What I learned crewing a runner for her first 100 miler

When I was asked to crew/pace my friend Lindsey at livinglovingrunner I didn't hesitate to say yes.  I have never crewed or paced for a long distance like that, but I knew I could do it.  After saying yes then the reality hit me.  This is a SERIOUS job!  Your runner is your sole focus from the minute she or he starts till they finish and you can't think of anything else.  That means you have to be on your game and theirs.  You don't need to leave, or be tired, or forgot anything! You also have to adapt to anything including the weather, the runner and his or her needs, or even  if the course throws something odd your way.  If you know me, I like a good plan, but I am not the best at changing said plan.  I guess flexibility is very important as well, so I tried to prepare myself for change.  Here are some of the most important lessons I learned this weekend!

1.  Preparation, preparation, preparation.  Have LOTS of meetings, some in person and some via messenger.  Go over stupid details.  Write lots of notes.  Change your mind and change it again, but get it down in a game plan.  Have a notebook with every note, every detail.  Have a google docs where you can edit meeting notes so they stay current.  Study the map so you know exactly how the course plays out and where crew access points would be.  We all had no clue how this was going to go, but Lindsey tried her best to write up exactly what we would need and not need for each loop.  We got lucky in that we could meet her at 2 crew access places, with one place being twice in a matter of an hour.  By having exactly what she thought she would need at each stop and each loop, we were able to be prepared to the highest degree.  Overall, she guessed exactly right as to what she needed and when, but we always had back ups just in case.

2.  Organization is key.  The night before, we as a crew went through all the gear and all of the stuff we were bringing out for her, and organized everything by type of stuff (extra clothes, food, essentials for each loop).  Each type of stuff had a plastic box, which was a life saver due to the moisture in the air, that was labeled and stacked.  We had one vehicle that stayed put at base camp and was for sleeping in, and one vehicle (a truck) for hauling the boxes out to the crew spots.  We had a main box for each loop, but brought the extra boxes as well and left them in the truck bed, and I am glad that we did because we did forget a couple of things on the last loop in the main box. Way to sprint in tall grass Mel :)

I also had a notebook where I took notes every time we saw her and noted exactly what we needed in the main box before and after each loop.  I also kept track of her calories (rough estimate) based on what I unloaded from her pack each time, and how much tailwind she was going through. We wanted her to be getting roughly 200 calories per hour and she did that most times, exceeding it actually.  I always noted time in and out to track our performance as well and as to help us estimate when we might see her again, and how her loops were speeding up/slowing down. Math when you are tired is very hard, so try and write as much as you can so you don't have to recall times or anything.

3.  Bring everything you need to be a good crew member.  We had Mel's jeep loaded down, BUT we never had to leave the field for anything, which kept our head in the game.

I would rather say, "I really didn't need that", versus "wow, I wish I would have brought that".  We had clothes for every temperature, raincoats, food, drinks with and without caffeine, bedding, pop up tent, very portable chairs, toiletries, reading material, electronics and chargers, and chargers to charge chargers.  We also had uncrustables via Mel for meals, and while most people probably wouldn't want to eat the same meal over and over, it was a perfect quick meal to shove in our faces and I honestly never got tired of it.  

We also snacked and tried to have mostly healthy snacks, but I did slip in some M&Ms and some brownie brittle for those times where I needed something sweet.  Matt, Lindsey's hubby who was the photographer and official roller man, had a jet boil and it came in handy when we needed overnight coffee breaks to stay awake.  Plus, we all packed red bull to give us wings to stay awake and alert.  

our crew junk at the road aid station that she saw twice per loop

4.  Always be early.  The main crew spot was the start/finish area and we were just about a tenth of a mile away with our pop up right off of our jeep.   We had a few things we would haul each time to the main aid station and we were always super early.  We also made sure to leave for the road station, where we had crew access, earlier than we needed to, as it was about a 5-7 minute drive away.  Again I would rather sit in a field with a blanket and wait, versus being hurried and possibly missing our runner.  Since this was a loop course, it did make it easier to get to spots quickly and efficiently, but we still tried to be early even though she had given us estimates and we were estimating on the fly as well.    I had heard too many stories of crews missing their runners and then their runners crashing and burning since they didn't have what they needed.  We did have a drop box at one of the inaccessible aid stations, and she took most of her nutrition from the aid station itself, but it is better to be safe than sorry.  

5.  Give out specific job roles and stick to them.  I was the person who took her pack and loaded unloaded and refilled anything on the spot.  Mel was the medic and the body person, who handled feet inspection and prep, lube, and massages.  I was the bug spray person and the arnica applier.  Matt was the photographer and roller and get anything extra we needed.  We didn't swap jobs, we kept what we did every time we saw her, and we did it well.  When we would get back to base camp, we would quickly re stock the main aid box that we took around, take out dirty clothes or buffs that needed to be aired out and dried, and re fill the bottles with tail wind. I think the only thing we would change would be to pre make the tail wind in jugs to just fill the bottles as they came in.  We had two coolers: one to keep food, drinks, and our crew needs in that stayed at base camp, and one for bottles that needed to go back into packs and had wheels, that we traveled with.  

6.  Use some sort of tracking device.  We used the Find Friends app on our apple phones.  While sometimes it was a bit off since she was in the woods mostly (and not in the water strangely enough unlike what the app said), it gave us piece of mind seeing that head move closer to our blue dot.  Some races have timer mats down so you can kind of track that way as well, but since this is a trail race, the only mat was at the start finish. This race also had HAM operators at each aid station so that the runners could be tracked for when they checked in and out of the aid stations.  We utilized this once when we were getting slightly close to cut off times to make sure she was through the final aid station that had a cut off (she had 40 minutes to spare, so not an issue).

7.  Have fun.  Mel brought battleship (and she kicked my ass), I brought the card game exploding kittens, and we did lots and lots of talking (and farting eh hem, mel and matt).  We had phone signal so we could read email and FB, but I had books and magazines just in case.  You as a crew member may have long stretches of waiting so be prepared to keep you mind busy.  Some of the other crew members decorated their tents and had alcohol and music, but for me, alcohol = sleepy so no thanks this time.  We took one major nap, (if you can count 2.5 hours as major) and the other guys took a 30 minute nap later (i stayed up because if I would have slept then I would not have gotten up).  We did not have a shower house handy, but since we were more cold than hot, we didn't really get funky fresh.

Honestly other than forgetting a few items for the last loop (that thankfully were all in the bed of the truck, just short sprint away) I think our first pacing job went splendidly well.  Our runner Lindsey kept a wonderful attitude the entire run, even when she was in pain and peeing blood.  She had one of the best pacers in the world who kept pushing her and figured out how to keep her on track when she really was tired and not wanting to push.  We got to do a short loop with her on Bunker hill and then Wael took over again to push her to the finish.  We met them about a mile out from the finish and ran/power hiked it in.  I would gladly do this again and take everything I learned in stride to be an even better crew member.  The weather gods blessed us with mostly cool and wonderful weather and I am sure that played a huge part in the success but our runner was totally ready and we were as well.  We were a team and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again!!!!!