Masters Running

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We did Reach the Beach together, a relay report (Read 37 times)

Mariposai


    Yes!!! RA masters DID!!!!

    We reached the beach and had a total blast doing it!

     

    Those who participated as part of the Rozie Ruiz Fan Club relay team: Mariposai, Rtravers, Jay, Milk Truck, Stumpy, Twocat, Deez4boys

     

    Jay did a great job summarizing our adventure. For the sake of time I will use his report in the daily to start the report. I hope the teammates will post their own experience and photos.

     

    Jay posted this on the daily...

     

    So what have I been doing since Thursday? Mostly living in a van with 5 other people; spending some great time with people from this forum;

    meeting some wonderful people for the first time and getting to know them; not showering, or even having much of an opportunity to clean up; living on 1-1.5 hours of sleep from Friday morning till Saturday night; eating barely adequately; talking and laughing a lot; cheering for our teammates every chance we got;

    The team at the finish line.

     

    Here is the picture of Van 2, the orange Van, as we were enjoying the gorgeous New England scenery while Van 1 was running. The two ladies in the picture are Twocat's friends from his running club.

     

     

    tagging other vans with Matt's most creative magnets; (funny, at the finish line we  had other participants asking to be tagged)

     

    racing 3 times in 2 days; and having a ball! (Yeah, I always looked forward to handing the baton to our famous race walker who did his legs right after me).

     

     

    Twocat and Mariposai did a phenomenal job of organizing the Rosie Ruize Fan Club team,

    (and we were glad to see the whole event run so smoothly, this picture tell the story)

     

    from working out all the logistics; to bringing fantastic stuff with which to decorate our van;

     

     

    designing and producing great team shirts;and keeping track of our progress every leg of the way - Major kudos to them for all they did to make the adventure a success!!

     

    It was great to spend time with them, and ever-gracious Stumpy, sweet Deeze (and her swift son), the always amusing Milk Truck, and the irrepressible Robin.

     

     

    I had the shortest segments of the journey (by request, since I was the slowest on our team), but I worked my butt off, and managed a decent pace (in the 10's) in each of my 3 segments. I was getting a little fatigued by the last one, but didn't want to let my teammates down, so I stayed focused and did OK.

     

    (not true, you did kick some ass on the race course and it was fun seeing you race!!)  You are an amazing racer! It was fun to see you race!!

    I may have been the only racewalker in the entire Relay, and got passed by lots of runners, but also passed a few myself. DW came to the finish of my last segment (about 3-4 miles from our home), and I was glad she got to meet some of our team. It was also a treat for me to see her there.

     

    It was a phenomenal experience that is hard to describe. Hopefully, others who took photos will post them so you can get a glimpse into what our world was for those 36 hours.

    (Indeed it is hard to describe a relay experience.)...how can do describe being the best friends with people you never met in less than two days???... a relay magic, of cours!!!)

     

    I can post so many more pictures, but I think the following summarize it all...we did have a blast, we were exhausted, stinky, tired, sleep deprived...but we all had a blast.

     

    Here is a picture of Robin during one of our transitions.

     

    Denise and her son Nicholas with two other teammates from van 1.

     

     

    At the end what we won was a place of 32/1032 in our category, a pile of fun and memories that will last a life time...ohhh and the poster which tell how many people we passed and were passed by.

     

     

    Rozie Ruiz Fan Club team members, now it is your turn to tell the story.

     

    Ohh, the rest of you who wish to have been part of this fun...Save The Date... for next year...always the second weekend in September.

    "Champions are everywhereall you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard

    Mariposai


      OK  teammates, now it is your turn to tell your story here or post more pictures.

      "Champions are everywhereall you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard

        For now I am going to cheat and just repost what I wrote in yesterday's daily:

         

         

        coastwalker is too nice.  No literally, they guy is too nice.  A total sweetie!  Makes the rest of us look bad, like ogres or maybe evil flying monkeys.

         

        stumpy77 is another great guy.  Totally misleading forum name!  He is way taller than me!  Okay, most guys are way taller than me.  Still, he was way taller than the other guys than me on the team.  Nevertheless, I highly recommend spending 30 or so hours in a van with him!  Did you all know he and Mariposai were sleeping together during the race!  Oh my!  Well, in separate sleeping bags, outside near a school with hundreds of people all around, in the middle of a relay race at a van transition area . . . oh nuts, the details just make this all a whole lot less interesting.

