It has arrived, more quickly than I would have liked, and not quickly enough at the same time, FRITURDAY! In under 48 hours, our team will have started our journey to finish this year’s Ragnar Relay Las Vegas. Starting at 9:00am, our first runner shall be one of many leaving in that wave.

Taking on 7.3, 3.1 and 6.8 mile stretches of the challenging 188 mile course, I will be going up against many miles of hills, dust, critters and the elements. Running straight out of my comfort zone and into a place where the mental aspect is at least as important as the physical, Ragnar Relay makes one look deep inside themselves for the fortitude and strength to allow all legs to be completed.

If all goes well, we will finish in under our 32 hour time from 2010.

Tired, sweaty and sleep deprived, we will cross the finish line 12 strong, celebrate our accomplishments and relax for a few.

Only a couple short weeks away until I join a few thousand other crazy people to run from Friday morning, into the evening, straight on till morning and afternoon until we finish the 188 mile Ragnar Relay Las Vegas at Desert Breeze park. This will be my third Ragnar Relay, second time running the Las Vegas event.

This year’s course looks like a total blast, and I am more anxious to get out and run my legs than I have been the past 2 events. Perhaps, because I have been running more and want to see how I have improved, as I run against myself. With most acts, we are our own worst critic, in this case, I am my own worst opponent. I train some, but not in the “proper” way. I run quickly, but not quickly enough.

A challenge I am nervous about tackling may be taken out of my hands. As it sits right now, our team is short one runner, in our van. This means, there are three extra legs that need to be picked up. Am I up for, essentially, doubling my miles to 30 miles (more than a full marathon) in 6 legs over approximately 33 hours?

That is the 11 team member question. My first two legs look like cake, the first two legs of the open position look doable enough. As the saying goes, “the third leg is the hardest.” Which is most definitely true, times two, in this case! If I am needed to run the extra miles, it will be my most challenging task to date. It will also be a good jump start into training for the full 26.2 mile marathon we are signed up for in 2013.

Since May, when I received my new position everything has been running full tilt. It seems like the moment my days were spoken for that all of the other efforts that had been put in for 12 months came to fruition. Customers for design and print services have been steadily increasing each month since May.

Add to that the extremely busy couple months that October and November bring each year with Ragnar Relay Las Vegas as well as the Scoobies For Boobies fundraiser that we help with each year, and the notion of free time is gone. Luckily, it is a labor of love, and being busy and productive is much better than wondering where the next project will come from.

Another venture was brought to my attention a couple weeks ago, an acquaintance messaged me looking for someone with Search Engine Marketing (ie pay per click) experience to handle PPC campaigns in his new project’s overall SEO/SEM efforts.

Each new project is another opportunity to challenge myself, expand my skills and knowledge.

Somehow, I have also worked in time to start a semi-regular running routine as well. A nice 4.5 mile route on Mondays through Green Valley, a traffic filled 3-6 mile route Wednesdays in Western Las Vegas, and hoping to fit in another day or two worth of regular “training” runs, in addition to weekend 5k/10k/Ragnar race runs.

Pushing my mind and body has helped to fuel the fire burning inside me to succeed.