Well, we survived! 195 miles. 26 hours, 45 minutes, and 37 seconds. An 8:20 min/mi pace. Not that we were in it for competition, but we placed 69th out of 216 teams.
The team was, in order of running: Kurt, Donnie, Mike, Kam, Andrew, Rob, Kevin, Justin, Jon, myself, Zimm, and Shawn. Here we are at Levee Park in Winona, blissfully unaware of the pain we would be enduring just over a day later.
Although the weather in this picture looked a little ominous, it was actually perfect. Not too hot and a light sprinkle for Donnie's first leg. About 12 other teams had a noon start time, some with great costumes, like the Lazy Pigs. We'd see them at most of our exchanges.
Donnie running along the highway. Much of the running was done along WI 35, which is not exactly a little used road. There's a good shoulder, though, and we always ran into traffic.
Mike running through a cornfield, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. At least it's a beautiful area we were in.
Kam to Andrew transition in Alma, WI.
Disaster almost strikes as Rob and Andrew fumble the handoff! We had to pass a slap bracelet (yes, an ACTUAL slap bracelet) between runners. I felt very elementary school!
At the first major exchange, and Van 2 is ready to rock! Kevin was the lead runner for our van, taking off from Modena.
He's enjoying it here, little does he know what awaits. Oh, a 500 foot hill?
Justin, you're up!
After Justin's run, it was after 7 pm, so we had to don our "night gear". A reflective vest, headlamp, and butt light. It certainly didn't make the run any better. Jon was the first sucker to need it.
My turn! Despite being about 7:30, I was running straight into the setting sun, so I had the light (which wasn't really needed to start) and my sunglasses. As you see in the next pic, it got pretty dark by the end of my run, so I ditched the glasses about halfway thru.
Go Zimm, Go!!
Shawn, in full get-up.
At this point, it's about 10 pm when Shawn finishes his first leg. Not a lot of night pics, because they don't turn out well. So fast forward a bit to Shawn's second leg. Van 1 has finished their second legs, van 2 has slept and is near Stillwater. Shawn gets another nice run, with the sunrise and a trip over the lift bridge!
Kam starting his final leg. This one was pure punishment, for what, I don't know. 3 miles nice and flat, then a 280 foot climb in under a mile. As we drove it, we felt sorry! But he gutted it out, like a boss!
Rob pulls into Exchange 30, and van 1 is officially done! By this point, we're running about 30-35 minutes ahead of our estimates, which is nice.
It's getting later in the morning, and the previously cool temperatures are rising quickly. While 70 may sound perfect (and it probably is), after 11 miles, and with no cloud cover, it gets pretty hot.
I'm really not excited for Jon to finish. My third leg was only 4.5 miles, but over 2.5 of that was through the Mississippi National River and Rec Area, with no hope of water, or seeing other people. That was surely the worst part of my run. But I did make it!
This is Shawn BEFORE his last run! Something tells me he's wondering why the hell he decided to do this.
And Shawn leads us to the end!!
So we all made it. Personally, despite the pain of Saturday afternoon, all of Sunday, and most of Monday, I had a great time and would probably do it again. I ran significantly faster than I planned, which I was really happy about. I had trained and expected to run about 9:30 a mile, but was about 8:30 over the course.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but bring on Ragnar 2010!!
