And how to circumvent it.

constant is weather fluctuation, a guarantee that conditions will change during the race.

Your support crew should be a constant, as well—not necessarily the same people each race but perhaps the same core crew and definitely similar personalities and experience. If runners understand and communicate their needs before, during, and after an event, they can potentially groom their crew to be a reliable and positive force. Once they achieve this, they wield a mighty weapon during competition: a competent, constant engine driving their running machine.

The responsibilities and expectations of any crew are dynamic and varied. They might differ from race to race or, just like a weather change, even hour to hour. Much of it depends on the race.

For instance, in a timed race on a loop course, your crew will be pitching tents; hauling gear; pouring drinks; tracking your intake, output, and lubrication; and perhaps running with you every 10 or 20 minutes for 100 yards as you eat or drink. Much of the crewing experience entails lather, rinse, repeat.

In a point-to-point race through state or national parks, you will see your crew a handful of times, functioning largely as a morale boost and perhaps bringing your foul-weather gear or your headlamp before dark. Here you might be more reliant instead on a pacer who knows the mountain trails, as the importance of making the correct turns in the dark could mean the difference between seeing the finish line and taking an unexpected helicopter ride.

In a race like Badwater 135, billed as “the world’s toughest footrace,” a sixperson crew endures extreme conditions and close quarters in pace vehicles for 24 to 48 hours with little sleep while fighting to keep themselves and the runner

[ Je an ultrarunning adventure, participants often joke that the one

cool in heat of 130 degrees Fahrenheit during the day but warm at night as they traverse three mountain ranges.

“These events are extreme and actually very dangerous,” says Dawn Rhodes, who has run a dozen ultramarathons and crewed hard-core events like Badwater and 24-hour races. “We are really pushing these bodies and minds to the limit. You cannot put yourself on a crew without being absolutely dedicated that this is for the benefit and the well-being of one other human being and putting their needs before anything else.”

With so many details jumbled in everyone’s tired minds, crew members and runners will make mistakes. Depending on the circumstances, a strong team will likely recover, but mistakes can translate to a DNF, a trip to the medical tent, or even death. You and your crew will learn through experience. Following are some common pitfalls that a crew or pacer will likely encounter and ways to ensure your crew avoids them.

1. Harbor and display a bad attitude

Inexperienced crew: You know what? This sucks. I’ve been up since 4:00 a.m., busting my butt, and I’ve barely received a thank you. It’s hot. My shoes are sticky from splashed Coke and my legs are a blotchy, itchy advertisement for bug repellant. I’m sick of these granola bars, and I’ll be damned if he expects me to pop that blister. | wish someone would take care of me like this. How much longer before he’s finished? What does he need this time? He’s always changing his mind.

Perhaps your runner started yelling even before the race began. Perhaps your bad attitude stems from the monotonous selflessness or from insecurity about completing the task at hand or a lack of sleep, or maybe you were just in it for the trip out west and had no idea what to expect. But know this: a sarcastic, bad attitude during a race will not award you an incumbent’s seat for future events. Each ultrarunner interviewed for this piece cited a positive attitude as the very Jirst thing they look for in a crew member or pacer. Not the ability to run fast or run far; instead, a positive outlook is imperative.

“T look for people who will bring out the best in me,” says Harvey Lewis, whose various crews of six helped him earn fourth place back-to-back at Badwater 135 in 2012 and 2013. “That means people who have a positive attitude, an ability to adapt, and absolutely no negativity, no negative words.”

Yes, crewing a race is tough and exhausting work, it is mentally and physically challenging, and at times, it feels rather thankless. Your runner is your top priority, and his needs surpass your needs in every capacity, though you’re expected to manage your own as well. Your runner draws on your energy as a supporter and as a pacer, so you’ll find that many competitors bring their running friends from home to a race.

“It’s almost like psychological conditioning,” says Lewis. “If each time you run with certain people you have a good experience, then even when you’re feeling really rough, you’re still acting like you’re having a good time, because you’re conditioned to feel that way. There’s power behind that.”

Staying positive benefits all parties and is often cyclical. Surrounding yourself with positive energy will ensure not only that you enjoy yourself but also that you keep everything in perspective.

