My Favorite Moment

My absolute favorite moment at the Ragnar Relay Race?

On the way from one Exchange Post to another, I stopped by the park in Woodland Hills where my team was getting some R&R between turns on the road. It was a huge park, designated as a Major Exchange, with thousands of running enthusiasts present!

My team captain took me over to the buffet supper and made sure I got fed, and then we went over to the spot where the rest of the Van #1 riders were resting. I rolled out my sleeping bag, stretched out, and had a Memorable Moment....

How long had it been since I stretched out to take a nap under a tree with a bunch of my friends? Decades! Friendship, the cool of the evening, the spongy, grassy turf, the weariness of having worked hard all day long, the full belly after a day of not eating, the distant chatter of other groups of runners, the far-off sounds of the runner Exchange--clanging and clapping as each new participant arrived... It all just came together for a Perfect Moment.

The whole weekend would have been worth that single half-hour of rest and perfect happiness.

Life is full of adventure and pleasure, if you dare to grasp hold of it whenever you can!

Happy jogging!

Whew!

Sometimes I get so caught up in LIVING that I don't get a chance to REFLECT on life...

Lately I've had a lot of fun. We had out-of-state visitors, which meant trips to Disneyland, Hollywood, the mountains, the desert, the ocean... all the typical Southern California "Things to See."

Then from April 22-24, I participated in the much-awaited "Ragnar Relay Race." 200 miles along the coast, from Ventura to Dana Point. Twelve runners, running three legs of the race each. Two vans, transporting runners from one Exchange Point to another. We left for Ventura at noon Thursday; our team had dinner together there (carb-loading, you know) Thursday evening and stayed overnight. The first teams left Ventura at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning; our team left at 10:30 a.m., arriving at Dana Point about 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Running is often a lonely sport, extremely individualized. But belonging to a little running club like ours makes it more sociable, and a great event like a Ragnar Relay makes it an absolute blast!

I actually didn't run this time, myself. Each team needs to provide three volunteers, and I was my team's three volunteers :) So I spent the first 24 hours of the race, from 5 am Friday to 5 am Saturday, helping to man the posts at three different Exchanges. It was a lot of fun, calling in the runner's team numbers as they approached the Exchange, so their relay partner could be ready for them to come in, cheering them on, seeing all the fun costumes and great runners. I had a wonderful time. I didn't know if I could stay awake, working hard for 24 hours, but I did it!!!!

When my last shift was over, I caught up with my team and spent the rest of the day hanging out with them. Some of the legs of the race went through city streets, but others were along the very edge of the Ocean, and it was an absolutely perfect day, weather-wise!

If you ever get a chance, don't miss out on an experience like this! I wouldn't have missed it for anything!

Happy jogging!

What Have I Done?

We're going to fast forward a little here... I'll tell you how I got to the point I'm at, a little later.

For the time being, let me tell you that there is a 178-mile relay race coming up, April 23 and 24, from Ventura, California, all along the coast down to Dana Point. This is called the Ragnar Relay Race, and the same people organize similar races in other parts of the country, too. (Check them out at ragnarrelay.com.) The race begins Friday morning and runs approximately 24 hours :) Fun!

This is a really cool race. You get together 12 teammates, and divide up the 36 legs of the race, 3 per runner. It's great, because some legs are longer, others shorter; some are steeper, others are flatter... You work things out with your teammates, so you can include novices as well as more experienced runners, just by distributing the legs appropriately.

And no, I am not running in this one :) But I AM supporting my team by signing up as a volunteer. Each team that has at least one member living within a hundred miles of the race is responsible for finding three volunteers to help out with the organization. Or, in our case, one volunteer who is willing to work three shifts...

So when the time slot for signing up as a volunteer opened this morning, I was right there on my computer, ready to sign up. My main goal was to find three shifts I could work consecutively, all in the same place in the race. I frantically scanned through the available shifts (which were being filled by the minute) and found three that looked compatible. I sighed with relief as I finished signing up for all three.

Only then did it hit me what I had done. I am now signed up to work from midnight to six a.m., then six a.m. to noon, and then one-thirty p.m. until seven p.m. If you had told me fifteen minutes before that, that I would end up agreeing to such a crazy schedule, I wouldn't have believed it! But that is what I signed up for!

This is going to be some adventure!!!!

With best wishes for a long and healthy life,

The Jogging Grandma