This past weekend Mark Burton and I raced in the
Reach the Beach Relay in New Hampshire. Running is typically a solitary endeavor. These relay races turn it into a team affair, making for some of the funnest races. This event lived up to this expectation for me.
The race goes from Cannon Mountain, NH (about 2hrs south of the Canadian border) south towards Hampton Beach, NH (just north of Boston) and covers almost 200 miles in about 24 hours. Most teams have between 10-12 people to cover this distance on foot.
I had formed a team of 10 co-workers and we were looking for two others. Mark Burton had run this relay 6 times in the past and was the perfect candidate to join us. His experience proved hugely valuable as we went through last minute prep. Mark and I each captained a van with my van leaving Thursday and Mark's driving up early Friday. My van decided to camp out the night before the race. What we hadn't planned for was the onset of Fall temperatures in northern New Hampshire. The temps dipped below 40 F this night! I slept in the van and was still cold.
These relay races are very different than individual races. They require a lot of organization before hand, both by race organizers and each team. This race had over 430 teams (meaning almost 5000 people) and had 36 legs! We needed to plan transportation, who would run which legs, food, etc... well in advance. Most teams had 2 team vehicles, typically 15-passenger vans to give racers room to sleep. I would guess almost every large van in the Northeast was rented out this weekend and all headed for the same destination!
Now with almost 700 white Ford vans on course, everyone needed a way to easily identify their vehicles, especially in the middle of the night (one of Mark's many nuggets of wisdom). Our team name was the "Frogs in Boiling Water" so we decorated our vehicles in this theme ...
Now it was time to start racing ...
Wait, I must call on the powers of the (Usain) Bolt!
With 400 teams of widely varying ability, the race has a staggered start with the slower teams starting as early as 7:30am and the fastest teams leaving by 4:30pm on that same day. We estimated our pace at 7:44/mi over the entire race which seeded us near the front (knowing full well that the winners would be averaging sub-6's). Our first runner, Chris, went off at 2:40pm on Friday. I was the anchor (#12 in the rotation) so my first leg (of 3) wouldn't go off until after 11pm. Lots of driving, cheering and waiting to go.
My van was Ian Cadieu, Justin Kousky, Anna Wasim, Kerry Van Voris, and Steve Kriss (missing from picture).
Our first runner didn't set off until 7:30pm which gave us time for one last real meal before starting to run. We enjoyed great pizza at the Flatbread Company in North Conway (another great suggestion from Mark).
By the time Anna lined up for her start at 7:30pm, it was dark. That meant headlamps and reflective gear for the next 12hrs! And oh yeah, the temps are starting to come down fast now.
It's a really cool sight to be driving/running along these winding mountain roads in the middle of the night and all you can see is a line of flashing red lights bouncing away in the distance. And when you're running, it's complete isolation with the only light being the stars above and your tiny headlamp.
Here is Van #2 (my van) over the next 4 hrs.
I finished my first leg near midnight, handed the baton back to Van 1 and then drove my half of the team 35mi further along the course to get some sleep before we set off again sometime around 4:30am. We arrived at the Van Transition Area (VTA) at 1am. There must have been over 100 parked vans and 100's of runners sleeping in vans, in tents, and many in sleeping bags right on the ground. The temperature was below 40 F but everyone was tired so anything would do at that point. The others in my van would be running before me so they slept in the van. I got the short stick and tried to sleep on the ground outside ...
I was tired but was amped at the same time! Between that and the cold, I didn't sleep a wink. I lay on the ground, wearing 4 layers of clothing, covered in only a polar fleece blanket surrounded by other runners doing the same. This is when you ask yourself, "Why do we do this?", "Are we all crazy?" It's freezing cold, I haven't showered in 2 days now (since I slept in the van the previous night), and I still have 11 more miles of running to go. These are the moments that test your love for the sport. I love running, the fluidity of the movement, the minimalism of the sport, the places it takes you, the comeradery, everything about it. Lying on the ground, trying to sleep but not able to, waiting for my next leg, captured the essence of why I run. It made me smile :)
At 3:53am we got a rude awakening. Van #1 was ahead of pace and on their way to our TA. We had 30mins to get our butts up and ready to go again. It was dark, cold, and there was no coffee, only the adrenaline of knowing you had another 4-9 miles (depending on which was your leg) of running through the hills to get you going.
Here is Ian Cadieu getting psyched for his second leg.
As we continued our running from 4:30am to 8:30am we saw the dawn breaking in mountains. What a beautiful sight! Some things are even more special after a sleep-deprived night of running.
I had only run one other similar relay back in 2003. It was the
River-2-River relay in Southern Illinois. The lesson I learned from that one was to stay within yourself during the first leg of the race. At that race I made the mistake of racing the first leg like an all-out 5k and then paid for it the rest of the day. This time, I stayed controlled on my first leg with the hope of holding that pace throughout the race. My second leg was my longest at just under 7mi. I felt good starting out, locked into my 6:30 pace, and managed to hold it all the way through. Now with 2 legs down, my legs were starting to feel fatigued. My final leg was going to be sheer guts and will.
Part of what makes this race special is life inside the van over 24 hrs. You could almost breakdown the day into 3 parts. The start, the night, and the finish. Everyone started off with what I would describe as a cautious excitement to see our first runner go off. We knew we had a long day ahead of us but also wanted to get out at every rest area and cheer on our teammates. The van is talkative and energetic. We're fussing around with music to get psyched to race. As we approach our first rest stop, everyone shifts their focus to getting rest. During this part of the night, whether we are driving or standing still, the van is quiet, runners are sleeping. And as the darkness wears off, everyone is fighting to breakthrough the wave of tiredness to get a second wind for a strong finish. At the same time, the sun is shining again and temperatures are rising so we can get rid of the headlamp and shed the long sleeves and tights in favor of shorts. Now the energy inside the van is at its high. Everyone is cheering on our teammates and getting psyched up for their final leg.
Compared to the first legs in the dark, this is what it looked like on Saturday afternoon as we neared Hampton Beach. Sunny skies and comfortable temps in the 60's.
I needed this energy to get up for my final leg. I was the anchor leg into the beach with a finish along the soft sand.
My left knee was sore and my right ankle tender. I had to get the blood flowing in my legs to mask this pain and be ready to burst out of the gates at top speed. We were on pace to break the 24-hr barrier and I wasn't about to let our team down. Steve handed me the baton 4.1mi from the beach and I took off as fast as I could. Only a half mile in, I was breathing as hard as I could. My lungs were burning and my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. But I still felt fast in spite of the pain and soreness in my legs so I pushed through it and kept going. Two miles in you landed on the boardwalk along the beach and got to enjoy a sight of the beautiful sun and sand into the finish. I crossed with a pace of 6:19/mi for this leg for an average over the day of 6:28/mi over 15mi. And best of all our team place 39th out 434 in 23hrs 35mins (7:22/mi pace). It's amazing what you can get your body to do when you set your mind to it.
As you can imagine this race is a monumental effort to organize. The RTB team did an amazing job laying out the course in spite of the damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene. And ofcourse a race like this isn't possible without 100's of volunteers throughout the state of New Hampshire. They were tremendous throughout the day and night.
This is a must-do for anyone who enjoys running. Mark and I will be racing the RTB Massachusetts in May and want to put together a fast team (or two). Be forewarned, I will be contacting you!
