Latest reviews by Randy Birnschein
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
The GAP Trail Relay… 150 miles from Cumberland, MD all the way to Pittsburgh, PA with a team of 5 people (next time we’ll add more since you can have up to 8 people). We had Gwen, Lissa, Brian, Bill and me (Randy)!
We got to the packet pickup/start line a couple of hours early on Friday. We picked up our stuff (bibs/car bibs/socks/lightweight hoodie/cases of Liquid Death, etc. etc.) and they even fed us! I had a buffalo chicken wrap (yes, it did come back to haunt me later) and a delicious cookie, which I was told by Lissa was a special, fancy cookie.
The race started at 3pm, but we had a 4pm start and had time to kill. We loaded all of the stuff into our 2 vans, and I brought some chalk markers to do a little decorating. We tracked our progress and had some fun messages.
Brian did the honor of getting us started. I took the 2nd leg. You’re allowed to split up the legs however you want to, so we had some variation and not just a simple rotation. We all did a pretty good share of the miles, with the lowest around 25 and the highest at around 32. Fun for everyone!
My first leg was one of the hardest. The race had a list that showed the legs in order of difficulty. It was nice to know what you were going to be up against. It really wasn’t too bad, a nice steady climb.
There were 24 legs in all. Some as short as 3 miles with the longest being 11.5. A runner would get moving and the rest of us would load up into the vans and get ahead to the exchange spot. There are a number of ways that could be done where one van may skip ahead or other arrangements could be made (the more teammates, the more possibilities), but we just stuck to that. Upside: We were truly a team and stuck together throughout. Downside: Not much time for a sustained sleep break (I slept about an hour TOTAL).
I loved the course so much! I did 5 legs and got a good amount of everything. I did some in the daytime, some in the darkest of dark, some in the middle of nothing, some in town. The night running is awesome out there. It’s so dark and all you have is for light is what the headlamp (or crotch lamp) provide. Ahead of that seems like a neverending amount of nothingness. It’s cool.
I do want to take a moment to say how great the volunteers were. Every exchange point had somebody needing to be out there in the cold darkness. Running is hard. Volunteering your time to freeze out there is even harder. Some of the exchange points had awesome snacks, actual food, free stuff, coffee, kick butt hot apple cider and even some chicken noodle soup. Shoutout to Ram Cat….the best of the best.
I was a little conservative in my guess on our paces and how the transitions would go, so we ended up WAY ahead of what I thought. My 3rd leg (the big one at 11.5 miles) was going to be at 6:15am, based on my bad estimate. That would have had me running at sunrise. I ended up running that one at 4:30am. Big difference. After no sleep and a total mileage of over 20, I started to question my life choices.
I did get a nice, long break (8 hours) before my next leg of 4.3. At this point, I was pretty tired and my body was stiff and muscles tight. When you get to that point, there’s only one thing you can do. CAFFEINATE!!! My caffeine of choice was ZipFizz. It’s a magical blend of all kinds of things I don’t understand, plus a load of caffeine and B-12. It did the job!
Another sidenote: If you ever decide you want to try the relay life, I suggest feeding yourself constantly. I think a big part of getting through all the miles with little sleep was to stay fueled up.
One perk of being Team Captain (besides a free pair of Brooks shoes), was that I saved the last leg for myself. It was exciting to get to finish such an amazing journey. The best part was that the whole team was waiting to meet me with about a quarter mile to go and we all got to cross the finish line together!
We were exhausted when it was all said and done. So many miles. So little sleep. Would we do it again? Absolutely.
After we were finished, it took us a while to get our acts together to get some food and beers. I was trying to clean up and change clothes, but even that was challenging. We ended up at a restaurant near the finish (the race gave us free beer passes and we got 50% off of appetizers, yum). We ate and drank like animals (at least I did).
Everybody else headed on back to Cumberland, but I stuck around and spent some time near Pittsburgh with an old navy buddy (we are old and were in the navy, not Old Navy). I hung in there as best I could, but ended up passed out on his couch waking up alone at 2:30am wondering where I was and what day it was.
I headed on back the next morning. What a great time to drive through West Virginia. Fall was EVERYWHERE!
