Ragnar Recap

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!!

DONE!!!

A tough third leg for all of us, but we are victorious. Now, the celebration. Later, a recap with more pics.

Home Stretch

Van 1 has finished! Now it's all up to us. Still running fast, a pre 3:00 is very possible. That's a sub 27 hour run for 195 miles.

4:50

Well, run 2 is up and we're 20 minutes ahead of schedule. This is a short one, just 3.6 miles. I've been up about 2 hours now, so I'm ready enough.

--

And.... DONE! 3.6 in 30:30 for an 8:28 pace. We're now 24 minutes ahead of projected. Kurt, Andrew and Rob are just killing this course, all running sub-7:30.

On Deck

Here it is. Starting the first leg. 6.9 miles straight into the sun.

And now I'm done. Under an hour! 8:40 pace, which is my fastest time! I'm really happy and pumped up about it now.

4 Runners Down

Kurt, Donnie, Mike and Kam are done with their first legs, and Andrew took the course about 10 minutes ago. Still 3 hours before I get my turn.

30 to go.

Less than 30 minutes for Kurt. 8 more hours for me.

Ragnar Is Imminent

So it's just over 24 hours to the kickoff of our Ragnar Relay 2009. By noon on Friday, we'll be under way. Latest prediction has our team finishing in about 27 hours 30 minutes. Updates (not that this is a super hot blog) will be posted from the road, either by Blackberry or if we can find a hot spot.

I'm nervous. I've trained, maybe not enough. I've put in 190 miles worth of training runs, but since I've never done something like this before, I have no clue if that's enough. I just hope I don't break.

Tree Escapes Certain Death

The elm tree has escaped a horrible and tragic end! I had come home early a few weeks ago to find a city forestry inspector checking out my house, for what reason I had no clue. I went outside to chat, and he gives me the news... "Your tree has Dutch Elm."

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

One of the (few) things I love about my house/yard is the tree in the backyard. It gives great shade and the canopy covers my entire yard. To lose that tree would drastically change the landscape of the entire neighborhood.

Below is a picture of the tree on the day of the trimming. Notice the large brown spot on the left (east) side of the tree. That's the Dutch Elm disease.

Another picture looking north.

The options are few: cut down the tree or take a gamble with trimming/treating. Taking down the tree would cost nearly $5k, given the huge canopy and sheer girth of the tree. Trimming/treating would be more palatable, $1200, but offers no guarantees of success.

I rolled the dice...

During the trimming, although the largest branch has already been mostly taken out.

A picture to the north. Notice the difference!

I'm hopeful. George from Northeast Tree said they found 20' of clear wood, which is a good sign. Additionally, it clears some of the weird growth patterns the tree had (resting on itself).

The treatment portion was on Monday, so now it's just wait and see. The next year is the key. If it survives that, treatment will continue every three years to keep the disease at bay.

All Porsche Car Show

Last weekend I went to the All Porsche car show in Roseville. This was my first show as a member of Nord Stern, the local chapter of the Porsche Club of America, so I wasn't sure what to expect. What I found was some awesome machinery on display, and cool people to talk to and meet.

I'm not a huge fan of the really early Porsches, like the three 356s pictured above, but these were in great shape. The colors from the 50s and 60s really stood out in from the typical Guards Red that infests the marque (of course, I'm guilty).

Here's a nice overhead shot of the car show portion. They also had a concours section, where the cars are all judged and points are given. Most concours reward originality, of which my car has very little.

The highlight of the show may have been this Carrera GT. Less than 1300 of these were made, and each was over $450k! The owner (second from right) was really cool and willing to talk about the car. I had seen this car 2 years prior, and the sound it makes can only be described as pure evil.

Another 356 coupe here, this one is a vintage racer. It's hard to grasp how small this car was. I bet it only weighs 1800 lbs.

A nice picture here, my car is three up. A few different generations of 944/968, which are very closely related. A 968 is closest, with two 944 Turbos, all Guards Red, of course.

Not all the exotica was Porsche, though. In the parking lot was someone's Tesla. Maybe the future of sports cars right here. All electric, with a Lotus backbone.