Sunday morning and post RTB

Good morning! Yesterday at roughly 2:00PM I set out for the final leg of Reach the Beach otherwise known as "RTB" and about 33 minutes later I came across the finish line. This final leg ended our 2013 RTB and what a feeling of joy it was! This 2013 RTB was also a notable one as it was the 15th year of NH RTB. Five hundred teams set out at various times on Friday and ran from Lincoln NH to Hampton beach NH. What an amazing event. For me it was my third year of running RTB and possibly my best, but that probably because it's the most recent. Running a relay race has so many more dynamics than any other race I have competed in. Reach the Beach is not your typical relay race either, 200 miles in 30 hours is truly a roller coaster ride line none other. Getting up at the early hours of that Thursday to meet your team at the C&J bus station for the 2 hour drive. Then assembling at Cannon mountain with all the teams that are taking off around the same time we did and getting to visit with familiar faces. Finally it's our teams time to start and this year I get to have the joy of watching my wife (Kathy) take off from the starting line. With my wife gone we say goodbye to van 1 and we head off to Attitash mountain ski area to hang out until it is our time to take the bracelet and run. Our van of 7 (6 runners, 1 driver) is somewhat new to RTB as only 2 of us had previously run it so being an RTB vet I keep us moving. The scary part of having me sit in the navigators seat is that I'm not very good at directions. Anyhow, we made it to Attitash albeit a little different route than we had previous years thus missing Dunkin Donuts. Unfortunately one of our van members had gotten injured so I was going to pick up an additional leg and our driver Lew was going to sub for the final 2 legs. The injured runner (Lora) came along anyhow and played a huge role in both guiding and driving so despite not being able to run she helped our team a great deal. My first leg (Lora's) was the Attitash leg whenever van 1 made it to Attitash and turned over the bracelet to us. Because of the rain we mostly sat in the van for until Nichole from van 1 made her way to the transition point around 3PM. Having had to wait around for 5 hours I think everyone of my team would like to have run this leg and even knowing I would have a quick turnaround, I was glad to be off and running. With the bracelet now in our possession we hip-hopped from Attitash mountain to Kenneth Brett School in Tamworth NH. Getting those first legs completed is always the most fun to me because now progress is being made and everyone is feeling part of the RTB team. Our van had some very talented runners in it so it was fun to seem them run but even more enjoyable for me was the enthusiasm that they all had. It's amazing how most runners even get a little nervous prior to that first leg. Everyone talks about running for fun because winning is not even remotely possible yet there is a certain amount of self imposed pressure. No one wants to let their team down despite the fact that is not possible. That's the difference between an individual race and a relay race; runners in a relay race take on a whole new mindset that is geared around a team concept. "We may not win, but I want to help my team." As I finished up let 12 I had the joy of handing off the bracelet to my wife who would run the next leg. This would put van 1 back on the move and our van would now have around 5 hours of rest time. Not having my wife in my van for the first time was different but being able to hand off to her and get a kiss was a nice thing. Now with being on break we had an opportunity to go inside the school at that transition point and enjoy some pasta and other snacks. After a short stay there we loaded back into our van and proceeded to transition point 19 where we could sleep and wait for van 1 to pass the bracelet to us. The drive took about an hour so by the time we rolled into Gilford high school we had around 3 hours to sleep. Settling into we all tried our best to get comfortable in the van but even with a cargo van, comfortable is not really possible. Now somewhat settled in we were all woken (except one sound sleeper) by a knock on the drivers window. For some reason our driver had left the van running (guess to keep the air conditioning on), so this race volunteer asked that he turn the van off. When he complied with the request the inside dome light came on. Well for whatever reason it wouldn't shut off and now most everyone was getting frustrated as they wanted to be sleeping and the light wouldn't help with the already difficult arrangements. The poor driver was getting bombarded with try this, do this and on and on. Lora was reading the manual and suggesting different things, some thought that Lew's door was the problem, Lora suggested that the light would go out if we just waited so we tried that and that didn't work! Eventually something worked, the dome light went out but the console lights were on! We all agreed that the battery could handle them being on and we all tried to go to sleep. Some slept better than others, I got around an hour of sleep and spent the rest of the time reading. Around 1:20AM we started getting text messages from van 1 letting us know that their sixth runner was 50 minutes out. We all meandered around brushing our teeth, using the port-a-potties and getting prepared for our turn with the bracelet. Lew our driver turned to leg 19 runner was a little nervous but eager as well. Finally at sometime around 2AM Nichole from van 1 handed the bracelet to Lew and we had the next hours of running. Around 6:30AM I ran our final leg for our second set handing off the bracelet to my wife at Bare Brook State park in Pembroke. We were all happy to now be two thirds done and ready to get some rest! I will continue my RTB piece tomorrow so come back and enjoy another cup of coffee with me tomorrow!