This really was such a fantastic experience. We had so much fun and it was so well organized. With 150 miles to cover, 24 stops and running at night with little sleep, you’d think that there was a potential for problems. The race organizers and volunteers had it ALL figured out. I’m thankful for them and would gladly do this one again!
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
I absolutely LOVE Blue Ridge! This is as local a marathon distance race that I get at about an hour away. Last year I took on the marathon, but this year I opted for the half. It was half the distance, but had plenty of challenging climbs to get through.
I'm fortunate enough to be an ambassador through Blue Ridge for this race. I'm quite happy to be able to spread the word and try to help people be a part of such an event.
You won't PR here, but it's probably the closest thing to a perfect event that I've been a part of. The crowds are fantastic as is the race support. The SWAG is top notch. The post-race party is spectacular. The night time concert always rocks. If you're fortunate or fast enough to grab an award, they are the BEST. It's a railroad spike with some arms and legs welded on to look like a little runner person. So awesome.
I 100% recommend this race. It's an experience that you will not forget.
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
This was my 2nd time running in New Bern and it likely won't be my last. Biggest positives are the race management and the post-race celebration and food spread.
The course runs up and down a bridge and back to get started. Once you knock that out, it's smooth sailing. I PRd my first time here and had a great time on the 2nd one, even though I wasn't in great shape. The course just kind of begs you to run well.
The race director and volunteers are SUPER helpful and friendly and will make you feel right at home. The post-race spread included pizza, beers, apple fritters/muffins, etc. etc. Yummmmm.
The town is nice for walking around and there are some great places for food and drink. Overall, I full recommend!
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! I was fortunate enough to be named a race ambassador by Blue Ridge this year after training all of 2020 and not getting to run. I just didn't have it in me to run a virtual marathon, so I used the training to PR a half marathon instead. Obviously, it's nice to have my race comped, but it was such a privilege to spread the word about the closest marathon to my house. After now having run it, I can confirm it's a great race!
First, let me say a little about Roanoke. It's such a cool little city. It has lots of charm and plenty to do. The course allows you to see the best of it, for sure. There were limitations on spectators due to COVID, but soooooo many amazing people were outside their houses and on their porches cheering on runners. It's so nice when you have total strangers taking time to come out and give you a boost (or a mimosa, or a beer, or a donut). I can't say enough about how that pulls me through the tough miles.
The course itself is TOUGH. I mean, they call it "America's Toughest Road Marathon", so you should know what you're getting into when you sign up.
You get about a mile of nice and flat to get the blood flowing and warm up. After that, the climbing begins. There are 4 MAJOR climbs: Up Mill Mountain (partially up), Up Roanoke Mountain, up Mill Mountain to the Roanoke Star and a neighborhood called Peakwood. The good news is that what goes up, must come down. If you like to fly down some hills, you'll get your chance. The face finishes flat. That's pretty nice.
This race was not without some difficulties (goes for all marathons though haha), but I really had a great one. It was so refreshing to not have a Boston Qualifier on my mind, cause I had literally ZERO shot of a BQ on this course. I just took it all in....the people, the beautiful scenery, the mimosas, the beer, the donuts.....all of it. I really left it all out there.
During the race when I realized that I was going to finish under 4 hours, I was quite content. After finishing, when I surprisingly heard my name called for an age group award, I was through the roof! The award is a railroad spike with arms and legs welded on....AWESOME!
The next day, I felt like I was hit by a train, so it was definitely fitting to get the railroad spike award.
Another perk of Blue Ridge were the free race photos. I'm pretty sure this is the best one I've ever gotten. My fierce determination to crush a rival runner is captured so perfectly!
The joy was definitely worth the ride on the pain train. I hope to participate at Blue Ridge again for years to come and I hope that you'll join me!
Overall
Race Management
SWAG
Virtual Support
Virtual races can be an excellent motivator. Sometimes we just need to mark a date on the calendar to give us that something we need to push us a bit. We get to pick the course. We get to pick the time of day. Most everything is pretty much up to us.
The big differentiator when it comes to virtual races is the SWAG. America Runs definitely had it going on when it comes to that. First off, when red, white and blue is your color scheme, you're already on the right track! We got a cool shirt, a trucker hat, AND a stainless bottle. The medal was cool too and for a bonus there was a honey stinger waffle that went SO well with my coffee. :)
My stuff did show up a bit late, but it was worth the wait for sure.