saturday morning run

happy new year!! tomorrow morning we'll be meeting at the rite-aid and running the figure eight route. start time is 7:00 a.m.

Christmas eve run

hey all. for tomorrow we'll be meeting at the corner of l.a. and spring at 7:00 a.m.. see you there.

Ragnar SoCal & Napa Valley

It's the holidays and we are getting closer to the So Cal Ragnar.  We are also trying to put together for the Napa Valley Ragnar which is in September.  The dates are as follows.

Southern California Ragnar, April 20-21, 2012

Ragnar Napa Valley, September 16-17, 2012

For the So Cal Ragnar, I am resurrecting the interest list we gathered right after the last So Cal Ragnar.  As you know, I already have one team signed up.  I was the first so that Dave wouldn't call me a slacker.  :-)

Southern California Ragnar, April 20-21, 2012

1. James Sloan 
2. Christine Sloan
3. Dave Greding
4. Rebecca Greding
5. Wade Altom 
6. Nikki Fenske
7. Tom Omer
8. John Stewart
9. Nikki Fenske
10. Tiffany Pratt
11. Jen Overholt
12. Trevor Kavenagh
13. Michael Barnett
14. AnneMarie Sloan
15. Danielle Sloan
16. Derek Sloan
17. Amy Omer
18. Adam Wright
19. Laura Wright (out)
20. Meg Wright (?)
21. Amy Adams (will take a leave of absence this year) (So Cal 2013)

Napa Valley, September 16-17

1. James Sloan 
2. Dave Greding
3. Rebecca Greding
4. Wade Altom
5. Merideth Altom 
6. Cary Jenkins 
7. Barbara Jenkins 

Please confirm your interest.

saturday morning run

hi all. if you're interested in running tomorrow, we will be meeting at the corner of championship road and grimes (?) canyon. basically take championship until it tees into grimes. we will either be doing a loop or an up and back. hope to see some of you there.

saturday morning run

alright, we are getting back to running on saturdays. tomorrow we will run the wash. park across the street from 7-11 on the corner of l.a. and spring. starting time is 6:45 a.m..

Saturday Run: Grand Tour of College-Side

That's right. It's time to run on the college-side of town again! Meet at my place (15123 Collegiate Cir.) at 6:45AM tomorrow (11/19). Here's a link to the route we'll be running.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/56776858

saturday morning run, 6:30

we'll be meeting at the rite-aid at 6:30 a.m. for our run tomorrow morning.

Big Sur Half Marathon

I have two (possibly three) entries into the Big Sur Half Marathon.  These were provided by Dole to my family and they are not able to participate.  It is a $140 value.  The race is on Sunday, November 20th.  The Sunday before Thanksgiving.  Yes, I know it is the Sabbath.  Oops!  You're welcome to stay with the Sloans, if you come race with me.

saturday morning run

tomorrow morning will be meeting at tom omer's new house for the run. start time is 7:00 a.m.. tom's address is 15123 collegiate. it basically at the top of pecan. the last run through this side was a pretty good one, so if you can make it, make it.

saturday morning run, 10/29

we'll be doing the santa rosa run tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. it's a down and back, meaning you can run as long or short as you'd like. we are meeting in the elementary/middle school parking lot on santa rosa road.

saturday morning run 10/22

tomorrow we'll be meeting at the rite-aid at 7:00 and doing the figure eight. see you there.

saturday morning run: 10/15 @ 6:00 a.m.

for tomorrow's run we'll be meeting at dave's house at 6:00 a.m.. the early start time is due to wives working at the garage sale for morgan. hope to see you at the run and at the garage sale.

saturday morning run, 6:00 a.m. version 2.0

in an effort to keep amy adams from ever gracing us with her presence on the saturday morning runs, we are having another 6:00 a.m. session. we are meeting at the rite-aid and doing the figure eight. hope to see you there.

saturday run

there is no official run tomorrow. however, if you'd like to join me on my run let me know. also, lets give a big GOOD LUCK! to dave and eric in the st. george marathon tomorrow. run fast guys!

saturday morning run, 6:00 a.m. version

for the run tomorrow we'll be meeting at the underwood farm place at 6:00 a.m. (the early start time is due to early soccer games). hope a few of you can make it.

saturday morning run

hi. for the run tomorrow morning we'll be meeting at 6:30 at the corner of l.a. and spring. again, the meeting time is 6:30. hope to see you there.

saturday morning run

hi all. if you're interested in running tomorrow, we are trying a new route. we will meet at the corner of championship road and grimes (?) canyon. basically take championship until it tees into grimes. we will either be doing a loop or an up and back. hope to see some of you there.

Hood to Coast The Movie

I bought the Hood to Coast movie.  A few at my house need to watch it, but once it makes the local Sloan rounds I can send it to Moorpark so it can make its rounds there.  Let me know if you have any interest.
I did watch it and they did a nice job.

Hood to Coast vs So Cal Ragnar

I added an entry to my personal blog about my experience running Hood to Coast this last weekend with Danielle.  You can read it here.


Participants. My overall observation of the HTC is that there are far too many participants.  They had 20,000 participants this year.  The start times began at 3:30am--that's kinda crazy.  The scenery was spectacular, but having a 4:45am start time resulted in two of my runs occurring when it was dark, so we couldn't fully appreciate all of the Northern Oregon beauty.  So Cal Ragnar wins.


Exchanges. Some exchanges were simply too small for the number of participants and the last major exchange was so small it probably could only handle a max of 200 - 300 teams.  We waited approximately 40 minutes for Van #2 to get to the last major exchange.  It's very disheartening to run your heart out only to find that the next runner just isn't there when you are done.  Waiting for 40 minutes afterward is just plain unacceptable.  There were about 30 other teams waiting for their vans too.  The logistics of this race is a nightmare at certain exchanges and the last major exchange was the worst one for us.  So Cal Ragnar wins.


Walkers. Get rid of the walkers.  Hood to Coast also had a Portland to Coast Walk event.  It follows the exact same course as HTC starting at leg #13.  Instead of three legs per participant, they simply walk the last two legs.  The addition of the walkers was annoying. While it's great for road kill stats, our experience with the walkers was that they were mostly grumpy or non-responsive.  You could typically talk or give a shout out to a runner and they nearly always respond with enthusiasm right back, but not the walkers.  Rarely could you get any response from a walker.  The walk should be another day.  It would not only reduce the amount of congestion for the last two-thirds of the race, it would also remove their grumpiness or apparent lack of enthusiasm and fun for a relay race atmosphere.  So Cal Ragnar wins.


High School.  They have a third event too.  It is the same format as the Portland to Coast Walk, but it is called the Portland to Coast High School Challenge.  It is a running relay for high school aged kids.  That's a fun idea, but it only adds to the congestion.  Tie.  I think this is a great idea, if the congestion can still be managed.


Website. The HTC website stinks.  It was always difficult to ever find any really useful information.  Maybe I am more used to Ragnar's format, but it seems like Ragnar's website is better organized and actually has most of the information you need.  Most of the useful information is in a forum type format, which is just plain odd.  So Cal Ragnar Wins.


