7 Rules for a Legendary Relay Race

Have you ever run 16 miles in a torrential downpour in the middle of the night on the side of a state highway in a strange city? Yes, after running 9.5 miles earlier on a dirt road…

Welcome to my weekend at the Palmetto 200, a relay race in Charlotte.
12 women. 2 vans. 31 hours of running.

What about waiting around in the mountains for a replacement rental van with 6 other people?
Welcome to our adventures at the Colorado Ragnar.

What about having your headlamp die while running along side a canal in the Everglades?
Welcome to my experience running the Miami to Key West Ragnar.

ADVENTURE is the name of the game with relays

With the right attitude and a few tips relays can be an amazing time even if you are exhausted and wet! Thanks to having done 5 relay races now, including three Ragnar Relays as both a teammate and captain, I’ve got the tips you need!

What is a relay race? If that’s your first question, definitely go check out my post about all the rules and tips for organizing a team! Whether you’re attempting the Palmetto 200 or a Ragnar, all of these tips apply.

1. Select a Great Captain

This is my 6th relay race and each time I will tell you the Captain has made the race. They are tasked with getting all 12 runners travel coordinated, handling the inevitable last minute drop outs, ensuring you have volunteers so as not to pay an extra $300 and all kinds of other minutia.

Kindal went above and beyond collecting free food from Earth Fare and pulling in discounts from everywhere to keep our total cost extremely low! She inspired me to take that same tact for our Colorado Ragnar team this week and you’ll see the goodies we munched on in that racer recap.

2. Embrace Your Inner Kid

As I was dodging puddles on the highway I eventually realized the whole road was a puddle and it was raining so hard I couldn’t see them to avoid anyway.

In that moment, I started laughing outloud at the absurdity of the situation and truly enjoyed the craziest 8.8 mile run of my life. Yup, I was totally by myself laughing through a monsoon!

If it’s raining play in the puddles, if it’s hot douse yourself with water, if it’s perfect then shout hallelujah. She may not exactly be embracing it, ha!

3. Channel Your Inner Cheerleader

Signs, cowbells, tutus, face paint, whatever it takes to bring out your inner pep squad make it happen.

Relays are the time where you see plenty of men in tutu’s, inflatable dolls on rooftops and yes loud obnoxious horn honking at every runner you pass. It’s part of creating team unity and more importantly helping the runner on their 3rd leg get through it with a smile.

Over 50 hilarious sign ideas >>I loved the little check boxes on our vans, each person got to mark off every time they ran! Other people like to track “road kill”, which is the number of people that they pace while running. All in fun.

4. Embrace the Weird

It’s going to smell in that van, some of it will be sweat…some of it will be 6 runners with digestive issues from eating nothing but trail mix and bagels for 2 straight days. You’re going to learn A LOT about these people from being in a confined space without sleep.

Bathroom talk happens frequently, people will be craving coffee so bad you wonder about their sanity, others are sharing blisters and you’ll definitely be seeing some strange things on other vans {like full moons, suggestive team names and more}.

5. Pack Light and Tight

This isn’t the trip to bring your make up bag, blow dryer and multiple wardrobe changes. Van space is limited and you need to be able to get to your gear easily and make-up free selfies are what all the cool kids do.

• Pack each running outfit in a Ziploc bag where it will be returned post run to keep everything smelling fresh and dry.
• Surprisingly important tools: a foam roller, a second pair of shoes and Stuffits! I put these in for 12 hours between runs and my soaked shoes were ready to go again…I can’t stand putting on wet shoes. Special fuel that you like {for me that’s Vega Sport Protein and energy balls}.

6. Complain only if severely injured or dying

Everyone is suffering by day two. After a night of laying on a church pew for 2 hours and calling it sleep, while hoping the skin on our feet dried in time for the next run we all still managed to crack jokes, hop out in the rain to  cheer and constantly remind ourselves that we PAID for this.

Our poor captain got extremely sick, but she didn’t say much she just stayed quiet and then got out and did her run! Everyone is in the same boat, those who have a legendary time are the one’s open to making memories. See point 2 about finding the funny.

7. Team up with new and old friends

With new friends you tend to keep your emotions in check and with old friends you can be 100% yourself. The combo makes for lasting memories as you plaster on a smile and do something entirely out of the ordinary.

When else would you be running at midnight with a van of women honking at you while trying to decide if the fog you were seeing was from your headlamp or a hallucination.

The Saucony relay through Ireland, the Wild West Relay and the Miami Ragnar team I did all included men and it was fantastic, which is mostly to say don’t be afraid to go co-ed!!

We laughed equally, supported each other just the same and let’s be honest sometimes guys are way less maintenance.

PALMETTO 200 FUN FACTS (2014)

A few notes on different relays to help you see what’s involved.

Sleeping arrangements: church pew
Shower: Lucky ducks our captains found a hotel mid-way for a quick shower
Weather: Heavy rain with flooding for 24 of the 31 hours
Team: Only finishing all female team of 12
Course: Started in Columbia with rolling hills to flatter Charleston
Team Name: Blisters in the Sun
Other names: Lost in Pace, Asphalt Junkies, Still Got the Runs
Total Teams: 78 finishing teams {18 were Ultra teams}
My Runs: 25.5 miles, avg pace 9:03, LHR for all runs

Wild West Relay Fun Facts (2009)

Sleeping arrangements: a field or school cafeteria
Shower: wipe down in school gym locker room
Weather: Clear skies, chilly at night
Team: Only finishing all female team of 12
Course: Over the pass in Colorado, no idea where we started it’s a slightly new course now
Team Name: Dangerous Dozen
Other names: More Monkey Love, Wii Not Fit, Bless Our Soles, Dirty Skirts
Total Teams: 102 finishing teams (we were 70th ha!)
My Runs: 17.7 miles (my first time running at altitude)

Understanding the Logistics of a relay race?? I covered everything you need to know about a relay race from cost to how it all works in that linked post.

Now it’s your turn, I want to hear from you:
What tip would you give someone to enjoy their first relay?

What relay would you LOVE to do?

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