A few weeks ago I ran Ragnar from Madison to Chicago. This wasn't my first time doing a relay race but it was my first one at this kinda distance.
A little background
Ragnar puts together relay races all over the country in the 200 mile range. You go from exchange point to exchange point in a van and drop off your runner. We had 12 runners and 2 vans. The course was pretty well marked.
I ran with a team where I knew only half of the people, in the other van. I took leg 1, and had a 12:30 start time. My leg had something like 15.5 total miles. I turned too early. I only added .6 of a mile but no big deal. Running at night in a forest preserve was really cool. That was my leg with the fast pace.Once I finished my last leg, I was open to eat and drink whatever I wanted. I savored a Snickers ice cream bar that I bought at a gas station. I think if I could have slept better, I would have run my last leg faster.
Would I do it again?
Hell yes!
By the end of it, we were pretty grumpy by being sleep deprived and surviving on essentially junk food. We all swore that we wouldn't do it again and would write to the race directors to tell them that they fucked up. After getting some good sleep, I was in a better mood about it.
Things I'd wished the race organizers had done differently
- More water/aid stations
- Numbering based on start wave, so we could tell if we were beating out people from earlier waves. River to River does this so we use that to help understand how we're doing relative to everyone else.
- The post race meal sucked. The pasta while good, had no protein and was a snack sized portion.
- The vendors/partners were taking down their booths during the van exchanges areas even while teams were going through. There shoulda been food to buy or something.
Lessons learned
- Plan who is bringing what for each van
- bring more pictures
- bring music
- bring eye shades, and a light blanket, and foamies to make it easier to sleep
- More ice
- Line up volunteers earlier otherwise you have to pay $120 / volunteer