Although it’s a competition, your crew should be able to help out another runner if the situation warrants it. Danny Ripka, who has won the masters national titles in several ultras, encourages a team atmosphere between his crew and his fellow racers and their crews. When he sets up for six-day races, he introduces himself and his crew to his neighbors. “I say, ‘we are going to become best friends these next six days, so let’s do the best we can to help each other out,’” says Ripka.

“Tt makes for a fun experience.”

2. Be disorganized; assume you will clean up (or find something) later.

Inexperienced crew: I know he needs sunscreen again, but it’s not where it’s supposed to be. Aha! (Spotted on floor of tent under dirty socks. Squeezes big glob onto hand.) But wait, I didn’t open that coconut water yet and now, oh crap, here he comes…

In ultrarunning, it is true: a little organization goes a long way. “If you’re constantly looking like a circus out there, it just leads to more problems,” says Kyle Fahrenkamp, crew chief for Lewis at Badwater in 2012 and 2013. “Your runner doesn’t want to have to wait for you to find what he needs; the idea is to get him moving again as fast as possible.”

Above all else, keep your supplies with you, and keep them in the same spot. If the Bodyglide or Vaseline is in the car parked a mile away, it’s not benefiting your runner, who would like to do something about the hot spot on his foot now at mile 20 to prevent a blister at mile 40. Likewise, your runner’s spare headlamp does him no good if it’s in your jacket pocket while you grab a quick nap. If you are missing something your runner needs, it is not only physically detrimental but also psychologically damaging.

Fahrenkamp relates this story from Badwater 2012: “Harvey had just made a move back into the top 10 of the race and requested information from our pace chart. He kept saying, ‘It’s in my red bag.’ We had the red bag in the front seat of the pace vehicle, but the chart wasn’t there. I only made one copy, and we had spent hours on this pace chart, and it was doing us absolutely no good because we didn’t have it. Harvey became agitated; he couldn’t focus on anything else. Each time we saw him, he’d say, ‘All I want is the pace chart. Where is it?’ Well,

it turned out, Harvey had two red bags: the red bag with the pace chart was in the secondary vehicle miles ahead. Once we got it, it brought him instant comfort, but not having it was really frustrating for him, and the crew.”

3. Give your runner incorrect information

Inexperienced crew: My runner wants to know how many more miles to the next checkpoint. About an hour ago it was 12 miles, but now I don’t know if he has gone seven or he still has seven remaining, and it all seemed so simple two hours ago. Well, there’s not much difference between five miles or seven miles, right?

Wrong. If you do not know the answer to your runner’s question, do not guess and only in extreme (and previously agreed-upon) circumstances should you lie. This applies not just to mileage but to anything: pace, the time, what place he is in, whether you have any vanilla-flavored energy gels or a pair of dry socks available, or (the dreaded) have you seen a trail marker lately? If the question is math related, you can ask your runner whether he wants a range with the promise of a more specific answer next time.

Know this: there is nothing reassuring about a negative two-mile miscalculation when your runner is three-quarters along an unknown course. You might as well literally send him in the opposite direction on the course. In providing your

runner a quick (but incorrect or incomplete) answer, you are instead undermining your own authority as a reliable source. Perhaps your runner is too tired to notice; you might take that chance, or your runner could spend the next several miles not only scraping his brain for any residual information but also analyzing the variable that would support Theory A versus Theory B. He is expending too much energy ultimately attempting to ascertain if you, his crew, are trustworthy and capable when he should be concentrating on keeping one foot in front of the other. Meanwhile, you have instilled doubt and insecurity where before there was inherent, almost childlike trust.

A friend always says the two most important things for your relationship are trust and communication. While she refers to a marriage, it holds true for a runner and his crew as well. If you don’t know the answer, admit that you don’t know and work to find out so you maintain that trust and keep communication open.

4. Have limited medical knowledge

Inexperienced crew: My runner has been preparing for this event for a long time. He trained for this. He has seen it all. He will know what to do, if…

It is good sense for some members of the crew to have not only basic first aid/first responder knowledge for foreseen conditions (blisters, sunburn, road rash) but also to prepare for the extreme, albeit improbable, scenarios (snake bite, hypothermia, heat stroke, compound fracture). A runner who encounters one of these more extreme states won’t necessarily be able to communicate what to do, and you will have to make some quick decisions about the correct treatment.

