Reach the Beach Relay

Since I am only a 32 day away from my first Reach the Beach Relay race, I though I would let the two or three people that follow this blog know a little more about the race. I have been intrigued by running a very long distance relay race since I heard about the Hood to Coast Relay which is a 197 mile relay from Mt. Hood to the Pacific Ocean in Seaside, OR.

There are actually two races like this in New England and a third starting this year. There is the Green Mountain Relay which runs from Jeffersonville to Bennington, VT (36 Legs, 200 Miles, 7 Covered Bridges). The second is the Reach the Beach Relay which I will tell you a little more about below. Then the new Ragnar New Haven to Boston Relay Race (36 legs, 180 miles). Don't you think they could have figured out a route that got the mileage up to 200 miles. It seems that this type of racing is bigger than I thought.

So what is the Reach the Beach relay race? Well, here is how they describe it on their website:

“The Reach The Beach (RTB) Relay is the longest distance running relay race in the United States. The RTB Relay will take place in picturesque New Hampshire during the start of the New England foliage season. The relay will consist of (a maximum of ) 12 person teams that will rotate through 36 transition areas as they cover the approximate 200 mile distance of the race. This means that each relay team member will run 3 legs of varying lengths and difficulty and will cover an average total distance of ~16.6 miles. There will also be an Ultra Distance division that will have a team limit of 6 members. In this case, the average distance covered per Ultra Distance Team runner would be ~ 33 miles. The runners will rotate in a set order once the race begins and will be obligated to follow this rotation until the final runner Reaches the Beach!”

(If you click on the title to this post, it will take you to the race's website.)

I have found a team through a friend from my Scout Troop. They are a team from Waters, Inc. Waters is headquartered in Milford, MA. They “design, manufactures, sell and service ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), chromatography columns and chemistry products, mass spectrometry (MS) systems, thermal analysis and rheometry instruments”. Whatever that means. I should have studied science in school instead of art. But they have welcomed me onto their team. For which I am grateful.

There are 12 runners on our team. So, each of us will run 3 legs. I will be running legs 8, 20 and 32 for our team. That will mean in a 24 hour period, I will have to run a total of 18.04 miles. It is much less than a marathon. But, the challenge will be running a leg, then cooling down and having to jump out of the van at some point and run another leg. I have spoken with some friends who have done these types of relays and they all tell me they are a lot of fun. But, on the other hand, they are not easy by any stretch of the imagination.

So, here are the descriptions of my legs:

Leg 8: 6.61 miles: moderate
The Town of Conway awaits the runners of Leg 8 so be cautious of the increasing traffic as you approach the center of town. You will arrive at the intersection of Rt. 16 and Rt. 153, turn right and cross over the road by the local police. From there it will be just a short jog over to the Ham Arena and TA8.

Leg 20: 9.23 miles: hard
Quiet Zone! Leg 20 leaves the Belmont High School and winds its way through the town before crossing Rt. 106. The runners will continue down Rt. 140 the entire way until reaching TA20 – the Gilmanton School. Use caution on this road as there is little to no shoulder and the road surface is pretty rough.


Leg 32 (New): 2.2 miles: easy
Leg 32 continues on Linden Street and quickly intersects with Route 111 where the runners will turn right and follow through downtown Exeter. Use caution as there are a lot of pedestrians and cars in town. The runners will stay on Route 111 for a short while and will transition on the right side at the Brooks Properties Building #1.

I am really looking forward to the challenge and making some new running friends. I am not certain if you will be able to follow our team on line like when I ran the Boston Marathon. But, you will be able to see our results when we are finished. My team is "Raging Waters" and my teammates are John Heden (team leader), Derrick Clifford, Bruce Ryan, Bruce Metcalf, Justin Deary, Dan Lau, Charles Lewis, Helene Angley, Mary, David Deary and Jeff Farise.

Here are my training totals:

Aug. 9 – 10.00 miles (1:24:47, 8:28 pace)
Aug. 10 – 6.00 miles (52:57, 8:49 pace)
Aug. 11 – 3.60 miles (28:13, 7:46 pace) – 5K Speedwork w/½ mi warm up
Aug. 13 – 7.10 miles (57:15, 8:04 pace) – Tempo
Aug. 14 – 6.20 miles (52:37, 8:28 pace)
Aug. 15 – 10.10 miles (1:27:05, 8:37 pace)

Total Miles: 43.00 miles

2009 YTD Miles: 1,317.20 miles

Goal Setting the S.M.A.R.T. Way

Since I started running, I have found that the main thing that keeps me getting up and out the door at the God awful early hour of 5:00 am is the goals I have set for myself. It is always easy to be motivated to run when you have a marathon or half marathon on your calendar. The distance can not be taken lightly. So, you tend to be focused and get your work outs in no matter what. But, it made me look back on my past goals and how I set them.

I have found throughout my life that any goal worth attaining needs to be mapped out ahead of time. This means looking at the how, why, when and where aspects of the goal. In some cases, you also need to look at the goal from a time perspective to ensure that you have the time to meet the objective. This is especially true when it comes to the longer distance races. Finally, you need to be realistic in setting your goal. You cannot lift yourself off the “couch of doom” (thanks Steve Runner) and expect to go out and run a marathon in six weeks.

There are several things I do at the beginning of each year to help me meet my running goals. I look over the calendar and decide what big running event I am planning to participate in and add it to my calendar. This year is was the Boston Marathon and a secondary goal of participating in the Reach the Beach Relay. Once I have my races set, I then proceed to mapping out my plan for the year.

First, I look back at my past training logs to see what workouts seemed to fit my work and personal life schedules. Then I remind myself that everything in the past has shown me that to obtain these goals takes a long time and a lot of work and dedication. Regardless, I put my workouts on my calendar working backward from the race date to the latest date I can start training and be ready to race. The act of writing them into my calendar makes them real and important.

