SOLA Relay Race around Zurich
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May 8th, 2011
Last weekend I ran in the SOLA relay race in Zürich as part of the ETH Systems Group team. The race has 14 segments and covers a total of 115 km. The relay begins in Bucheggplatz, does a big loop around the whole city of Zürich, and then finishes in Irchel.
I ran Stage 9, an 11.3 km stretch from Fluntern to Forch that was slightly uphill. Each stage has a different length and mine was the fourth longest of the relay. I hadn’t been training very much since I was still recovering from some old injuries, so 11 kilometers seemed like a very long distance and I wasn’t sure how it would go. But I felt great on race day and ran much faster than expected. In fact, because it is a relay race, we had to tell our teammates our estimated time so they knew when to arrive to start the next stage; I estimated 1 hour 20 minutes but finished in just over 1 hour. My estimate was off by 20 minutes! Luckily, the next runner, Tamineh, was there early so it worked out ok… although she was very surprised to see me and might not have been fully prepared to start quite yet.
Overall, the race was a lot of fun and I’m really glad I got a chance to participate in it. It was a good excuse to explore more of the city and make some new friends.
Results
| Time | Pace | Rank (out of 825) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| My run | 1:03:22 | 5:36/km (9:01/mile) | 569 |
| Team results | 10:57:00 | 5:42/km | 657 |
Results online (Team #115)