Race Bible.  The HTC race bible isn't as good as Ragnar's, but it does have some cool features that I like better than Ragnar.  It actually provide a brief description of the run itself.  It also had a color map on each leg.  Not a big deal, but it looked nice and typically had a few areas of note on each map too.  HTC wins.


Headphones. No headphones are allowed on HTC.  I know Ragnar is really trying hard to implement this same rule, but so far they haven't.  I am not a fan of headphones.  I personally don't run with music, but 99% of runners do.  I am sure they do this for safety reasons.  I know this is a huge turn off for most runners.   An alternative would be what many runners had and that is mini-speakers attached to their shirts. So Cal Ragnar wins, but it is still a big safety issue.


Cell Phone Reception/Communication.  No cell phone reception on almost half of the race.  It was really annoying and downright frustrating when we had no way to get a hold the other van during the last exchange, because there was no cell phone reception for several exchanges before and after that exchange.  While there isn't typically a lot of interaction between vans, it was almost nonexistent at HTC, because of the poor cell reception.  With as much money as HTC makes, they should spring for a few extra cell towers along the course.  So Cal Ragnar wins.


Starting line.  I missed the Ragnar starting line this year, because I was in Van #2, but the HTC starting line was HUGE and a lot of fun and better than the So Cal Ragnar from two years ago.  HTC wins.


Finish line.  The finish line was more organized at HTC.  They give a chip timer to van #2 so as the last runner crosses the finish line it clocks the time.  Once that happens, the runner is put in a queue while the rest of the team is assembled so the team can cross a larger more impressive finish line together.  Once the team crosses the finish line together, the medals are immediately handed out and then the team is funneled into one of four different photo areas where a professional team picture is taken.  Much more organized than Ragnar.  I know Ragnar takes finish line photos, but after two years of Ragnar, I have yet to have an official team picture taken, because we can never find where it is.  HTC wins.


After Party. The after party at HTC was HUGE.  It was literally a party.  While we usually don't stay very long for these, we would more more likely to stick around for this one.  It's bigger and cooler.  HTC wins.


Port-a-Johns a plenty.  Rarely did we have to wait more than a few minutes for a port-a-john.  More often than not, there was no wait.  It was very nice.  We also saw the port-a-johns being cleaned first thing Saturday morning.  Not only is it nice to not wait, but to be able to use a clean one was glorious.  They were plentiful and for the most part, well placed.  HTC wins.


Slap bracelet.  The slap bracelet was sort of a cloth-like material and didn't really slap on very easily.  I know Amy would have issues with this slap bracelet, since she is so anti-other people's sweat.  So Cal Ragnar wins.


Medals.  The HTC medal was pretty small compared to Ragnar medals.  I like Ragnar medals better.  They just look cooler and they are more impressive.  So Cal Ragnar wins.


Volunteers. Volunteers were plentiful at HTC.  I think it would be impossible to get lost on the HTC course.  Both Ragnar relays I participated in had a lot of turns along each leg and getting lost isn't always that hard.  I think HTC course is better.  HTC wins.


Difficulty.  The level of difficulty for HTC is much higher.  It was nice to be challenged.  I really enjoyed that part of HTC.  HTC wins.


Weather: So Cal weather is much more mild and just a tad more predictable.  So Cal Ragnar wins.


Timing: At HTC you are required to keep track of your time on a specific piece of paper. It requires the total race time and the net leg time at each transition point. Something we never really had to worry about with Ragnar. At Ragnar you simply start when you are supposed to and then they note your finish time when you cross the finish line. I think HTC tries to use all of the data they collect to better predict future races. If you are significantly faster or slower than your predicted time, you are at risk of not being allowed to compete in future races.  HTC wins.


Showers.  HTC was great in that there were convenient places to shower.  So Cal Ragnar didn't have that and that wasn't a big deal, because we always have managed to find homes to take showers and relax, but for the vast number of So Cal Ragnar participants, I don't think they were as lucky as we were.  HTC wins.


Course.  I loved HTC for the minimal turns.  It was great, just to be able to run and not worry about what turns I might have to make and worry about having a stop light abruptly stop me mid run.  There were some stop lights, but not near as many as So Cal Ragnar.  HTC wins.


Conclusion.  Both races are great and have their pros and cons.  I like So Cal for the exchanges, weather and I guess the familiarity.  HTC is on top for their starting line, finish line, course, after party, port-a-johns, and volunteers.  It's hard to say which is better overall.  I like them both for different reasons.

Saturday Run: Grand Tour of College-Side

The run tomorrow will be a 6-mile tour of Moorpark's College-Side. Meet at my place (6440 Marquette St.) in front of the clubhouse at the end of Marquette. See map below:

Start time is 7 AM unless we decide otherwise.

saturday morning run for august 20th

for the run tomorrow we will be meeting at the corner of l.a. and spring, where we park when running "the wash." we will be running up spring, hanging a right on tierra, taking tierra all the way back to l.a., and running back to the cars. it comes out to a six mile loop. hope to see you there.

Sat Run

This Saturday Tom and Wade are both out of town and I will be working in the morning. I am planning on going on a run, around 9 or 10 ish? If anyone wants to join me give me a call.

Sat. run

7am at Santa Rosa school on Santa Rosa Rd. Tom and I will be there. If you come I promise Tom will not talk about astronomy.

North Carolina Research Center Visit

Today, I went to the North Carolina Research Center.  This place is the mecca of research for nutrition of fruits and vegetables.  David H. Murdoch built this place in hopes of bringing the bulk of such research into once place so that collaboration among corporate and university researchers and scientists can help us really understand the benefits of fruits and vegetables with scientific research.  


Here is the official description:

The North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC), a public-private venture created by visionary David H. Murdock. At the NCRC, the world's leading researchers from academia and industry are stimulating discovery and fostering collaboration that is advancing the fields of nutrition, agriculture, and biotechnology. The goal is to enhance the understanding of the links between nutrition and disease in order to translate scientific discovery into new models of prevention, treatment and cures while raising the standards of healthy living for people worldwide.

Here are some interesting facts that I learned from some early studies.

1. 1/2 of a banana every 15 minutes during intense exercise has the same result of gatorade. They are planning to redo the study by reducimg the amount of banana consumed to see if the same benefits are achieved.
2. Chia seed benefits are greater through milled chia vs. whole seed chia. For instance, chia has omega 3s, but unless the seed is milled, the body cannot metabolize the omega 3s.
3. Pineapple has a certain enzyme called Bromelain which has the same anti-inflammatory and joint benefits as Glucosamine; however, the pineapple must be raw.  The heat process to can a pineapple removed Bromelain.  Furthermore, rubbing pineapple on a healing scar after surgery increases the healing process and scars will be less visible.
4. We recently performed a study on olympic-level swimmers.  We gave a test group an 8 oz drink of fruits and vegetables before a workout day.  The diets and exercise with of the test group and control group.  The only difference was the vegetable-fruit drink.  The results are still coming in, but at the end of the study there was an international meet.  Every one of the subjects that had the fruit and vegetable drink twice a day won all of their heats.  The mixture included the following: Red delicious apple, Orange, Red bell pepper, Carrots, Broccoli, Parsley, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Blueberries, Strawberries, Blackberries, and Pineapple. The juicer they used does not create any heat to the food as a typical juicer with a spinning blade. Heat can eliminate some of the nutrients. See the juice picture below.

