Have no idea how to fill out this RR so that it would actually apply to this event, so I am just going to tell the story here. Get some sustinance and a cushy seat...it's going to be a long one.
Group started showing up at ALAMO rental car before 8. Goal was to be on the road by 9. We loaded up the vans, took some pics in our shirts, and were off. Zach and Tom thought it would be funny to call me and tell me they were running late, so they both got titty-twisters for that. We piled in the two vans and started at 9am for our 85 mile treck up to Wickenburg. We got there right at 10:30 with our 11:00 race time looming. We checked in and got our stuff as Harry started changing and getting ready. There were already teams out on the course who started at 9 and 10. I think they started hourly up until 6pm. (The fastest teams start last). After Harry took off we wrote a bit on our vans with shoe polish. (There's a contest for best van, but teams go ALL OUT for this, and with the time I or any of us had leading up to this, I was happy we remembered shoe polish)! We also discovered that the bike was scraping the tint off the back window, so I am sure I'll get the bill for that. Oh well. As Van 1 took off to cheer Harry on and start their leg, Van 2 headed off for some mexican food!! We kept the bean consupmtion down to a minimum as we were going to be in tight quarters for the next 30 hours!!! After eating we headed out on the course in time to cheer Paulette on, and sing "Sabatoge" to her as she ran by!!! As van 1 continued their leg, Van 2 headed out to lake pleasant to rest up and get ready. We played a bit of nerf football and talked and laughed A LOT. Chatted a bit with AZ Tri Club, and then Jot's team rolled in next to us as well. Mostly the boys entertained themselves with spotting and commenting on the hot chicks. Soon it was time for me to get changed and ready to rock and roll. Originally, starting at 1, I should have been running at 6pm. Would have been cooler and sun setting at this point, but with the earlier start time, I was now running at 4. It was 80 something and hot in the sun. Nice. Van 1 rolled in and we all went down to cheer on Sandy as she finished Van 1's leg, and I began the legs for Van 2. We decided some friendly competition had to kick in here, and I was told I had to run down Jot. (Tri club friend running on another team). I thought there was no way I could do it because he was so far out ahead of me, but it took me about 20 min and I finally caught him!! Van 1 also stopped to cheer me on and did their best cheerleader Pyramid for me!! I was waiting for them to throw Paulette up into a basket toss, but that would have probably ended badly, so pyramid was the way to go! THANKS GUYS!!! My first leg was labeled as VERY HARD, but I thought it was great. Challenging, yes, but I still was able to run at a good pace and had the fastest time of all my legs. 6.6 miles, lots of hills, 9:15 pace. I handed off to Rick and (of course) my stomach started in with it's usual post-run problems. Luckily my stomach cooperated and timed it's bouts with the port-o-potty locations, but it was never quite right again until the next day. We continued running into sundown and finised up our legs just before 10pm. I rode the bike for Zach (the bike provides light and company as you are out in the dark by your lonesome) as he did our last leg. We met up with Van 1 at the high school exchange point, and saw their fun costumes and I even received a tiera!! WOOT! We were all chatting and catching up and some dude came over and said to be quiet..they were sleeping. YEAH DORK! Your laying in the parking lot 30 ft from the chute where people are congregated and talking!! If you want to sleep go to a quieter corner of the HUGE parking lot!! Dorks!! There were people laying all over in sleeping bags. There was no way they were going to be able sleep so close to exchange. Van 1 started up again and we were ready for our down time. Off to Galagars pub to eat some nasty food. Zach didn't order becuase he can't eat after running (sorry!). We all agreed that we could totally lay our heads on the table and sleep right now!! We debated the whole shower thing, but said screw it as we just wanted to sleep!! So we drove to the next major exchange, Pinacle Peak Patio, and parked under what looked like a dead parking lot light. Little did we know that every 20 min it would come on for about 3 min. 4 of the guys in the back had already claimed the 3 bench seats and a strip of floor, so that left me and Jerry with the 2 front seats reclined. I was hoping I was tired enough to sleep, but no. The varrious pretzel positions I tried to sleep in did not work. I had my iPod on, but I should have gotten those ones that go in your ear to block out other noise. Let me tell you about sleeping in a van with 5 guys. It was a symphony of man noises!! Snoring, and breathing, and weird sleep jibber-jabber!!! (The farting haden't really started YET). ALL things I hate to listen two while sleeping!!! I just started laughing. We started this whole trying to sleep thing at 11:30, and it was now 12:30, and I had to fall back to plan B. So while the boys slept in the warm van, I grabbed my sleeping bag and pillow and slept next to the van on the gravel parking lot. I figured it would be noisey out there too, but at least I could lay down and stretch out AND I could let 'em rip and no one would know!! I actually got little bits of sleep out there. Always inturrupted