Safety First! Road ID Sidekick Product Review

"Disclaimer: I received a Road ID Sidekick to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!"


Feels like it's been awhile, but I'm finally feeling like a runner again after about two months of little to no mileage. This past weekend’s runs made up my longest distance weekend since injuring my leg. Saturday and Sunday, May 30th and 31st, I ran two consecutive days covering 8.5 and 5.3 miles respectively. For most ultrarunners this is nothing to make note of and certainly doesn’t necessitate any kind of post on social media. For me, it is a low mileage weekend compared to what I consider a normal weekend, but under my current circumstances I was pumped to make it through two consecutive days of running with increased mileage and without any pain in my left calf. These were my first back to back runs that felt like training and not recovery since getting injured on March 30th!

The injury took me out suddenly a little over two miles from home. I was running along feeling good when my calf started to ache a bit. I thought I’d run through it, but it only got worse until the pain was so bad that I couldn’t run on it anymore. I’m not superhuman and I don’t like pain, but I like to think I can deal with it pretty well. Anyone who runs 100 milers has to have a healthy tolerance for pain and discomfort. This pain was different though; it wasn’t induced by exhaustion and was far more debilitating than anything I had experienced during an ultra. I could not physically run on that leg. As I hobbled the two miles home I thought I should call my wife to get picked up and avoid any further damage I may cause by limping two miles home on my messed up leg. I didn’t have my phone so I considered trying to borrow someone’s phone to make the call. Unfortunately, even if I had found someone willing to help out, I don’t know my wife’s phone number. I could have tried calling my phone in hopes she would answer it, but I thought the chances were slim so I just hoofed it home in typical IPOS fashion. Thankfully, I’ll never be in that situation again as I now have my wife’s number on my Road ID Sidekick attached to my Suunto which is on my wrist every time I run. I hope that I will never have a need to use my emergency contact number while out on a run again, but having it on my wrist every time I go out for a run gives me an added bit of comfort.

Having my wife’s number on me at all times while running wasn’t the reason I decided to get a Road ID. The main reason was for worst case scenario situations like getting injured and becoming unconscious while trail running or getting hit by a car while road running. This added safety feature that never even crossed my mind until I needed it made me such a believer in the benefits or Road IDs that I decided to order one for my kids. I think they’ll love the tye dye design I ordered and they’ll always have our phone numbers on them in case of emergency.

What else is there to love about the Road ID Sidekick? After my short time of being a Road ID Sidekick user, here’s my short list:

• The Sidekick fits Suunto. When I ordered my sidekick I was a little nervous because I only saw it advertised as fitting Garmin GPS watch bands on the Road ID website. I figured a watch band is a watch band and it would most likely fit. Thankfully it did without any problem.
• The Sidekick fits comfortably on my watch band and is always on there so I don’t have to even think about another item to grab before going for a run.
• I loved the freedom of personalization allowed for the engraving of the face plate. There are plenty of lines and characters allowed. I even had an extra line after all of my essential info so I added one of my favorite running quotes: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” - Haruki Murakami - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir
• Every face plate comes with a lifetime guarantee on engraving which is comforting as I plan on taking my Sidekick on some rugged adventures. I can’t be certain, but I expect my Sidekick will outlast my watch.

If you’re still on the fence as to whether a Road ID is right for you after my short list, here are Road ID’s top  10 reasons you should wear ID:

1. If you can't speak for yourself, ROAD ID will speak for you.
2. ROAD ID enables First Responders to immediately contact family members and friends.
3. ROAD ID enables family members to provide additional details about your health or give consent for potentially life saving procedures.
4. ROAD ID enables hospital staff to locate vital medical records.
5. ROAD ID can communicate medical conditions or allergy information to medical staff.
6. ROAD ID can prevent serious delays in treatment by saving crucial time during the "golden hour" of medical treatment.
7. It's far better to have Road ID and not need it than to need ROAD iD and not have it. It's not just a piece of gear, it's peace of mind.
8. Accidents happen far more than you think they do. Each year approximately 450,000 of us are taken to hospitals unconscious and without identification.
9. ROAD ID looks good on and makes a statement about your athletic lifestyle – not to mention that studies would probably prove that people that wear Road ID are considerably smarter than those that don't.
10. ROAD ID can save your Life. Period.

If you decide to pick up a Road ID, be sure to use discount code "SAVE25BRP" for 25% off any ID!

Hope During Dark, Uncertain Days

“Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
- Stephen King - The Shawshank Redemption


Over just the past few weeks the situation regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has escalated from “just a hoax” to a global pandemic. As a result of policies dictated by governments worldwide, group gatherings and in person social interactions have been restricted to various degrees in an effort to slow the spread of the disease and avoid inundating health care institutions with a flood of patients requiring critical care beyond their capacities. The terms “flatten the curve” and “social distance” have become everyday common language.

With restricted group gatherings came race cancellations and indefinite postponements. It began with large marathons, smaller shorter distance races next, and finally trail races followed suit. It may seem a bit shallow to be concerned with race postponements and cancellations when people are dying due to a global pandemic, but running is more than just a hobby to many runners. The majority of their social relations may revolve around meeting up for group runs. Running may be an important part of their daily routine that motivates them for the start of the day or relaxes them at the end of the day. It can be the primary activity that keeps them focused, happy, or realigns them mentally. It can be a way of life. For me it’s a bit of all of those things.

