The Biggest Little Relay Race: The Reno-Tahoe Odyssey

“This is kind of like Burning Man, but with running.” – friend/burner/Odyssey teammate, Johanna Bailey

Here’s an event that keeps the Biggest Little City, little…The Reno-Tahoe Odyssey. Now, this is one of those events that I tell my friends about, and they look at me like I am completely nuts. Probably. But, I am not the only one who is nuts. There were almost 3,000 people that participated in this 178-mile relay race throughout the Reno/Tahoe area on Friday/Saturday.

Eric Lerude founded the Odyssey 8 years ago, and he coordinates the event every year with many volunteers. Portion of the proceeds are donated to charities like the Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation and Tahoe Pyramid Bikeway. An incredibly entertaining aspect of the race is all of the team names and yes…costumes. I saw it all this weekend. Men running in speedos, women running dressed as American flags, women and men running in tutu’s. And yes, there is beer. I saw a man dressed as a pink bunny running up Geiger Grade with a Heineken in his hand. God bless him.

How does this work?

Most teams include 12 members (male, female, or coed); some only have 6 (these teams are “ultra” which to me, means unbelievable). Each team of 12 will be broken up into 2 vans (6 and 6). Van #1 will have runners 1-6 run each of their legs, stopping at individual “exchanges” to have each runner pass off The Odyssey wristband. Then van #2 carries runners 7-12. These exchanges go on for 178 miles, a team of 12 will have each runner run 3 times. It took our team 26 hours to complete the race, some teams are faster, and some teams are slower.

Here are some FAQ’s: Is there time to sleep? A little, when your van is off- you can attempt to grab some shut-eye.  I slept for about 3 hours, which is a treat! Where do you change? In the vans…yes it gets stinky. Do you run in the dark? Yes. The race is nonstop; in fact Miss Evven Carrion was climbing 4.2 miles up Kingsbury Grade, exiting Lake Tahoe at 3 am. Where do you go to the bathroom? ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE! Are you following all of this? This may break it down for you:

Where do you run?

The best part about The Odyssey is the scenery. Starting in Downtown Reno along theTruckee River, traveling through the Sierra Nevada Mountains and along the shores of Lake Tahoe. Then, we circle back through the Northern Nevada high desert back to where you began in Reno, at Idlewild Park. Runners get to experience a variety of sceneries. Each of my legs were in completely different areas, I saw Tahoe, Carson City, and Downtown Reno.

I was invited by the Mayberry Athletic Center to run with them this year. I was runner #12, which means I was the runner to cross the finish line for my team. My first leg was the beginning of North Lake Tahoe, it was about 9pm. The moon was fairly full that night and the whole lake was lit, it was gorgeous. Once again, I am from Southern California- and running through Truckee and Lake Tahoe is still a dream to me. I am still a tourist, and I may always be. If you check out my Facebook, I was keeping everyone posted throughout the 26-hour race. I was also tweeting. The Odyssey hash tag this year was #RTO12 if you want to check out tweets from the race this year- many of them are quite comical.

Despite the beer and costumes, this race is nothing to take lightly! It was intense and it was hot. Running in and out of the mountains has many elements: altitude, total darkness, animals, bugs, major inclines, and major declines. All of that aside, it is an amazing experience and I had a blast competing with my team. It was cool to see so many runners come together to enjoy this event. Everyone is supportive of one another. Complete strangers will offer you water, food, cold towels, or toilet paper. I can’t wait to do it again.

An Intro: Bridging Reno and Social Media Marketing

One of the first things I noticed about this town when I moved here are all of the small locally-owned businesses. It’s a beautiful thing! I come from Southern California; a world of monstrous shopping malls, chain stores, the “Who’s who” of brand names, and any and every restaurant chain you could possibly think of. I do slightly miss the shopping, however my bank account has benefited.

So what does keep the Biggest Little City…well…little? If you ask me, it’s all of the locally and proudly owned/operated businesses. I can almost guarantee that everyone in Reno knows an owner of a business in town. Whether it be a great bar on the Truckee River, a charming little coffee shop downtown, a clothing store, a car dealership, a gym, or one of Reno’s amazing restaurants… The small businesses are one of the things which keep this city “little” and charming.

So what makes this little city the “biggest” city? This town is growing! According to the US Census Bureau- as of 2011, Reno’s population is 216,830 people. Since 2000, it has had a population growth of 20.22%. In my time here (I’ve been in touch with Reno since 2003) I have seen 2 huge shopping malls (Legends and The Summit) go into business. When I first moved here, my 18 year-old brain immediately acknowledged the lack of In-n-Outs. Detrimental right? There are now 2 in town, whew. We have major chain restaurants and businesses, many in fact. But to a big-city girl this town is very little.

I am currently researching social media marketing. For those of you who have been living under a rock the past couple years- social media are made for social interaction using highly scalable publishing techniques.  Online networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and the wonderful world of blogging, are among the most popular online tools being used to market businesses, organizations, causes, and individuals all across the world.

Existing in such a condensed area, small businesses in Reno are taking off by utilizing these social networking tools. I would like to study how businesses are utilizing social media. How have these marketing tools helped or hurt businesses? How did they get started? Who are the people chosen to manage these social networking accounts?

I have also met business owners in Reno who are NOT taking advantage of social networking simply because they don’t know where to begin! The idea of opening up these accounts and placing your product or service right in front your community (or world even!) can be extremely intimidating. As soon as a business is launched in the world of social media marketing- you are opening the floodgates for people to compliment, hate, praise, judge, or love your business and publicly tell the world all about it. It’s quite a responsibility. Many small business owners have reservations about this kind of marketing, and I would like to research what these reservations may be- and hopefully help them address these concerns. This is FREE MARKETING people! Let your success stories be told online and help grow your business.

I am going to meet with businesses in Reno within the next couple months and discover how they’re utilizing (or not utilizing) social media marketing. I have to mention that I am by no means a social media-marketing, nor a Reno expert. I am a Southern California transplant. I am simply a student of the subject of social media marketing, who is interested in how it is being utilized by businesses. As I learn, I will blog. I hope to accomplish a few things with this blog. 1. I want to extend my knowledge of the uses of social media. 2. I would love to help support small businesses in Reno. 3. I want to help people who feel lost in the world wide workings of social media, and give them some answers and hopefully a direction.