The United Relay (www.unitedrelay.org) is a 3 course relay from the west coast (Seattle, San Francisco, LA) to NYC, sponsored by AfterShokz, in partnership with over a dozen charity organizations. Joining a stage cost $50, and a group stage cost $25, plus you could set additional fundraising goals. I had the opportunity to run the relay with BibRave. I allocated my registration fee to The Trevor Project and opted not to fundraise because I'm already part of 2 other fundraisers this year. They offered a free, with $5 shipping, cotton t-shirt. I opted out since I have enough t-shirts. You can also order tech shirts (which I also do not need).
I initially signed up for stage 252 from Piedmont Park to Kensington Station near Decatur. I was nervous about this stage because it was scheduled to start at 1am and I had to make the route myself. It also became clear that I would be running alone since I had no crew able to join me at that time of night. Additionally, the staff emailed me a few weeks before my stage to ask if I could run additional stages. At first I was unable to commit to this because I could not miss a whole day of work. However, United Relay eventually allowed cyclists to complete stages as well. I was then able to volunteer as a cyclist for 5 additional stages, 244-248. This route was 51 miles from Cedartown to Smyrna on the Silver Comet trail. Since I was able to complete this on my bike I was able to start the relay later in the afternoon, and staying on the Silver Comet path meant I would not have to create my own route.
Luckily, I was able to arrange for a friend to shuttle me and my bike from the end of the route to my starting point in Cedartown. I started riding at 4:45 and arrived in Smyrna at 8:28, just in time for the next leg. It was really tough but I had a nice time seeing the countryside roll by.
After passing off the baton I grabbed a quick bite (McDonald's fries FTW!) and drove to Kensington station, the end of my nighttime leg. I was able to take MARTA to midtown to meet Samantha at Piedmont Park for her leg around the park. I was then able to complete my last leg back to the MARTA station, another 9 miles, arriving at 12:30.
It was definitely a long day, and I wish the logistics of the Relay had been better, but overall I'm glad to have been part of an epic cross country relay for a good cause. The support staff, Joel and Sarah, were doing a great job and had to complete most of the relay themselves since the Blue Route did not have a lot of participation. I think this had to do with some poor planning (this is the first time they did the big, 3 route relay) and the fact that it was a continuous relay; IMO they should have scheduled the rely from sun up to sundown with rests at night so there would have been better participation, especially in big cities like Atlanta (the Blue relay came through ATL only late at night ).
I think many of these issues are part of the growing process of such a large relay and will be mitigated in the future. I'll be glad to take part next year.