I've Been Doing Some Math

A friend & fellow runner, Melanie, wanted to know when the team would be making its way into Marathon.  She was wondering if it would be coinciding with when she'd be there on Saturday.  Well, as luck would have it, and I know you'll probably call BS on this one, it actually looks like my second leg out of three total runs will have me running into Marathon and handing off the baton (slap bracelet) to the next runner!

I started doing some math.  It's hard to calculate time when you're factoring in the paces and varying distances of 11 other runners.  I figured I'd do two sets of calculations: one for an average pace of 8 minutes per mile and one for a more generous pace of 9 minutes per mile.

The 8 minute pace, if my calculations are correct, would have me starting my run (which is about 8 miles north of Marathon) at about 12:30am.  Yes, you read that right: 30 minutes after midnight.  The 9 minute pace, (again) if my calculations are correct, would have me starting my run at about 2:30am.  Yes, you read that right; your eyes aren't failing you.  :-)

Needless to say, it looks like one of my runs will be done in the dark.  I've read that Ragnar relays are very cool in that you're never really "alone," even on the middle-of-the-night runs because so many other teams are out there too.  I'll try to take some pictures of all of the blinkies (runner's equipment with flashing lights to point out "hey, I'm here!").  In case you're wondering, I've got two of my own blinkies that I'll be bringing, and Sweet Mary they are bright, bright, bright!

While I'd love to have you all anxiously awaiting my blog post after that second run, I'm pretty sure you'll all be tucked into bed and looking at the back of your eyelids.  No worries, thought; I get it.  You do remember my saying, right?  Fire, flood, or blood!  If it's not one of those three things, it's not worth being woken up!

Oh, and back to Melanie!  It looks like our paths won't be crossing in Marathon.  But we sure might meet up in Key West at a much more reasonable hour!  Which begs the question: What is a reasonable hour in Key West?