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.