According to Murdoch, he says he is doing the kite tail studies.  While we are always fascinated at the kite when we see it in the sky, no one pays attention to the tail.  We know the vitamins and minerals in our fruits and vegetables, but there is limited or nonexistent research to the other properties of fruits and vegetables and how our bodies can benefit from them and what levels are best.

Everything I mentioned is currently or will soon be supported by published research.  While there I saw four different nuclear magnetic resonance scanners and one of them is the largest of its kind in the world.  These machines will help us understand fruits and vegetables down to the atomic level.  It's really quite amazing. 

It was a super fun and interesting day.  They mentioned they are always looking for endurance sport subjects.  I told them I was interested and that I have friends.

I hope you are not bored reading this, but if you saw what I saw today, you just might be as excited as I was.  If you are ever in North Carolina, I would be happy to take you on a tour.

North Carolina Research Center

Inside the Lobby.  At bit more opulent than what you would expect from a research facility.

950 Nuclear Resonance Scanner, largest of its kind in the world

The Angel Juicer.  This $1,000 juicer was used in the swimmer study.  The scientists said this is the best juicer available.
"I want that!" (think Napoleon Dynamite)

It's been a while

My running friends. I miss running with my friends on Saturday morning.  It was nice to be able to run together a few weeks ago when I was in Moorpark.  I'm starting to run more often.  My achilles is not totally healed, but I'm doing ok.  I'm still heating it before a run and icing it after.  It seems to do the trick.

I have been trying to change my running form and it has gotten a lot better.  I'm meeting my running coach in Louisiana on the 11th of August.  I'm taking a short little detour when I go on a business trip that week to Orlando, Florida.  Louisiana is on the way, right?!  I hope he "fixes" me.  I have noticed a lot of improvement in my efficiency.  I'm only now starting to take advantage of it as I have been running more often.  The occasional on-line training sessions have been helpful and helped me to reach my current plateau, but I don't think I can make any further progress without some direct coaching.

The third week of August (August 26th and 27th) Danielle and I are running in the Hood to Coast relay.  Alise may run a leg or two with us.  That will be fun.  I love, love, love running with my girls.  In 53 days, I'll be able to run with my son, Derek.  He is returning from his mission to Brazil, Salvador South and I am so proud of him.

I'll see you soon...

Run for Sat

7am running the wash. Corner of LA ave and Spring.

This one looks like fun

My nephew told me to check this relay out - the Red Rock Relay in S. UT. It looks fantastic! They have two different courses, one in Moab in May and the other in Zion in Sept. I am definitely going to run this sometime, my only concern is the altitude. How to train for altitude when we live here in Cali?

saturday morning run

hey all. let's meet at the rite-aid tomorrow for our run. we'll take tierra rejada towards simi and come back. see you there.

Video Makes the Ragnar Guru Video of the Week

The video that John Stewart made of our team has been picked up by the Ragnar Guru website.
Check it out here.

saturday morning run

hey tom. i've mapped out a new course for the run tomorrow. let's meet at the corner of l.a. and spring. we'll be going on l.a., up miller, around the underwood farm area, and back down spring. it comes out to barely over six miles (6.07). dave is out of town this weekend, so most likely us two will test out this new route. if any of you other slackers want to join us, please do.

Ragnar Movie Online!

Here is the video of our teams 2011 Ragnar experience....for all to enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/26205016

John

John!

Your movie is so much better than the winning movie, or any of the other few I watched.  The winning movie was so annoying I only watched half of it.  Yours is so great!  It makes it look like we had so much fun the entire time!  We did, right?  Thanks for your hard work.

Sat. morning run

7am corner of Spring and LA ave, running the wash

ragnar: florida keys!!

so i recently got an e-mail (you probably got it too) from ragnar about the race happening in the florida keys. i clicked on the link and went to the course map. big mistake on my part because i am now thinking of irrationale and foolhardy ways of saving up the money to run in this race. anybody in? don't throw out the idea until you've seen the course map: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/race/floridakeys/course_maps. anyways, most likely i'll never run this race, but it kind of makes our 'so cal' course seem boring. you can't really compare temecula with the beautiful gulf of mexico/florida keys.

saturday morning run

hello all. for our run tomorrow let's meet at the rite-aid and do the "figure eight." we'll run around the neighborhood and then a lap around underwood farms. it comes out to six miles. if you don't want to run as long you can run around the neighborhood twice or just once. hope to see you there. the more the better, or something like that.

Ragnar Follow-up Party

July 8, 6:30pm, at the Wright's house. We'll be grilling hamburgers. I'll provide the meat/buns/condiments, you guys bring side-dishes, drinks, and dessert. Please chime in so we know who is bringing what. Swimming is optional. Team members who attend will get their names entered in a drawing for a very special Ragnar prize! ;o)

Ragnar Marketing Video

What is Ragnar?

You have to see this if you're having trouble explaining what Ragnar is all about! Very funny!!

Saturday morning run

7am we will meet at the underwood farms parking lot and do the 3 mile loop. see you in the morning

Saturday Morning Run 6/18

This is going to be awesome. Meet in front of my house (6440 Marquette St) by the clubhouse at 7 AM. I've mapped out a run that takes us into the Highlands (via Black Rock Circle), around the Spring-Walnut Canyon-Charles St. loop, and back. Click here to see the map.

Ragnar Follow up Party

There are two dates that would work best for the Sloans and the Wrights.  The Wrights are the host and the Sloans are traveling.  We hope these dates will work out OK for all.  Please let us know.
July 2nd (Saturday) or July 8th (Friday).

Please let us know your preference.

saturday morning run

hello all. let's meet tomorrow at the corner of spring and l.a. and run "the wash." it's three miles out and then back. you can decide to run the total six or any length in-between (is 'in between' one word or two, or hyphenated?). there is a stake tournament softball game tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m., so some people might be going to that. anyways, we'll start at 7:00. hope to see you there.

Ragnar Party????

Are we ever doing the Ragnar party or what? John did you ever put the video together? Come on people, I'm "yellow", I'm not supposed to be in charge here

Saturday Run: Mt. McCoy in Simi Valley

Meet at Stargaze Park in Simi Valley at 7 AM (just West of Madera on Tierra Rejada). I've mapped out a loop that includes historic and beautiful Mt.McCoy.

saturday destination run

let's do a destination run tomorrow morning at refugio state park (approximately ten miles north of santa barbara right off the 101). meet at the group camp site and we'll run the bike trail for a while and come back. hope to see you there.

Run Smart Program in Camarillo

This is not an endorsement, but merely an FYI.  I finally went through all of the junk from my Great Race packet and noticed something interesting.  Rebecca and I have been working with a running coach to try to improve our form through a guy that is based in Louisiana.  Skype is wonderful, but one-on-one live coaching might be better.  Within the race packet was a flyer (a card actually) for the "Run Smart Program" put on by dhp Elite Training based in Camarillo. They offer personal coaching and form correction.
For those of you in Moorpark and surrounding areas, you might want to check this out.
Check out their website or give them a call at 805-484-1347 or stop by at 1612 W. Ventura Blvd. Camarillo, CA 93010.
I spoke to one of their people today on the phone and if I were in the area, I would check it out.
If anyone does check it out, let me know what you think.

