Ragnar Relay

Our Team Design. The design is in the shape of the Ragnar symbol, but
personalized with our team initials - SN for Serenity Now. All of our
names, in the order in which we run, circle the design. Cool, eh?

What was once an abstract idea more than six months ago, will quickly become a reality in 17 days. The Madison-Chicago Ragnar Relay fires up on June 12th. What is this all about? Simply put, it's 2 vans, 12 runners and nearly 200 miles of non-stop running. The Ragnar Relay is held all across the country, and our turn is up. This year there are 562 teams, most comprised of 12 runners, though there's a handful of "ultra" teams that only have 6 runners covering the same distance. Quick math reveals that there will be over 6,000 runners relaying from Madison to Chicago. More specifically, Runner 1 will toe the start line beside beautiful Lake Mendota near the State capital. while Runner 12 (that's Joe!) will cross the finish line at Montrose Beach along Chicago's Lake Michigan shoreline. 

As noted above, most teams will have 2 vans with 6 runners in each van. Van 1 carries Runners 1-6, Van 2 carries Runners 7-12, and each van, luckily for us, has a separate driver who is not running. Van 1 will begin the race in Madison at 8:00a.m., tag teaming the mileage until Runner 6 lands at an exchange point in Lake Mills, where my van, Van 2 will take over. Runner 6 will snap his slapband onto Runner 7, who will continue heading east. Each van will have a 6-7 hour period of downtime while the runners of the other van run. This time in theory can be used to sleep, eat and stretch, but I hear there is very little sleep! 

Each runner has three designated legs to run of pre-established distances dictated by the Ragnar officials. The route we run is also established and has markings, so you know where to go. Some of it is on residential streets, some of it is on bike paths, and some may briefly be on the shoulders of busy roads. There are rules for night running related to having a headlamp and reflective gear. 

When signing on for this event, I wanted to challenge myself by choosing a runner designation that would add up to more than 15 miles (the furthest I've ever run) and that would have me running in the middle of the night. I got both. I will be Runner 11. My total mileage will be 16.6 miles (each of my legs = 5+ miles) and my second and longest leg (5.9 miles) will occur somewhere around 2a.m.! Joe is the last to run as Runner 12. He was asked to be this runner as he is our fastest team member, and may make up some time for us at the end. Joe's challenge will be running the final leg, 7.5 miles, on tired legs with virtually no sleep, to the finish line. Right before the finish line, the entire team gets out and runs in with Runner 12, but for Team Serenity Now, it may look like we're chasing Joe since no one can move that swiftly! Joe's mileage will total 17.2.

The Ragnar is run with friends and/or with strangers. In our case, we know a few people quite well, and the rest we will know extremely well after 36 hours of Ragnaring together. My friend's Bobbi & Dan initiated our team. The majority of our team is comprised of their neighbors or co-workers. Since Dan & Bobbi both work for Waukesha County, I either knew or am getting to know those co-workers. Two people are my recommendations - Jaime, a co-worker/friend and Rosanna, who has had this event on her bucket list for many years. Rosanna was a late addition, filling in for an injured teammate, so she will not be in my van, but it will still be a shared experience. 

A Ragnar quote: "The hardest fun you'll ever love."

DNA Testing

Throughout my life I've been told I'm predominately Irish & German, with some English, Scottish & Welsh mixed in. As the years have worn on, I've often wondered what my actual ancestry is because in truth, only 25% of my genetics come from a verifiable source, that being my German Maternal Grandmother. My Maternal Grandfather was a bit of a mysterious man who claimed Irish roots, but provided such sketchy details about his life before starting his own family, that I've never fully trusted that story. Not knowing my biological father, another 50% of my ancestry is immediately lost (though my mom believed him to be Irish, English Scottish & Welsh - a freckled, curly red haired man). So, who am I?

I researched DNA testing companies, and settled on 23andme. When delving into your genetic roots, you can search for ancestry, medical history (and predispositions) or both, and to varying degrees of complexity. For my purposes, I only wanted to know the broad strokes of my ancestry. For $99, 23andme perfectly fit the bill. I received a simple kit via snail mail - a tube in which to spit - and sent it off in the self-addressed, pre-paid box that it arrived in. Instructions advise that results take 6-8 weeks, so imagine my delight when just 3 weeks later, the first results came in (pictured below). 

I admit, I was hoping there'd be some shocking and unsuspected news revealed, something exotic that would set me apart from the standard profile of the earliest immigrants to the United States, but alas and alack, I am predominantly Northern European. However, there are fun surprises in this early report, specifically the fact that I am nearly 25% Ashkenazi! Ashka-what??? Here's a quick tutorial:

"Ashkenazi’s are Jews who lived in the Rhineland and in neighboring France before their migration eastward to Slavic lands (e.g., Poland, Lithuania, Russia) after the Crusades (11th–13th century).There may be no such thing as a Jewish gene, but communities can definitely have defining characteristics, and one such community is Jews with roots in central and eastern Europe. A model based on the genetic sequencing of 128 Ashkenazi Jews concludes that today’s Ashkenazim descend from the fusion of European and Middle-Eastern Jews during the medieval era, between 600 to 800 years ago. The math also indicates that today’s sprawling community of Ashkenazi Jews — there are more than 10 million around the world — derived from just 350 people or so. That previously postulated population bottleneck — a drastic reduction in population size — occurred between 25 to 32 generations ago, the scientists say."