So what is a runner who thrives on the camaraderie of group runs and the competition of races to do during these dark, uncertain days when all or a portion of one of their coping mechanisms may no longer be available to them. My best advice: maintain hope that this is temporary and all the aspects of running that we are currently missing will return. In the meantime while we wait out this indefinite period of social distancing, we can make the best of a challenging time and use the tools available to us to fill in some of the missing pieces. What options am I suggesting to replace racing and group runs? My short list includes virtual races, virtual group runs (Zwift), fastest known time (FKT) attempts, Strava king of the mountain (KOM) attempts, or your own personal run every street project.

 

I ran my first virtual race earlier this year, the 465 Challenge. It was basically an online challenge to finish as many 53 mile loops as you could running, biking, walking, hiking, or using any other self propelled means of travel during a two month period. I wasn’t a strong proponent of virtual races prior to running the 465 Challenge, but it did help get me motivated to pick up my training so I would be ready for my biggest running goal of 2020: to PR my longest distance run at my first 24 hour race. Unfortunately, I just received notice last week that the 24 hour race I intended to achieve this goal at was canceled to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The race was scheduled for the end of April so it didn’t come as a surprise; I was basically just waiting for the announcement to be made. Actually receiving the announcement and reading it was still a bit depressing.

In my opinion, virtual races can’t replace actual, in person races. But maybe they’re better than no races. I’ve almost decided to register for a virtual race happening next weekend, the Quarantine Backyard Ultra (QBU). The format of the QBU follows the standard last person standing rules, but will use a Zoom meeting to let participants interact between laps. I think this race has the potential to be a lot of fun and to allow me to run a distance PR thereby achieving my top 2020 running goal. I just never imagined I would run my longest ever run while competing against other runners in a Zoom meeting.

Of my other suggestions, another I am making use of is progressing my project to run every street of Egg Harbor Township. I personally have found this to be a fun, long term goal to work towards. For me it adds a little spice to what may have been otherwise just a routine solo run. It may take a little extra planning at times or force you to slow your pace, but it is a project that will likely take you to places that you had never and may have never discovered otherwise. It also allows you to track your progress towards a goal. For those benefits, it is a project that I have found rewarding and am thankful I began.

So if race cancellations/postponements and a lack of group runs have got you down when you you’re already stressed, nervous, and/or sad from all of the other repercussions due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, I encourage you to try to find some solace in some of the offered suggestions. Keep your chin up and continue forward progress as we navigate this storm. And please, never lose hope.


Scott Snell
March 28, 2020

What I hope to accomplish at my first 24 hour race and how a virtual challenge helped jump start my training for it

"Disclaimer: I received free entry to the 465 Challenge as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"

Having run races slightly over 100 miles in distance and lasting over 30 hours, the time and distance that I want cover at my first 24 hour race do not worry me. My lowest tier goal (to run further than 105 miles) is definitely achievable for me given my past performances. My main concern is where my fitness level is at this point. After Eastern States 100 last August, I didn’t do a lot of running. In fact, I took much of November and December off, running only 102 and 48 miles respectively. I can’t exactly explain what happened leading up to Eastern States and shortly after. Maybe I was a bit burnt out on running altogether after a summer of training and more racing than I had done any previous year. Maybe it was more mental exhaustion from the summer long cycle of training to racing to training to racing over and over. Maybe I was putting too much pressure on myself to perform at a certain level at every race I ran. Maybe it was just that running wasn’t cheering me up like it used to. Whatever it was, it affected my relationship with running and just over the last two months I am beginning to feel like I’m getting back to a healthy place and a happy relationship with running.

I needed to feel good and be happy about running again if I wanted to have any chance of reaching my goals at my first 24 hour race. The motivation to run had eluded me longer and more successfully than it ever had since I had taken up running. I credit at least part of my renewed motivation to the 465 Challenge. This virtual challenge began on New Year’s Day of 2020, which is the point that I decided I needed to get my lethargic arse back into gear if I was going to be ready for the 24 hour race I had picked to run. The 465 Challenge lasted two months with the goal being to accumulate at least 53 miles in any form of self powered movement. The 53 mile challenge wouldn’t be enough to get me prepared, but the virtual event also offered incentives to do additional miles through their looper challenge. For the looper challenge every participant tracked how many 53 mile loops they could complete during the challenge. As I write this,I am currently at 300 miles or a little over 5.5 loops. Honestly, I do not know if I would have dove into my training with such commitment if it weren’t for the virtual challenge. The support and encouragement from other participants has been great for the last two months and I will miss it as I continue to train for the next month leading up the the 24 hour race.

What do I want from this 24 hour race? Obviously to reach my bottom tier goal of a distance personal record (greater than 105 miles). But there is more that I hope to have achieved when the 24 hours have passed after the start of the race. I want to be happy about my run. I want to feel proud of what I did. I want to be excited about the other races I plan to run this year. I want to put all of the negative thoughts and feelings I had towards the end of last summer behind me and I hope that running will be a tool to help me achieve that.