Email Delivery Schedule

For those that are "subscribers", the email delivery was initially set up to send between 5-7pm PST.  I just changed it to 7-9pm, so that we don't have the issue like we had this weekend when the Saturday morning run that was posted at about 7:30pm didn't get emailed out until the next day.  I hope that works better.

saturday morning run

let's meet at the corner of l.a. and spring and do the tierra rejada loop. it comes out to six miles.

Ragnar 2012 Interest

I'm trying to determine how much interest exists for multiple Ragnar teams in 2012.  The race is scheduled for April 20-21, 2012 and the course will be substantially the same as last year.  If you want to get an idea of the leg lengths see "Tom's Spreadsheet" to the left.

Please enter a comment noting your interest and if you would consider running as part of an Ultra Team (instead of 3 legs, you'll do 6 which should average about 33 miles total instead of 16-18 miles total).  Finally, if you are interested in being a team captain for another team please let me know.

I already know that the following are interested, so no need to respond, unless you need to correct me.

1. James (Team Captain for Team #1 - Running from Responsibility) - would consider an Ultra
2. Dave - would consider an Ultra
3. Wade - would consider an Ultra
4. Nikki - Regular
5. Christine Sloan - Regular
6. Alise Sloan - Regular
7. AnneMarie Sloan -Regular
8. Danielle Sloan - Regular
9. Nikki Fenski - Regular (come on Nikki, you can do an Ultra)
10. Tom Omer - Regular
11. Tiffany Pratt - Regular
12. Rebecca Greding - Regular
13. Amy Adams - Maybe
14. Laura Wright - Regular
15. Chad Wright - Regular
16. Adam Wright - Regular
17. Meg Wright - Regular
18. 
    

Thanks.

Ragnar So Cal 2011 Results

I just saw the results for Ragnar.  Our team placed 54th out of 198 teams.  The biggest loser Blue Team was dead last and the Biggest Loser Black team was fourth from last.  He He  They started an hour and a half before us and we passed them before the first major exchange.  Good Job Van 1!
Some interesting tidbits.

1. Running from Responsibility "officially" finished in 32 hours and 3 minutes. If we classified ourselves as a Corporate team we would have placed 8th as "Men" or 11th as a "Mixed" team.  If we would have classified ourselves as a "Mens" "Open" team we would have been 31st.
2. The fastest team was mens team 73 Pants Optional that completed the entire 200 miles in 21 hours and 18 minutes.  Nice.
3. Biggest Loser Blue 46 hours and 8 minutes.
4. Biggest Loser Black 40 hours and 4 minutes. 
5. There were 28 Ultra teams that competed.  Wow.  Can you imagine doubling the amount of mileage you ran?  Humm...maybe we should do that.

I signed up a team for 2012.  We are Team #1.  I wasn't going to let Dave give me a hard time for slacking off by being Team #4 last year.  Competitive, a little bit of type A.  Yeah.  I know, I'm blessed.  :-)

Invitations will follow. 

We may need two teams with all of the interest, but I don't want to be captain of two teams.

saturday morning run

let's meet at underwood farms for our run tomorrow morning, 7:00 a.m.. see you there.

Ancient Greek aphorism

If you want to be healthy - run,
If you want to be handsome - run,
If you want to be smart - run.
Ancient Greek aphorism

Saturday run

Because of Mormon helping hands tomorrow, we will meet at Wades house at 6 am.

Rebecca's Really Really Ridiculously Long Recount of Ragnar 2011

This is copied from my personal blog for your reading pleasure. Enjoy! -


Oh Ragnar. How I love you! This year's Ragnar was my third and it was so. much. fun. If you care to read about previous years, here are the links. If you care to read about this year, get cozy because it got really long. :) It's all here for my own memory's sake so feel free to skip the boring parts. But of course none of it is boring because it's Ragnar!

SoCal Ragnar 2009 - I ran on a team made up of 12 women who I didn't know at all. We won first place in our division in the inaugural SoCal Ragnar. Pretty cool, but definitely not as fun as running with David and our friends.

SoCal Ragnar 2010 - I was the team captain for Running from Responsibility's first year. I loved the entire experience from the planning to the finish. David ran with me and I fell in love with him all over again! And we had such a blast with some great friends. This year will always have my heart.

SoCal Ragnar 2011

My training (or lack thereof)
I had been looking forward to Ragnar all year, but once again, my knee was a worry. On a training run on March 5, after an injury-free-so-far running season, I felt that familiar twinge in my knee. I stopped running immediately. Agoura was only 3 weeks away so I decided to not run again until then and hope my knee would be ok. About one mile into the race I felt a twinge. I ran slowly for another half mile or so while I debated with myself. I finally decided to drop out of the race to save my knee for Ragnar. Ragnar is my favorite and I wanted to give myself every chance to finish it without problems. I went to my MAT guy four times, traded my spot for the shortest total distance in Van 2 making me Runner 11 and held my breath. I showed up for Ragnar under-trained (I hadn't run in six weeks besides my attempt at Agoura) but with hope (and David's faith) that our family's sincere prayers and fasting would bring a miracle. Not to give away the end at the beginning, but I did finish all three of my legs without knee pain. A miracle. I wasn't fast, but I did it and that's all I wanted. I am so grateful.

My team
Ragnar 2011 has been in the works since about the moment we crossed the finish in 2010. This year I gladly stepped down as team captain. James, who was practically my co-captain last year, took over and did an amazing job! I admit it was kind of nice to not worry so much about the details and just show up. Returning from last year and in Van 2 we had David (Runner 7), Wade (Runner 8), Amy (Runner 9), me (Runner 11), James (Runner 12) and Mike (driver). Also in Van 2 we had Ragnar newbie AnneMarie (Runner 10) replacing Danielle, James' other daughter who ran with us last year. Van 1 runners and new to SoCal Ragnar were (in Runner # order) Nikki, John, Trevor, Tom, Michael, and Laura with Chad behind the wheel and Tiffany as van assistant. This year we rented 15 passenger vans so we had room for dedicated drivers and tag-alongs. :)

Van 2 2011 - Wade, David, Rebecca, James, Mike, Amy, AnneMarie - at some crazy hour of the night, ready to start our 2nd legs.


