RTB 2016

Sunday, September 18, 2016 · Mike Davis

Good morning! Grab you coffee and pull up a chair.

What a beautiful rainy morning it is! After having had had to run Reach the Beach in snow, rain and abnormal heat, RTB 2016 was a runners dream. The perfect New England fall temperatures coupled with clear nights illuminated by what appeared to be a full moon and you could not have asked for more perfect conditions to run a 204 mile relay! Now the details…

I drove in from North Carolina on Wednesday and that drive was easily my worst ever. What typically takes me between 12 and 14 hours to drive, took me over 17 hours! I certainly won’t bore you with the details but, it did not get me off to a good start. Thursday things continued to challenge my psyche as we had to drive to Boston to pick up our team vans only to hit crazy traffic and instead of being back in Dover for 5:30, we rolled in just after 6:30. Thankfully we had a group that was easy going enough to roll with those initial bumps. Finally by around 7pm we were on the road headed to Attitash where we would be spending the night. After a stop for dinner we got to our accommodations and between a long day and the idea that we had to be up by 4:15am for our 6:30 start time, everyone quickly found a place to settle in for a few hours of valuable sleep. This was the first year our team has stayed up near the start of the race and I will never do it any other way again.

When we got to Bretton Woods where RTB begins it was a bit different than previous years. Instead of crazy lines to get our team stuff and over crowed rooms of safety briefings, it was a well-organized process that made it easy to accomplish all we were required to do prior to our start time. Props go out to Ragner for making some great improvement in their second year of managing this event. Anyhow, team NFLR got off and running at 6:30am with Karen LaChapelle our last minute addition climbing up the mountain for a brutal first leg!

This year would be quite different for me as for the first time in my 6 years of running “RTB,” I was in van 1. It did not take any time to decide that I liked this change of vans. Being able to get out and run in the first stage was great but the biggest benefit for me was not having to wake up (after 1 or 2 hours of sleep) in the middle of the night and get ready for a run around 2am. Van 1 gets to run into darkness and then is off the road around midnight and that certainly works better for my design. Overall the different dynamics of the van 1 legs were a pleasant change.

Running is certainly a huge part of participating in “RTB” but, your van is most definitely the most important factor. Spending 36 hours with 6 other people can be challenging in the best of circumstances but, factor in sleep deprivation, sore body parts and smelly sweaty bodies and you have the makings of a challenging 36 hours. This year my van would have 3 new additions: Cindy Johnson and Karen Lachapelle joined us to round out our team, while Dan Boisvert took over the duties of driving. Ideally you have the same group from year to year and pretty much know what to expect but with 3 new people I did not know what to expect. Thankfully they are 3 great people that I have known for a long time and they fit perfectly with our easy going group. We laughed, we commiserated and we cheered each other on right up till the end. No doubt I got on everyone’s nerves with my charm and rules (which no one followed) but hopefully they all enjoyed sharing a van with me as much as I did with them.

Oh yeah, there was also a bit of running that took place as we made our way from Bretton Woods to Hampton Beach. While everyone put undue pressure on themselves to run strong for the team, no one really cared what other people’s splits actually were. I certainly have been on previous teams where comparing splits was common and that was okay but, I a most definitely enjoy not worrying about running pace and instead focus on having fun. Myself I was a bit nervous and questionable about how I would perform. My first leg was a pretty fast 3.3 downhill run and that ended up being a faster run than I planned. My next leg was near 11pm and a 9.1 run that scared me a bit because of the hills but I struggled through it and was pleased with the overall results. Then my final leg, a 4.1 mile run I was handed my traditional moose hat which I dawned for the final 2 miles and sweated profusely till I handed the wrist band off to my daughter! I was happy to be done my part of “RTB!”

Overall “Reach the Beach” 2016 was a huge success and my favorite in my six years of participating. We had a great van, the weather was perfect and I was able to run my legs. Most of us will be back in 2017 no doubt and I am thankful that I have 356 days to rest! Today being a rainy day is perfect for doing just that!

Well I have to get out of here and get the vans back to Boston. Thanks for having coffee.

God Bless!

Mike