The basic premise of the race is to run all the way across Iowa, from Sioux City to Dubuque. As Bill (the Race Director) notes, this is a relay and not a race. So make it across, and have fun doing it! Most teams utilize two vans, and alternate at various points along the course. When your van is running, it's really up to you how many miles you want to tackle at a time. With the heat this year, our van stuck mostly to running 2 mile intervals, with each runner knocking out around 6 total per leg for our van. We had 11 total runners on our team, so everyone wound up with somewhere between 30-35 miles.

For the second straight year, it was HOT for the relay. We also had howling wind on Friday and Saturday, which made the heat a little more bearable. Sunday was lots of humidity and more rising temps. Of course, this made the night legs much more pleasant to run when the temps dipped into the low 70s.

Your biggest challenge as a team would likely be food and sleep. Depending on how much time you have between switching vans (and where you are) it can be tough. Example, the way our legs worked out, my van had a total of 3 meals between the start and the finish (our third meal was the post race). So bring lots of food and drink to fuel you through the day and night.

But really, if you get the chance, run this race!! As with any long race, you'll get tired and frustrated at times, but it is tons of fun. Ultimately, it is as fun as you make it. Oh, and if you think Iowa is all flat, run this race to prove yourself wrong.

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