Additionally, just as nutrition and hydration are essential for a successful race, so is personal attention to your runner’s calves, hamstrings, and quads, says Andy Shetterly, licensed massage therapist (LMT) and Active Release Techniques (ART) provider. “If you can flush out your runner for a few minutes every three to four hours during the race, you are doing your runner a huge favor,” says Shetterly. He recommends focusing on releasing key trigger points, adhesions, and scar tissue and stretching tight or painful areas (or areas that have tightened up in previous events) like calves or hip flexors to prevent injury or restricted range of motion.

If a runner cannot persuade a trained therapist to crew your ultra event, then appoint someone on the crew—perhaps the runner’s spouse or friend—to accompany the runner to a therapy session a month before the race. There the LMT/ART provider can point out (and you can note) specific things you can do to help your runner before, during, and after the race. Shetterly recommends packing a yoga mat or a thin air mattress, which can be unrolled on the ground for your runner to be worked on regardless of the timing or the terrain.

Also, make good use of those massage tables at the aid stations. According to Shetterly, to facilitate a faster recovery, it is imperative to have work done within

two hours of your runner’s finish. “There should be a fight to get on that massage table first. Someone on the crew should be waiting in line to hold a spot for their runner,” he says. A good crew member will verify with the therapists during the race that the tables will be available after the finish.

5. Forget your place, your role, or yourself, or become redundant

Inexperienced crew: There is so much going on. This place is so beautiful. I just met one of my heroes. We had a team meeting? We are the fastest runners our runner knows. We are natural leaders. (And each of us expects to pace the most miles and make pivotal decisions while the crew chief rests.) Wait: Two of us have to drive? Not it.

There are two potential extremes for first-time crew members to fall into: all in, or all out. Either the event and location are about your experience and the help you provide the runner, or you’re putting your runner so far ahead of your own needs that you neglect yourself. It is easy to get caught up in the moment or in your runner’s success, but strive for a happy medium. Don’t eat all of your runner’s favorite race staple, but make sure that you are eating and resting. Appoint someone to run for crew food. Establish three-hour shift changes. “It’s no good to arunner to have dehydrated, hungry, or sleepy crew members who can’t make good decisions. Somebody on the team has to be logical, and it’s not going to be a runner 13 hours into a race,” says Luke Thoreson, who has crewed 24-hour and 12-hour multisport events.

If crew members neglect their own care, it is not only the runner who suffers a loss. “If you don’t take care of yourself, then all of a sudden the crew is taking care of two people and not just one. One is difficult enough at [races like] Badwater,” says Fahrenkamp, who cites extreme conditions, an elite field, and the remote location as factors for the intense crewing experience at Badwater.

Because every crew and racer will fall short in planning for everything despite your most dedicated preparation, the best approach is to recognize each crew member’s strengths and play to those individual abilities. Work out the details before you travel to the event.

“There should be no questions when you arrive at the race,” says Lewis.

“It’s important for the racer to assign roles for each member of the crew, and the role doesn’t have to be running,” says Iain Hughes, who has completed more than 40 ultramarathons including the Grand Slam in 2012 and Badwater in 2013. Plan by the clock and by the course: when will the racer require the strongest or fastest runners on the crew? It’s best to save those individuals for perhaps the most taxing mountain climbs or the late shift when together you can get into a good rhythm.

Do some members of the team exhibit greater leadership or organization skills? Then separate those members so each can lead opposing shifts. If you are skilled as a motivator but not a fast runner, then expect to be called upon for quick pickme-up stints as good company but not for long hauls.

Runners also need to be upfront with a fresh pacer each stint. “Are you there to keep the runner clicking along at 10 minutes per mile, are you there to carry running supplies, or are you there to talk and distract the runner as the miles crawl by? Having a purpose for the pacer helps ensure that you are on the same page for what is happening that leg or lap,” says Thoreson.

