Reach the Beach was like nothing I have ever done. It was incredible. I can’t possibly do it justice, so I will share the major highlights, and if you want to know more, I suggest you try it yourself!
After all meeting at the New Balance Brighton Factory, we had an amazing tour, and headed to the adorable Wachusett Inn. Jess and I shared a very romantic suite, that was far larger than my apartment. We didn’t have time to make much use of the sitting room. 
Nope, we had some interviews to do.
I love me a good campfire filming!
After that, it was time for dinner!
Hi Team!
This awesome crew was going to rock my world for the next two days! I miss them already! Apparently the way to forge a relationship is to spend 32 hours straight in a fan listening to call me maybe on repeat sans showers.
The next morning, we had a yummy breakfast, bid the Wachusset Inn goodbye and headed to registration. I have never experienced a registration like this! There were multiple steps!
We passed safety check with our waivers, reflective vests, blinking lights and headlamps. Then we moved on to orientation. Apparently there are a lot of return RTBers because the orientation leader kept referring to last year.
Jess, Theodora, Sara, Ashley and Patricia were really getting all the details!
Bridget got our bibs and shirts!
That’s me, leg 3!
You know what’s next, group photo!
Van 1:
- Gretchen of Honey, I Shrunk the Gretchen!
- Patricia of Run Foodie Run
- Me
- Bridget of Yogurt and Berries
- Jess of Fit Chick in the City
- Sarah of SarahFit
Van 2:
- Tina of Carrots N Cake
- Monica of Run Eat Repeat
- Theodora of Losing Weight in the City
- Elizabeth of On Tap for Today
- Anne of Fannetastic Food
- Ashley of A Healthy, Happier Bear
We also took one of the NYC ladies!
Gia was on another team, but we actually saw her a lot! Yay!
We all got to see Gretchen off at the start!
She had a tough first leg:
Leg 1: Wachusett Ski Area to Wachusett State Reservation: 2.8 miles: hard
New Hampshire isn’t the only state with hills. So we start you off with a ‘blast from the RTB past’ with a leg that goes straight up the ski slope and tops off at the State Park Ranger station some 2 miles away.
Holy crap! But she rocked it! It was here Patricia explained that hills are kind of RTB’s thing!
After seeing Jess off, it was time to get my game face on. As I mentioned, check the course elevation ahead of time! My first look was in the van!
Actually on paper, I thought this would be easy peasy. It was mostly downhill, right? OMG wrong! Never underestimate 2.1 miles of uphill! This was definitely my hardest leg. I felt like I wasn’t moving, but my watch told me that my first leg was under a 9 minute mile.
I started my watch a little late, but I kept around a 9:40 pace even though the hills killed me! It was pretty brutal, but on the first leg I learned that i had nothing to worry about on the course.
There were plenty of these to keep me running in the right direction.
My van was there for me every couple miles and plenty of other vans dotted my path as well!
It felt great to slap my bracelet off to Patricia and see her fly off!
My camera refused to close when I got back to the van and was dead for the rest of the trip, so sadly all the other photos are from my phone. But, I did take a ton of video and if flipcam stops crashing, I will have a little montage for you soon!
Patricia killed the 8.5 mile leg, the longest of the entire course, and Bridget took off like a boss. Sarah tore threw the last mile and slapped the bracelet off to Tina! Our first set of van legs done! 5 to go!
By then it was close to 4 and we needed a real meal! We found it at the Boynton Restaurant.
The food was delicious! Thanks to Sarah’s sister for affirming that Boynton was indeed the best.
We then headed to Shaw’s (or some such store) to buy even more food. We were not going hungry no matter what ;). After that, we headed to the VTA to chillax for a bit! Honestly I don’t even remember the time in the van, it flew by. But how can time not fly by with these awesome ladies?
Before we knew Ashley was sprinting down the chute and slapping the bracelet on Gretchen and off we went again….
What a beautiful hotel room! The event looks like so much fun and you all did so well! Love reading your recaps!