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.

Three months in and things are going well. The job is keeping me busy, adding new tasks on a regular basis, while improving workflow and methodology too. It does not seem like 90 days ago my tenure of unemployment ended. Time flies when you have a purpose and structure flowing in a daily routine.

July also marked the second Ragnar Relay I started, and finished (with extra miles). Starting the event, I was set to run 3 times for 8.5 miles, two 2.9 mile legs. 14.3 miles without training, who would do that? After running 17.5 miles during the Ragnar Relay, Las Vegas in 2010, I figured, why not try for less?

As with the Vegas event, extra miles were aplenty for our team. Starting out with a team of 11 (instead of 12) we were already tempting fate. Fortunately for us, one of our team members was training for the Burning River 100 and offered to pick up the extra legs as her training. Fantastic!

After our group of 6 runners finished up their first legs, one of the runners suffered from heat exhaustion with a possible side of dehydration. She had to end up in the ER to get two bags of IV fluids put into her system. Our team captain picked up some pain and numbness during her run, so she kept the other runner company in the hospital.

That left our van two runners short, being the idiot that I am, after running the single longest distance at one time earlier in the morning, I attempted the second longest run of my life: 7.5 miles. This was a combination of a 4.1 and 3.4 mile legs back to back. My legs were feeling pretty good as I finished those legs as the sun descended below the horizon. Trouble almost popped up as I was cooling down and felt tendons popping with each step in my left ankle.

The next morning came around, time for run #3, a 5.5 mile leg of steadily increasing hills. Starting slow and steady as to not aggravate the tight muscles, I kept (what I thought was) a moderate, steady pace up the course. That 5.5 miles seemed to go on endlessly! Each time a Ragnar course sign would appear, I would look for the chute and my team’s next runner, such a torturous run. Finally, the chute was in sight, a large number of teams were there watching for their runners to run into view. Utilizing the last bit of reserved energy I had, my legs churned faster as I sprinted to the exchange.

Photos later showed me nearly collapsing as soon as the exchange was made. A dip in a frigid lake and a hot tub helped keep me from being sore or tight the next morning. Northwest Passage was another incredible event, and I can not wait for the October Las Vegas run to arrive!

It was said after last year’s Vegas event, this time, I am serious! I will actually train! Shocking, for sure. After running a respectable 12 minute mile average for the first 8.5 miles, slowing to a 16 minute mile pace for the 7.5 mile section and an embarrassing 20 minute mile pace for the last 5.5 mile section, I need to step up my game!

That being said, this morning was the first where I woke up and started on my conditioning. One day down, 80 more to go until Ragnar Relay Las Vegas 2011!