. Peter is a quick study. He flew down the mountain and handed off to Renee who faced the other MGH leg.
Renee’s MGH leg started with a 910 foot climb followed by a 678 foot drop. Over 5.3 miles this was a punishing run. Coming into EZ 33 she was moving slowly and weaving noticeably back and forth across the road. As she handed off to Jason, the team converged on her to offer aid.
Renee’s courageous effort put her in bad shape. She couldn’t stand on her own or walk and needed to find a place to sit down. Scott and I carried her into the exchange and placed her on a cooler that Allison set up for her. (Scott later remarked that he was glad that Renee didn’t reach for his damaged shoulder while he carried her.)
Touching her skin, I realized that Renee was overheated and needed to get her core temperature down. It wasn’t so hot during the race either day but the exertion on the MGH leg had its effect. I got some ice and ice water out of Van 1 and started massaging her back, legs, arms, neck, face, and head with them. Others helped out and we got some towels and applied cold compresses to her. Thankfully, Renee was conscious throughout and guided us in the treatment, which clearly was working. After a few minutes she was able to walk again and we got back to the course.
Whew!
Jason chose to run shirtless and that, no doubt, helped with his body temperature control. He crushed his goal pace and handed off to Steven.
Steven had some anxiety about his last leg. It was 9.4 miles and he had only run that distance once before. There were many turns, though, and a monster hill of 1146 feet and he feared getting lost and having to run even longer and/or higher as a result. Thus, while Van 2 went ahead to allow Allison, Steven’s fiance, to prepare for the race’s final leg, Van 1 shadowed Steven. Again, our goal was to free up Steven from any navigation duties so he could just run.
And run he did.
While Steven was on the course, Bill was in almost constant communication with Ken, the race director. It was a complicated dialog the details of which the rest of us learned only after conclusion of the race. As I mentioned earlier, there was a protocol, and Bill needed to convince Ken that our last few runners were strong enough to justify keeping the course open.
The rest of us went with the assumption that if Steven ran well enough to allow Allison to start before 6 pm, the course would stay open long enough to allow Allison to finish.
Thus, for a variety of reasons, we were all hoping for a convincing effort from Steven.
Steven’s run was indeed convincing. While Van 1 shadowed and cheered him on, he kept to a steady pace up the monster hill and back down it. His performance, especially on the uphill part, was enough to convince Ken to let us continue.
We just had one more leg to go. What could possibly go wrong now?
Well, for one, the course for this last leg was a mystery. We had a map but it was inconsistent with what signs that were still on the course. We had also heard that the officials had changed the route so that our map no longer applied. The actual course took a circuitous route apparently to top off the race to the prescribed 208 miles. Following this course would be a nightmare for Allison. Jared decided to help out. The rules allow companion runners who are part of the team and so Jared took it upon himself to run alongside Allison and help her deal with the course vagaries.
Allison and Jared made their way to the finish line in Asheville at the Highlands Brewery in spite of some flawed guidance from those of us shadowing them in Van 1.
We had planned to cross the finish line as a team. Many of the team members from Van 2 had been waiting for Allison a few hundred yards from the finish line in anticipation of her arrival but Jared and Allison came around the back way to the finish area and ended up crossing the line with only the Van 1 runners. Eventually, everyone caught up and we had the emotional finish line ceremony that we had all hoped for.
It turned out that we didn’t miss the cutoff after all. We had a legitimate finish time that met with the established race protocol even though we finished a few minutes after 7 pm. The race’s website is somewhat enigmatic with inconsistencies but we actually were allowed 36 hours to finish the course.
We finished at 7:02:35 pm but we were not penalized for the extra 2 minutes 35 seconds because the race director acknowledged that the course markings on the last leg were a mess. We had hoped for an overall team pace of 10 min/mile but no one was disappointed in our final aggregate mile pace of 10:24.
People were waiting for us. A local Team Fox contingent (Michael J. Fox Foundation) were there to show their support and admiration of our effort. Jared’s parents were there, too. They had come from Illinois and managed to be at the start and finish of each of Jared’s legs as well as the finish.
Up until that point it was a very satisfying outcome.
After a few hours of drinking, eating, and socializing we loaded up the vans and headed back to our West Jefferson Airbnbs. My throat was sore, I lost my voice, and I became very groggy. I attributed these symptoms to all the cheering I did during the final legs and perhaps a cold coming on. Scott, sitting next to me in the driver’s row of the van, asked for gum and/or mints to deaden the bad taste in his mouth. All of us were very tired and eager for a few hours of sleep before checking out in the morning and catching our flights home.
