By Martin Wileman
In the beginning
It was Lauren’s idea to get a group of friends together to discuss entering a team in the Tuna 200 Relay, a 200-mile relay race from Raleigh to the coast, teams of 12 or less. Some of us were all gung ho, ‘Yeah, I can run 30 miles!’ Others were unconvinced and needed time to think it over. The one thing we knew for certain was that we were going to enter. We registered our team, the Hillsborough Hares.
Race preparation
We were all runners, but none of us had run in a long relay race before. We read as many past reviews as we could, and concluded that the challenges would be the logistics, the night running and the tiredness.
During the summer, we finalized our eight person team, worked out the van and leg assignments, and bought the necessary gear for the night legs.
With only eight runners, four per van, we had room to stretch out. We made energy bars and sandwiches (not sure the chips and guacamole were a good idea), packed Gatorade, Coke and around 50 bottles of water per van. At the time we joked about how much water we had, but later on we would be very thankful for it. Martin had the foresight to freeze half of the water in one van so it would still be cold in the morning, without taking up room in the coolers.
The ‘sweat and stink’ issue was discussed many times, especially as it was shaping up to be a warm weekend. To alleviate the problem, our most concerned runner, Philip, packed several large gallons of tap water to wash with. We all took multiple changes of clothes, plenty of trash bags for sweaty clothes, a marker to write names on bags, and the roof box kept everything out of the van.
Race weekend
The day finally came. Race day was clear, dry and sunny. We were ready.
10am start. The route was very well marked with signs at every turn (and lit at night), but we still made use of the leg tattoos that were provided to make sure no one got lost.
Many of the early legs were hilly and, as the day wore on, it got warmer. Our two vans stuck together to provide drinks to our runner and cheer them on.
The countryside was beautiful. The early legs seemed to be alongside endless tobacco and cotton fields. As the sun went down, the first of the night legs got underway. It was nice to get out of the heat of the day.
The volunteers at every exchange point were fabulous, and we even saw Mr. Pickle at Mt. Olive, along with some familiar faces (some Junior Hares), family members, who were passing through to cheer us on.
Once Van #1 completed its runner rotation, ending at the campsite, two runners stretched out in the van, whilst the other two runners used a tarp, sleeping bags and pillows, and lay out on the ground next to the van. Despite the damp and mist, it was great to relax for a while in the cool night air. No one really got much sleep.
Just after sun up we switched van rotations. We were all tired, our pace was down, but our spirits were still high and we started to see more and more teams around us.
As it warmed up, we were glad for the extra water. Now we were each completing our last legs. Such a great feeling to know you are done.
On the approach to Emerald Isle the road seemed like it would never end, but slowly the bridge came into view. On very tired legs the descent was the worst, but we made it on the island.
The road along the length of the island seemed to last forever, too, but we knew we were close. With our last runner almost done, we parked the vans so we could all finish together. What a team! We made it! 200.9 miles! We had a fabulous time. It was hard, but a huge amount of fun too.
We learned a lot about ourselves and completing a 200-mile relay. For a group of runners, the running was the hard part, but everything else was so much fun.
It was a lot harder on the body than we thought. We assumed we could maintain our 10K pace throughout, but we couldn’t. You will become tired. You will get slower. It will take more time to recover than you think (and bear that in mind if you have other races on your calendar). Take it easy from the very start, you’ll enjoy it more.
Would we do it again? Absolutely!
Note. Other friends in Hillsborough saw how much fun this was, so we have entered three teams in 2015.
# # #
Martin Wileman was the team captain for the Hillsborough Hares. He is a member of Hillsborough Running Club and works at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the Triangle. Started running at the end of 2011. One year and 80lbs later, ran his first marathon (City of Oaks, Raleigh), second marathon a year later (Chicago) where he got a BQ time. Boston 2015 was his 5th marathon to date. He has a wife (Lynda), who was also part of the Tuna200 team, and two children who have both run in many 5K races.
