A little bit of crazy & a whole lot of fun!

It all started as one of my husband's crazy ideas. Mike said he wanted to get 12 people to run a 200-ish mile relay from Madison to Chicago. No way, I said. You can't find 12 crazies to do that. If you know Mike, you know NOT to challenge him. He rounded up a group of 12 guys in a week's time. After he registered, we were online watching all the home-made videos previous teams had put together (there are about 15 of these relays all over the country every year). One video in particular inspired me. It was a group of all women who ran this relay. That was all it took. I sent a text to my bestie with the idea and she replied with, "Duh, I'm in." Well if she would be willing to do it, others might too! I sent an email to a bunch of friends (and FB stalked many, too) asking for interest. We got excited when we had 4 people. Then 6. Then 8. The last 4 were a little harder to come by. But we DID IT. We have a group of all FEMALES to run this relay in June. Oh. My.

This is quite a well planned out race, as there are two vans of 12 people and each runner has 3 legs she will be running. The minimum total miles everyone will be doing is 12 miles (with the max at 23 miles). In 36 hours. On little sleep. There are maps. And reflective vests, headlamps and tail lights (for night running, of course). There are staggered start times (the team's pace is averaged out and the slower teams start earlier than the faster teams so as everyone to finish around the same time). There will be lots of driving. And running. And cat-napping. If you don't know your 5 other van-mates, you will soon be besties with her.

I just can't tell you how excited I am to be a part of this. And that I was able to round up 11 other women who are JUST as excited as I am. We have beginner runners to experienced marathoners on our team. I can't wait to see us all come together to complete this crazy race!

These are all pictures taken from http://www.ragnarrelay.com/  There are prizes given out for best costume, best decorated van, and best team name. 

The hand-offs are via a slap-bracelet at each checkpoint

 Team waiting for their runner

 Pretty sure we'll be wearing tutus...stay tuned for our team name!

 And we will all finish in Chicago as a team. Most likely sleep-deprived, stinky and a whole lot of crazy.

 This is a picture from last year's relay that ended in Vegas. H.O.T.

My teammates include:

Jaime (bestie)

Laura (cousin)

Amanda (cousin)

Kerri (colleague & friend)

Melissa (friend)

Karie (friend from elementary school)

Erin (friend from elementary school)

Ashley (friend of Kerri's)

Betsy (Jaime's sister)

Amy (Jaime's sister)

Ashley (Jaime's niece)

Here's to the next 17 weeks of training (some of which have us running 3 times in a 24 hour period to understand what kind of torture we're headed for!). Wish us luck...and sanity!