Scott Snell
February 27, 2020

Every Single Street - Week 17 - 24% Complete

I was sure I was going to hit the 25% mark with my most recent run. It was my first long run of the year and my first long run to build towards my goal of running every single street of Egg Harbor Township (EHT), NJ. It was the longest distance run I had done since beginning to work towards this goal. I planned to do about a 20 mile run. The plan was to do about an eight mile out and back route and hit a few dead end roads off of that main out and back road to reach my mileage goal. I guess the out and backs on the dead ends added a bit more distance than I expected because after finishing my run it ended up being about 22.7 miles total. I was at 23.46% of streets of EHT complete on CityStrides before this run. I was certain that with this being my longest run since I had begun using CityStrides I would gain more than the slightly more than 1.5% I needed to pass the 25% milestone. What I was not certain of is what exactly CityStrides defines as “percentage complete”. Is it the percent of streets completed or is it the percent of total miles of streets within the city completed? After this long run increasing my percentage complete by only 0.57% (for a total of 24.03%) and previous shorter runs showing greater and unexpected percentage gains, I am guessing the percentage complete refers to percentage of streets completed and does not reflect mileage. A little digging on the CityStrides community page confirmed my guess:


https://community.citystrides.com/t/is-percentage-complete-based-on-number-of-streets-or-distance/18293

Was I disappointed to find that I hadn’t hit that milestone I was so sure I had surpassed? Maybe a bit, but in the bigger picture of this goal it’s not really relevant. After all, the goal is to get 100%. And with this experience I learned a bit more about and have a better understanding of the tool (CityStrides.com) I’m using to accomplish my goal. In addition, I haven’t yet made this project a high priority on my running agenda. I’ve been making small bits of progress on it as it is convenient and while the weather is pleasant. I still expect I’ll start making much greater progress as I get into some heavier training and as the bulk of my training returns to the outdoors.


Scott Snell
February 19, 2020

Other "Every Single Street" blog posts:
The beginning
Week 1


Twitter: https://twitter.com/beastcoasttrail
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/runscottrun/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beastcoasttrailrunning/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/snellscott

2020 Running Goals

My top nine photos of 2019 from Instagram.

Shortly after finishing the Hyner View Trail Challenge 50k last year, I made the decision to change up my race selections for 2020. It wasn’t because of how Hyner went or because I don’t want to run Hyner again. I love the Hyner 50k and definitely want to run it again, but the catch for me is that once I’m registered for Hyner I end up following the inevitable path of running the entire PA Triple Crown Series. I figure if I’m doing Hyner, I might as well run Worlds End 100k and Eastern States 100 as well. I decided the best way to avoid getting caught in that trap and change up my race schedule was to not register for Hyner 50k. I have nothing against any of those three races. It’s just that after three consecutive years of my race schedule revolving around the three same “A” races, I felt it was time for a change.

For 2020 I want to make my “A” race a 24 hour timed event. A 24 hour event has been on my to do list for a few years now, but never a high priority, so it never happened (hence one of my favorite quotes below). I hope to change that this year and see what I’m capable of achieving in a 24 hour race. If things go well at whatever 24 hour event I decide to run, I should be able to finally achieve a second running goal that has eluded me for the last two years: to PR my longest distance in a single run. I’m hoping that if I choose a 24 hour event with an easy course I will be able to average at least 12 minute miles or 5 mph for a total of 120 miles at the end of 24 hours. This will easily be my longest distance run as my current longest distance is finishing the Tesla Hertz 100 miler which was actually about 104.8 miles. 

An additional goal for this year is to run another “last person standing” event. After running my first two events (Run Ragged) of that type last year and for the most part enjoying them while doing pretty well, I want to run some more of these types of events. Ultimately, I hope to get a chance to run at the original last person standing race, Laz’s Big’s Backyard. I realize it may not happen at all considering the growing popularity of those types of races, but I figure if I run races that build my running resume geared towards last person races it will better my odds to hopefully run at Big’s some day. Running Big’s Backyard definitely isn’t strictly a 2020 goal, but more of a long term goal to work towards year after year until it happens. In my opinion, it’s good to have the late game goals working in the background while having the short term goals mixed in to keep things interesting.

A non race related goal for 2020 is to run all the streets of my hometown, Egg Harbor Township, NJ. This goal was directly inspired by Rickey Gates’ project to run every single street in San Francisco. I started on this goal at the end of October this year with the intention of making it a longer term goal and hopefully completing it before the end of 2020. I’ve posted a couple blog posts specifically about this goal and plan to update with posts throughout the year as I make progress. You can get more details and background about the project from those posts (here and here), but the overall concept is just as the project name suggests, to run every single street of the town.

Another somewhat running related goal I have for this year is one just for fun: to run a Twinkie Weiner Sandwich Mile to celebrate the movie UHF. My plan is to do this the same way as I do the Annual Hot Dog Run every year, just with Twinkie weiner sandwiches in place of the hot dogs. If you’re not familiar with the Annual Hot Dog Run, just think beer mile with beer replaced by hot dogs. If you’re not familiar with UHF, go watch it. I plan to do this run either July 21st to celebrate the UHF release date or June 2nd in honor of Channel 62 (6-2), the focal point of the plot of the movie. If you have an opinion on which date is more appropriate, please vote!

