Ragnar Chicago

June 8th and 9th was the Ragnar Relay from Madison to Chicago. Ragnar is a series of regional relays that cover around 200 miles and go for almost two full days. It's a fun even more than a race and most teams come up with funny names for their teams and decorate their vans accordingly. Most teams are made up of 12 runners and travel in two vans. Each van takes three sections of the 200 mile course. After each leg the van can go rest somewhere for three or four hours before meeting up with the other van to take over. Each runner runs three legs, somewhere between 5 and 10 miles each.

While it is a ton of fun, it's also very physically taxing. You drive and run through the night, don't sleep much if at all, and run 18 miles in less than two days. You also are supposed to predict your average pace per mile. I went with a 6:45 which is easily doable, but running hard then stopping and sitting for a few hours, then running hard and stopping and sitting in a car for a fews hours makes the legs pretty stiff. It was also 90 degrees during the day so the sweat and clothing can lead to serious chaffing, which I don't usually get, but did this time. In the bag they give to each team was a can of something called "Dry Goods". It's basically Gold Bond in an aerosol can with menthol for cooling. Let me tell you, it felt great.

Our team name was Mad-Chi (Madison-Chicago) Disease: Crazed Holsteins. We were given costumes made by our captain that were cow themed complete with ears and pinnies spray painted with black spots. They really looked like cows. We embraced the part with mooing and milking.

There was an unfortunate part of our decorations in that we had a mural of some tired runners. One of them was hunched over in exhaustion and one was so tired he fell onto all fours. It turns out they were drawn a little too close together and it looked like they passing the baton, to make up my own track-themed euphemism. Well of course that caused quite a stir among the rest of the teams. Every hand off location we pulled into came with the audible thud of the volunteer's and other team's jaws hitting the ground. It was kind of funny to see all the heads turning as we drove past. We left it up because at closer looks it was obvious what it was intended to be, plus our 55 year old mother in law grandmother team captain is the one who drew it. So it had to stay.

As far as running I ran a 6.5 or so mile leg on the Ice Age Trail to Dousman, WI. That was a fun one and I did it with about a 6:10 average pace which is flying for me. It was 6.5 miles (I think) in 37 minutes. It was also really hot. The next leg was a 7 miler at 2 in the morning through Racine. It ended at the Prairie School whatever that is. I was a little behind my anticipated pass but whatever. The last leg was through the Northwestern University campus. 5 miles and I got to run past their silly football stadium. Always great to combine two of my biggest hobbies, running and college football. That leg I got to the finish line about ten minutes before my van did so it seemed faster than it was.

All in all it's a very fun event. One I recommend to anyone who has the chance. They also put them on in Minnesota, Tennessee, Nevada, Florida, and others.

Every time I put up a video I use songs I guess I'm not supposed to. I'll still try. I think it's ok as long as I don't put them on youtube. Anyone who knows about that kind of stuff let me know what I can do.