Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The Starting Line or Matilda McBeastie

Our team has finally arrived in the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida. We used our GPS as a guide. But it was also a plus when we saw runners being followed by decorated vans. Time to work on our cheery spirits by yelling and blowing the horn in support.

The starting line was in Fred Howard Park. From what I saw, this was a nice park. A great place for a picnic if your in to that kind of stuff. There were tall pines, scrub grass, palm trees, picnic shelters, little squirrels, marching ants, covered musical trashcans and the ever popular bathrooms. Wanna guess who visited the bathroom first.


The check-in was simple and quick. A bag of 12 t-shirts and another bag of goodies. Whatever happened to the bag of goodies. It really wasn't all that good. Believe me. Ragnar has teams starting every 30 minutes from 8am til 2pm. These start times are based on your projected finish. Obviously the faster teams start later in the day. You will be penalized if you sandbag your time just to get an early start. We would have started earlier than our 11am start had our vans been available prior to 8am.

There were other teams already on scene and others arriving. Some had their vans decorated, while others were in the process. There were large vans, small vans, jeeps, station wagons and SUV's. I even saw a VW. I made it a point to point the smaller vehicles out to my Van 2 members. See there. Good things come in all shapes and sizes.

We were joined by the likes of The Barking Spiders. The Killer B's. SS Insanity II. Ultra Disaster. The Faster We Run, The Faster We Drink. And the original, Run Hard. Not all of these teams were in our division but this would be our competition at least for the first few hours. Time to get some team pics and give one last pep talk before the gun goes off.




The entire team on your left.
Van 2 on your right.






10:55 am. As I said in the beginning. This race is for fun. Each of us shall do our best but don't feel pressured to go all crazied up in them shoes. All I expect and ask is that you give youself and your team your best til the end. 10:57 am. Time to get this thing started.
10:58 am. Kalani stood at that start line with the biggest smile. Finger on that start button of her watch. 10:59 am. Crouched in the runner's start position. I am thinking, "we got a long ways to go there lady. But I like your style." 11:00 am. The horn blows and she is off. We have now begun the race of our lives. Well it was the race of our lives at the current time. Van 1 was off to follow Kalani. I felt like a proud father kicking his kid out the door on his 18th birthday. It was a long struggle to get him there but I know he will do just great.


6 comments:

  1. I'm getting excited! I wonder what happens next?!?!? What does Van 2 do??!?!?! :) LOL!

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  2. I just noticed your PR at the Brandon 1/2, great job!

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  3. Good thing you gave up the teaser title thing, since you aren't really following through with them.
    BTW, the wedding was cold and wet. I'll get last night's pictures up tomorrow.

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  4. Playing catch up here Captain Nuts. But I like your style. ;)

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  5. I FINALLY got my Ragnar sticker....I still want to know what happen to the goodie bag and the free snacks!!!

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  6. oh P-Funk - the free snacks were GOOOOOD! Apple crappy!

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