A mysterious E-mail dated 11-05-05 begins to arrive at unsuspecting destinations on the 3W:

Dear Runners with Sole,

Do you want to be apart of the running adventure of your life?
"g" Productions invites you to run in the 2006 Reach The Beach (200 Mile)
Relay Race in NH on Fri Sept 15^th and Sat. Sept. 16th.
(Yes... you read that correctly!)

Here goes...

I plan to organize and enter a 12-person team (MIXED category; 6-women/-6men)
in Reach The Beach Relay on Fri. Sept, 2006 in NH. It's a 210 mile relay race.
I'm still learning about the particulars online; I've already talked with several folks who
ran it last September. I expect this kind of race to be an exhausting/exhilarating
and wonderful experience. As you can imagine, once committed... dropping out
is not an option. Substitutes are possible, but only by a deadline in August.

Training to run this relay:
I'm likely to propose a training program... but participants should be able to run a
1/2 marathon in 2-hours... That's a scootch over an average pace of 9-min miles.

I suspect training will include working up to 2-3, 6-10 mile runs in a 24 hour
period - NOT for speed, but for endurance and distance training! Training at night
with appropriate headlamps and lighted apparel will also be necessary (and fun)!

Don't get freaked out... it's all VERY do-able!!!!! Trust me! (?)

DETAILS:

Reach The Beach Relay
WWW.RTBRelay.com
Fri Sept. 15th - Sat. Sept 16th, 2006
Registration begins 12/1/05

Registration info:
http://www.rtbrelay.com/registration.shtml

Highlights from the Web Site:

Entry Fee
There is a $960 registration fee for each Standard (8-12 member) relay team.
The team captain will register the team on-line. Team Registration is complete
when the entry fee is received. Then, individual team members are required
to register. Based on a runner's racing experience, he/she will be asked to project
their estimated average pace per mile for the approximately 17.5 total miles each runner
will cover in 3 legs. Teams who have a collective average pace of 10 minutes per mile or slower will not be allowed to enter the race.

Seeding
The race will begin on Friday, September 15th, 2006. Staggered starts begin
at 7:30 AM, with slower teams (based on team registration information)
beginning before faster teams. The race course and finish line will close
at 6:30 PM on Saturday, September 16, 2006. Teams on the course who
fall behind and will not be able to finish the race at the above cut off time will
be asked to leave-off their remaining team members at the start of the last leg simultaneously.

The Reach The Beach (RTB) Relay is the longest running relay race in
the United States. It takes place in picturesque New
Hampshire during the start of the New England foliage season. The relay
will consist of (a maximum of ) 300 relay teams.

Start/Finish Specifics:
Date:  Friday & Saturday, September 16 - 17, 2005 
Start/Finish Times:  Friday September 16, 2005 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
Teams start in "waves" every 15-30 minutes.  The event will conclude by
6:30 PM on Saturday September 17, 2005. All teams must have completed
the event by this time.

RTB Relay is limited to 300 teams.
In 2005, there were 285 teams

Check out the 2005 race results:
http://www.rtbrelay.com/RTB2005_Final_Results.htm

 
FINAL NOTE
I know this seems early to be considering an event 10 months from
now. But… planning is everything. I suspect we would drive up
Thursday morning and probably leave Sunday. This would require hotel accommodations on Thursday and Saturday nights. Also, it’s expected
that folks would sleep in cars and rest during the race. Check out the
web site… although it has specific info for last years race, it’s full of info! 

Oh… check out these maps and elevation charts for the 36 legs of
the race!
http://www.rtbrelay.com/images/maps/Combined_Maps_RTB2005.pdf

 Let me know your initial thinking about interest in terms of
NO, 50% YES, MOSTLY YES or YES.

Happy trails…   "g" .