My 12.5-ish miles
I felt so much anxiety/anticipation waiting to start my leg in Corona. Waiting for AnneMarie almost gave me a heart attack. I shouldn't have been quite so excited because my first run was horrible. It was for sure the hardest 5.5 miles of my life. When AnneMarie slapped that bracelet on my wrist at 3:08pm it was 92*. I was worried this whole time about my knee when I guess I should have been more worried about the weather. For the first little bit I was ok - I kept a slow and steady pace - but eventually the heat just killed me. The first time I stopped running at about the one mile mark I won The Soggy Shorts Award. I share this award with AnneMarie who had earned it during her leg just before mine. He he! From there I started taking more and more walk breaks and ended up walking most of the last four+ miles. I couldn't run. I had NOTHING. My awesome team met me about every half mile to cheer me on and David gave me water or beans or whatever I asked for. I tried drinking some Coke at one point, hoping the caffeine would give me super powers. All it did was make my mouth taste nasty. :) Thank you Amy for the cutie orange after that mistake. In my exhausted state of mind I started wishing for some kind of accident resulting in a broken leg to put me out of my misery. At about four miles I made the decision to call it good and have a teammate run the last mile and a half or so for me. I planned to ask the next person who passed me to please let my team know that I needed Mike to put on his running shoes because I was done! When someone did pass me though, I didn't have enough energy to give her the message. When I saw David again I almost lost it. He just pushed me along and didn't let me suggest stopping. He knew I would regret it forever if I didn't finish, even if I had to do it walking. My team was so great. They cheered me on as I slowly shuffled my way to the exchange. My leg was supposed to be 6 miles, but happily it ended up being only 5.5. Hallelujah! I literally cried when James took off and I collapsed into David's arms. That was hard. But I did it. Barely, but I did it.

My second leg at 2:22am on Saturday felt so great compared to my first. I had been able to sleep a little at Tom's cousin's house so I had some energy back. The weather was cool and the night was clear and quiet. I ran without a watch or music - just me in the middle of I had no idea where (San Marcos). I only had 2.1 miles to run on a flat course so I just enjoyed it. I ran the whole time, feeling so grateful for the cool temperature and no knee pain!

I started my third run at 1:31pm on Saturday in Chula Vista. James had told me he would take over for me if my knee failed and he'd just run to the end. I was happy to have him ready just in case, but I really hoped to make it. It was pretty hot, but not nearly as hot as during my first run. I was near the ocean so I had a nice breeze most of the time. My team checked on me a few times, but I was often on trails where they couldn't follow me. At two miles to go David asked me if they were ok to go to the exchange. I remember saying something hard core like, "I got this," then confidently ran (and occasionally walked) to the end. I was able to run most of the time which felt great. I felt redeemed after such a terrible first run. I was so happy to see James at the exchange! I did it! I finished! I hugged him and cheered him off to run the last leg. Hooray! My final 5 miles earned me another team award - The I'm Just Going to Do This Award.

When I wasn't running
An event like Ragnar is the perfect excuse to literally run from responsibility. If the 15 of us had taken off to party in Vegas for two days, surely we would be viewed as irresponsible. I don't think spouses and friends and parents would be as willing to hold down the fort back home in that case. But since we were running, which is "good" for us, and contributing to a worthy cause at the same time (well, and to the millionaires behind Ragnar), we were in fact supported and possibly even admired by our loved ones. It's guilt free irresponsibility! Sure, we all have to put in our hours on the road, but it's worth it for the crazy fun hours in between. It's an experience like no other. It's hours and hours together with great friends all working toward a common goal. And all functioning on little sleep which makes for some fun/funny/uninhibited moments and conversations.

It was sometime during the night that I first qualified for my third team award - The Most Entertaining Psychiatric Break-downs Award. Apparently I do not function well on little sleep. :) Just like last year I lost touch with reality by midnight and found pretty much everything to be absolutely hilarious. My giggles turned to uncontrollable laughter which turned to tears and then a strange sadness and sick feeling in my stomach. This phenomenon has happened to me several dozen times over the years since I was pregnant with Matthew. At least a half of those events occurred during these last two Ragnars. It's weird. It's not just tears but an actual feeling of sadness. Diagnosis? Thanks to Wade for nominating me for this award and for capturing one of my break-downs on camera.

Here's a sample of the moments I found so hilarious:

At a major exchange in the middle of the night, Mike plowed his way through a coned off area of a parking lot, hitting a cone in the process. He said, "Don't worry, Greding Precision Striping will replace that one." I guess you have to know that was the name of David's previous business. And it's still not very funny, but I lost it at 3:30 in the morning.

Later on, during David's last leg, we watched him turn a corner with a couple other runners. One guy started going the wrong way and David called for him to go the right way. Apparently the guy didn't believe him because he ran back to look at the sign he had missed. While this was happening, Mike narrated David's instructions. Something like, "I'll go this way and you go that way. Meet me back here in five minutes." See it's not even funny, but I was dying!!

By the way, David ran 25.2 miles of our 200+. He started off with a 7.3 miler, followed by an 8.2 and finished things off with a nice, easy 9.7 miler. Here he is looking pretty hot (and pretty hot) after his last run. I'm proud he's mine! I think he's amazing.


The End
The parking situation at the beach was a crazy nightmare. We had to leave Mike to deal with the parking and get to the finish line so we wouldn't miss James running in. Thankfully he parked and met us in time to run to the finish as a full team.

Our victorious run to the finish on the beach!


Running from Responsibility 2011!! James, Nikki, Tiffany, Rebecca, David, Amy, Laura, Chad, Trevor, John, AnneMarie, Tom, Mike, Michael and Wade. Aren't our shirts so great?! Our shirts were sponsored by Dole! Not our team, just our shirts. :)


I can't tell you how much I love this picture. It's one of my absolute favorites of David and me together of all time.


We didn't stick around for long after the finish. We were tired and ready to shower at home! I haven't really mentioned Mike's driving talent yet, but let me tell you, that man has serious skills. And he proved his skills on the Coronado Island bridge as we traveled home. A cop car nearly caused a massive accident by making a sudden U-turn across every lane of traffic. It was ridiculous. Thanks to Mike and his awesome driving, we all lived to be really annoyed about it. :)

We stopped at Chipoltle for dinner (yum) then headed home. So bittersweet to be done. I seriously love Ragnar. I was high on Ragnar for days and days. Still am a little. It's all we talked about for awhile there. We'll just have to hold onto the memories until next year!



The Timeline (thanks to James' iPhone app)

Friday, April 15
7:30am Van 1 starts in Huntington Beach, Van 2 leaves Moorpark
11:13am Van 2 starts in Anaheim,
5:36pm Van 1 starts in Lake Elsinore. Van 2 rests at Tom's cousin Sarah's house. Shower and sleep and a mini-box of Cheerios. I need to remember to bring Cheerios next year.
11:21pm Van 2 starts in Fallbrook
Saturday, April 16
3:33am Van 1 starts in Carlsbad. Van 2 sleeps at Amy's sister Carol's house. That shower felt so great! We had plenty of floor space to spread out and get some sleep. And she provided us with breakfast! Thank you Carol!
8:46am Van 2 starts in La Jolla. I was super grumpy at this hour of the day. Due to a little miscommunication, Van 1 woke us up an hour earlier than we wanted. Sleep is precious. But really, is there much difference between 2 hours of sleep and 3 hours of sleep? It took me until we got to the next exchange to get over it. Sorry for any angry vibes, Van 1!
3:31pm Finish on Coronado Island

Official total running time - 33hours 3minutes 28seconds

Running Form Graphic

Here is a graphical display of perfect running form.  It was developed by a new shoe company.  I'm not trying to sell Newton shoes, but instead encouraging you to review the graphic and compare it to your own running form.

Shirt needs good home

Somehow i ended up with an extra gray ragnar shirt. Is anyone missing a size L shirt?

