I took this picture during my 10-mile run, before the hills turned into mountains.

OK, here’s how I’ve decided we’ll do this:

Today I’m going to give you a more general recap of the race, and then tomorrow I’ll get into a lot more detail and give you more of a blow-by-blow of Friday and Saturday, both about me and the team as a whole.

Bottom line: the race was fun. I’m glad I did it.

I liked being part of a team. It’s too bad you have to split up for most of the race, but it’s fun the couple of opportunities you get to all be together and talk about how everything is going.

I’m really proud of how I did individually.

I don’t like not knowing what to expect, but for this race - perhaps because of the fact that the Chicago Marathon looms larger in just a month - I didn’t really do more than glance at my routes and the elevation and anything more, really, than the time of day I was supposed to run and the distance.

I was nervous before I started - especially when we pulled into Bretton Woods ski area and I looked at the road I’d be running straight up and then the ski slope I’d be running straight down.

But I am also glad I didn’t psych myself out ahead of time and obsess over the hills.

Teammates told me ahead of time how challenging my first two legs were…and I was starting to get a little bit in my head….but I also was confident enough I was going to get through it somehow. Or, at least, that’s what I told myself.

That approach seems to have worked.

Before I knew it I made my way up the ski road…and then I barreled down the slope as safely as I could so I didn’t lose control and go tumbling and my first leg was done. That was 1.8 miles in 18 minutes.

Later that afternoon I had my 10-miler, which a teammate had described to me because he had done it last year.

It unfolded just the way he described.

There were two other runners covering about 7.5 miles before my second leg, so I had some time to think about it some more.

I did a really good job of fueling, especially considering I wasn’t at home.

We stopped for a diner-type breakfast before our legs started, so I had an egg sandwich before the ski area run. Then I had a bagel with cream cheese to fuel for this second run.

I’m thinking about it as I write this and I actually have no memory of beginning this second leg. (In the time since I wrote this someone posted a picture of our transition and now I remember it.)

The beginning wasn’t really the notable part, though. I settled into my pace pretty quickly.

This was the only run I brought my gels for - and up until I had that first gel about 45 minutes in everything was fine. Pretty hilly, but not unmanageable.

It was that way through 6 miles, actually. The team met me at mile 3 with water and cheers - I didn’t need the water, I appreciated the cheers.

At mile 6 I took the water.

And then immediately after I left them I rounded a corner and saw what lay ahead - a huge mountain and another ski path at the top.

Nothing I could do at this point - I just started climbing. I walked a little, ran a lot, and set the little goals you need on a big run like that - first to get to 8 miles or so to have my other gel, then thinking about half-mile chunks. The worst part was there was a point where the road ahead started to dip and you think you’re in good shape…but the running route turns left into a bike path that is only uphill. It was kind of hilarious.

My face when I realize that the spot where my teammates were standing wasn’t exactly the end of my leg.

The other worst part was once you see the end and the people waiting for their relay partners - it’s at the top of another hill. (See picture to the right.)

So you really earn the rest time after that run.

And I earned the ham and cheese sandwich I fixed myself from our cooler.

10 miles in 1 hour, 53 minutes. Not the best competitive leg, but a great Chicago Marathon training long run in the hills.

The rest of the legs went well and when the other van took over we went to dinner at a brewery on the way to our next start point.

I had a fish sandwich, which was very good and also seemed like a safe bet before another day of running because I do that at home a lot.

The hardest part of the experience for me was the sleeping - we made it to the next stop at around 8pm and had until midnight to sleep. I did not get any. I rested, for sure, and maybe dozed for a minute or two, but I did not ever conk out.

That did not seem to bother me when it came time to run leg 3 - I cruised along the highway in the dark and slight chill - 4.2 miles in 38 minutes.

I didn’t need food before that one because of the dinner.

We lost some time overnight and once our legs finished we had some coffee and light breakfast.

My last leg came in Exeter, New Hampshire, which is the setting for a lot of John Irving novels and was cool to run through. I again went at a pretty good clip and covered 2.9 miles in 25 minutes. (I’d had a bagel that morning with coffee…and had another bagel an hour before this run as fuel. I think that worked pretty well.)

We finished the relay a little before 6pm.

When we signed up we had to give our estimates for how we’d run. I submitted 10:00/mile. It helps plan out when to expect the next legs to begin, and an overall finish time so the organizers know how to line everything up.

That meant I would run my legs - 18.9 miles - in a total of 3:09:06. I ended up at about 3:14, which I was pretty proud of. The 10-miler slowed me down, but I got some of that back on the last two runs.

As for the other details - well, tomorrow I’ll break down how everything went from Thursday evening through Saturday night.