Ragnar Napa Valley

So a friend of mine rang me and asked if I wanted to run Ragnar Napa in November.  I wanted to run a Ragnar Relay since forwever, but this was not the usual 12 person, 2 team relay set up. This was 1 team of 6 people running a total of 194 miles.  Ok, running a relay is not new to me, having run the Golden Gate Relay twice. This relay has us running from Calistoga to Santa Cruz for a total of 193 miles over 2 days.  It's great fun to spend 2 sleepless nights with a bunch of friends!

But running 6 legs (rather than 3), is a bit of a tall order. My friend's original team had bailed on her, so we were the only 2 and needed to find 4 more runners.  I called around, but all my friends were up for running 3 legs, not 6.  To cut a long story short, we are now 8 runners, and have to convince some of our other friends to join us. There are some new runners who have never run a relay before, but I am so excited that they will be on this adventure with us.
I recruited 4 people, and my friend Yanli recruited 4.  Once we have the teams sorted, we can plan the logistics. And I'm calling dibs on driving Van 1.  When I went down to Utah for a race recently, I drove a Ford Explorer, which was awesome!! Guess what the choice of vans is going to be :-)

So Ragnar Napa takes place over 2 days and 1 night.  One person is always running.  And while that person is running, the others in the van will follow that runner, provide aid, drinks, moral support, companion running etc.  and then the next runner will take off, as the van waits at the designated hand over spot. It's fantastic, and I am so excited at having the opportunity to run another relay this year.  Oh yes, it's going to be amazing!