The single best way that crew members can help runners is by telling them they are willing to do whatever, whenever. Hughes recounts one member of his six-person Badwater crew, Jack Corey, who told him before the race, “You tell me exactly what you want me to do, and I’ll do it. If you want me to drive for 40 hours, that’s great. If you want me to run for 40 hours, [’ll run as far as I can. But you just tell me what you want.”

“That’s a good sign,” said Hughes. “That shows they really are about doing what is needed for the runner versus maybe what they want to do themselves.”

6. Unable to distinguish when to trust your runner versus when to trust your gut

Inexperienced crew: He says he’s fine and he just wants Heed, but it’s been an hour and according to his chart (which we basically threw out the window five hours ago) he needs protein now. What do I do?

This will largely depend on your runner’s personality and your relationship with the runner, but the crew must stay attuned to the runner and even override him at times. Despite uttering complete lies to each other throughout the event (“You look great!” and “You’re almost there!” or “I feel fine!” and “I don’t need anything!”’), acrew must be able to read between the lines. You might let the chart slide a little, depending on what’s working, but a good crew will also remind the runner that if he doesn’t get salt now, he will cramp later. So give him an extra lap around the course with his elite running hero, but make sure he comes in on the next one. It’s easy for your runner to get in the zone and to resist assistance for fear of losing that rhythm, but it’s your job to make sure he can keep running through the end.

Rhodes recalls crewing for Lewis during a 24-hour race: “At some point, he just wanted someone functional to hand him a drink or a new iPod so he didn’t get out of his own zone,” she says. The crew read the situation correctly, fronting the crew member with whom Lewis had the least personal relationship for those hand-offs.

This is also where experience running ultras comes in. People on the crew should have firsthand knowledge of stomach problems, mental anguish, and hallucinations while simultaneously thinking ahead, being aware of the competition, and trying to discreetly break camp without destroying your runner’s mojo or being a nuisance to your neighbors.

“A good crew person has been there before and can differentiate between whether the person is in really bad shape or going through a bit of a slump,” says Hughes. “There’s quite a big dividing line between the two.”

It’s easy to misread early warning signs if a crew member is not attuned to his runner. If the runner is quiet, he might be listening intently to his pacer’s story or he might be heading down a dark path. It’s the crew’s job to check in with the runner and then to double-check.

“You need to be reactive and proactive at the same time, but you are using only the information your runner tells you and what you can observe. You are basically putting together a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces upside down,” says Thoreson.

Use caution when trying to fix problems. You’re not going to make up for a 4-pound loss on a weigh-in at the next pit stop. Be clinical and logical about your decision making and recognize that your runner may respond to a testosterone-laden, “Go get it!” one moment but to a gentler hand-feeding or shoulder rub the next.

This also means knowing how your runner wants to be treated. If your runner wants to be pushed hard, then pay close attention when he is at a low point. In Lewis’s case at Badwater 2013, his crew decided since he wasn’t showing any signs of breaking, to keep pushing him, when they could have coddled him instead. “We checked his vitals, talked to him a bit. We got good verbal responses. We assessed it was a mental funk and he’ll get through it,” says Fahrenkamp.

7. Ignore directions and disregard logistics

Inexperienced crew: We have hours to meet our runner at the next checkpoint; let’s find some real coffee first.

The thing about these 100-mile point-to-point races is that even if the next checkpoint with crew access is only 10 miles down the course, the driving distance might be 50 or 60 miles around or over a mountain. Or once you arrive, a crew might have to hike two miles down the course from the nearest parking lot. Then, when you factor in the locations at beautiful national parks with 50 to 100 support vehicles vying for spaces in a 20-car parking lot, you realize that some crews might barely make it on time to meet their runner, and some might not make it at all.

If you are a crew, know how far your driving distance is to the next checkpoint. If you are pacing a trail race, offer to run ahead to verify that you’re still heading in the correct direction by finding course markers, particularly if either of you is beginning to wonder. Better to take responsibility for obtaining the correct information and making the checkpoint than to earn your runner a DNF for missing one.