My final running related goal for the year isn’t about any race I want to run or hitting a new running time or distance PR. It is to volunteer at a local race with my son and any of the other members of his scout troop that want to come along to help out. This is an idea/project that I had a while back, but have never acted on. I put it off for some time because I thought that he was a little young and having him and a few of his scouting friends volunteering at an aid station would be more of a hindrance than a help to the runners and the other aid station volunteers. I feel like he’s matured enough in the past few years to be able to handle some of the aid station tasks and at least help out and encourage some runners for a portion of a race if I stay with him to provide some guidance. I hope it happens and goes well as I see this as being a great fit for service projects for scout troops. The scouts get to help others stay fit and enjoy the outdoors responsibly while also contributing to another community (trail runners) that values the outdoors and our shared public natural areas. If you’ve brought kids to volunteer at a race, I’d love to hear about how it went for you and would greatly appreciate any kind of tips and advice you can provide that would have improved the experience.

2020, sure to be another great year as a BibRave Pro!

2020 Goals

• Run at least one 24 hour event
• PR longest distance in a single run (>104.8 miles)
• Complete my "Run Every Street" of Egg Harbor Township project
• Run at least one “last person standing” event
• Volunteer at a local race with my son

Every Single Street - Week 1 - Egg Harbor Township, NJ

After one week of a dedicated effort to begin to take on the “Every Single Street” challenge, I have managed to increase the percentage of streets of Egg Harbor Township, NJ I’ve run from 1.94% to 7.63%. While this seems like a pretty substantial increase for a single week towards a goal that I have said is a long term goal, it’s important for me to keep in mind that this was likely one of the greatest gains I’ll make in a single week’s time, at least in the near future. Mainly because of the location of the streets I ran this past week and the weather.

I’m the first to admit that I am not a cold weather runner. Once the air temperature drops my running discomfort seems to always increase. The change in weather seems to induce a bit of asthma for me making outdoor running far less enjoyable. Given that and the fact that I bought myself a gym membership at the end of last year, I’ll likely be running many more treadmill miles this winter than actual road miles.

The second reason I probably won’t see this kind of increase again until next spring is because I started this project by basically running mostly streets all close to home for me. Obviously, this means as I run to streets farther from home I’ll be repeating mileage on streets I’ve already completed. That is of course unless I drive to location further from home to complete more streets while running less miles. While I may do that to complete some areas/neighborhoods, I want to try to complete as much of this project without driving at all. I’m not making this a hard rule for my project, but just want to see how far I can take it without resorting to any traveling other than running.



Scott Snell
November 7, 2019

Other "Every Single Street" blog posts:
The beginning
Week 17 - 24% Complete

Every Single Street - The Beginning - Egg Harbor Township, NJ

Today I made the decision to embark on a new running goal: to #RunAllTheStreets of my hometown, Egg Harbor Township, NJ. I don't have a specific target completion date, but at the same time I don't want this to become a never ending project either. I hope to comfortably complete it before the end of 2020. I'll be using City Strides and Strava to track my progress and plan my routes. I’m currently at 1.94% complete, a small fraction, but it's a start! Now only a little over 98% to go!

I first joined City Strides a little over a month ago without any real intention of actually using it to complete the #EverySingleStreet challenge. After joining, it took a week or so for my City Strides account to sync with my Strava account. And once it did, none of my past Strava runs had synced over to my City Strides account. Only my new Strava activities were syncing over. The manager of City Strides was responsive and has assured me that my past activities would sync, but it would take some time. A month or so later without any of the past activities syncing, I decided why wait to get started on running every single street for my past runs to sync over. Why not just start at zero? So that’s what I did today.

When I first heard about Rickey Gates’ project to run every single street in San Francisco, I thought it sounded kinda cool and kinda quirky, but I didn’t really have any desire to make an attempt at doing it myself in my hometown. I prefer running trails over roads to begin with and some roads are just crap roads to run due to a total lack of shoulders and high speed traffic. So why would I even want to run every single street? That’s what I thought until I joined City Strides just on a whim to see what percentage of my hometown’s streets I had already run. When it began to seem like my past activities wouldn’t sync over any time soon, I for the most part moved on and didn’t give it much further thought. I would occasionally check to see if my past activities had synced, but it still just showed newly recorded runs. Eventually I decided to be proactive about it and just start anew, running a few new streets I knew I had never run before. 

It wasn’t until today while running a host of new streets to up that percentage that I decided I would commit to running every single street. I was running and thinking (my favorite past time) about how I have been lacking motivation to run lately. The reasons for the lack of motivation are mostly due to the changing weather, shorter daylight hours, and the fact that I’m not currently registered for any races. I thought that maybe starting in on this new running goal/project would spark a bit of a fire to get me excited about going out for runs again when I’m not specifically training for anything. And for today, it did! Hopefully I can stay excited and engaged about this project throughout the winter when I tend to cut back pretty heavily on my running mileage. And if all goes as planned, I’ll be able to say I’ve run 100% (or nearly) of the streets of Egg Harbor Township, NJ by the end of 2020!

