Anyone ever do a relay race? (Read 1017 times)

I posted this on the racing forum, but no response. This is a 200 mile race, where you do 3 legs, in a 24 hour period. I think ours will be 6 mile legs. It goes all night long. Wondering how hard it will be to run back to back like that. Also wondering where and when you sleep. hmmm... Oh, here's the race: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/dc/todo.php

I did my first relay back in March to celebrate Texas Independence Day (March 2nd). My report with pictures. Race Site

I've run the Rainier to Pacific 3 or 4 times. Lots of fun, but tiring. We used two vans. One van would handle the runners with the first 6 legs, the second did the second six legs. This way, one van could zoom ahead, park and let people sleep - usually in sleeping bags in the van or maybe in a park. Really though, just don't count on much sleep. Basic advice - run the first leg pretty easy and make sure to eat and drink plenty of fluid between legs. Also make sure to get out and walk around whenever the van stops - it's easy to stiffen up.

I have done Hood-to-Coast twice and will do it again this year. The most fun ever. How hard is it...not as hard as you would think, although you have to use some wisdom. They cant all be 10K pace. I usually run the first one easy (closer to HM pace), run the second one (the middle of the night one) hard and the last one just power through as best I can. I think it helps a lot if you have your long run distance up to 14-16 miles by then. It isnt necessary, but it helps a lot. You can help your body prepare by either doing doubles once a week or an evening run one day followed by a morning run the next. Sleep ..well...theoretically you will have time between van exchanges and while your teammates are running to sleep. If you are a "sleep anywhere through anything" person you can get a fair amount of sleep (we had a teen age girl in our van who slept the ENTIRE way and had to be woken up for each of her legs. The rest of us get somewhere between 0 and 2 hours sleep I think. I am pretty sure the first year I got about 1 hour in a field and the second year I got about 30 minutes. Bring earplugs.

I've never done the type where you run multiple legs, but I belong to a team and have done dozens of marathon relays. We did the usatf marathon championships twice, that was a blast. I did the distance medley relay at usatf indoor champs once also. I'd like to do something like hood to coast though.

I run the Klondike Road Relay every September with 9 other runners. It is a 10 leg relay that starts in Skagway Alaska and runs over the pass to Whitehorse, Yukon (Canada). Drop dead gorgeous route although it starts at 9:00 pm to finish in the early afternoon in WHitehorse. Lots of legs that you run when you normally should be sleeping but it is a hoot. Last year I ran 16 miles and started at I think 2:30 am and finished but the time the sun was trying to come up. No sleep and lots of great runner support! This year I am scheduled for a 13.1 mile leg that starts at around midnight. YEA an early one.

As a matter of fact, I was just asked to participate in a 200 mile relay. The Reach the Beach runs from Cannon Mt. (NH) to Hampton Beach. My first thoughts were "are you freakin crazy!!?" But then I went to the web site, and talked to a few people who have done it, and now I can't wait to try it! It's in Sept.

A coworkers father in law is trying to recruit me for his reach the beach team this year. I really want to run, but my goal for this Summer/Autumn is a sub-16 5k, so if I don't manage to run that in my first attempt in late Autumn then I won't be able to do the reach the beach as it falls on the same weekend as the 2nd goal attempt race. What I regret most is not quitting my job in 2004 for the Coast to Coast run. Some college teammates of mine did a relay from the Pacific to the Atlantic in a bit over 12 days. If you are interested in reading about that, I've written more articles than you can shake a stick at about it: http://news.runtowin.com/subcategory/coast-to-coast One of the guys wrote a book about it in 2006, and a couple of them put together a 30 minute documentary over at flotrack about it a couple of months ago. Good stuff.

Relays are a blast. It really helps if you have a group of people that are fairly laid back. If everyone is a Type A personality - it could be a long race. I did Hood to Coast last year with a group of friends. We actually did it as a 9 person team instead of the normal 12. Not that big of a deal to run 4 legs instead of 3 but it made some of the van logistics a little more difficult. We finished in 26:05 so we averaged just under a 8:00 pace. We are going again this year and we hope to drop some time from our rookie year. Kevin