         

        From RA, as coastwalker mentioned, we were in the Green Line (Van 1 on most teams) along with stumpy77 and Mariposai.   (Spareribs the colors of the Boston T, although Rosie did use the NYC subway to, ah, "qualify," in her own special way, for Boston).  In the Orange Line (Van 2 on most teams) we had rtraversdeez4boyz and milktruck.  I suspect they are really fun to be with, seeing how everybody in the van was always laughing and smiling whenever we saw them at the vehicle transition areas.  That or rtravers brought along some inhalants from the office.  One or the other, I guess she will have to let us know which.  

         

        Something coastwalker failed to mention is that this is a very serious team and we expect everyone to pull their own weight.  In fact, we even have a road kill board so we can keep tabs on each other.  Here is a shot of the whole team with our road kill boards.

         

        Rosie Ruiz Fan Club Road Kill Boards 2014

         

        I am pleased to report that coastwalker did indeed hold his own. You see our boards are not quite like most you see.  On our team you get a sticker for each person you pass or are passed by.  Heck, if you go back and forth with somebody as I did on one leg just one person can generate six or more stickers!  Yes, the goal on our team is to collect lots and lots of stickers and coastwalker did just that!

         

        Last but not least if you want to know what the front of our team t-shirts looked like here is a pretty good representation!

        Rose Ruiz Fan Club T-Shirt Live!

         

        Yes, the Rosie Ruiz Fan Club was once again the best team to run drive a relay with!

        Live like you are dying not like you are afraid to die.

        Drunken Irish Soda Bread and Irish Brown Bread this way -->  http://allrecipes.com/cook/4379041/

          ummmmm Matt.... I mean Twocat ...... I mean CAPTAIN!!  I know you must be exhausted, but YOU WERE IN THE ORANGE VAN!!  The pictures don't lie!!  Well, I guess they do a little --- we had way more puppies than bones in our van, but somehow we didn't get the whole concept of the posters!! 

           

          I wish I could add more pictures, but you all know how tech savvie I am!!  Also, my camera on my phone wasn't working at first, then mysteriously started working again towards the end of the relay -- go figure!!

           

          This was such an incredibly fun experience -- I want to do it again .... do we have to wait for next year?  Isn't there a Chicago Ragnar or something like that we can put together????

           

          The only downside is not getting to spend enough time with team, but having dinner together as a team was the best idea!!  I loved going around the table and having us all tell something different about ourselves -- could have kept that going all night!!

           

          Thank you for letting my son Nicholas join the team - even tho he kept us out of the Masters Division!!  It was so awesome to share this experience with him!!

          denise

          SteveP


             Thanks for sharing the experience. I love all the pictures.

            SteveP


            BlazinCajun

              Awesome experience! A team relay? What a novel idea - one day I would like to do something like that and will put it on my bucket list. Great job and report!

              Andrew
              ------------------
              God, my Lord, is my strength;
              he makes my feet swift as those of hinds
              and enables me to go upon the heights.
              Hb 3:19

              Mariposai


                I just have to post this picture of Denise and I with our wings.

                 

                 

                And here is the magnate we used to tag other vans with.

                 

                And a picture of our fearless captain with a special gift the group gave to him as a thank you for his hard work.

                "Champions are everywhereall you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard

                  Cool, and pretty good finishing placement.

                  I think I might need to do another one of these.

                   

                  Love the photos, thanks guys, you all look so endorphin soaked and happy.

                  >1000 teams in just one division?  How big is this relay?  How congested do the roads get with vans?

                  "During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."

                  Mariposai


                    Cool, and pretty good finishing placement.

                    I think I might need to do another one of these.

                     

                    Love the photos, thanks guys, you all look so endorphin soaked and happy.

                    >1000 teams in just one division?  How big is this relay?  How congested do the roads get with vans?

                     

                    Enkephalin, yes! we need to put another team in the PNW in the future. Relays are a blast.

                    A correction, we came 32 out of 134 teams in our division. That was a typo I now corrected in the race report. The roads were not that bad, except in places where the communities DID not want us to be running thru. A story I am sure Twocat will gladly tell you about it.

                    "Champions are everywhereall you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard

                      I am still punch drunk tired!  What van was that I was in?  Blue?

                      Live like you are dying not like you are afraid to die.

                      Drunken Irish Soda Bread and Irish Brown Bread this way -->  http://allrecipes.com/cook/4379041/

                      stumpy77


                      Trails are hard!

                        I knew what you meant.

                         

                        I'm a tad late, but it's tough to know where to start.  And do the relay justice.  I joined late in the game, to replace a previous member who had gotten sick. I will say that TwoCat and Mari were excellent captains—extremely organized. They made great cat herders. I had a great time, ran better than I hoped for the most part, got a couple of hours of sleep, and made some new running friends. This included Paula and Dora, two members of TwoCat's running club, who on top of being great runners, were real sweethearts.

