How to Survive a Relay Race

My first relay race (216 miles) happened to be this year, then two weeks later I followed it with another 185 mile relay race. I learned a lot in those 4 days of racing about my endurance with no sleep and hanging out with the same 5 people in a two day period for each race. Things are not always peachy in a van with 6 stinky, sweaty, sleep deprived, hungry, sometimes cranky people.

Here are some tips on how to survive your first relay race and still be friends with the people in the van when it is all over!

1) Bring your own food!!!

If you have special dietary restrictions such as myself, you especially will want to bring your own food. I have a gluten sensitivity, so I happened to bring carrots, cucumber sticks, hummus, a variety of fresh fruit (bring bananas!), dried fruit, and nuts. One thing that I forgot for this last trip was gluten free protein bars.

Sometimes you won’t have time to eat depending on when the next big exchange is (and if it is in the middle of nowhere), so I definitely suggest bringing something substantial that won’t need to be reheated. If you have to just pull it out of the ice chest, great. If it doesn’t need to be refrigerated, better. I have to say that is one thing that I forgot about on my last relay, and I turned into a crazy person by the end of the relay because I had nothing really substantial to eat in 24 hours.

Oh, and if you are baking, bake something for everyone.

2) Stay organized.

This was a trick that I learned from Marv during my first relay.

I bought these two bins stacked on top of each other at Walmart the day before the race. They were about $6 each. I put labels on each bin stating the name of each person in my van in the order they would be running. Each person has a drawer to put all the items needed to use before or during the run like race number with race belt, garmin, ipod, nutrition (like Clif Bloks), chapstick, sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, bugspray, etc. Place this in your van near the sliding door so the next runner can just grab all the stuff he/she needs and go!

I really like this idea because by the end of the trip everyone’s stuff is everywhere, and you don’t need to be searching for those important items right before you run.

3) Add a shelf to the very back.

If you can, add a platform to the very back (where the luggage goes) of the van essentially making 2 shelves instead of just one. I’m sorry that I don’t have a picture with this, but all you need are three thin pieces of wood to make the shelf with either some glue or nails. This definitely helped us fit more stuff in the back and keep the floor area clear so we didn’t feel so cramped.

4) If you can shower or rinse off, DO IT!

Trust me, you are not more badass if you run 3 legs in a two day race, and you don’t at least try to wipe yourself off with a babywipe. You are just plain stinky and sticky for that matter. Just a simple dip in the lake can help you feel renewed, refreshed, invigorated, and ready to start the next run. I think it really helps the psyche. Plus, your teammates will thank you!

5) Run on the left hand side of the road unless the race directors tell you to run on the right side.

It is proper run etiquette to run on the left hand side of the road so you can see oncoming traffic.  The race directors might have other information about the race where there is only a shoulder on the right side or something like that, so they might tell you to run on the opposite side for certain legs of the race.  Read the race information packet!! One person actually died in my last race because they were run over by a drunk driver.  I don’t know what side of the road they were on, but I saw a lot of near misses because people were running on the wrong side of the road and couldn’t see to get out of the way of the car.

Individual Packing List

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