Mentioned above is that Ashkenazi's descend from Middle-Eastern Jews...well, get this. In DNA testing, you learn your about your maternal and/or paternal haplogroup. A haplogroup is essentially an ancestral clan, a large family, like the Celts or the Vikings. There are Paternal clans tested by the Y chromosome, which only males possess (therefore, my testing will not yield a paternal haplogroup), and Maternal clans tested by mitochondrial DNA (only women pass on mitochondria). This testing can literally tell you where your "original" mother came from. My original mother (here's the Middle East-Ashkenazi connection!) most likely lived in Iraq (the fertile crescent) more than 40,000 years ago. A Haplogroup occurs and is tracked by a new mutation in the DNA. This means that there was literally a woman living 40,000+ years ago who had a gene mutation that persists to this day -  eventually being passed down until it reached my great grandmother, my grandma, my mom and now me. Fascinating, right?! These clans have smaller subgroups for which more specific historical information can be gleaned. As more detailed analysis of my DNA is processed I will learn more about my subgroup. 

Lastly, this testing can discern whether or not you have any Neanderthal ancestry (Africans have none because Neanderthals lived in Europe and the East). The average person has 1-4%, with an average of 2.7%. I am 2.4% Neanderthal. I joked to Joe that this makes me superior to most, and he cautioned me against my speciest attitude!☺

Say Cheeze!

Joe, Rosanna and I arrived to this beautiful sunrise

Following a perfect and productive day off, we awoke to a perfect morning (50's, sun, no wind) for Kenosha's Wisconsin "Cheezy" Half Marathon along a serene stretch of Lake Michigan. This was my 22nd half marathon and my 3rd time running this course, but my first time doing so without fog, cold or rain. During the week I visualized a promising race (my friend Jenny is all about the visualizing, which seems to manifest as truth for her), a race in which I would duplicate the pressure-free, body-feeling-good enjoyment I had in our KY half marathon in March. My visualizations did not mirror the outcome. 

After snapping the great shot above, we headed to the Northern bank of Port-o-Potties. Exiting, we then rounded the corner to the Eastern bank of Port-o-Potties and got right back in line! Waiting to race always fills the bladder - even if you haven't been drinking. Planning to meet up with our friends Bobbi & Dan and Scott & Kathy, we eventually found them in line for the bathroom, and guess what? Yep, we went a third time☺

Rosanna, Me & Bobbi with our medals on the rocks

Rosanna, Bobbi and I decided we'd begin the race together, and go our separate ways as needed. We ended up doing the entire 13.1 together, crossing the finish line a second apart. When we cleared the finish line and how it felt to get there is another story. For whatever reason, this was not my time to shine. In fact, this was my 4th slowest race ever. I had no pep in my step and my cardio system seemed easily taxed. There was nothing in my training, the days leading up to the race or this morning that would predict such an outcome, but I know enough from racing experiences (over 60 races of various lengths) that shit happens and you don't always know why. I finished in 2:27:25 (just last year I had a 2:08 PR in a harder race). In the past this would have devastated me, but today I truly take it in stride and feel grateful that I can run. My stats:
Overall: 1378 out of 1982
Women: 717 out of 1205
W 40-44: 119 out of 203

Now on to the star of this show ... Joe. Joe PR'd!!! I told Rosanna at the start of the race I thought he'd PR. On this out and back course, we were still going out as the fastest runners were coming back, and we passed Joe before even 100 people had gone by. He was flying, landing in 64th place overall with a personal best of 1:33:53 (7:10 pace). Joe's stats:
Overall: 64 out of 1982 (top 3%!)
Men: 55 out of 776 (top 7%)
M 40-44: 6 out of 114 (top 5%)

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Dan & Scott ran the full marathon offered today. This was their first 26.2 mile distance and they saw it through to the end. As we approached Mile 12 and read the sign that said "Half Marathon Turnaround Ahead, Marathon Continues Straight" I thought of them and shuddered at the thought of having to go another 14+ miles. They are either better than me or crazier than me - probably a bit of both!

Next month all the people mentioned in this blog, along with 7 others, will take on the Ragnar Relay. I will blog details about that event in my next posting. In the mean time, I will take a week to recover and then start my new regimen with Coach Matt Thull on 5/11/15.  I will see new PR's yet and today's results will make that next PR all that much sweeter.