Now that I’ve slept 18 hours and brought three showers, I’m prepared to provide the Wild Rogue Relay the stable evaluate it deserves.
This relay was good. I don’t have a single dangerous factor to say about it, however I do have loads of good issues to share.
To me, one of the best factor about Wild Rogue is that they cap the registration at 85 groups. There was all the time bathroom paper within the Honey Buckets. Nobody needed to get out of the van a mile from an trade and run to satisfy their runner attributable to van jams. Exchanges all the time had ample parking. And infrequently, you discovered your self working all by your self, which I assumed was nice.
There’s something sensible about turning a solitary sport right into a crew effort. The bonds you share along with your van mates are sturdy – you’ll be able to’t stay collectively in a putrid-smelling van for 2 days with out sharing a variety of your self along with your crew. Since Wild Rogue was so un-congested, it felt as if we might get pleasure from all the pieces greater than at an enormous relay like Hood to Coast.
We had been additionally grateful for much less site visitors and congestion for this relay as a result of we misplaced our driver on the final minute. We needed to swap off working and driving. Whereas I used to be dreading this and anxious on the considered getting even much less sleep, it wasn’t dangerous in any respect. I feel all the pieces would have been worse if we needed to take care of a variety of bottlenecked vans across the exchanges.
Not solely had been we grateful for the dearth of site visitors, however the honey buckets had been significantly better than throughout Hood to Coast as properly. There was all the time a roll or two of bathroom paper obtainable, and whereas the buckets had been slightly full through the finish of the race, they normally weren’t so foul that you just couldn’t use them.
Exhaustion performed a big half throughout this relay. The lengthy drive to Jacksonville, Oregon meant we needed to depart the day earlier than the relay and camp initially line. You by no means actually recognize that final sleep in your mattress the evening earlier than a relay till you’re catching two interrupted hours sleeping at the back of a van.
We additionally ended up leapfrogging our final legs so we might make it to the end line in time. Leapfrogging meant that we didn’t have a break between our second and third runs. We got here into that end line dragging, but additionally so blissfully completely satisfied and happy with ourselves.
I can say, nonetheless, that that is probably the most exhausted I’ve been – ever in my life. I feel I received about 4 to 6 hours of sleep between Thursday and Sunday mornings. Was it value it? Sure. Sure, it was.
What slowed us down, much more, was the warmth on our first set of legs. It was insanely brutal. Whenever you normally run in 60-degree coastal climate, nothing can put together you for working in 90 levels on a route with zero shade. We had been watching the surface temp from the van – it received as much as 111F whereas one among my van mates was working. I do not know how she did it. It was about 95F whereas I used to be working and that was sufficient warmth for me.
We had been capable of survive the warmth by some means, and a few of that was assist from locals driving round with their children taking pictures chilly water at runners from tremendous soakers. A few of it was different relay groups soaking us with water. However one of the best was our van assembly us midway, dumping chilly water over our heads and dumping ice in our sports activities bras. I don’t know if I might have made it with out that aid.
One other perk of Wild Rogue is that there isn’t any rule for ingesting on the course. With Hood to Coast, you may get disqualified if you’re caught ingesting earlier than the end line. Throughout Wild Rogue, there have been loads of runners strolling round exchanges with a beer of their hand. And I’ve to confess, having a beer after your run might be one of the best factor ever (particularly Pelican Kolsch!) Throughout every of my legs, I used to be dreaming of the post-run beer, and I do assume it helped me run just a bit quicker, regardless of my lack of coaching earlier than the relay.
As I discussed earlier than, there have been loads of instances you discovered your self working alone. There weren’t any vans driving by you, and no different runners round. A lonely run was notably correct throughout my early morning leg. I began at about 6:30 am in a phenomenal forest. It was a wide ranging run, and the temperature was good at 52 levels. Nonetheless, as a result of I used to be alone within the wild and dense woods, I began to freak out about cougars and bears. Thank goodness the vast majority of this run was downhill as a result of I used to be scared to loss of life and ended up attempting to get it over as rapidly as doable. I even smelled this sturdy musky urine scent throughout sure instances – I simply knew I used to be going to die a horrible loss of life. I used to be kicking myself for telling my van to not cease and examine on me a time or two throughout that 6 miles.
However general, this relay was unbelievable! I might extremely suggest it to anybody who likes to relay. It was an energy-charged and exquisitely organized occasion. Not solely that – a lot of the main exchanges had free Dutch Brothers espresso.
I need to say, that was simply what I wanted generally.
When you ever get the chance to run Wild Rogue Relay, take it!