If you’d like to follow along on my journey, follow the links below to my social media accounts and sign up for email notifications for this blog as I will be updating the status of this project across multiple platforms. Also, if you are embarking on your own #EverySingleStreet challenge I’d love to hear about it and feature you on my social media!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/beastcoasttrail
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/runscottrun/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beastcoasttrailrunning/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/snellscott
Reddit:  https://www.reddit.com/r/Strava/comments/cyfx0q/running_every_street/

Scott Snell
October 29, 2019

Other "Every Single Street" blog posts:
The beginning

Week 1
Week 17 - 24% Complete

2019 GAP Trail Relay - Initial Impressions

"Disclaimer: I received free entry to GAP Relay as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"

With my first ever relay formatted race behind me after the completion of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail Relay this past weekend, my overall impression of the event and format is that it was much tougher than I anticipated. With our Bibrave team of six runners, we each ran four legs of the 24 total legs that make up the 150 mile course. Each of us ran somewhere between 20ish to 30ish miles. When looking at this plan on paper, I may have been a bit overconfident or bordering on arrogant when I thought to myself that it didn’t sound challenging at all. “Run a 50k on a rail trail in four segments with few hours rest between each segment? I could practically do that in my sleep” I thought. Later, while I was actually experiencing the event, I would learn that it wasn’t as simple or straightforward as I originally thought and a few unforeseen challenges would emerge. I would also learn just how close I could be to sleeping while running during that final leg.

Race management also went all out with the swag. Our swag bags at the start were packed with lots of great running gear and other useful items. We all got a long sleeve shirt, a Nathan flashing wearable safety light for night running, a $10 Sheetz gift card, Honey Stinger waffles, Honey Stinger gels, GU Hoppy Trails gel, body glide, Balega socks, and Nuun tabs. It was quite a haul!

At the start!

The first of several speed bumps our team hit along the way was a few unexpected roster changes. From the time of our team forming until arriving at the starting line, our team lost a few members and gained a few members. At the start of the event, two of our team of six had been original members. I get it. Life happens and this whole running thing is just for fun and entertainment. But this is an aspect of race preparation I had never had to deal with before. Up to this point, it was only me I had ever had to worry about getting to the starting line. Counting on nothing interfering in six people’s lives is a bit of a bigger ask. This is definitely a point to consider if you have never done a relay race format before and are looking to form or join a team. I wasn’t super stressed or worried at any point, but as a bit of a planner not knowing how many team members we may have at the start did bother me a bit. Although, through it all, I never had a doubt that the team we showed up with wouldn’t be able to make it to the finish.

First bridge crossing of the course!

What surprised me most about the race format and brought the majority of the challenges was the non running aspects of it. Navigating and traveling between exchange points to pick up and drop off runners was a challenge in itself. Probably more so than the running in my opinion. With a team of six runners and two vehicles we had the option to leapfrog longer stretches of the course rather than have both vehicles stop at every exchange point. But while the race was young and we were all still fresh and feeling energetic we wanted to cheer on our runners at every exchange point. If achieving our fastest time possible was our main goal, this probably was a terrible strategy. However, none of us were looking at this as a competitive event. We were all there to support one another and enjoy the experience. The extra stops and support of our teammates, although not the most efficient strategy, made the overall event more enjoyable.

Frostburg, exchange point #3.

Stopping at every exchange point made for many short chunks of recovery time outside of a vehicle. Arrive at exchange point, wait for runner, exchange runners, get to next exchange point, and repeat was our method of operation. It made for a fun day, but I found it particularly challenging to figure out how to fuel. At every stop I thought I should eat, but how much and what were tough questions to answer. I feel like I’ve honed in my nutrition for ultras for the most part, but this was a different situation. Usually for a 50k distance I’ll get by just on gels, but for a 50k spread out over about 24 hours I would need something more substantial than that. I more or less snacked on trail mix, chips, and some fruit most of the day then threw in a few peanut butter sandwiches when I felt like I had more of an appetite. The point that I felt the most hungry was when I finished my third and longest leg (an 11.5 mile stretch). Thankfully, the race organizers had hot Dominoes Pizza available at that exchange point. Seeing one of my teammates holding that pizza box after that exchange was one of the highlights of the event for me.

Only 134 miles to go to Pittsburgh! 

As the day and exchanges of the race passed by, the sun began setting on what was a perfect weather day for an all day run. I finished my second leg just as the sun was starting to set. With the sun set imminent, I both looked forward to running my final two legs of the race in the dark while at the same time wishing we could do more daylight miles. I enjoy night running with only a headlamp for light, but in early October daylight becomes more and more fleeting as the temperatures begin to drop. It’s hard to say goodbye to those last nearly perfect running weather days of the fall season offers.

We followed these train tracks for the majority of the entire course!

