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