Google's team blog for the Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage

July 20-21st 2012 Google's 6th year at the Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage! This is a two day, 190 mile relay race from the northern tip of Washington in Blaine, through farm country and along the coast, across Deception Pass and finishing at the southern end of Whidbey Island at Langley. This isn't your average team offsite!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Results are in!

Final time was 27:06:32, and 8:36 pace. We placed 75th overall, and 4th in our division (male corporate)! (Okay, there were only 5 *in* our division...) That compares to a projected finish of 27:44, 8:48 pace. (For their calculations, Ragnar seems to be using the 189 mile length, compared to our 184.8 in the spreadsheet. Go figure.)

Nicely done, y'all!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Van 1's Greatest Hits

Just back home after the second Google Ragnar Relay event and still out of my mind with sleep deprivation, I'll call out my favorite moments for our van 1 runners.  Katya was our standout as she gained 10 minutes over her brutal 8.3 mile long first leg.  She was also fearless in coming back with sore calves for her second and third legs.

Ken showed us that a steady pace is the best way to gobble up the miles and be strong at the finish.  His third leg saw dawn over the Cascades and Puget Sound and being our only Washington native, he deserved it.

Will had an incredibly convoluted route to run through Mount Vernon at night.  It resembled an anaconda trying to shed its skin.  Even with our van making U-turns and passing Will in the wrong direction, he managed to put the Tutus in our rear view mirror.

Michael was the responsible adult of our van, keeping us on schedule, waking us up to meet van 2 in the dark and twittering our status.  On the course, he lamented the small number of runners that kept his competitive instincts in check, but he boosted our team spirit immensely.

Andy showed us that training diets are not to be taken seriously.  A doughnut, Red Bull and packets of sports beans propelled him through a grueling, hot, hilly, 7.2 mile third leg, where we finally passed the Soleja Girls for good (bearers of the rubber butts.)  Andy also made friends with approximately 500 people during the race.

My own highlight was my first leg through Bellingham, where I got to run with my friend Tami of the Mitochondriacs.  She caught me at a traffic light and we ran four miles together through the city, trading pace and route finding.  I started to flag at the end, but a freight train stopped us just short of the exchange, so we got to finish together.

In case you're having trouble remembering why you feel so sore, these photos should prod your memory.

Great job, everyone!  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Friday, July 25, 2008

So much fun!

I've finished my first and hardest leg, 8.3 miles half of it uphill. It's the longest I've ever ran, and I managed to keep my pace around 9 min/miles! It feels awesome!
Out fifth runner, Andy, is half way through his leg, Charlie is ready to go. Soon we will be getting the much deserved rest at the first major exchange. Go Google!

I'm not old, I just like to blog.

Well, I've managed to finish my first stage and so far, I've lived to tell about it. I averaged under 10 minutes a mile, which was my goal for the first stage. Considering this is my first event ever, I'll take it. 

Apparently, we're having some car...fun. Multiple warning lights have come on. Hopefully it's nothing to major, but still, not a great sign. Alright, back to cheering on the team.

Blogging's for old people

We've been tweeting rather than blogging, since it's easy to do from a phone. And it takes less power. Oh, and because we're lazy. :)

You can stay up to the minute with us right here! We'll write long posts on the blog later.



Thursday, July 24, 2008

Beginning again!

Tomorrow is the Ragnar 2008 Relay and the Google team is ready to go! (Ok, actually I heard the rental company lost one of our vans and I don't think everyone has packed yet and I really should have trained more, but more or less ready!) We are meeting at 7:30am tomorrow to drive to Blaine and hopefully start on time at 11am. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather and all our runners waking up on time!

Ragnar 2008 runner assignments and estimated times