Baytown Relay For Life
Benefiting the America Cancer Society
April 11-12th, 2003
Thanks for sponsoring me in the Baytown Relay for Life!!!
As you can see from the article below I was able to run/walk 300 laps (about 75 miles)
in precisely 14 hours (7:03pm Friday-9:03am Saturday).
I did this by running approximately 3 laps for every 4 and by not taking any extended
breaks beyond getting food and drink at the Team tent etc. It was hard but I had a lot of help.
My teammates ran with me and the other teams cheered me or laughed at me (the outfit)
which pumped me up. I never got sleepy, but of course I got very tired and sore.
My running speed was about 9-10 min/mile pace - nice and easy and my walking pace
a brisk 14 min/mile. I had to average 11 min/mile to finish on time but with the short breaks
I had to really average about 10.5 min/mile. Running was very difficult Friday evening
because of the large number of walkers on the track and I had to run very wide around
them or weave in and out. My worst problem was maintaining my blood sugar content
high enough to run well throughout the event. I should have eaten more continuously
but it cost time to leave the track and get food so I tended to eat something and run
out of energy before I ate again. Better advance planning would have helped this problem.
The run consumed about 9000 calories and required about 150,000 steps.
Even so I was able to finish strong and run out the last 12 laps and "sprint" the finish for 300.
"Bob Botto, 53, raised $1,000 and walked 300 laps, more than any other participant.
A chemist for ExxonMobil, Botto said each lap raised $3.33.
"I’m an ultra-runner," said Botto, in his tiger-themed spandex. Botto was part of the ExxonMobil
Legs for Life team and walked in honor of his mother-in-law, who survived cancer 25 years ago.
Botto had a bout of skin cancer last year."
The Baytown Sun
Published April 13, 2003