OKAY!! I'll spill... a little bit...<br><br>
Last fall sometime, don't recall exactly when, I got a very short message from mcsolar... "evanflein, send me an e-mail at..." so I did, saying, "what's up?" Next thing to come was an invitation from mc through the ragnar site, telling about the relay and asking if I was interested. Ok, well, yeah, le'me think about it... heck YES!!! I've been wanting to do one of these relays ever since hearing about the PNW wimmin doin' Hood to Coast last year. I was so excited to do it, that when he said he needed confirmation in the form of a check, I sent in mine right away. To which mc replied, "got your check, so far it's just you and me so that's 91 miles each..." I said, "Cool, good thing I just got new shoes!" So, he worked on it for the next few months, got all the players lined up, a couple dropped out due to scheduling problems or nagging injuries and alternates were called into play. This was going to be so fun!!<br><br>
Training consisted of lots of hills and then speedwork in the form of 10k mile repeats to replicate what was expected of us on the course. So far so good, no injuries, all systems go, tickets lined up, yada yada yada. As our temps hovered well below zero, I kept thoughts of the desert and Arizona sunshine in my mind. It really kept me going through a very cold January here in Fairbanks! The time came to pack up for the trip, and I packed and unpacked my suitcase probably 8 times before I left, and still overpacked a little bit... SkipAZ orchestrated the airport pickup plan for all of us and a few of us were staying with his sister-in-law who was serving as the most wonderful hostess and "home base" for the group. Skip planned and produced a wonderful pasta dinner Thursday night, followed by dips in the pool and hot tub, much to Maggie the dog's dismay (she didn't like people getting in the water at all!). Others have pictures of this stuff that they'll probably share... I don't...<img alt="sad.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/sad.gif"><br><br>
Friday morning was for last minute shopping and van decorations. Very serious business, that was.<br><img alt="" src="http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/evanflein/Ragnar%20del%20Sol/IMG_0102.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
Ready to go....<br><img alt="" src="http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/evanflein/Ragnar%20del%20Sol/IMG_0103.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br>
Then we took off for the start line in Wickenburg, here we are waiting around for the start.<br><img alt="" src="http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/evanflein/Ragnar%20del%20Sol/IMG_0106.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br>
Perchcreek was our starting runner at 5 pm. Mustang Sally and Perch discussing race strategy... or what to get for dinner later, who knows.<br><img alt="" src="http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/evanflein/Ragnar%20del%20Sol/IMG_0105.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br>
Sans Souci was our style maven, and Soundrunner could only look on with admiration of our esteemed Candian contingent.<br><img alt="" src="http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/evanflein/Ragnar%20del%20Sol/IMG_0104.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br>
Our late seeding time meant we were rated as one of the faster teams, which was both exciting and scary in a way. I don't have a starting shot, but I know others do. Perch said his run was hotter and harder than he thought it would be. (hmmm, wouldn't have some thing to do with a 6 mile run first thing in the morning, would it Steve???) Here he is in the middle of his first run...<br><img alt="" src="http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/evanflein/Ragnar%20del%20Sol/IMG_0110.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
We did the handoff a little later than planned, and I took off and met a barrage of semi truck traffic and steeper hills than I was expecting. (ok, I know someone else has photos here...) This first run was good, but a little harder than I expected given the posted profile of the leg. Seemed steeper, and I sure wasn't counting on all those semi-trucks being right there, one after the other, blowing up sand and grit in my teeth. Oy. My van-mates met me about halfway with water, cheers and cameras (thanks, guys!) which was so very nice and appreciated (well, maybe not the cameras...). As I turned the corner into the exchange area, I was able to put on a kick at the end and slapped the "baton" onto mc's arm and off he went. After a quick recovery walk (my Garmin had my avg pace for this leg @ 7:56, slower than we needed), we piled into the van and drove along past mc, honkin' and hollerin', to meet him down the road. Waiting for him we were treated to a beautiful sunset in the desert.<br><img alt="" src="http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/evanflein/Ragnar%20del%20Sol/IMG_0113.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br>
I know MustangSally has an amazing pic of the sunset that I hope she posts... just beautiful. We were admiring the scenery and enjoying the moment, when we realized mc was coming down the road... fast. Wow, fun to watch that guy run! As he approached, we looked at each other and said, "ok, who has his water?" Lots of blank stares... oops. So Sans Souci runs back to the van to dig out the water, gets caught up in the cattle grate, and Daave had parked soooo far from the road, she was just coming back with mc's water when he blasts by us. We managed to blind him with flashes from our cameras, but no water for mc that time. The pics show the look of "what the fu...??"<br><img alt="" src="http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/evanflein/Ragnar%20del%20Sol/IMG_0115.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br>
Ok, we felt really bad now... time to make it up and move on. He was a little bit pissy with us about it but got over it soon enuf (I think). A little complaining about how hot it was and gee it sure would've been NICE TO HAVE SOME WATER THERE....!!! Ok, we get it... Quick handoff to dAAve and off he went, headlight lighting up the night as he went. We did manage to meet Dave for his mid-run relief, and same with MustangSally who really agreed with me that the hills were a bit greater than portrayed on the maps. She muttered something about these freakin' hills weren't on the map, or maybe it was I really need a nap, or hmmm, we're still not sure. She went by pretty fast for someone who said she'd be our slowest runner in Van #1. Then MS passed the band to SS, who wore the pink skirt with flair and finesse as she tore up the course for an amazingly fast run up to the first major exchange, up hills and over cattle grates, where she passed the baton to Skip who took over for Van #2. Finally done, we could go get some dinner and a short rest before starting round Two.<br>
(Ok, I have to go to bed now... maybe someone from Van 2 wants to take over? Or Van 1 members with their details and photos? I know I got about the worst photos of the event, really...)