Next I decide where I am going to do each of my workouts. I write in whether or not it will be on the road outdoors or on a treadmill. In addition, I note which days I will double up my core workouts with my run. Because of the severe weather changes here in New England, I make sure I have contingency plans for really foul weather. It may mean running on the indoor track at the YMCA instead of outdoors if the weather is too bad. In any case, I make sure there is no excuse for missing a run.

Finally, I tell myself that no matter what, I will stick to my plan. It is inevitable that things will come up and interfere with my plan. So as I said, I plan for events to happen that will derail me. I also know that missing one workout during the course of a long training plan will not affect the ultimate results. And, I never double up workouts to make sure I have logged every mile the plan calls for. That can only lead to injury.

I was in a business training class some years ago and they used the acronym S.M.A.R.T. to help us set our goals. This is a simple way to remember the methods I outlined above. I use this method as part of my planning. S.M.A.R.T. stands for:

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Realistic
T – Timetable

So when you sit down to plan your running goals for the year or for a specific race, try using the methods I have outlined and I am sure you will find that it helps you not only meet your goals but exceed them.

Here are my training totals:

Aug. 2 – 10.10 miles (1:29:062, 8:49 pace)
Aug. 3 – 6.00 miles (49:48, 8:18 pace)
Aug. 4 – 3.60 miles (27:55, 7:46 pace) – 5K Speedwork w/½ mi warm up
Aug. 6 – 7.10 miles (57:47, 8:08 pace) – Tempo
Aug. 7 – 6.20 miles (54:05, 8:43 pace)
Aug. 8 – 10.10 miles (1:25:19, 8:26 pace)

Total Miles: 43.10 miles
2009 YTD Miles: 1,274.20 miles

30 years of memories...

My running has become such a huge part of my life now that it is really hard to think back to that point in time when I did not run at all. It wasn’t until 1985 when I moved back to Texas for a new job that I took up “jogging” to stay in shape. Back then just getting in three runs a week was good enough for me. I never thought back then I would ever run more than 6 miles and certainly couldn’t imagine finishing a marathon. Now twenty-four years later, I cannot imagine not running.

More importantly the last few weeks I have begun to think back to that summer thirty years ago when I was in the midst of making the transition from living at home with my parents and siblings to living on my own at a college some 1,500 miles away from San Diego. I was 17. I had recently graduated from Kapaun-Mt. Carmel Academy in Wichita. My family had moved back to San Diego from Wichita because of a change in my father’s career. And I had registered for classes in the fall of 1979 at Texas Christian University.

It is said that there are several life changing events that can cause stress in your life. Things that may cause stress include being laid off from your job, your child leaving or returning home, the death of your spouse, divorce or marriage, an illness, an injury, a job promotion, money problems, moving, or having a baby. In the summer of ’79, I was experiencing several life changing events in my life all at one time. I had graduated, moved, lived on my own for six weeks in Pittsburg, KS, and was leaving home to head off to college. But, looking back on that summer, I don’t really recall any stress at all. I seem to only remember the feeling of excitement at the prospect of starting on life’s journey alone where I could and had to make choices without the help of my parents.

Thinking back to that summer made me think about those friends I left behind so many years ago when I moved back to San Diego. As I slogged through my training miles memories of each and every friend I had made in High School and College kept creeping into my consciousness. I realized that although I kept up with some of my closer friends over the past 30 years or so, I had lost touch with so many. People who were so important to me. Perhaps the fact that my 30th High School reunion was this year brought all of those memories flooding back. What I am sad to say is that I have not spoken to most of my closest friends from back then in many years. As I like to say, “Life got in the way.” It is not an excuse. Just a truism.

I admit that I thought of them often over the years. A song, movie, play or something I saw would remind me of them. I have regaled my children with stories from my days at Kapaun-Mt. Carmel. We really did have some wonderful times together. I never really knew how to reconnect or even find those long lost friends. Finally, I have been able to reconnect with many of these long lost friends through Facebook. Some people think Facebook is a big waste of time. It can be. But, I am thankful for it because it has allowed me the chance to hear from those people who influenced my life back when I was 15-17. The friends who in many ways helped me become the man I am today.

What is so interesting about reconnecting with an old friend is that time just melts away. The friends I have spoken with all seemed to be pleasantly surprised to hear from me after all of the intervening years. I was a little worried about not having anything in common anymore or nothing to talk about. What I found was that the shared history we had was the beginning conversation piece. The chance to update each other and what we’ve missed seems to have us talking nonstop. It was silly to be nervous about it.

I am grateful to be able to reconnect with my old friends. It is amazing that when I finally get a chance to talk with them whether or not on-line or in person that it likes yesterday. Our friendship bond is still there. I have found that my friends have been busy living life just like me. The best part is that they all seem to be the same person I knew just a bit older, wiser and having had more life experiences. I intend to be a better friend to them and stay in closer touch. I didn’t realize how much I missed them until we reconnected.

I will close with a great quote about friends from Albert Schweitzer, “In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” For all of my friends new and old who read this blog, I want you to know I am thankful for you and you ability to rekindle my inner spirit.

Here are my training totals:

July 26 – 10.10 miles (1:26:52, 8:36 pace)
July 27 – 6.20 miles (51:21, 8:36 pace)
July 28 – 3.60 miles (27:35, 7:40 pace) – 5K Speedwork w/½ mi warm up
July 30 – 7.10 miles (57:07, 8:03 pace) – Tempo
July 31 – 6.10 miles (51:53, 8:30 pace)
Aug. 1 – 10.00 miles (1:24:29, 8:27 pace)

Total Miles: 43.10 miles

2009 YTD Miles: 1,231.10 miles