Ragnar the (Not All That) Horrible

By the time you deskbound slackers (and Dave) read this, I'll be rolling across Interstate 68 on the way to Cumberland, Maryland and the start line for the 2012 running of Ragnar DC. For the uninitiated, the Ragnar is a 200-mile, 12-person relay (you can choose to do it with 6 people, but that's just stupid). Our version begins in Rocky Gap State Park and finishes at National Harbor near Washington, DC.

As cool as they are, I won't be wearing these glasses during Ragnar

I'll be running a total of 15.1 miles over three relay legs (I'm runner #5, in case you're scoring at home), which doesn't seem all that daunting, frankly. I'm told, though, that the combination of no sleep, cramped quarters (we're basically packed into a van when we're not running), and no sleep makes what would normally be an easy training run into a bit of an ordeal.

My first leg is 4.1 miles on a dirt road through the Green Ridge Forest. Given our 10:30 am start, I should take the baton at about 2:30 pm. Easy, peasy. Except for the 1.2 mile stretch where I climb 520 vertical feet.

I grab the baton again for a 7.3 mile jaunt near Fort Ritchie. At my current fitness level (fit! not strong!), I can do 7.3 miles in my sleep. The problem is that I may well be trying to do so, as I expect this leg to start at about 1:30 am.

Finally, I complete my portion of the race with an easy 3.7 miles on the Rock Creek Trail near the mean streets of Kensington. I'm hoping the hallucinations resulting from 24 straight waking hours, copious amounts of Gatorade, and fistfuls of trail mix will yield some deep life insights. Or at least a cool idea for a tattoo.

Our team name, Las Vacas Bravas, allegedly means 'The Mad Cows'. The team captain is Hispanic, so I trust his translation, though he grew up in Fairfax and doesn't, to my knowledge, speak Spanish. I don't have the foggiest idea where the name came from, though I do anticipate making a lot of jokes involving the words 'moo', 'bovine', and 'steak'. Please feel free to submit your ideas - we've got 30 hours of downtime to fill.

Follow me on Twitter, as I'll be trying to entertain myself while not pounding the pavement. And I expect you all to join me next year as we field Team G:TB in Ragnar DC 2013.