Pining for the Fjords

Be sure to read Part the First , Part the Second , and Part the Third ! Luis finished his second run - the yellow loop - without incident around 8pm Friday night, and Chris headed out on his jaunt around the green loop.  Since it was getting a bit chillier, we headed down to see Chris off and hang around the campfire for awhile to stay warm.  S’Mores were being roasted, but I decided against them, figuring eating one and then running wasn’t the greatest of ideas.* Murph, Chris, and I getting ready for our second set of loops. Getting ready to run and modeling his $2 Wal-Mart do-rag. Rag’Merica!  Freak yeah! I saw Chris pop up on the “incoming runner” tv screen, dropped my warm gear with Keeli and Murph near the campfire, and headed into the transition tent.  Our team and Matt’s were still running neck in neck, so I wasn’t surprised to visit with him near the campfire while Chris was running, as he was also getting ready for his spin around ...

Be sure to read Part the First and Part the Second ! After Chris came flying into the transition tent after his first loop, I finally headed out on my first run.  As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I slotted myself into the runner 3 spot, which had the longest loop first, an 8.4 miler known as the red loop.  There was a decent amount of climbing on all the loops, but the red loop held the largest summit – here’s the elevation profile from my Garmin: Yeah, that’s a decent amount of climbing in just a mile or so It was warm (around 1:30pm), but I wanted to push myself on this loop, since my other two legs would occur during the nighttime hours, and I knew I wouldn’t be as fast, mainly due to reasons of safety and a sense of self-preservation.* I ended up having to power walk up some of the big hike around mile 2, but I was able to run the rest of the leg, and I really enjoyed the downhill sections.  The totem pole marking the red loop Addi...

Be sure to read Part the First ! When last I blogged, Chris, Murph, and I were settling down to camp for the night on Thursday, 11/6, the day before the Ragnar McDowell Mountain Trail Relay began.  As is generally expected when camping, none of us slept amazingly; although having a full moon is great for nighttime trail running, it’s not quite as much of a boon for sleeping in a tent.*  Additionally, several times during the night, we were serenaded by the yips and howls of the local wildlife, mainly in the form of a decent sized pack of coyotes – thankfully, they preferred to stay far away from the stinky humans in our camping area.  As if that wasn’t enough, Pete** was snoring so loudly we could clearly hear him across the at least 25 feet of space between our campsites and through our two respective tents; I guess a dinner of steak and red wine will do that to you.  I initially figured that a sound so loud must have been coming from right beside me, until I t...

As I mentioned on the blog last week , this weekend was Ragnar McDowell Mountain.  This was the second running of this event, but our first time experiencing a Ragnar held on trails.  We had a blast, as you'll see in the blog posts over the next few weeks.* Sara Murphy (henceforth and forever known as just "Murph") was our only returning Ragnar McDowell runner, so we were happy to defer to her expertise.  When she suggested at least a few of us heading in Thursday, the day before the running started, setting up camp and chilling there for the night, Chris and I jumped at the chance to accompany her.  To ensure we were properly fortified for the sleepover, Chris and I made GORP. My precious... Quality testing is essential. While we were preparing our contribution to the camp supplies, other members of the team were handling theirs as well.  Jake was in charge of fluid refreshment... Proper hydration is so important. ...and Sara Lat...