R2P RIP

In yet another totally disorganized R2P event team "Crazy Notion to Reach the Ocean" overcame the races total lack of support and leadership to place first overall in the ethical runners category. I've included a few pictures of some of the action that occurred with the van 2 team members.

The first photo is of our "blogger meeting" at the leg 7 transition. We had the good fortune to meet Annette and her teammate Kristina , and get a picture of the blogging R2P runners. From left to right that's me in the hat, Rob, Kristina, Annette, Michelle, and Jenny. The next shot is of the hand off between Jenny's leg 8 and my leg 9. The third photo is an action shot of some really great race support that helped propel Rob well past the "Swiss Team" before this leg was complete. The fourth and last photo is a little eye candy for the women reading this blog. Yes that's Steve the "chick magnet" and runner extraordinaire.

I can only speak for Van 2 but we had a really great time during this relay. Steve was again willing to provide the Yeti for transportation which is a big white Ford Expedition. He also ran three very consistent legs but fooled us with a disguise on his night run. All I'll say about his disguise is that it sure was a starry night out and I must have been blinded by a bright planet or something. I need to commend Steve for being able to hold down his pre-race fried chicken and jo jo's during his first leg. Jenny ran hard, overcoming a recent nasty ankle injury. I think the only thing holding her ankle to her leg was the tape job she had. Her energy, wit, and constant dialogue really helped us along the way. Rob set the tone on the final legs with a primal scream that got everyone motivated to push the envelope and get under the 24 hour mark. This scream was powered by a massive "Mondo Burger". Michelle acted like she was shot out of a cannon and went sub 10 for her entire last leg. Rick ran tough his first two legs and then really cowboy'ed up for the last leg on the sandy beach and got us under 24 hours.

Our team all agreed that this event lacked in every category. I'm sure it takes a great deal of work to put on a relay of this magnitude. I'll guess that the RD took the time to arrange the proper permits, insurance, sponsors, shirts, medals, post race snacks, and post race awards and dinner. What lacked was any semblance of organization with the volunteers and a complete lack of race officials along the course. We awarded ourselves first place in the ethical team category because the rules stated that we needed to delay our run by one hour at the Elma transition between leg 19 and leg 20. Per our understanding teams that started at 9:00 AM like us had a one hour imposed delay. Teams that started at 10:00 AM had a two hour delay, and the really fast teams that started at 11:00 AM had a three hour delay. The delay was imposed to space the finish times out so that the finish did not need to be set up until 8:00 AM on Saturday. Many teams decided that the rule was not written for them and they skipped the delay. Our team chose to abide by the rule and wait. For our honesty, even though we indicated the delay on our time sheet, the official time sheet added the hour we waited to our finish time which changed our overall finishing place. You would have though that they would have had a race official at the transition point for the delays to monitor the team starts but instead they had a teenage kid that was wrapped in a blanket sitting in a chair that had no knowledge of the delay times. I could rant on and on but the bottom line is we had a great time despite the problems.

I'm in the process of trying to organize an "Epic Run" next weekend. tc suggested on a whim that a Tiger Mt. 24 Summits run would be just the thing to help me prepare for Cascade Crest 100. Don't talk crazy talk to a crazy person because it sounded like a good idea to me! That's 64 miles with 21,000 feet of climbing! What could be better? I'll post some more information as the plan comes together.

Thanks to all my team members on Crazy Notion to Reach the Ocean. We did a great job! Patch, George K., George C, Emily C., Margaret B, Brian, Rick, Steve, Michelle, Rob, & Jenny.