Twelve teammates. Two days. Two hundred miles. Countless memories! The American Odyssey Relay is YOUR race. We put it on for you, not for ourselves. Meaning we do what’s best for the runners, not what’s easiest for the organizers. You will see us out along the race course making sure …
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Twelve teammates. Two days. Two hundred miles. Countless memories!
The American Odyssey Relay is YOUR race. We put it on for you, not for ourselves. Meaning we do what’s best for the runners, not what’s easiest for the organizers. You will see us out along the race course making sure you’re safe and having fun throughout the entire relay. We won’t be sitting in something euphemistically called a “command center” while you are out on the course.
During the relays we’ve run – and we really enjoyed them all – we had a few thoughts about ways things could be done a bit differently to enhance the participant experience. Perhaps the biggest complaint that relay runners have is that the runners from van one rarely get to interact with the runners from van two. We’ve solved that with the Odyssey Oasis at the midpoint of the relay. Legs 16, 17 and 18 all start and stop on the campus of Boonsboro High School. And, they are all run on the same out-and-back course in the heart of town. So, those who aren’t running – from both vans – can hang out together in the high school where there will be food, showers and massages. Not a bad little interlude. That’s why we call it the Odyssey Oasis!
Our favorite relays were the ones in which it was evident that the race directors clearly took their time developing the route. We kind of took that to an extreme. We developed ours over the better part of 18 months. We met with runners all along the course and made one simple request: show us where you run. And they did. Meaning you are going to run on a course developed by runners for runners.
We are local. We know the townspeople along our course. We work closely with the police and the EMTs. We don’t bring a crew in for race day and leave the next day. We live here. We are part of the fabric of the local communities that make up our relay course.
It’s YOUR race. Come and be a part of it again. And again. And again.
Here are just a few of the American Odyssey Relay differentiators:
– Beautiful course, put together by runners for runners;
– Incredible American Odyssey Relay family atmosphere with runners helping each other and race directors out on the course throughout the entire relay;
– Food opportunities. Many small places along the way and at transitions and two big ones: The Odyssey Oasis at legs 16-18 in Boonsboro has grilled foods and hot soup, plus other assorted items. And, then, there’s the world famous Boy Scouts Pancake Breakfast at transition 24;
– Warm schools at the Odyssey Oasis in Boonsboro and Poole Middle School at transition 30. Showers and sleeping available in Boonsboro; and
– Great food and drinks at the finish.
If you don’t have the time (or energy!) to do an overnight relay, or if you just can’t stand the thought of spending that much time in a van with your sweaty friends, we have a great option for you! The Potomac Odyssey is a nine-leg, 57-mile relay beginning in Brunswick, MD on Saturday. Teams will start at roughly 7:00 am depending upon their predicted pace. They will finish at the SW Waterfront and be a part of the overall relay celebration party! Participants in the Potomac Odyssey receive separate t-shirts and compete for their own awards.
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Little Sleep, and Great Fun!
The 200 mile Relay begins in Gettysburg, PA and snakes down to Washington, D.C. Typical teams consist of 12 people with 2 vans and each person running 3 legs each … MORE
The 200 mile Relay begins in Gettysburg, PA and snakes down to Washington, D.C. Typical teams consist of 12 people with 2 vans and each person running 3 legs each for a total of 36 legs. Yes you will be running in the middle of the night and will not get much sleep but if you are like me you won’t notice how tired you really are until after you get home from the Relay and have downtime to relax. The Relay has a staggered start depending on your teams expected time so my team started the Relay at 10:30AM on Friday and was one of the last teams to start. The legs range from dead flat to a 1200 ft climb in about 4 miles(leg 6 where you actually get a free glass for finishing it). Course difficulty just depends upon what legs you run. I ran 17.5 miles total but some ran up to 19 and some ran as little as 13. Some runners had a longest run about 5 miles while some had a longest of 9 miles(like me).
I was runner 9 so I ran leg 9, leg 21, and leg 33. I started Leg 9 around 5:30PM and was 5.5 miles with the first 3 miles climbing 700ft and the last 2.5 descending almost the same amount. Leg 21 I started around 12:15 AM on Saturday and was 3 miles and nearly dead flat. I started Leg 33 around 10:30 AM on Saturday and it was 9 miles and all on the C&O Canal so it was dead flat. I had a lot of fun running this race that I have wanted to run for a while now.
Although it was fun running it and experiencing it there were a few logistical things that should be corrected. First, some of the van directions were wrong and at times needed to rely on GPS and since I live along part of the Relay course my personal knowledge of the area.
Second, some transitions were small and not very good points to have a transition. I can understand a few of these as you get closer to D.C. but it was pointless I feel to have them around rural areas of the course when there are much better areas to have them.
Third, which was new for this year they removed a part of the course called the Boonsboro Oasis (key side note: I know about this part from previous years volunteering here) which served as a central point of it. The Boonsboro Oasis would have locker rooms to shower in and change clothes, massages, food, and a dark gym to sleep in. This was perfect as it served as the midpoint of the Relay and provided all the amenities runners cared about especially since vans came through in the evening through very early in the morning. It also served as a transition zone for 3 legs all in the same small area so the vans could stay put for longer. The Relay tried to make up for it by doing this type of thing with Shepardstown, WV but they only had food and portapots. They also had it so the van would have to drive there then leave to a part of the canal( with very limited parking) and come right back for another transition which made for a nightmare. Also two runners because of this had to run two legs all on the C&O Canal which although may be scenic at some points(it’s not where they ran) is boring! Those two runners were not too happy with that. The race directors(new for this year) claimed it was because runners got tired of Boonsboro year after year, but every runner I talked to missed the Boonsboro Oasis including all my team members most of whom have run the race 4 or more times and a few who have run it every single year.
Fourth,the only place open to shower was a school in Poolesville which opened at 7:00AM. This transition point was the end of leg 30 and thus close to the end of the Relay and a point where van 1 handed off to van 2. As such and since it would be very early in the morning after van 2 would finish our second legs many vans chose to drive down the school and wait for van 1 to arrive sometime after 8AM. So vans probably started to arrive at the school around 3:30AM or so. This made it so that van 1 could relax and shower(great for them) but van 2 still had another leg so it was pointless for us to shower. The main issue was there was no portapots and the school was closed. This led to a near riot by many female runners who needed to use the bathroom. The janitor finally let them in around 6:30AM but only after a Relay official urged him to. I realize volunteers may be limited but the could have opened the school up for very limited use (such as sleeping in the gym so we did not have to in the vans, and for bathrooms) earlier than 7AM.
Fifth, and this would be harder to fix would be parking in D.C. they offered discounted parking at a parking garage but as is common with parking garages they are limited in space and so fifteen passenger vans are a nightmare to navigate them.
Sixth, and this is not a huge deal but I know at least two canal legs included detours(mine included) that was never mentioned. Although very short, barely adding any mileage it was more of an annoyance when we got there especially while running on little sleep and tired legs. The Relay should have been aware of them and let the teams know of these detours somehow, and I know that this could not have been an unexpected thing that happened literally last minute because of the extent of the repairs that caused the detours.
Overall the Relay was a lot of fun and you get a nice shirt and medal for finishing. The scenery can change from a nice wooded area to a small town to civil war battlefields(Antietam National Battlefield- which you run in the middle of the night) to the C&O Canal so it really just depends on the legs you run but all runners get to run at least 1 leg with great scenery. Although some parts I feel were not very thought out it was one of the most fun races that I have ever run and I highly recommend running it.