Farewell, Heinrich! We will miss you TuTu much.

Name of the race: Cherry Tree 10-Miler Relay

Where: Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY

Date: Feb 17, 2019

Time: 10:00 am

Distance: 3.35 miles for my leg (10 miles total)

Terrain: rolling hills

Entry fee: $25 for one person/$75 per team

Swag: gloves

Post-race Food: Bagels, cream cheese, apple, and hot chocolate

Time: 26:29 for my leg

Weather: 36 degrees, 44% humidity

Ever since a polar vortex coincided with this race a few years ago, Ben and I have been wary about signing up for it. Jay asked if I wanted to be on his relay team again and I figured no matter how cold it was, I could always do a single loop of the park. Last year’s third teammate decided that she wanted to run the full 10 miles, so Jay and I thought about who to invite. I knew Heinrich was back running again (he was injured), so we invited him to join us. He accepted with alacrity.

A few weeks before this race, we found out that Heinrich was going to be moving away from Brooklyn. While we (I’m including teammates from PPTC here) were happy for him because this was an excellent opportunity for him and his family, we were all devastated because he was very much a beloved teammate.

In honor of his leaving, Jay agreed to wear a tutu. I made what I consider to be the finest tutu that I have ever made. It was a lovely YUGE tutu in PPTC red.

The morning of the race was cold, but not unbearable. Jay took the first leg. I took second and Heinrich was anchor. This relay was one week after Phoenix and boy, were my legs shot! My legs felt like concrete blocks. I ran reasonably hard. I was quite happy to be on a team that was running this for fun because there was no way I could run faster. I spent the entire loop wondering how I ran close to this pace for 26.2 freakin’ miles. Also my feet were absolutely frozen and didn’t thaw out until I was a mile in.

I handed the slap bracelet to Heinrich and he was off! I walked down to the finish line to wait for Heinrich and to cheer other runners. I gabbed with other teammates. Heinrich came in and we were done! He had to leave pretty much right away since his flight was the next morning, but I’m glad that we had a chance to say good bye.