I first began to feel just a few pangs of weariness at dusk. It was getting to be around the normal time for me to get the kids ready for bed and my bedtime is usually shortly after. My body began reminding me of this. It didn’t get bad before or during my third leg of the race. In fact, after that third leg I was feeling pretty hyped up, only one leg left to run! But during the break between my third and fourth legs our team decided to leapfrog exchange points so we could all have more time to rest before running our final legs. Once we got to the next exchange point we had about two hours before we were expecting our runner to come in. I tried and managed to sleep for a little bit, maybe an hour but it didn’t feel like I got a good rest or was refreshed when it was time to get ready to run again. Having never slept mid race before, this was all a learning experience for me. I’ve read and heard about people running 200’s that claim they slept for 5-15 minutes and were completely refreshed. Apparently this is something I’m going to have to work on if I want to run longer races where sleep deprivation becomes an unavoidable issue because when I got up from my nap I still felt as dead tired as I did before dozing off.

After my final leg I got cleaned up a bit and got changed into some clean, dry, and comfortable clothes before making the drive to the next exchange station. I also got ahold of a cup of coffee that was offered at the exchange station I finished at. At some point during that rather short drive, unexpectedly and seemingly almost magically the sun rose and it was daylight when I arrived at the next exchange station. In my sleep deprived, fog filled brain I had lost total track of what time it was. The fact that it was light out when I arrived honestly surprised me.

Photo booth photos.

The sunrise (in addition to the Panera coffee and bagels) at this stop helped drive some of the sleepiness out of my head. The organizers of the event must have expected this exchange point (Boston, #20) to be the final leg for a good deal of runners given the facilities there. In addition to the refreshments, there was also a photo booth so runners could record how great they look after tackling roughly 127 miles of the course. Although I wasn’t aware of it until a few exchange stops later, it turned out there were even showers there. If only I had known, I may have looked a bit more fresh in my photo booth shoot with my hot dog hat!

One of the signs near the end of my second leg of the course.

As all of our team members wrapped up their final legs of the race, we finally found ourselves awaiting our final runner just a couple hundred feet from the finish line. With the finish line celebratory music well within earshot, our final runner came into view. When she reached us we all got our legs to move again and ran across the finish line as a team. The announcer was quite a hype man and got every team pumped as they crossed the finish line. After receiving our finisher medals and getting some finish line photos, we made our way over to the conveniently located after party at the Hofbrauhaus. With the beautiful South Shore Riverfront Park in view from our seating area, we were served large soft dough pretzels with cheese dipping sauce and our choice of biers: lager, hefe weizen, or dunkel. On top of it all, there was a bottomless pierogi buffet that our table ate our share of.

Finish line photo!

So, did I get what I expected from the GAP Trail Relay? I met some fellow BibRave Pros and got to run some miles with them through some beautiful areas of Pennsylvania in near perfect weather. I explored a good portion of a rail trail I had never set foot on previously. So yes, I did get everything I expected and even more: a greater challenge than I had thought I would face.



Scott Snell
October 18, 2019

Team Commando or Team Runderwear?

"Disclaimer: I received a pair of Runderwear Men’s Running Boxer Briefs to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!"


Time to talk underwear! More specifically, Runderwear. Runderwear are the first underwear that I have ever run in that were designed specifically for running. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going out and running ultras wearing cotton boxers that offer no support. I am typically a wearer of athletic boxer/briefs made from a polyester/spandex blend. While this has worked for me thus far with minimal complaints, I’m always willing to try new running products to see where improvements can be made in my running habits.

Runderwear started with a common running problem: chafing. Most runners have experienced it at some point and many have accepted it as just coming with the territory. I know I have had my fair share of chafing during ultramarathons. Others, the lucky ones, often look at you perplexed when you tell them about the misery you experienced in the shower after your last 100k (if you’ve ever chafed worse than you realized then took a shower, you know what I’m talking about). Runderwear’s founders are runners whose goal was to create chafe-free, comfortable underwear for runners. Since then, an entire line of chafe-free athletic wear has followed: socks, baselayers, and triathlon suits. I’d say it is easy to see they have had success just based on the accolades their products have received with recognition by Runner’s World, Women’s & Men’s Running, Outdoor Enthusiast, and 220 Triathlon. Not to mention receiving the “Best Underwear & Socks Brand” at the 2018 Running Awards. But I am a bit of a skeptic and like to learn through experience, so I was excited at the opportunity to try a pair out for myself. 

With the primary Runderwear claim being supreme comfort and chafe-free running, I decided to really test them out in that department and take them out for a long run. I intended for my first run wearing them to be the NJ Marathon where I was shooting for a new marathon PR, but decided at the last minute that it may not be the best plan if it turned out these new underwear rubbed me the wrong way ten miles in. So I took them out for a few shorter runs and then finally for a 20 mile long training run this past weekend. Comfort? Check! Chafing? Negative! Runderwear made good on their Chafe-Free guarantee.

So how do these underwear do it and how does a company have so much confidence in their product that they actually offer a Chafe-Free guarantee? Well, here is an excerpt from the Runderwear website and then I’ll offer my thoughts on all of the key features:

Chafe-Free Guarantee

"Runderwear’s whole ethos is about creating chafe-free performance clothing. Runderwear clothing has no side seams and is label-free to prevent irritation and rubbing. Runderwear technical fabric is extremely soft, breathable and highly effective at wicking sweat away from the body, ensuring you remain chafe-free in ultimate comfort, no matter how many miles you run.