We congregated at one of the three Airbnbs with the plan of gathering our belongings from the vans and heading to our previously assigned rooms.
The house were we met has a peculiar landscape feature. At the edge of the lawn leading to the front door is a sheer dropoff to another driveway that leads into a lower level garage. The dropoff at places is 6 feet high. In the dark, Greg didn’t see the dropoff and walked off it falling the 6 feet and landing on his right hip breaking his femur. We called 911 and helped the paramedics get Greg into the ambulance and off to the hospital.
Renee and Janet went with him and managed his belongings. Greg has family in North Carolina and we were eventually able to get hold of them so they could take over his care. In the morning, Greg had surgery and he now has a rod in his femur and faces a fair bit of rehab.
Around 2:30 am we had done all we could for Greg and headed off to sleep. I had an early start in the morning to catch my flight, transport five teammates to the airport, and return the rental van. By then my cold was very bad, my throat was extremely sore, and I could hardly talk. I decided to wear my mask in the plane to avoid giving anyone my cold.
Good thing because as it turns out, I was highly contagious. By next morning, Jacqui and Scott reported that they tested positive for COVID. I tested myself and found I also had the virus. As far as I know we are the only ones on the team to come down with it.
Life is an adventure. To enjoy it properly one must be willing to accept hardship and challenges and the occasional contagious disease. Overcoming them can be exhilarating. I am very much looking forward to the next one. Challenge, that is. I can live without more contagion.
I hope that everyone on Team Synapse feels the same way.
You can still donate to the Team Synapse Blue Ridge Relay campaign. Click here to get to the donation page.
Below are some other campaigns that could use your support. If you share the passion that The Michael J. Fox Foundation and I have for finding a Parkinson’s cure please consider contributing to any combination of them. All donations are meaningful and greatly appreciated.
If you would like something tangible in exchange for your contribution, click on this link to purchase my book, Run With It. It is an enjoyable read and all profits from its sale are donated to The Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Finally, I am a charity runner again for Team Fox in the Chicago and New York City marathons. The links to my donation pages are below:
https://fundraise.michaeljfox.org/chicago-marathon-2022/joesgottarun
https://fundraise.michaeljfox.org/nyc-marathon-2022/joesgottarun
Details of Race Logistics:
Each runner on our 12-person team is assigned a number from 1 through 12. For the first 12 legs, the runner runs the leg that corresponds to their number. The cycle then repeats. Hence, runner #1 will run legs 1, 13, and 25, runner #2 will run legs 2, 14, and 26, and so on ending with runner #12 running legs 12, 24, and 36. The rules forbid any shuffling of the legs to, for example, customize a runner’s total distance or difficulty.
On average each runner runs a bit more than 17 miles but because the legs are not of equal length, any given runner’s combined mileage for their three legs can vary from 12.1 to 25.8. Similarly, the total elevation gain each runner is responsible for varies significantly.
The race director assigns a difficulty rating to each leg based on an assessment of its combination of elevation and mileage. Nine of the 36 legs are rated Easy, 13 are Moderate, 7 are Hard, 5 are Very Hard. Two of the legs have long sections that are so steep that they are rated Mountain Goat Hard (MGH).
In general, Team Synapse is not comprised of fast runners though some are faster than others. In order to optimize our chances to meet the 35-hour time limit, the faster runners were assigned the longer total distances.
The race is run on a 24-hour basis and therefore, every runner spends some time running in the dark of night. I created a spreadsheet that used each runner’s estimated mile pace to predict the time of day when they would be on the course.
Each team has two vans to transport runners to and from defined exchange zones. Exchange zones are where the “baton” (actually a slap bracelet) is passed from runner to runner. It is the van driver’s responsibility to get the next runner in line to the proper exchange zone and to collect the previous runner as they finish their leg.
Six runners each were assigned to the two vans. At any given time during the race, one van was actively dropping off and picking up runners while the other went to one of the Airbnbs we booked to allow runners to rest and recover. The spreadsheet I created was updated on the fly as each runner finished their leg so as to give a real-time prediction for the following legs allowing the resting van a heads-up as to when to get back on the course.
Laura, who volunteered as a driver for the team, drove Van 1 which held Rhonda, Jared, Jacqui, myself, Scott, and Bill, who comprised our runners 1 through 6 respectively. Janet volunteered to drive Van 2 thus transporting runners 7 through 12: Greg, Peter, Renee, Jason, Steven, and Allison.
