What you won't know about a relay.. until you sign up.

Part of the impetus to start this blog was to share tips with people who've never done a relay.  We've shared the helpful stuff.. how to pack, what to eat.  That's nice, right?  Now here's the underside of the relay world.. the darker facts that no websites will list in their FAQs. 

There will be pre-race drama

1. Finding people and getting them to commit.  Not only do you have to find 12 people crazy enough to do this, you have to get them to commit.  Poor Captain!  They need to sign up (and pay) early enough to get a good rate, and then figure out how much everyone owes, and get them all to pay up!  If you don't have the full 12 yet, then that cost sits there on your credit card until you find them all! 
2. Keeping up with changes - you can bet money that someone's gonna bail!  We lost 1 person to bigger goals, someone got pregnant (on purpose, and you can't really be mad about that!), and a near-injury scare!  So not only might you have to quickly re-figure the leg assignments, you need to decide how to handle refunds!  Have some backups ready, and discuss up front under what terms people will get their money back.
3. Leg assignments - and even if you keep all 12, someone's not going to like their legs!  Or their van.  Be upfront about how long you'll need to run.  If everyone ran the same length, it's an average of 17 miles a person.  If you have a van full of people who've run a half marathon at most.. they will run more than that!  Not only that, but you're almost always going to have one or two people who simply can't, and you'll want to balance that with your longer-distance runners. Aaaannnd.. the legs are all different lengths.. it's however long it is between transition points.  Some are 3 miles, some are 9 miles - at night!  There's a lot of sucking it up.. don't sugar-coat it, let people know what they're in for!
4. Because of leg iniquities, you can't have all of your strong runners in the same van.  You can probably accommodate some buddies, but folks are gonna have to go where they need to go! Make everyone friends with regular group runs leading up to the race.  We started doing "Twofer Tuesdays" (credit: Melissa B), doing a run in the morning, then another in the evening, followed by dinner at a local eatery.  Good practice for back to back running and good team building!

Next up... race drama!  What to expect during your adventure!