Better late than never, right? I’m back in DC and off to my internship today; I’ll share my recap of my last day of vacation adventures next, but wanted to share this post today because it’s already written and I’m running late. 🙂 Obviously I’ve only done one relay race (Reach the Beach relay — recaps can be found on my race recap page) so I’m hardly an expert and don’t claim to be (and we had drivers for the race, making logistics way easier on us), but I thought it would be fun to share some tips I found the most helpful during our race. Enjoy!
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1) Be prepared to use a LOT of porta potties. Bring your own toilet paper just in case!
2) Baby wipes are a lifesaver — immediately after each leg you run, wipe yourself down and change into dry clothes (e.g. your next running outfit).
Photo credit: Jack at pixelwiremedia.com / rtbrelay.com
3) Keep all the bibs and the safety gear in one place so you can find it easily — we had it all in a bag in the front of the car.
4) Pack each of your three running outfits in ziplock bags. When you are done with one leg, put your dirty clothes back into the ziplock. Yay — no van stink!
5) Make a pace chart so you can keep track of when the runners will come in! This was our awesome driver, Monica’s, idea, and it proved to be extremely helpful. She kept it updated as we went, using her phone to add actual finish times and adjust that based on when people would be coming in.
6) Pack some Imodium. 🙂 Sitting in a van, not sleeping much, and eating at weird times doesn’t really do great things to your stomach.
And last but not least…
7) Bring a banana costume.
It’s really hard to be tired when you have a dancing banana with you.
Above all, just have FUN and go with the flow. Everything is chaotic, but in a good way — just embrace it!
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Any of you who have done overnight relay races yourself have any tips to add? What is one thing you’d like to pass on to someone thinking of doing a relay?
