Sunday, June 27, 2010

Things we want to remember

I thought it would be good to put in writing the things we learned from this race, so it can help us when we run in California next year. So, please comment and give our future selves some advice about the race. Here's mine:
Bring REAL food. Pack actual meals b/c it's too hard and time consuming to try and find places to stop and eat along the route.

What's your advice?

15 comments:

  1. One from me would be that I don't need as many clothes as I brought...I didn't need my second pair of shoes, and only changed after my second leg. A car topper for our car would have been nice...just to put the sleeping bags in if nothing else...to free up room in the trunk. More water, less gatoraide. And yes, more real food, like Jen and Sarah brought, lunch meat, bread for a quick turkey sandwich, less trail mixes and whatnot. Yea for California!!

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  2. reserve a hotel room ahead of time at about the half-way point. both vans can use it at different times. A shower and just a few hours of sleep in the night would have been heavenly!!! Amen for the real food!!!

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  3. What do you all think about spouses on the team? Obviously that would double the team size, but like Adrienne said, we could just have a Mind Over Mileage team 2 if needed. My husband is a definite go--he would love to go after I told him all about it.
    I like the hotel idea; I guess we'd need to bring a couple air mattresses to allow 6 people to rest at once.
    My car will agree that I needed to bring a smaller pillow next time! (note to self) Sorry van 1!
    Earplugs is another thing I thought of, for getting sleep in the car or the gym.

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  4. Love all the ideas so far -- hotel mid-way is a must! Sleeping next to a stinky, snoring, partially exposed (his spare tire anyway) guy on a random high school gym floor was probably the lowlight of my trip. Ear plugs would have helped, too.

    More real food for sure -- and a concerted effort to carb-load a second time mid-race.

    As if I'm not obnoxious enough (sorry Van 1), but I'd love to have a real megaphone, clappers, pom poms and other paraphernalia to cheer everyone on... honestly - I really enjoyed screaming for everybody (I hope you did too?). I'm not joking by-the-way (but you probably already know that).

    Sunscreen! Lots of lots of sunscreen. I'm still peeling like a leper.

    Are we all serious about California? Registration opens soon... we need to be on top of it!

    I'm not totally opposed to spouses, but that changes the dynamics from a girls/mom's weekend... to not. We probably need to discuss more.

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  5. FOOD!! Also, note to self- don't get sick and take too many medications on an empty stomach! I would say that looking at the routes on Google earth in order to visualize my runs, know of restaurants on the way- or pack real food, bring less clothing but more sports bras, and have a real snooze midway would make all of the difference!! I'd be good with husbands too- it would just be hard to find babysitters for everyone though. Another thought I had was to make 2 teams in order to make sure everyone who wants to join in can (one could be a coed team.) My sis-in-law would really want to join us next year if we have room. She's a really good runner too. I agree with Susan though- we probably want to figure out some of these details fairly soon.

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  6. I concur with all the ideas...nothing new to add. I am in for CA!!

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  7. Well, I agree with all the comments above. I think a HOTEL for sure for some place you can go, shower, relax, watch tv, sleep. It would have made tons of difference. Googling hotels in the middle of the race and hoping they have space just didn't work well for us.....and FOOD, I would have packed my own bag lunch for all meals for the entire race. I feel like even if you are in a town where there are lots of restaurants, if you are running there just isn't time between exchanges to go find food, even if it is fast food. But if you did happen to be on a break, then finding food would be fine, but you never know......

    I am sorry to say that next year I can't join in on the fun.=(, I am hoping to run grandmas marathon in June (in minnesota), and then possibly the denver rock in roll in the fall, followed by another trip to disney for the goofy. The goofy is where you run the 1/2 on Saturday and then the full on Sunday.

    BUT, if this tradition keeps happening, count me in for the next adventure. I also would not be opposed to having the husbands come along, although I agree that it will change the whole dynamic of the trip. But either way, I'd do it. And, just because I won't be joining you in california I will still be running so I hope to be included on all the fun group runs, workouts, or whatever fun that happens.

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  8. If we are considering doing a coed team, perhaps we should reconsider doing Wasatch Back again -- that would give many of us the ability to unload our kids somewhere in Utah vs. CA or CO. Just a thought. Childcare would be my biggest obstacle to bringing my husband to CA.

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  9. "Get Your Ass Over the Pass" is from Ft. Collins to Steamboat Springs August 6th and 7th. It's 200 miles. Wanna do it all again this year? Kidding kind of. Anyway, this would be another option if we wanted to stay closer to home.

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  10. if it's a bring husbands thing in CA, I'm out, Brian can't take that much time off and he's not a huge runner, nor would I have anything to do with my kids...

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  11. Amber: that's Girls Camp for me, otherwise I'd totally be up for it! May be next year - that could be the one we do with husbands... and keep CA with just us girls?!

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  12. I think we should keep CA a girls thing and if there are husbands that want to do it, then they can be in charge of their own team. One closer to home would be better to join with the husbands.

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  13. I agree with Amy W on this one. You all had great comments, but i would def. pack less stuff and more food!!

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  14. For sure I would bring more food, and fewer clothes. I would also bring my own toilet paper... The honey bucket's tp was too chafey... ouch.

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  15. Let's be sure to bring a laptop where we can download all the pics and all the video to one place. It's too much work to try and do it after the fact.

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