though by vans pulling in, and people slamming doors and talking. It still was better than in the van!! About 2:30 we started to rouse as we were expecting Sandy in around 3:30. Jerry brought me a hot cocoa and I got changed and ate a Z-bar. My stomach was still not really happy. Needed to go to the bathroom, but couldn't. It was time for me to run again. This sucked. It was my "easy" leg, and thank God only 3 miles!! It was just an exercize in not throwing up the cocoa and Z-bar that I kept verping up, and keeping my but clenched so nothing tried to exit that way either!! I ran 2.9 miles in 32 min. I don't think I have ever run that slow. My body was just not having anything to do with running at this point!! Jerry rode the bike with me and kept me smiling through out. With about 3/4 of a mile to go he took off so he could meet the next biker and exchange vests and helmet,etc. I was out there in the middle of NO WHERE with NO street lights or anything, just me and my headlamp. Kind of creapy!! Some super fast guy came up behind me and scared the crap out of me!! It was during this leg that the sub masters teams and such started passing us. They were the people who started at 6pm and finished the race between 17-20 hours. Sick! When I finally finished my pittiful run, I just climbed in the van, laid down and covered my head. I actually dozed a bit as we went through the next few runners, and before I knew it I was up and riding the bike again for Zach as he finished up our last leg. When we started his leg it was dark, but we got to see the sun rise together (awwwwwwwe! haha!) and was light as we pulled into the middle school exhange point at 6:40am. Harry and Van 1 took off and we got the run down of the place from the others: The showers were cold, and the breakfast was not worth the $5. Cold showers or not, these stinky boys were going to be taking a shower no matter what!! Some had already taken theirs while Zach and I were on the last leg, so while we showered, they cleaned up the van a bit. The shower was ice cold, but we were so nasty and smelly!! Almost felt human again after that. We then headed to a very busy bagel place for breakfast. LARGE COFFEE PLEASE!! (I think I filled it up twice. Probably 40oz of coffee!) I had about 3/4 of an egg and cheese on pumpernickle, and then an awesome chocolate filled croisant. It was a little piece of heaven!! We then drove out to the next and last exchange for us, Pebble Beach park/rest area in Tonto National Forrest. We tried to find a far off place to park so we could rest, but the park rangers wanted to keep the racers down at one end away from the old people camping there. Grrrrrrr! So we moved and I imeadiatly dropped to the ground with my sleeping bag and pillow. I maybe slept for 3 min, as a team behind us just ran their mouths non-stop. We all finally decided it was time to "get up" and start moving. Fitzy and Jerry and I walked down to the river for a bit, then we came back and sat under a ramada and chatted and fitzy played cards. Next thing we knew it was time to be "on" again. I changed my clothes and just needed to make one last pit stop when I got stopped by two old ladies who were camping and just watching the zoo that was RAGNAR invade thier camping spot. They asked lots of questions and I was able to at least tell them what was going on, and that soon enough we will all be out of here. Next thing I know Van 2 is here!! CRAP! Gotta go make the potty stop quick and get going!! I get to the exchange with minutes to spare, as Sandy finishes her last leg around 11:15, and Van 1's last rotation!! This last leg was going to suck. It was labeled at only Hard, but to me it was harder than my first leg, which was Very Hard. There were deep rollers for about the first mile and a half, then you turn the corner to head up King Kong. My hips started to hurt as you are holding this odd position just climbing for 4+ miles. People were walking all around me, but this was a running race, not a walking race. I kept chugging along, and asked for body glide at one point as my bare underarms were starting to chafe with the sweat. I finally made it to the top, and handed off to Rick. He had some rollers to deal with, and then it was pretty much all flat with a downward slope to the finish for the rest of my boys. They all ran super fast, and most had PRs for some if not all of their legs! WOOT!! My stomach was fine by my last leg, it was just the climb that was hard. 5.2 54min. BUT I made it!! We contiued on through the peak heat of the day as the boys brought it home for us. We were all still in good spirits and still having fun. You wanted it to be over becuase you were just so tired and spent, but at the same time you didn't want it to end becuase it was just so much fun!! We got to the finish line in time to let Zach run in and we ran in behind him for the finish line photo. They then took a team photo of us. (Suposed to be online on Monday). They had a nice beer garden and food there, but a lot of people had time commitments they were trying to keep for Sat night, so we kind of rushed out of there to meet those. Aaron came to cheer us in!!! Was such a bummer to have him out to coach his hockey game, but we were so lucky Sandy stepped up and helped us out! Off to sort out the borrowed stuff between vans, one last fuel up and squeegie off the windows, and back to ALAMO to drop off the van. Whew! All done. What a great experience. I would do it again in a heart beat!