If we fail to push our body, we fail our body. James Sloan

Ok, so I'm still obsessed with Ragnar.  I'm looking forward to the Hood to Coast in August and the Las Vegas Ragnar in October.  While contemplating the So Cal Ragar, I started to think about my feet. As most of you know, I had pretty bad blisters from the half marathon many of us ran in Agoura a few weeks before.  I tried to use moleskin, but because the blisters were so big, the moleskin wasn't really that effective.  For the entire 20 miles I ran, the blisters kept getting worse so that by the time I was done, my feet looked like hamburger meat.  I would have thought my time would get slower and slower the longer I ran, but I didn't.  I just pushed through the pain and focused on my run.  I love running.  It is the only time where my mind just shuts down and I think of nothing except my body and the run itself.  It is therapeutic for me.

I wrote an email to my niece who is starting to get interested in running.  I included a few of my favorite quotes and thought you all might enjoy them too.

You don't stop running, because you are old, you get old, because you stop running.
Dipsea Demon 

Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction.
William James

BTW  My feet are starting to look normal again. Hooray for normal looking feet! Boo for orthodics that don't fit.  I finally have a pair that fit my feet.  I have been running with those poorly fitted orthodics for three years.  I need to throw them away now.  BAD ORTHODICS!  BAD! BAD!  I never had blister problems until those stupid things.  Hopefully, I will be blister-free going forward.
James

Van rented for 2012 Ragnar

I just reserved two 15 passenger vans for 2012 Ragnar. James

Saturday run

Underwood Farms at 7am

POSE method of Running

I've shared this with Rebecca, because she has had knee issues in the past, because her running style is not mechanically sound. For many of us, we were never taught how to run, we either just did it or we have been taught incorrectly. There is a method that was developed several years ago that the USA Triathlon team adopted as part of their training regimen. CHI running and barefoot running are additional methods that have gained some traction lately too. All of them really emphasize one thing and that is helping the body to run the way it was mechanically designed by taking full advantage of your joints, bones, muscles, and tendons and reducing impact to the body. Running properly also increases speed while reducing effort.

I have a POSE DVD in Moorpark (currently Rebecca is borrowing it) and I have a POSE method book.

The following are some YouTube videos that Rebecca has found to help describe POSE.
The first is POSE 101 by RunnersWorld.

Here is a video to show you bad form and proper form.

This is a guy named jhuffman52 that has posted several YouTube videos showing training techniques to help you improve your running. These are all POSE exercises. Once you click on the link noted, you'll see several other of his videos that show the training techniques. This is Rebecca's favorite.

I hope you find this useful.

James

More pictures

Here are all my pictures for John and everyone - Ragnar 2011

Vegas October 21st-22nd

Call me crazy, but I am totally in for Vegas in 6 months. Who is with me? We can pair up with another team of 6 from Vegas if we want, or if we have enough people we can do a full team of 12. Early registration, for the best deal, expires June 30th. So that will give you time to forget about the pain from LA.

Email subscription

Thanks to Rebecca, I have now added an email subscription to this blog.  See bottom left portion of the blog.

For now, I will remove the automatic email updates you all have been getting so you can manage yourself how you want to follow this blog.  I will also send an email to many of our running friends encouraging them to join our blog.  I envision this blog being more than just a gathering place for Ragnar, but a place we can all share ideas and ask questions about running.

If you choose to subscribe to this blog, you'll get an email each day sometime between 5-7pm of any new items that have been posted.  It will not publish comments to blog posts.  If you still want to receive comments through email, let me know.  I can keep that for only 10 people (dumb blogger limitations). 


Dave, I'm thinking the Running Club can use this to post your weekly run locations, if you like.  That way you don't have to manage the email list. It will instead be self managed.

Testing email subscription

This is a test post to see how the new email subscription widget works.

Team Awards

Here are some team awards.
Difficulty Awards
Amazing Award for the longest and most difficult legs: Dave Greding 25.2 miles with two legs with an overall difficulty of Very Hard and one Hard.
Hills Award for the most combined elevation difficulty: Wade Altom with two Very Hard and one Medium elevation difficulty.
Distance Award for the second longest overall distance: John Stewart for running 21.8 miles with one Very Hard and two Medium overall difficulty legs.

Speed Awards
Speedy Gonzales Award for the fastest overall pace: Nikki Fenske who averaged 8:03 minute miles for her 15.7 miles that she ran. She also receives the Sandbagger Award for estimating a 9:00 minute mile pace, but cutting off nearly a full minute from the "estimate". "I'm not fast, why does everyone think I am fast?!"
Almost Made it Award for the second fastest time: Trevor Kavanagh for running 13.8 miles total at an overall pace of 8:35 minute miles. Just think what will happen if you train Trevor. :-)
Fastest and Most Difficult Award: Wade Altom for averaging an 8:39 mile pace while still running 17.8 miles of mostly hills.
I still can't beat Wade Award: Dave Greding who ran at an 8:50 average pace for all of his 25.2 miles with hills. Some day you'll beat Wade.

Other Awards
Best Van Slave for being all things to Van personnel: Tiffany Pratt. Yep, Van 2 was jealous we didn't have a van slave.
Mercy Award: Tied Wade Altom for switching legs with James Sloan to save James' achilles AND AnneMarie Sloan for filling in Danielle's spot at the last minute without training and then switching with Rebecca to save Rebecca's knees.
Spreadsheet Award for making a better spreadsheet than I had created last year. That says a lot, I was proud of my spreadsheet. Tom Omer
Get Out of My Way Award for sharp elbows hitting participants, spectators and friends: Amy Adams
I'm Just Going to Do This Award for gutting out her last leg, despite her anxiety about her knees and for having team members willing to finish for her. Rebecca Greding
Most Progress Award For making such drastic running progress in such a short period of time and for even tackling Hells Hill at the end of third leg to end her first Ragnar Relay. Laura Wright. Tom Omer is a very close second because of the amazing progress he has made in such a short period of time. I remember the first several times he would come to the running club, he would only do 1/2 or a 1/3 of the club run. Now he's running four times a week and keeping up with Dave and Wade.
Best Estimator Award for running closest to the estimate average pace. Amy Adams who was only 0:03 off her estimate.
Soggy Shorts Award for soaking their shorts naturally: Tied AnneMarie Sloan and Rebecca Greding.
Weird Science Award for 100+ science related discussions during Ragnar: Tom Omer, Tiffany Pratt and Chad Wright.
Nastiest Blister Award: James Sloan (nominated by Amy Adams).
Captain my Captain award to James Sloan for being the BEST 2011 Ragnar captain. Thanks for all your hard work. You made this event incredibly fun and we all had an amazing time. Thanks James!!! (Nominated by Dave Greding)
Best Police Avoidance for dodging a crazy cop who nearly caused a multi-car accident on the Corondo Bridge by making a U-Turn from the far right lane across heavy traffic in all lanes to get to the median. Stupid Cop! Mike Adams.
Run Until You Barf Award: John Stewart. Way to leave it all on the course, John (pun intended) (Nominated by Tom Omer)
High Jump Over a Dead Cat Award: Michael Barnett. Yuck!
Most Entertaining Psychiatric Break-downs: Rebecca Greding (Nominated by Wade Altom)

I updated Tom's spreadsheet, but here are the paces with distance in order. (Tom, can you think of a formula to create some sort of weighted average pace to better compare distance and pace, since shorter distances are easier to have a higher pace?)
1) Nikki 15.7 miles 8:03 pace
2) Trevor 13.8 miles 8:35 pace
3) Wade Altom 17.8 miles 8:39 pace
4) Dave Greding 25.2 miles 8:50 pace
5) James Sloan 20.0 miles 8:50 pace
6) Amy Adams 16.8 miles 8:57 pace
7) Tom Omer 16.0 miles 9:03 pace
8) John Stewart 21.8 miles 10:07 pace
9) Michael Barnett 12.1 miles 10:10 pace
10) AnneMarie Sloan 15.6 miles 10:53 pace
11) Laura Wright 12.4 miles 11:48 pace
12) Rebecca Greding 13.3 miles 12:31 pace

If you all have other awards you want to mention, please do.

