My journey started out with packing and doing all the last minute errands and things before I left town. I was tired before I even started. Normal for me.
I flew into Vegas on Southwest Airlines Wednesday and stayed the night with Wanda & Marty. It was so nice to see them again. They were nice enough to take me to the grocery store and I was able to purchase the food items we needed for our relay in Van 1. Then I went and left all the water I had purchased at their house and had to purchase it again.
Neal drove in from Arizona on Thursday and he picked me up at Mestas’ and we went to meet the Shoelace Ninja’s at NY NY Hotel. The arrival of all the Ninjas was spread out over the next several hours. Some of us drove, many arrived by air. A few of us had dinner together Thursday evening and then most of us met in a room at the NY NY and had our first official team meeting… just hours before we were to run together. Larry gave us a briefing on the rules and other info to help us have a successful race.
To bed that night, many of us too excited to sleep well. We got up early the next morning to load Neal’s van, decorate it, and leave in time to arrive at the start line, about 60 miles away (1.5 hrs).
As we were driving to the start line we were driving on the course we would soon run. The red rock area was beautiful. And those little hills that showed on the Ragnar course maps, well they were bigger in life than on paper.
After arriving at the starting line we went directly to the registration area and began the process. First we go to the check-in and let them know that we have arrived. As a team we are moved to a corral to go through our safety training. This is a good training, and would work excellent but people do what they want to do. They do not follow all the safety rules.
Meet the Shoelace Ninja team:
Team 125 Average pace: 9:38 Open Division
Course overview is 187.1 miles… That is Ragnar Las Vegas. Going up 14470. Coming down 13103.
Runner 1 Neal Mestas pace: 8:30 Legs 1,13,25
Runner 2 Lance Brandow pace: 10:00 Legs 2,14,26
Runner 3 John Wollenzien pace: 8:30 Legs 3,15,27
Runner 4 Shana Wollenzien pace: 9:00 Legs 4,16,28
Runner 5 Marsha Monson pace: 13:00 Legs 5,17,19
Runner 6 Mike Sailer pace: 9:30 Legs 6,18,30
Runner 7 Bobby Briggs pace: 7:15 Legs 7,19,31
Runner 8 Randall Ryan Jr. pace: 11:00 Legs 8,20,32
Runner 9 Randall Ryan Sr. pace: 9:30 Legs 9,21,33
Runner 10 Larry Keister pace: 8:00 Legs 10,22,34
Runner 11 Paul Dickinson pace: 11:00 Legs 11,23,35
Runner 12 Brian McCullough pace: 10:00 Legs 12,24,36
Van 1 Legs 1-6. We need to cover 32.7 miles. Our total elevation gain is 2697, our elevation loss will be 2707. Those hills we drove over on the way into the Lake Mead National Recreation Area – well many will be run by us.
First to run is Neal. He is ready, had some Ipod technical difficulties but he got those figured out. His leg is
Larry has Leg 10 a 3.2 miles Ragnar easy to run for his first leg. He has a climb in about one mile of 271 ft. then downhill running with a loss of 367 ft or so.
Brian runs his first leg. This is a 6.5 mile Ragnar hard, with a gain of 387 ft, loss of 607 ft. He runs into the Lowes Lake Las Vegas major Exchange 12.
Brian has his easy leg of this Ragnar journey into Exchange 24 where he will hand off the slap baton to us. Leg 24 is a 2.7 mile Ragnar easy downhill with an elevation loss of 161 ft.
Team 125 Average pace: 9:38 Open Division
Course overview is 187.1 miles… That is Ragnar Las Vegas. Going up 14470. Coming down 13103.
Runner 1 Neal Mestas pace: 8:30 Legs 1,13,25
Runner 2 Lance Brandow pace: 10:00 Legs 2,14,26
Runner 3 John Wollenzien pace: 8:30 Legs 3,15,27
Runner 4 Shana Wollenzien pace: 9:00 Legs 4,16,28
Runner 5 Marsha Monson pace: 13:00 Legs 5,17,19
Runner 6 Mike Sailer pace: 9:30 Legs 6,18,30
Runner 7 Bobby Briggs pace: 7:15 Legs 7,19,31
Runner 8 Randall Ryan Jr. pace: 11:00 Legs 8,20,32
Runner 9 Randall Ryan Sr. pace: 9:30 Legs 9,21,33
Runner 10 Larry Keister pace: 8:00 Legs 10,22,34
Runner 11 Paul Dickinson pace: 11:00 Legs 11,23,35
Runner 12 Brian McCullough pace: 10:00 Legs 12,24,36
Van 1 has legs 1-6. We need to cover 32.7 miles. Our total elevation gain is 2697, our elevation loss will be 2707. Those hills we drove over on the way into the Lake Mead National Recreation Area – well many will be run by us.
First to run is Neal. He is ready, had some Ipod technical difficulties but he got those figured out. His leg is
Larry has Leg 10 a 3.2 miles Ragnar easy to run for his first leg. He has a climb in about one mile of 271 ft. then downhill running with a loss of 367 ft or so.
Brian runs his first leg. This is a 6.5 mile Ragnar hard, with a gain of 387 ft, loss of 607 ft. He runs into the Lowes Lake Las Vegas major Exchange 12.
Brian has his easy leg of this Ragnar journey into Exchange 24 where he will hand off the slap baton to us. Leg 24 is a 2.7 mile Ragnar easy downhill with an elevation loss of 161 ft.
Leg 28 a 6.8 mile Ragnar very hard is run by Shana. Pahrump Road, which 3 of us will be running along is a rocky, uneven dirt road. We can already see the dust. Shana has a smaller elevation gain of 259 ft., but she still running in this dust cloud for 6.8 miles. This couldn’t be fun. Her elevation loss is 114 ft.
Lance is driving at this point and chooses that our van will support her. We stay with her so long that when we arrive at Exchange 28 the line for the restroom is so long that I have no time to go and must head out on my run with a full bladder.
My last run of the relay, Leg 29 a 4.2 Ragnar hard still on this miserable dirt road. Still very dusty, the drivers are not being very courteous, they have created a dust storm for us to all run through. I have no elevation loss in my run, I gained 534 ft. I am not use to running on dirt with uneven ground and large rocks. This leg kicks my butt. Yeah it hurts too along with my legs. I really slow down.
Mike has his leg after mine on dirt. With more dust. He is running Leg 30 6.1 miles Ragnar very hard. He will gain 909 ft. And have a small elevation loss of 56 ft. He runs into the major Exchange 30 in the Dirt Pit where we turn over the baton to Van 2 and we are Done!
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