We’re so confident that your Runderwear will provide the solution to your chafing, that we offer a 28 day, no fuss guarantee. If you wear our products and they cause you to chafe, we will happily refund you, it’s as simple as that.

Remember, Runderwear will stop chafing in the area that it covers and not the surrounding areas, so make sure you select the best style for your problem area. For example, briefs will protect your nether-regions from chafing but not your thighs, whilst our Long Boxers (for Men) and Hot Pants (for Women) will protect all that they touch."

Runderwear’s tagless and seamless design are two key features in preventing chafing. Chafing is caused by continual rubbing from clothing or accessories against your skin. Take away features that are prone to rub, such as tags and seams, and you reduce the likelihood of chafing. Simple. Compared to some boxer/briefs I have worn that have a sewn on tag on the waistband, the tagless design was exponentially more comfortable. The lack of seams also did not go unnoticed. Most of my other athletic underwear has seams running along the inner thigh to the crotch in addition to the seams running from the waistband at the hip down to the bottom of the boxer/brief along the outer leg. Runderwear has none of these seams with their 360 degree seamless design. The little stitching that is used, around the elastic waistband, is a style of flatlock fine stitching which was barely noticeable and non irritating for the entirety of my 20 mile run.

Moisture is another deadly sin that can lead to chafing. How Runderwear goes about combating this one is via moisture wicking fabric. Runderwear are made from polyamide (92%) and elastane (8%), a much different composition than my normal athletic wear blend of polyester/spandex. Their blend is designed to wick sweat away from the skin to keep you dry and stop chafing before it starts. I can’t say how much better this material is at pulling moisture away as I haven’t had the opportunity to test them out during a truly hot and muggy, typical East coast August day, but I can say they performed well during my 20 mile test run on one of the warmer (high of 76° F) May days we have had. Part of the key to removing the moisture is the breathability of the fabric. The fabric blend used by Runderwear has mesh panels containing micro perforations that make it breathable and allow moisture to be removed from the body.

The last benefit I found with Runderwear is not specifically related to chafing, but rather just overall comfort. The material is soft and form fitting, providing great support to keep things from getting jostled around while running without being restrictive. Unlike other boxer/briefs I’ve worn that like to migrate a bit during long runs and need some readjustments, Runderwear stayed right where they were supposed to for all of my trial miles with them. This is in part due to the “rubberized” strip at the bottom of each leg hole. At first glance after unpackaging, I thought this was an adhesive to keep the Runderwear in place in the packaging. Then I realized the true purpose, to keep the legs of the boxer/briefs from creeping up your legs while in motion. And it works too! I didn’t have to adjust or pull my boxer/brief pant legs down from creeping up my running shorts once. Cleanliness is one more aspect of comfort where Runderwear impressed me. Much of my athletic clothing tends to get a bit of a funky smell attached to it after enough use even freshly out of the wash. With the limited amount of time that I have used Runderwear, they seem to wash well and come out looking and smelling super fresh. Granted, that is only after about five uses and washes, but I have high hopes for that trend of cleanliness to continue.

Although my relationship with Runderwear has been limited (thirtysomething miles), I can say I have enjoyed them for all of those miles and found them comfortable and chafe-free. If you are looking to try a pair for yourself, they can be found on Amazon (Runderwear) or on the Runderwear website where you can use code “BIBRAVE20” for 20% off. Valid until Friday 31 May.

2019 Novo Nordisk New Jersey Marathon

Ten Years In The Making

"Disclaimer: I received free entry to Novo Nordisk New Jersey Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"


It’s strange how 10 years can sound like a long time when you say it, but when you reminisce over the same portion of time in your life it appears to have gone by in a rushed blur of all of the events, big and small, that have culminated to be the story of your life. This past weekend’s race, the Novo Nordisk New Jersey Marathon, motivated me to examine that roughly quarter sized chunk of my life thus far. It was just a little over 10 years ago that I ran my first and only marathon up until this past weekend. Now with my second official marathon finish, I’ve found myself looking back at where I was before my first, where I’m at now, and wondering what the heck happened in between.

I ran my first marathon about a week after my 29th birthday. Running a marathon wasn’t a bucket list item for me or a box to check before my twenties ended. It was something I decided I wanted to do to hopefully keep running interesting to me. Leading up to it, I’m regretfully admitting, I had become a bit bored with running, or at least the running I was doing at the time. I wasn’t racing, training for a race, or exploring new trails to run. It was before I even entertained or had a desire to run an ultra. At the time, I was basically only running what I consider now to be my “maintenance” runs, for the most part 3-6 miles at an easy pace. The required training and challenge that comes along with preparing for a marathon I hoped would reignite the passion for running that it had originally sparked when I first started running recreationally about five years earlier.

I'm pretty happy with how my CEP compression socks performed as well!

