What Should I Pack for the Final Leg
One of the most challenging tasks with any Final Leg is packing - especially for a winter Final Leg. If you live in the United States or Canada, your Final Leg uniform kit will be shipped to you prior to your travel to Italy. If you live in any other area of the world, your kit will be shipped to Italy where you will receive it upon arrival at the hotel.
All of our clothing items will be provided by Columbia. You can expect to receive the following:
- (1) Heavy winter jacket
- (1) Softshell jacket
- (1) Fleece vest
- (2) Half-zip fleece vests
- (1) Hooded sweatshirt
- (2) Running pants
- (4) Running shirts
- (1) Long sleeve, collared shirt
- (1) Pair of gloves
- (1) Beanie
- (1) Tactical backpack
That's a lot of stuff!
This was a very difficult trip to plan in terms of running gear. While we will likely run in some very cold, possibly icy conditions, we may also be running in much milder weather. So, even on our warmest day, we will be in running pants and a long sleeve running shirt. Colder days will likely require layering. On each run, the Management Team will advise the Team Leaders what the "uniform of the run" will be. It's impossible to make 100 runners happy all the time, because some of us would prefer to run in shorts and a t-shirt, even if we have snotsickles running down our face. Others will want to run in a heavy jacket, no matter what the temperature. We'll do our best to find a happy medium. Regardless, we will always be uniform when running as a team.
Fortunately, nearly all your time will be in some variation of our uniform, but there will certainly be times when casual attire will be needed.
Here are items that are recommended to pack:
- Long sleeve Class "A" dress police uniform for the Opening Ceremony; NO GUN BELTS OR WEAPONS OF ANY KIND; if you do not wear a uniform, you will participate in our running gear
- A pair of jeans or casual pants for meals and evening wear (when we're not still in our running gear)
- (1) pair of tan or khaki pants for the Team parties
- Underwear (yes, we need to remind you)
- A couple casual shirts for down time
- Running shoes; (2) pair recommended; running in wet shoes is awful, and not healthy for your feet
- Sunglasses, referred to as "sunnies" on the Final Leg; when you are running with the torch, or we're taking formal pictures, master photographers David Smith and Frank Tewey will be yelling, "sunnies off!!"
- Underwear
- Casual shoes for dinners and leisure time
- BLACK/DARK GRAY Thermal socks and/or any other type of socks you wish to run with; NO COLORED SOCKS - PLEASE WEAR BLACK AND/OR DARK GRAY
- Passport and ID
- Medications - with corresponding documentation
- Extra contact lenses
- Toiletries for the duration of the Final Leg (hotels will likely provide soap and shampoo)
- Small container of detergent to wash small items in the room, if necessary; we will have laundry services on specific days during our stay
- Bathing suit (for pool and Polar Plunge)
- Underwear
Although it is not visible to all of you, please know that our plans for Italy are coming together nicely, albeit later than normal, we cannot wait to share with you the itinerary, because it should be spectacular.
Hang in there! Oh, did you run today?
.png)
.png)