Crewing a Runner for an Ultra

Having had a few days to digest my most recent experience, I wanted to share a few of my thoughts about crewing for a runner at an Ultra race.

These are thoughts come from the runner’s perspective rather than from the crew person’s perspective. Someday, I would like to be on the other side of the fence to see more of what that perspective is like.

For now, I will break down my own experiences in hopes that this will provide others with some ideas to use in their upcoming races.

First, and foremost, create a notebook for the person or persons crewing for you. Make sure to include things like: a map of the course, directions to the aid stations, and a breakdown of your needs at each aid station. Let me know the time frame for when they should expect you at an aid station. Tell them when you are going to be dropping off the extra cloths if the race has a cold morning start or when you are likely to want to add clothing as the day turns to night. Explain to them what foods that you are going to want and when you might want them. I know my taste changed over the course of the race.

Provide them with something that helps you easily identify them at an aid station. Honestly, when everyone is bundled up at an aid station, everyone looks pretty much the same. I gave my daughter some Christmas lights which helped me spot her in a crowd.

Let them know that you are there to race and not to have a long conversation. Their job is to get you in and out of the aid in the minimal time possible. I saw numerous runners who seemed to be just hanging out in the aid station. Over 20 or so aid stations, “hanging out” can burn through time where you are not moving toward your goal.

If possible, your crew should setup near the entry point to the aid station. Then, they can unload and reload you as you are moving through the aid station. This also give you a few minutes to update them if you need to call an audible during the race. Maybe you want something different to eat at the next aid station or perhaps, you need to add or remove clothes or change shoes. Again, they will be able to send you off having lost only a minimal amount of time.

A pro tip here, where the crew can park their car and where the aid station may be may not exactly be in the same spot so I suggest getting one of those fold up wagons. Several places, my daughter had to walk a fair distance to the aid station. Lugging my stuff back and forth would have made for a long day for her – aside from it already being a long day.  With the wagon, she could nearly take everything that I might ever think about needing to the aid station. Then, if I needed to call an instance audible, likely what I needed was already in the wagon.

A second pro tip, let them know what do if they fail to make an aid station before you. I covered this several times the night before and on race morning with my daughter. This is one of things that worried her the most. If we found ourselves in this situation, she was to move on to the next aid station and prepare the refueling based on my notes from the book. My daughter and I actually found ourselves in this situation. She did exactly as we discussed, and we connected at the next aid station. The aid stations are well stocked so it not like you cannot find fluids and food to carry you to next aid station.

A third pro tip, if the race offers live runner tracking, take advantage of it. I setup my daughter’s phone so she could follow me throughout the race. This helped her tremendously. After a certain point, she pretty much knew the window of time that I would be coming through the next aid station. This made her life a lot easier.  

Lastly, thank them over and over. While I had a long and tiring day of running, my daughter had an equally tough day. Driving from aid station to aid station is not easy. One never knows what might happen along the way. She lugged my stuff to the aid station from the car, refuel me, and then lugged it back to the car, and drove to the next aid station. Then, did it all over again. They are there to help you do your best. Make sure to let them know how much their help meant to you and to you having a successful race.

Kickin’ up the trail dust

The Cool Down Runner