Slingshotted

This story starts in May of 2012. At that time, I had been running regularly, but was still a newbie. I was asked to participate in my first Ragnar Relay — a roughly 200-mile relay race where each runner completes three legs over the course of 24-30 hours (depending on how fast your team is). My Ragnars have taken me to Cape Cod (so beautiful), the Adirondacks (so hilly), New Hampshire (we finished second to last :-D ) and Canada (the finish line was at Niagara Falls!). It is a complete adventure: you don't sleep, you laugh a lot, you push yourself way outside your running comfort zone, you run at night in unfamiliar places, you have more fun driving around in a van than you ever thought you could.

In mid-September, I will run my 10th Ragnar Relay. And as I prepare for it, I realize that I am taking all of the encouragement and positivity from my previous relays into this new experience. As such, this blog post is really a love and thank you note to all my previous teammates, including:
• my dearest friends who are more like family — Erin and Pat
• their family who I have loved getting to know and now think of as extended family — Ali, Jill, and Jonathan
• their friends who have become my friends — Graver, Kelly, Skeehan, and Alex
• my friends who I recruited to try this amazing experience — John O'Malley, Jay and Jessica, and Mark
• people I had never met before who have become so important to me through these intense and silly escapades — Maria, Stacy, Jody, Roxanne, Jimnahs, Carina, Emily and Chris, Kevin, James, Yvonne, Jen Z., Steph G., and of course Adam and Laura
• runners who hopped on one team and I may never have the privilege of running with again, but thoroughly enjoyed meeting — Katie, Mikey, Steve O, Claudia, Angela and Paul, Melanie, Cassie, Dave, Caitlin, Michael, Kailey, Shari, Meghan and Andrew

I have realized that the encouragement I have received from all of these awesome runners is what has slingshotted me with confidence into my newest adventure. This time I have joined a team of 11 complete strangers. We will run 200+ miles from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC. I literally can't wait.

PS — If you see me running hills in Wallingford over the course of the next few weeks, give me a hoot or a holler as you drive by. Hills are essential as this is what my first leg looks like [:-O]