Relay-ing An Announcement
At the end of Monday’s post I teased an announcement yesterday or today. Well I’m barely making that deadline seeing as it’s almost 8PM in Boston as I write this, but here I am. Time is short because I still have packing to do so I will cut to the chase.
A few weeks back, I was approached by New Balance to run in the Reach the Beach Relay – as part of one of their media teams! The race takes place in New Hampshire – it’s a 200 mile relay race from Cannon to Hampton Beach. Our team is called Pumped Up Kicks (love it, right?!) and consists of two vans of six runners each – twelve runners total. It’s pretty hardcore…24 hours, meaning Friday night I will be sleeping in a van, and I may end up running in the middle of the night. I am a notorious sleep diva, and am probably more nervous about not getting sleep than the running itself.
The shoes I will be running in – the New Balance 860v4.
The timing of this relay is pretty darn perfect because this coming weekend was going to be my last of higher mileage before I started tapering for my first half marathon, taking place at the end of September. If I have to do a lot of running, why not also add another fitness accomplishment to my list – my first relay race! I have three legs and each is 6ish miles.
This is my NB bag when I first received it, but let’s pretend it’s my bag right now, already packed (yeah right).
I will be honest, at first I was assigned three legs of 8ish, 9ish, 2ish miles. I’m pretty confident that I can run 18-19 miles if it comes in the form of three medium-length runs, but two long runs back-to-back made me nervous. I don’t want to injure myself before my big day on 9/27. So I asked my van-mates if anyone was willing to switch with me, and thankfully my roomie (and fellow CT lady!) Allie was all over it. I was nervous to email the other bloggers to ask if I could switch, because I was afraid they’d think I’d be a lazy teammate. But everyone was so very kind and understanding, and I’m feeling good about being in such close quarters with these ladies for 24 hours!
I hope that I packed correctly…New Balance sent a stellar logistics plan and check-list. It also helped that they sent me the above duffel of some pretty amazing gear which I’m sure you’ll be seeing on the blog and my social media channels in the future. Lots of that gear is what I need for the relay, but NB is also going to be providing essentials like head lamps, snacks (but I’m packing some of my own too!), and sleeping bags. Thank goodness – it’s very helpful to be doing my first relay with a brand that’s going to provide much of what I need! Still, I’m sure I’ll forget SOMETHING I need. Let’s hope that doesn’t end up being the case.
I was sent these neutral-style shoes as well, but found they did not provide enough support for running. However they’re great for weight lifting, especially on leg days (lunges y’all).
The race begins Friday bright and early – we have a 7AM start time but need to be at the starting line at 6AM for a safety check. That’s another thing I’m nervous about – waking up at about 5AM. Again, sleep diva status. Hopefully excitement will get me moving! We are slated to finish Saturday morning or afternoon. But this adventure actually starts tomorrow, when the team heads to the New Balance factory in Lawrence, MA to take a tour of the lab/facilities. Then we’ll head to a hotel in NH for a team dinner and one last night of good (I hope!) sleep. Hmm, sleep keeps coming up.
So follow me on social media throughout the weekend because hopefully my phone won’t die at any point or for too long at any point. And hopefully I won’t fall over from lack of sleep. And hopefully I won’t forget anything. And hopefully I can complete my runs. And I’ll keep on hoping…WISH ME LUCK!
Have you ever done a relay race?
