The second portion of our "The Relay" experience included legs 13-18, and began the most perilous moments of the race. A little something I like to call ... darkness.

(If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go back one blog entry and catch up. Go ahead, we'll wait)

Many teams elect to have a male runner go along with a female runner at night, to protect them, I guess, from animals and cars and drunk guys coming out of bars on Cinco de Mayo weekend. I have no idea what good I would be against an animal or a car or drunk guys coming out of bars, but hey, at least there would be a woman there to protect me.

So I ran three miles with teammate Lisa, who had one of the toughest night legs, a winding, narrow, two-lane road through steep foothills. There was no shoulder to the road anywhere. We were in the woods. Cars and the vans of other teams were buzzing by us in our reflective vests and cute little forehead lights. Also -- and I think I speak for both Lisa and myself here -- there were a lot of scary noises.

It was actually pretty freaky. How the Relay has existed for so long without someone getting hit by a car is amazing. Well, with about a half a mile to go, Lisa rolled her ankle on the side of the road and went down hard. She got up, though, and finished. If I had taken the same fall, they would have probably had to airlift me out of there. Check out this picture of her knee after we made the handoff.

So you can see what good it was to have me running along with someone at night. I was there, holding a flashlight, helpless, wondering if it would be bad form to take a picture of someone lying face down on a country road.

My second leg was about 40 minutes later, much easier, a five-mile run through a town. We had gotten to civilization by then, and there were plenty of street lights and sidewalks. The only downer was getting passed for the first time, by a tall guy who went by me like I'd stopped to appraise some real estate.

Two legs later, the last runner of our van was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge around 1 a.m. The highlight of that stop was seeing a guy from another team in a red superhero outfit -- complete with cape! -- hand off to a guy wearing only tightie-whities and an apron. I couldn't tell you if everyone on their team was dressed up, because that was the last time we saw them. They were really fast.

After the bridge, the other team took over and we drove to the designated sleeping area for Saturday night, Canada College. Sleeping bag on a gym floor. Forgot my pillow. Didn't matter. I heard they served breakfast. I slept until the second they dragged me to the van at 7 a.m.

This is a pic of the back of our van, complete with the cooler of water and the big, orange, "please don't run over us" sign on the back. The cooler never fell off, either, furthering my belief that Bungee chords are at least a top 20 invention of all-time.

If I'd have known what was coming, I'd have never left Canada College. I would be enrolled there right now, taking geometry or baking or whatever the specialty is there. Perhaps "hockey" or the "History of Quebec." Perhaps there should be a squiggly line over the top of the 'n' that I have not been able to replicate with my keyboard.