Also, do your best not to add to any confusion. During a marathon in the remote Midwest (aka farmland), I found the perfect spot for the kids and me to crew my husband, Matthew: right across from an already mismanaged water stop. When he came through, I witnessed the confusion on his face. There was just too much to do in 10 seconds in such a congested area: say hi to the kids, grab his running food, figure out which side of the table was Gatorade and which was water, and tell me what he needed next. We corrected by driving ahead with the water he missed, but the moment itself had hurt him.

8. Be emotional, self-absorbed, or easily offended

Inexperienced crew: This (insert something crazy) is unbelievable. I am about to flip out.

It is somewhat excusable for the runner to be emotional or self-absorbed, as long as he warns you ahead of time, is gracious during the onslaught of craziness, and thanks you profusely for dealing with his attitude later. The crew is not allowed to be like this. Assume something unexpected will happen, and when it does, stay calm, adapt, and adjust.

With so many personalities and talents combined with tense emotions and a dash of sleep deprivation, maintaining harmony should be a priority for the good of the runner and the crew.

“T always set graduated goals within a big, super goal,” says Ripka. “If something happens, depending on weather and a bunch of other factors, you and your crew simply reevaluate and see what you can do. Stay positive.”

Don’t be easily offended. If your runner or another crew member makes a sarcastic remark about something absurd or petty, do not argue. Make it right, but leave it on the course, and assume you will be laughing about it over a drink later.

9. Crew for a complete stranger

Inexperienced crew: AllI have to do is run several miles at different stints, maybe hold a water bottle. I love running! No problem.

The only way to gain experience crewing is to crew. But if you’ve never crewed before and your runner is expecting you to be a workhorse, you might drop in on another race (or a running blog, or your latest issue of Marathon & Beyond) to learn about the chaos before you commit. It falls upon the runner to clearly communicate his expectations ahead of time and to be honest about what works and doesn’t work during a race. While friends are more forgiving, someone who hasn’t met you before might not take kindly to a barrage of must-haves “Now!”

“The better you can know the human being, the individual, before the race is actually the best,” says Rhodes.

If you’re going to pace or crew for someone you don’t know, spend some time getting to know the runner; you don’t want to force beef jerky into the hands of a vegetarian. Also, make sure you’re bringing racing experience and endurance to the table. Be honest with yourself about your capabilities. If you’re a marathoner slated to pace the final 25 miles, make sure you can do just that and be open with your runner if you need a break.

10. Pull your runner from the course before taking an opportunity to recover

Inexperienced crew: That’s it; you are done! We are outta here!

Each runner has a specific tolerance for pain and provides different cues that it might be time to stop. Some crews pack it in when the runner starts vomiting, whether it’s four hours or 23 hours in, and others take off when the weather shifts, knowing their runner’s goal PR is unattainable in a hailstorm. Of course, there are always runners who persevere through hours of both.

During his first 24-hour race, Matthew was legitimately hungry after reaching 115 miles in 20 hours. We should have insisted on an extra layer of clothing to keep him warm as he walked a lap to eat and digest some food. By the time he finished that lap, he was unresponsive, not making eye contact, and well on his way to hypothermia. After we added warm layers (carelessly forgetting to remove his wet underlayers first) and wrapped him in a blanket, he insisted upon sleeping on the grass right next to the course. Instead, we aided him to the medical tent. There, with his heart rate at 45 and his body temperature at 94, the doctor asked if he intended to return to the course. Without pausing, Matthew admitted, “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

Instantly, my switch flipped from “crew” to “loving wife and mother of his children,” and I knew we were done. I ignored advice from experienced ultrarunning friends back home who recommended warming him up in the back of a car, letting him rest, and getting him back out there when he was ready. The first time I considered our mistake was as I tucked him into bed in our hotel room with an hour remaining in the race. If I had walked that quarter-mile short course with him back and forth in front of our tent, all bundled up, he (and I) wouldn’t have regretted it later.

This is also a clear example of a snowball effect, especially when it occurs late in a race with less time to recover and recoup. We should have insisted on a jacket when he decided to take an easy lap, and we should have removed his cold, wet underclothes when he first exhibited signs of hypothermia. Both of these decisions led to a visit to the medical tent, which might otherwise have been avoided.