Post race party and movie screening

I had an awesome experience at Ragnar and I appreciate all of the work that went into our team - I can't believe the level of organization involved - and all the encouragement. It was so much fun I don't really want it to end. So I propose that we have a team party at the Wright's house to compare stories, review results, analyze strategies, and make awesome plans for next year's Ragnar (we've been talking about renting an RV. the benefits are endless, including showers whenever we want, sleeping along the way and not being called out of bed an hour early ;P). Also I can't wait to watch the vid, John, and thanks again for being the official editor! We need to plan it when James and Anne Marie can come too. Who's in?

Ragnar is...

Ragnar is grueling, fun, painful, and exhilarating.    The race was full of laughs, flailing elbows, runners rabies, nervous poops, anxious pees, moleskin, pre-wrap and post-wrap, dissing fellow team members and other random Ragnar participates and cheering on more.  Star gazing, wildflowers, smurf slippers, waking up to screaming people, sleeping drool, and waking up an hour too early.  I see fields of dead people.  Finding parking spots, deft maneuvers of a 15 passenger van, running up river banks, running through treacherous terrain, signing new waivers, running through mobs of people as if you were the original frogger from the game.  Hot temperatures, chucking water bottles, perfect silent and cool night time runs.  Hills, Hell Hill and glorious flats or down hill runs.  Mountain lions, barely nude people who finished in 24 hours and biggest losers who we are not quite sure they ever actually finished the race, but we know we definitely beat both teams.  Ragnar.  There is so much to describe, but I can't do it justice.

PS Thanks to all of you for making Ragnar so much fun.  From Tom, John, Amy and Nikki arranging places for us to shower and chillax to all of the energy (or sometimes lack thereof) cheering each other on during the race.  Thanks to Chad and Mike for their incredible driving skills so that that we could just relax and focus on the race and not where we were.  Most of the time I had no idea where we were, I just knew who was running, who was next and how many more runners were left until I had to run.

A few more random favorites

Van 2!! Ready to run through the night. (Note Papa Smurf's moon boots. Yes!)
Amy couldn't get enough of the peanut butter M&Ms

Exchange 31 - David to Wade

David after rocking 9.7 miles

Waiting for James . . .

Running to the finish

Victorious finish on the beach!
LOVE you Ragnar!

Gredings are adorable.

We laugh in the face of pain!

Random pictures

Aaaaaand CUT!

Congratulations to team 4! Awesome job to all runners, drivers and van slaves! And before all the movies and pictures we took get lost, forgotten or scattered to the four corners of our houses, I'd like to grab everything and store it on my computer so I can start to edit something together.

I'd be more than happy to download the movies or photos directly off the device but If you're anything like me, you probably had a few personal photos/videos on your camera before Ragnar. If you want to download the media to your computer, let me know when you have done so, and we can arrange a time that I could come by with a portable hard drive and copy the Ragnar stuff off. If it is just a few pictures, email works best - stewartvfx@gmail.com

James, I am not sure if you or AnneMarie took and photos or video but if so, let me know and I can point you to a place that you can host the media and then I can download it.

Thanks, and again, great job to everyone!
John

Van 2

Ditto what Laura said.  We'll keep track of all of the van rental and gas costs and then I'll communicate what everyone owes later.  AnneMarie and I are planning to bring our own food.

Van 1

A few things:
Chad and I will be keeping track of the $$ spent on van rentals and gas, and then dividing it up at the end. We'll let you each know what your share is after the race.
Like James said, let's all just bring whatever food we think we will need for ourselves (but if Amy O wants to bake cookies to share, I will happily take them anytime!). We will have an ice chest available and also one of those huge drink coolers full of ice water. I'll bring plastic cups too. If there is anything else that you think we will need, please let me know ahead of time so we can figure out how to make everything fit. We should have plenty of room but I'm trying hard not to pack my entire closet. You think I'm kidding?
I forget whose house we are showering/sleeping in during our overnight portion - can we bring some kind of thank you gift?
Is there anything that I am forgetting?

Final Leg Changes & Starting addresses

They posted what they say are the FINAL leg changes.  The website has been updated.  They will provide maps at the race start.  I have re-printed the bible, so I will also bring a copy.
Leg 9 – changed from 6.0 to 6.1 miles (Amy)
Leg 10 – changed from 5.5 to 5.4 miles (AnneMarie)
Leg 28 – changed from 5.7 to 6.1 miles (Tom)
Leg 29 - changed from 4.0 to 3.0 (Michael)
Leg 35 – changed from 4.2 to 5.2 miles (Rebecca)
Leg 36 – changed from 7.1 to 6.1 miles (Wade)

New distances for those that had a change.
Tom 15.6 to 16.0 miles
Michael 13.1 to 12.1 miles
Amy 16.7 to 16.8 miles
AnneMarie 15.7 to 15.6 miles
Rebecca 12.3 to 13.3 miles
Wade 21 to 20 miles

Starting Line Address: 22 Huntington Street, Huntington Beach, CA 92648.
Exchange 6 Address - 6362 E. La Palma Ave.  Anaheim, CA  92807

Team Captain Meeting Minutes (in case you are interested).

One additional word of advice about food.  Don't plan on waiting for your team to eat a meal while on Ragnar.  You should instead manage your own food intake as you need it.  If you wait for your team, it will never be a good time and you will crash.

I added phone car chargers to the checklist. 

John and I tested the Ragnar App last night.  While not that pretty and with a few quirks, it seems to work pretty well.

Race Checklist

I put together a checklist for everyone.  Each van may want to coordinate food purchases or other common items, or you can decide to just bring your own stuff or bring stuff to share.  I also created a link on the left hand side of the blog for quick reference.  The checklist is editable, so feel free to add anything you think I might have missed.  Only a few more days.  This week should be more of a recovery/low mileage week as we get closer to the race.  For some of us battling injury, we'll just have to manage the best we can.
Here is the url, just in case you can't follow the link noted above.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sPXVUnydNcsEl-WoWm9mNV7EyUA0zO5Jt7mCRIyVG64/edit?hl=en&authkey=COaSu8wC

Team Captains Meeting Notes

One more week people!  I'm so excited.  I hope you are.  It's going to be a blast.

