The Beginning
I was deep into New Year's Eve and the clock was about to strike midnight. My wife and I were sitting in a room full of people, all of whom were discussing the Ragnar Relay, and I realized that of all of the people there, my wife and I were the only ones that hadn't at least run a half marathon. At that moment, one of the friends in the room (who I will refer to as The Captain in order to protect his internet anonymity) said, "Ben, you should totally run the Ragnar with us this year."
After a lot of talk and a lot of drinks I started thinking that it might not be such a bad idea. Sure, the longest I've run in the past was a 5k, but I've been running some lately and have been looking for something to push me to a new level and to motivate me to stay fit. Eventually I grudgingly agreed, which prompted cheers from the rest of the room.
"Do you know any other runners?" asked our newly designated Team Captain. I thought about it for a second. "I do. My freshman roommate Travis. He's a... (at this point, thoughts and memories of Travis flooded my brain. Gigs, college parties, philosophical discussions best not shared with the general public, his taste in music that makes me want to smash my head into a wall) ...he's a great guy. I'll text him."
So I did. Near midnight on New Year's Eve. Unsurprisingly, he responded almost immediately. Surprisingly, the response (see above) said that he was IN.
Back in the fall of 1995, the idea of Travis and I running together on a 200 mile relay would have made the world laugh. Here we are, though, in our 40s, ready to start a new adventure.
On New Years Day I woke up, and after the fog cleared I stated talking to my wife and realized I was still willing to do this crazy thing. I texted Travis (which is not uncommon -- the two of us have talked via some means of electronic communication close to every day since like...2001.) He was also still in.
I talked with The Captain a couple more times and we started discussing the team. To my delight and surprise, my wife expressed interest in joining. I passed that along to The Captain and he was elated. A couple days later I remembered that the old bass player from the most successful of my post-college bands was a strong runner. I passed that along to The Captain, and he was very interested in getting a former marathon runner on the team, so I emailed The Bassist. (these names are going to get really confusing, because as far as bassists go, Travis is THE Bassist, but Travis already has his name like...right there to the left...so I don't feel the need for a secret identity with him...I'm rambling.) I got a response saying that he wanted to check it out but that he was interested. The next day The Bassist told us that he was ALSO IN.
So there it was. 1/3 of the 12 person team is here by my doing, and we're ready to rock this thing.
Then the questions started hammering away inside my skull. "How does this thing work?" "What's the best way to communicate with other members of my team?" "Who's doing which leg?" "What the heck have I gotten myself into?" "How do I train for this?" "What's the likelihood of being eaten by wolves while running this race?"
Then Travis said we should start a blog. So here we are. Welcome.
After a lot of talk and a lot of drinks I started thinking that it might not be such a bad idea. Sure, the longest I've run in the past was a 5k, but I've been running some lately and have been looking for something to push me to a new level and to motivate me to stay fit. Eventually I grudgingly agreed, which prompted cheers from the rest of the room.
"Do you know any other runners?" asked our newly designated Team Captain. I thought about it for a second. "I do. My freshman roommate Travis. He's a... (at this point, thoughts and memories of Travis flooded my brain. Gigs, college parties, philosophical discussions best not shared with the general public, his taste in music that makes me want to smash my head into a wall) ...he's a great guy. I'll text him."
So I did. Near midnight on New Year's Eve. Unsurprisingly, he responded almost immediately. Surprisingly, the response (see above) said that he was IN.
Back in the fall of 1995, the idea of Travis and I running together on a 200 mile relay would have made the world laugh. Here we are, though, in our 40s, ready to start a new adventure.
On New Years Day I woke up, and after the fog cleared I stated talking to my wife and realized I was still willing to do this crazy thing. I texted Travis (which is not uncommon -- the two of us have talked via some means of electronic communication close to every day since like...2001.) He was also still in.
I talked with The Captain a couple more times and we started discussing the team. To my delight and surprise, my wife expressed interest in joining. I passed that along to The Captain and he was elated. A couple days later I remembered that the old bass player from the most successful of my post-college bands was a strong runner. I passed that along to The Captain, and he was very interested in getting a former marathon runner on the team, so I emailed The Bassist. (these names are going to get really confusing, because as far as bassists go, Travis is THE Bassist, but Travis already has his name like...right there to the left...so I don't feel the need for a secret identity with him...I'm rambling.) I got a response saying that he wanted to check it out but that he was interested. The next day The Bassist told us that he was ALSO IN.
So there it was. 1/3 of the 12 person team is here by my doing, and we're ready to rock this thing.
Then the questions started hammering away inside my skull. "How does this thing work?" "What's the best way to communicate with other members of my team?" "Who's doing which leg?" "What the heck have I gotten myself into?" "How do I train for this?" "What's the likelihood of being eaten by wolves while running this race?"
Then Travis said we should start a blog. So here we are. Welcome.
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