Daisy's baptism day

Ragnar Del Sol 2011

Everyone either loves or hates running. I used to hate it when I was in high school but now I love it. I wish I had more time to do it. I must be built for it or something because I can run fairly fast with little training, compared to some runners I know.

Colin and Jenny, soon to be wed.

Me after my second leg at daybreak.
I am handing off the slap bracelet (baton) to the next runner on our team.

I have wanted to run the Ragnar relay since 2007 (after our first adventure race). Timing has never worked out until this year. Last summer I found out that the US Attorneys put together a team and I asked to be on the email list. I talked a friend into accompanying me, and Scott Gohus and I were in. We were put in a rental van with 4 strangers and spent 30 hours together, running, sleeping, driving and having a good time. Everyone in our van was great. 2 are US Attorneys, two are professors at ASU (who just got engaged to each other by the way) and Scott and I. The relay consists of 2 vans of 6 runners. Each runner runs 3 legs. My legs were 8.6, 4.3 and 3.8 miles. I ran them at paces of 7:44, 7:39 and 7:06 per mile. The first two legs were mostly up hill while the last leg was some downhill with rolling up hills.

We had to use these silly flags when crossing roads because last year a boy was struck by a car an killed. We got yelled at during our first legs because we didn't have the flags with us as we walked on the road.

Scott on his first leg.

Waiting to start our last leg.

Our first long break between legs we ate dinner at IHOP and tried then to sleep at the Anthem Community Center. I lied there for 2 hours and maybe slept for 15 minutes. It was loud, Scott snored, and a blanket over hardwood flooring wasn't very comfortable. During the second break we crashed at the parents house of one of the runners. This was a huge blessing as I was able to get 2 hours of sleep on a couch and take a shower!!! I don't think the race would have been nearly as fun (especially the last leg and finish) without this pit stop.

Me starting my last leg.

I admit that Audra does a fantastic job and writing about our family. I am left to write about things I do, usually outside projects, and stuff like this. Hers are more useful and meaningful. Mine are the fluff to add to the page count of the book we print at year's end. Audra

Scott's friend. This guy wore that rodeo clown makeup for 30+ hours and ran three times! My face hurts just thinking about it. We crossed paths with him at nearly every exchange.
Our team theme was National Lampoons Vacation. Our name was Aunt Edna's Family Truckster. We had "Aunt Edna" wrapped in canvas on top of the van, a dog dragging along behind us and Walley World shirts to complete the ensemble. Many racers stopped to take photos of our van. A Cave Creek Police officer pulled up along side us and told us how much he liked the movie as did a car full of college guys in Tempe. It was a hit!

Me as Clark Griswold driving the van full of tired runners. This was sunset during our first leg.

At the end they played our theme song "Holiday Road" from the movie, as we crossed the finish line. The other team came in about 5 minutes later. It was a great experience and I will do it again. I am looking for teammates for next year! It took 3 good nights (8-9 hours) of sleep to not feel tired. I am very thankful for a loving wife who handled things at home while I was out on this crazy adventure.