Behind the Start Line: A2ZUKEY Relay

We huddled outside of Ann Arbor Running Company’s Kerrytown store, about to have our first “board meeting” while knocking out about 4 miles of running. In an effort to keep things from getting too bureaucratic, our group agreed to substitute stuffy board rooms with easy runs at conversational pace. There would be no Robert’s Rules of Order or approval of minutes. The only rule: run slow enough to be able to talk, and speak freely.

Via email, our team had settled on a course that played the “greatest hits” of Ann Arbor running. That included stretches on the B2B, Gallup Park, The Arb, Barton Hills, The Big House, and Water Hill. Sure, these were iconic stomping grounds, but they were also part of most local runners’ daily digest of miles.

The idea was to do “leg #1” of our relay, and make some decisions about the direction of our race. The iPhone notes agenda read…How many segments? How many runners per team? How many teams? How much for registration? Batons? Chip timing? Photographers? Vaccine cards? Date? Name?

Evan makes the case for ditching the batons

Just before taking off, Nick cleared his throat, and floated an idea. “I don’t know if you guys are still taking suggestions for the course, but… what about starting in Ann Arbor and finishing at Zukey Lake Tavern?” He then walked us through a rough draft he had come up with, and we knew we had our concept.

A2ZUKEY was born.

The first time we ran, I insisted that we try running with batons. Less than a mile in, we realized how annoying this would be for a team to carry a marathon distance. While we all agreed on ditching the batons, we couldn’t seem to agree on how many segments the race should be, and how many people per team. Cases were made for 3 legs of about 8.7 miles, 6 legs, and 10 legs. As the sun went down, we decided that our best bet was to do a “trial run” and see what we thought while measuring out the course.

Our long awaited course preview run was Sunday, May 2nd. We packed a Subaru with mud-stained turn signs, an ice tub of Gatorade, and a dry erase board. Blame it on the lack of events the past 14 months, but there was a universal recognition of pre-race adrenaline buzzing about as we waited for our Garmins to acquire a signal.

After a few segments, we got in a rhythm. Fresh off the trail, sweaty runners would swig Gatorade, describe the segment they had just ran, and compare their Garmin time to what our course preview map had predicted. This gave us a chance to figure out the best spots to stage signage, plant speakers, and where to put the relay exchanges. We pictured cars parked with flashers on, runners waving cowbells, and reggae permeating the summer air.

Ironically, seeing so many deer on the course left us with a collective “deer in headlights” worry: this course could get pretty lonely without enough teams. By the time we reached Zukey Lake, we had moved to marketing strategy, logistics for scaling up, and how to keep things lively without upsetting the locals.

Getting to the “finish line” was bittersweet on a couple levels. The good news was that the Strava distance projection had been dead on. After years of routes being reliably short when executed, we had falsely assumed that we needed a course that read about 26.4 miles. We also learned that the perfect finish line was actually about .13 miles from where we had originally planned. The other piece of good news was that the course was both stunning and challenging, sure to stir our field in June.

Texting with Nick a day later about our course, I lamented that it was too long and too lonely. Spitballing an idea that Evan came up with about an out-and-back, my mood began to change when when he replied, “hang tight. I have an idea.” Twenty minutes later, he had the solution. We ditched a mercilessly sunny but flat section of the course for a shady, but ballbustingly hilly section. Nick’s answer was to add Evan’s out-and-back at Tubbs / Huron River Dr. This meant that as runners on segment #2 were busting their quads down Tubbs, runners on segment #3 would be climbing up, like ships in the night. The answer had been on the tip of our tongue a day earlier, but we needed fresh legs to get us over the finish line.

It’s been a wild ride getting here, but this race is going to be a good one.

Care to join?