Thankfully, it did. In fact it made me want to run even farther and longer than the marathon distance. I didn’t dive head first into ultramarathons. I studied them and the training methods others had used. For several years I said I was too busy due to other personal events (marriage, baby, etc.) in my life to commit to training for an ultra. Looking back and having the experience I do now, I know it would have been possible, but I may have been a bit too naive and impatient to make it work. Even if I had pulled it off then, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it. So I waited and then in 2013 when I decided it was time to train for my first ultra, I got taken out with a hip injury that required corrective surgery (here’s the full story on that). I waited longer spending 2014 recovering and rebuilding a decent running base. I began ultra training for real in 2015 and ran my first ultra that October, the Blues Cruise 50k in Leesport, PA. 

The course map and my Strava data.

After discovering and experiencing trail ultras, I lost interest in road marathons for the most part, until recent years as I started wondering how I would do if I were to take another crack at one. The question of how I would do at a road marathon after several years of running trail ultras piqued my interest enough for me to run a marathon distance around my neighborhood, finishing it about five minutes faster than my one and only official marathon time (3:43:02). After this I decided it was time to sign up for another road marathon. Deciding which marathon to run was easy as I was offered the chance to run the Novo Nordisk New Jersey Marathon as a BibRave Pro. Sweet! Now my only goal was to run a marathon faster than I had 10 years ago. 

I went with my Altra Escalantes for the race, it was a good decision.

I changed up my normal training routine a bit by getting a gym membership and increasing my mileage earlier in the year than I normally do because I’m not the happiest cold weather runner. I didn’t do this specifically for marathon training, although I believe it paid huge dividends on race day, but mainly to go into this ultrarunning season with a higher mileage base established. I arrived for the race and immediately felt out of my comfort zone. Mainly because of the crowd size. This is a big marathon with over 2,300 marathon runners plus marathon relay runners and half marathon runners all starting at the same time from the same starting line. It was in stark contrast even to the starts at the largest trail runs (several hundred runners at most) I’ve experienced. I did my best to try to appreciate the energy of such a large crowd rather than allow it to make me feel uneasy and worked my way into my assigned starting corral.

Having my Aftershokz for my training runs and during the race was a huge plus!

I went out with a plan at the start to race smart. Knowing that I needed to average just under 8:30 minute miles to better my marathon PR, I told myself I would take it easy the first few miles. As the wave I started with crossed the starting line, I saw the 3:35 pacers not far ahead of me in the crowd. I ran at what felt like a comfortable pace until catching up with that pace group. I decided to avoid doing anything stupid like running too hard too early I would stick with this group for awhile and then pick it up later if I was still feeling good. That only lasted until about the six mile mark. The Eminem on my playlist started playing through my Aftershokz at that point and I decided that this pace felt too easy. I said to myself “I’m running this to see how fast I can run it, not just to improve my PR!” And with that I picked up my pace and pulled away from the pace group.

The AWESOME finisher medal!

It was a matter of several miles, but it was surprising to me how quickly it seemed that I caught sight of the signs held by the 3:30 pacers. I continued to run at what felt like a slightly more strenuous than comfortable pace until joining this pace group crowd. I decided to reel it in a bit at this point and just see if I could hang with the 3:30 pace group or if that would be too tough to maintain for the 16 or so miles left. I told myself if I can maintain this pace and I felt like I had anything left I would try to empty the tank in the last five miles.

I have to admit, Strava's "Last Mile" challenge drove me at the finish.

As we passed the halfway point of the race, the course got a bit more interesting and scenic in my opinion. Rather than it feeling like the course was mostly running through neighborhood roads (my take on the majority of the first half), the second half really displayed more of the traditional Jersey shore scenery as the ocean and beaches were in sight and we began running stretches of the boardwalk. Along with the more attractive scenery came the out and back portion of the course. Seeing the fast marathon front runners still hammering hard after 20 or so miles kept me inspired and motivated to keep my pace up. A short time later with about 10 miles to go I decided it was time to pick up my pace and part ways with the pace group I had become comfortable running with.

My final mile pace according to Strava.

Shortly after pulling away from the 3:30 pace group I saw all of the faster pace group returning from the U turn of the out and back. The 3:15 group went by followed shortly after by the 3:20 and the 3:25 groups. A short time later I found myself at the turn around (about the 19 mile mark). Realizing the 3:25 pace group wasn’t that far ahead of me, I decided I would make it my goal to catch that group before the end of the race. I had only seven miles to pull it off. It was exciting to have an additional goal that I wasn’t sure was actually achievable. It motivated me to push myself harder than if my only goal was to get a new PR which at this point was nearly guaranteed. Passing other runners nearly continuously for the next six miles kept me pushing until I finally caught site of the 3:25 pacer signs with about a mile to go. I continued pushing and made my last mile of the marathon my fastest of the race passing the 3:25 pacers with the finish line less than a quarter mile away.

Cheers from the finish!

My official finish time was 3:23:17, nearly a 20 minute improvement over my only other marathon finish over 10 years ago. It was a greatly satisfying race as everything went so well. Other than a little upset stomach early on, I felt great the entire race. As happy as I was with my finishing time I still walked away with a bit of regret. Solely because I left the race wondering what would have happened if I had pushed harder earlier? What could my marathon PR be if I focused on running marathons? What if I hadn’t just run Hyner 50k with 7,500’ of elevation gain just one week earlier? All are questions that I don’t have an answer to, but am curious to explore.




Scott Snell
May 3, 2019