Ragnar Relay 2013 - Adirondacks

At the end of September, Diana and I traveled back to NY to compete in the Ragnar Relay in the Adirondacks. We have done other Ragnars in the Midwest, and this race covered 196 miles from Saratoga Springs to Lake Placid. We had a good group of return Ragnar friends with Nick and Michelle from Madison, WI and Nikki and Joe now living in Seattle, WA. We completed the team with 3 first timers: Erin from Madison, WI, my brother Phil, and high school friend Matt. Unfortunately we were not able to recruit enough people for a 12-person team and only had 9. That meant we would all have to run a little extra to make up for the missing runners.

We all got into NY and enjoyed a nice dinner at the Mitsche's the night before the race. The Mitsche's were also nice enough to volunteer for the race at one of the exchanges in Saratoga, Thanks! Race morning we headed up to Saratoga in our 15 passenger van and started at 9:30 under cloudy skies and comfortable temperatures. As many teams dress up for these races, our team had a party theme... although due to everyone living apart our team ended up with an odd conglomeration of outfits including neon party gear, fleece onesies from target, some mohawks, flannel, and even a coonskin cap (see all pictures below).

It was a challenging but fun night and day of running, but the fall foliage up north was beautiful and the night runs under the stars were awesome. We finished with sore bodies just under 30 hours and placed 88th out of 200ish teams. Not too bad for a bunch consisting of non-runners and runners who didn't train for the race. Following the race we were greeted with a great early thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes at my parent's house. The hospitality from both sets of parents was great and we can't thank you all enough.

It will be tough as friends continue to move around the country, but we will see when and where the next Ragnar will be!

Brothers ready to run! and Phil sporting the mohawk!

Me mid run just after nighttime hours began so the vest and headlamp were required.

The south shore of Lake George. We ran up the west side of Lake George... and then Lake Champlain.

When not in the van, we did group exercises in our party glasses.

Our nighttime attire for the cold nights.

Diana waiting to start her night leg. Our team is easy to pick out with those glasses.

Diana finishing her last leg in style. 80's party neon style.

Enjoying the fall foliage!

The finish in Lake Placid!

The party van! The messy, smelly party van.

All legs complete! With some great teamwork and last minute changes throughout the night, we put together a great race.