What a crazy but great weekend! We are only just recovering from the business and excitement of it all.... so now, time for some shameless bragging....

Marc successfully defended his dissertation Friday AM, after a 2.5 hour defense... CONGRATULATIONS to the newest Dr. Jeuland! But, he didn't stick around town to celebrate. Instead, after he got home and had lunch, he hopped into the car and drove 3 hours Northwest to track down Shuwen and her Blue Ridge Relay team to root for them. For those unfamiliar with the Blue Ridge Relay, it is a 211 mile race (this year.... last year was around 208 miles) from Grayson Highland State Park (VA) to Asheville (NC), broken up into 36 legs that teams of 4-12 people rotate to run. Shuwen's team, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Bracelet (we pass along a bracelet, rather than a baton) had 11 members, so 3 ladies had to run 4 legs, while the rest did 3 legs... most ended up running btw 18 to 22 miles in total.

So as you can imagine, the relay brings runners through some difficult, hilly but beautiful terrain, on local roads that can be hard to find. It also poses many logistical challenges with so many people and equipment to coordinate. Luckily, Marc made it to the start of leg 10 just 2 mins before Shuwen was due to run her first leg (a hilly 8.2 miler that involved running across a busy highway near the end) and joined her team in cheering her on.

Shuwen's van of 5 got to take a bit of a break while the other 6 runners covered legs 12-17, but were soon on the go again. By the time Shuwen ran leg 21 it was 1:45am in the morning, so along with her flashing lights, reflective vest and headlamp, she was speeding off once Julie (runner 9) passed the bracelet to her. Unfortunately, little lighting and running downhill on potholey roads meant a spill and the loss of the headlamp.... but no matter, adrenaline makes up for the difference and whatever pain is temporarily numbed.

Total Course Elevation Change

After all 5 of us were done with our respective 2nd legs, we went to the start of leg 29 to catch a few hours of sleep under the stars (we were lucky it did not rain) before we were off again around 7am when Tina (runner 6) arrived. Shuwen's 3rd and final leg was a 9.4 mile downhill (elevation loss of ~2000 ft), which while might sound easy, is really quite terrible because of what the pounding does to the muscles. She was definitely feeling it by mile 8, and was getting rather grumpy. Still, in no other circumstances would she be able to ever run 9.4 miles in 66 mins, so at least that was a nice payoff for sore quads.

Shuwen rode with Marc the rest of the legs to root on the other Bracelet sisters and gawked at how much worse some of the other hills were. Tricia (runner 3) brought the bracelet to the finish line with an amazing 4th leg (6.5 miles). Our team took a total of 27 hours 25 mins and 52 secs to complete the endeavour, and broke the previous women's team record by ~ 2:36 hours. Needless to say we were ecstastic about the win! We were sleep deprived and sore, but also very happy and grateful for the newly deepened friendships we made along the way. Hopefully, we will be able to do this again next year.

Here are some photos from the relay!

We returned to Carrboro Saturday PM, and Dale had a little celebration party for Marc at his home Sunday evening, which was a lovely event. This weekend has been one of reaping in the rewards for hard work indeed!