"Reebok Ragnar Pennsylvania begins in the history-rich city of Lancaster, with its preserved architecture and old city charm. Teams will navigate rural roads and gentle rolling hills during this 200-ish mile overnight relay. Runners will breathe in the clean, crisp country air as they run along a sea of corn and wheat fields in Pennsylvania’s Dutch country and farm communities. As the sun sinks below the horizon, stars will inspire a sense of wonder and help each runner find their inner wild. Runners will push north to the finish line in the Poconos Mountain resort area where the route weaves back and forth over the Schuylkill River and through the quaint town of Jim Thorpe".

As the website states, you can run the relay in a group of 12 people in 2 vans or, if you are feeling really ambitious, 6 people in one van. We chose 12 people and had a blast making new friends.

There is no exact expo however Ragnar does a great job putting numerous info sessions together throughout the area on different dates prior to race weekend. It is very helpful because this is like no other race or Relay you have ever run before. Your team runs consistently for two days without any breaks. Every runner will run through the dark and Ragnar is very specific on the safety gear they require. If you are not equipped with the correct safety gear on race morning, your team will be disqualified. They also give you a lot of great advise on what to bring (i.e.: how many pairs of shoes, shorts, shirts, etc) as well as sleeping bags, pillows, and how to organize everything - remembering that you have to fit 6 people plus all their gear, water, and food in a van for two days!

The race organizers do an amazing job marking the course as well. They cannot have people at every turn like most races, so they have large blue Ragnar signs with blinking lights that tell you exactly where to go. One thing people complained about this year is that the race organizers decided to go green and go cupless. There were very few water stations and the water stations they did have just had three large Gatorade coolers full of water with no volunteers and no cups. However, the race directors made it very clear to bring your own water bottle. It was hot out and would have been nice to have more water stations. To combat this, our team would park along the course and make sure we had a cold water bottle waiting for them to run by and grab!

Most exchange points are at local community buildings so parking was no problem at all. And the volunteers at those exchange points were great. As it got late and cold, volunteers were there offering runners free coffee and donuts or a fire pit to sit around for some warmth!

The locals were also amazing! I ran past a restaurant in Lancaster where people were sitting outside eating their meals. As I ran by, they all cheered me on. Also, many of the locals in town wrote encouraging words in sidewalk chalk on the sidewalks.

The end of the race was also great! Every team was given a free large pizza and they had a lot of food to purchase. I know a few people were upset they had to buy a beer but it didn't bother me. The tshirts and medals are top notch also! And one cool thing about the medals - other than the fact that they double as a bottle opener - when you put the 12 together, they spell out "together we ran 200ish miles. Together we can accomplish anything. We are Ragnarians".