                         

                        Once the relay started, we didn't see much of the other van. But the times we were all together, everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Dinner, decorating, and team transitions were all very festive. Matt and Jennifer were two more of TC's friends were the final new members of Van 1. Keeping with the same theme of TC's friends, they were both very nice AND very fast.  Deez's son Nick (the last of the non-RA folks and also very fast) takes after his mom in being nice folks.

                         

                        We started at 10:30 Friday morning and even with the first van's runners flying, being the second to last runner, I didn't start until just after 7 that night. I got to take the baton from Jay, the only race walker in the whole relay (at least as best we knew) who had to end his segment up a steep grass slope. The long "rest" must have helped as I managed a faster pace for just under 5 miles than I did for a 5K in August. Dora (who was the 12th runner) finished not too long after that and we went on to the next team transition to wait for the other van to arrive and at least think about sleeping. It was a nice night for sacking out under the stairs. I do think there was a little sleep involved.

                         

                        Once we started the second round, everyone before me had the tough hilly segments and really flew. I think I got very lucky in the draw for legs. My second leg started about 6am the next morning. Once again, I was waiting for Jay. One of the volunteers said "Look—there's a competitive walker coming in. Wow, he's fast". I got to say "he's on my team". I did discover that starting almost 9 miles on sort of sleep and sort of eating was not my strong suit. I'll be nice and avoid TMI.  But I did finish, even if a little slowly. And I got to sleep for a while.

                         

                        I'm not sure what made my knee decidedly unhappy immediately after the start of my last leg, but it made it very difficult to do much more than very occasional running. This is where the rest of the team did their best to help and support me. I really felt like part of a team. After the first mile, they stopped to see if there was anything else they could do to help. I got a magic Aleve from Dora and continued on. the next mile was slow enough that it was starting to work by the next time the van stopped and Jay got out to help pace me. I did tell him that I thought it was a little late to learn how to race walk. By that time it felt good enough that I was able to run in at a decent pace.

                         

                        Once we got Dora started on the last leg, we made a mad dash to Hampton Beach (along with every other 15 passenger van on the East coast) to meet up with Van 1 and all 12 of us got together and ran the beach into the finish.

                         

                        I realize that this seems to have ended up being more about me than the whole team. I can't mention enough how supportive everyone was, including all the other teams, too. There may have been some competitive teams around but everyone we met was in it for the fun of it. And team Rosie delivered.

                        Need a fast half for late fall.  Then I need to actually train for it.

                         

                        stumpy77


                        Trails are hard!

                          Don't often get Ribsian in my apparel, so I had to put this in.

                          Need a fast half for late fall.  Then I need to actually train for it.

                           


                          New skirt in town

                            Man, I am only now recovering enough to muster the energy to post ANYTHING!  What a blast!  I learned so much about what it takes to run a relay, and it isn't just about running.  It's about patience, living small for 48 hours, and enjoying the camaraderie of friends old and new.  Oh, and not eating pizza.  Especially no pizza before a middle-of-the-night run.  Just sayin'

                            NO  MO MELANOMA! Help me run 26.2 miles and raise $5000 for the Melanoma Foundation of NE.  Visit this page to learn more:  http://tinyurl.com/NO-MO-MELANOMA

                              Man, I am only now recovering enough to muster the energy to post ANYTHING!  What a blast!  I learned so much about what it takes to run a relay, and it isn't just about running.  It's about patience, living small for 48 hours, and enjoying the camaraderie of friends old and new.  Oh, and not eating pizza.  Especially no pizza before a middle-of-the-night run.  Just sayin'

                               

                              LOL Robin - Nicholas is still blaming his "tummy" problems on the pumpkin, chocolate bread --- sorry TwoCat!! -- but I do think the pizza might have had something to do with it (especially the sausage one the meat eaters were enjoying) 

                               

                              It really was a blast!!  Matt kept calling us Van 1 teammates sandbaggers, but really the first 6 legs had a lot of downhill in them so we just kind of "misjudged" our paces!!  I was shocked when Nicholas pulled off 6 minute miles for his first 8+ mile leg, but then Matt RK ran extremely fast as well!!  Even more funny because he put his wife in for 11 minute miles and she must have been closer to 8 minute miles, and my leg I ran 7:35 pace very unexpectedly -- ok ok -- I know it looks like sandbagging but really honest calculating errors!!   LOL  Besides - would we have wanted to start any later than 10:30am??

                               

                              I wish we all lived closer so we could have a Rosie Ruiz Fan Club reunion/wrap up meeting like some of my local running friends are doing!!

                              denise

                                Great job you guys! Looks liked you kicked some a*% and had fun in the process. And they say a picture is worth a thousand words. These sure tell the story about the friendship and team spirit that you all shared, even if you were smelly and tired   Congratulations!

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