Tonight there was a team captains meeting.  They will email notes out on Monday, but here are some highlights.

1. Course changes. Their will only be minor course changes that will be handed out with the RagMag (a book similar to the race bible).  The minor changes will address areas of the course where there may be road construction, so a runner may have to go only slightly further than what is noted currently.
2. Start & Exchange 6.  Vans must be at their respective start (Van 1 - Start, Van 2 - Ex 6) 1 hour before their scheduled start.  At the respective start, each group will receive their race packet, van placards, flags, etc.  All shirts will be given at the start.  Van 1 must collect the shirts for Van 2 and give them at Ex 6.
3. Start.  Someone from Van 1 will need to provide a credit card number.  The credit card will be charged if the Ragnar flags that are handed out are not returned ($15 per flag).  Also, one cell phone number from each van must be provided to Ragnar as a contact.  Those numbers are as follows: Van 1: John Stewart 805-338-5211, Van 2: James Sloan 805-990-2975.  BTW  It would be a good idea for us all to have each other's cell phone number.  I think I have everyone's except Trevor, Michael and Tom's. Post on here or text me your numbers (Trevor, Michael and Tom).
4. Flags must be used anytime you cross a street, otherwise the team can incur a safety violation.
5. PACE.  We need to double check that each runner pace is correct on the Ragnar website.  It looks as though some of your paces are not correct. We corrected one blaring error (you know who you are and I won't mention your name here).  The following are the paces as listed on the official Ragnar Site.  They were not consistent with Tom's spreadsheet.  If they are wrong, we need them updated immediately and we need Tom's spreadsheet to also have the correct time for our estimates.  Our start time may have to change as a result.  Nikki 9:00, John 9:00, Trevor 8:45, Michael 10:00, Tom 9:45, Laura 10:45, Dave 9:00, James 9:00, Amy 9:00, Rebecca 10:45, AnneMarie 10:00, Wade 9:00.  I put in bold those paces that were inconsistent with Tom's spreadsheet.  If you change the website, let me know so I can change Tom's spreadsheet too.
6. Van placard provided at your van start must be visible at all times. It is your entry pass to the exchanges.  There are no parking fees at all on this course.  Hooray! Last year we had to pay to park at the finish.
7. Vests are required on anyone outside of the van between 6:45pm and 6:45am, no matter if it is light or not.
8. Running pacers are allowed on any leg between 6:45pm and 6:45am.  Bike pacers are only allowed on trail routes.  
9. Bikes. They STRONGLY discourage bikes.  There will be a full moon, so visibility should be great during the night time.  Bikes are only allowed on small portions of legs 12, 14 and 17.
10. Slap bracelet must be worn at all times.  If lost, we need to notify Ragnar staff.  They will think we are disqualified if we run without it.
11. NO VAN SUPPORT legs simply mean that only runners are permitted outside the van on these legs.  This is for safety reasons.  The van is still permitted to pull off the side of the road completely (meaning all four tires must be off the road) during that leg to cheer the runner on, but no one can exit the vehicle.
12. Food will be for sale at the start, ex 12, ex 30, and finish.
13. Sleeping is permitted on designated areas (grass fields) at ex 12, ex 18, ex 24 and ex 30.  If you want to do that, bring a tarp and sleeping bag.
14. Showers.  There are no areas on the course where we can take a shower.  They will try to arrange for that next year.
15. Starbucks hot chocolate will be offered free at several exchanges.  Hooray for that.
16. Finish.  There will be plenty of parking (so they say) at the finish line.  They will take a free team photo at the finish and allow us to download it after the race.  Free cup of noodles at the end of the race.  
17. Whew!  We are almost there.  Wahoo!

iPhone App for Ragnar

We will be using the "Relay Tracker for Ragnar 2011" app during this year's Ragnar.  It is an iPhone app that can also run on the iPad.  The cost is $1.99, but John and I have already paid for it and we will be in separate vans.  If you want the app yourself, the app has the ability to sync between multiple devices.  John's app will be the master and mine will track the Van 2 progress.  There is a website where our loved ones (if we have any after leave them for 33+ hours) can keep track of our progress.  Here is the website.  You'll some data on the website, but it looks like test data of people trying to figure out how to use the app.  John and I will test the app a few times before the race.
http://www.runningescapes.com/relaytracker/RaceMap.aspx?RaceName=Southern%20California

If you do download the app, you'll need to enter the team key "A92CFD1F" under the multi-device setup and then under Race Set up, select the "Sync Data" button to get the data from John's phone.

The app doesn't have the best graphics and isn't always intuitive, but it looks like it is the best app out there for now and it sure beats the process we had last year.

Ragnar Team Movie Short

John Stewart and I were talking tonight and John mentioned it might be fun to make a movie of our Ragnar experience.  Many of us have seen different versions of Ragnar movie shorts from the Incredibles to the one that included the team signing a song in their vans with other random shots of race activity.  Many of you may also know that Ragnar sponsors a movie short competition that includes a grand prize of a free team registration to any future Ragnar.  We have some creative people on our team, so this could be fun and could potentially be profitable.  At a minimum it could be a fun way to remember our experience.  Thoughts?  Ideas?

Race Start Changed to 7:15 & Road Rations

Ragnar sent an email saying our start time has changed 
They changed our start time to 7:15am. I am going to change the prior timeline summary post by moving up everything by 30 minutes. 

Ragnar also notified us of an option to have food delivered to us at the starting line.
The company is called "Road Rations". If you click on the link, you will be taken to an overview of what they have to offer.  The meals are supposed to be the perfect nutrition and calories needed for a relay race.  There are essentially three options.  We have to order by team, so if anyone is interested, please let me know by April 2nd.

HungerBlast was developed with you in mind, by a leading chef and acclaimed kinesiologist.  This meal pack sees you through the entire race from early Day 1 with five nutritionally balanced, calorically sound, tongue-teasing selection of meals and snacks is hygienically packaged to maintain freshness; easy to store, transport and consume – even in the confines of a crowded van!  Two breakfasts, two lunches, one dinner, and mucho munchies.  Total calorie count 4690. Price $115

UltraMiler ÜberMeal is like a prix fixe feast specially modified for the über runner. Complete nutrition to see  you through dinner Day One to lunch Day Two, in a three-meal combo power packed for endurance and performance. One dinner, one breakfast, one lunch, loads of convenience. Total calorie count 3055. Price $80.

Midnight Salvation When the diners are closed and you’re staring in a gas station at a stack of corn nuts and L’il Debbies, you’ll wish you had this grab bag of nutritious, portion-correct, REAL foods to satisfy your hunger and fuel your aching body. One dinner, one breakfast, and a bundle of hearty snacks.  Total calorie count 2130. Price $40

Tag along

Both groups are renting 15 passenger vans.  We have one and potentially two interested parties who would like to join us for the race as an alternate runner/driver/safety officer.  Mike Adams schedule may allow him to join us after all and I am sure Amy would approve of that.  Tiffany Pratt wants to join us to check out what all this Ragnar stuff is all about.  Right now we have 7 people in each van, if we added Mike to Van 2 and Tiffany to Van 1, we would both have 8 in each van.  That could work.  Let me know your thoughts.