*This is the fourth race recap from the GAP Relay, written by Eric Shafer. Eric is the Cross Country coach at Canevin Catholic HS. He is a former All-American at IUP with a 2;24 marathon best, a 14:53 5K PR and has broken 17:00 in a 5K for 37 CONSECUTIVE YEARS!
On most of my Friday evenings I am content to have a meal with a couple of beers and retire for the evening, usually starting around 6:30 p.m. However, those Friday plans are all out the window when mid-October rolls around and it’s time for the GAP Relay. Especially when you are running with seven other stallions on the Dimarco-Workhorse GAP relay team and you are after a Three-Peat!
At 6:30 on Friday October 15 th the evening was just getting started with Michael Bruno kicking off the starting line at the South Side Works sports complex and would not end until late in the morning of October 16 th .
This year’s journey would challenge our group in different ways in 2021 from our efforts in 2018 and 2019 which had little to do with running in the opposite direction from Pittsburgh to Cumberland MD.
The fact that each year is different makes each journey running for the top prize special. The weather conditions at the start of the race were more representative of a mid-summer evening than fall with temperatures hovering above 80 degrees. While ideal for pre-race socializing with other teams and for the race volunteers at the early exchange stations the heat and humidity would be an initial test in the early stages of the race.
Due to some early miscommunication, an injury to Scott Wardle, and an early deficit our initial race leg assignments were scrapped and team members had to step up and run different legs than planned out pre-race. Everyone stepped up to the call but perhaps no one more than our newest team member Steve Garand, who jumped into three legs including his second leg which he decided to run at the very
last minute when another team member was not ready to run due to a strong double leg (8 and 9) run by Jim Hommes.
My first leg would be a relatively easy 3.52 mile stretch from West Newton to Cedar Creek Park. My exact pace for this effort is not known but was around or a little above 6 minute pace. My race got started a little sooner than anticipated as I was expecting our team to still be in second place at the exchange, however a solid first leg by teammate Brett Mason put us in the lead, much to my surprise given our deficit only one leg prior. I thought I had a little time but as Brett was running past me I called
him out to hand off a little in advance of the exchange while I was finishing my warmup. I probably cost our team a few seconds of time taking the exchange a little earlier than expected given Brett’s much faster leg speed when closing out his running legs.
My next leg would be 8.56 miles from Ohiopyle to Ramcat which I averaged 6:24 pace. A downed tree in the 8th mile cost me a few seconds as I had to stop and walk around and step over it before finishing the
run. At that point we had a comfortable lead and I made sure that I did not do anything stupid trying to get through and around the tree. As I finished the race leg I made a volunteer aware of the tree so that the trail staff could get a volunteer to clear the tree from the trail (although we wanted them to wait until after the 2 nd place team came through and let the volunteer know). Hopefully the trail was cleared prior to most of the remaining teams coming though.
The last leg I would run would be 9.27 miles across the Continental Divide from Deal PA to Frostburg, MD. By this time the summer weather at the start of the relay had given way to wind and rain and temperatures in the high forties to low fifties. I had hoped this leg would be a lot easier than it had been in 2018 and 2019 due to running in the opposite direction. However, my earlier two legs had taxed me more than expected and I was not able to run the leg as fast as I had wanted. But I was able to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the early morning run with the spectacular mountain views. I want to thank my teammates for making sure when reshuffling leg assignments that they made sure that I was set to run maybe the most scenic leg on the course.
A few hours later Jim Hommes would bring home the Three-Peat victory in Cumberland MD. It was time to celebrate with teammates Scott Wardle, Mike Bruno, Tony Bruno, Elijah Shekinah, Steve Garand, Brett Mason and Jim Hommes along with essential team DiMarco Workhorse drivers Dave Krause and Curt Schreffler. We would plan to stay up a second night in a row celebrating our victory with many
beverages of choice, alas for many of us old guys the proper celebration was many hours much needed sleep!
Thanks again to all of my teammates including drivers Curt and Dave for their tremendous efforts in helping to bring our team to victory once again, and also for having me as part of the team as well.
N of 1 Running 