Fast Running Blog

Fast Running Blog in partnership with the St. George Running Center and MarathonGIS.Com (Paul Petersen's race map business that makes maps for the Ragnar Relays and TOU, he sells great maps on his site, visit http://www.marathongis.com/sale.htm) are proud to announce that we are planning to send a team to Del Rel Relay (Feb 29 - Mar 1). In Sasha terminology this is going to be a blood team - we are going for the win. Thus we do have an expectation for candidate team members to be around the level of no slower than a 2:40 marathon in St. George, 1:15 half in Hobblecreek, or 1:20 half on a flat course at 4500 feet. We will, however, take slower people to fill in the gaps if needed, so if you are quite there yet, do not hesitate to share with us your availability. Please, understand, however, that we will select the fastest 12 runners available. If you do not get selected, we still encourage you to run for another team that may be desperate for a good runner.

Courtesy of MarathonGIS.Com, the entry will be comped. Other logistical issues are yet to be determined, but we will do our best to minimize the expenses for the team. The infamous VanGoGo will be one of the team vehicles, gas covered by the Fast Running Blog. The other vehicle still needs to be secured. We hope to find some free lodging with the help of the Phoenix chapter of the Fast Running Blog and their connections (if you are member of the chapter, please post how many people you can host). VanGoGo will have room for one extra passenger from Provo, UT to Phoenix, AZ.

If you would like to contribute your legs or other resources to the team, post here or send me a private message at http://sasha.fastrunningblog.com/. I am currently occupying the team captain position, but will need to transfer this responsibility to somebody with more time on their hands pretty soon. Feel free to apply for the job. 

I am in Sasha. I just need to confirm the dates as you forgot to mention them. Also, I can probably help with Team Captain duties as well if needed. See you in the AM.

Sasha,
I might be able to host a few people.  What are the exact dates when people would need lodging?  FYI, we have a guest room that sleeps two (in one full-sized bed) and two other extra bedrooms with no beds, if some people (probably not participants!) are OK with sleeping on the floor (we have no air mattresses, sleeping bags, etc., though).  If you include floor space, we would have room for about 8 adults, but only 2 in a bed.  Kids are welcome, although our house is not childproof, and we have a pool without a fence in the backyard.  I am contemplating entering the race for fun...will that present logistical challenges?
2/29 and 3/1 are clear.  I'll have to double-check my work commitments for any other days, but I think it will work.  Hope I can help out!

We would also be able to host some people, probably about 4 adults, if they can handle being mobbed by our 3 boys and crazy dog (dog actually stays in the back yard)  :).  We can also contribute our minivan to the cause - seats 7, 6 very comfortably.  We have a queen-size air mattress, and also have a sleeper sofa in our family room.

Ok, Ted is the team captain for now. I'll brief him on his duties tomorrow.

Team so far in order of speed (note that faster runners will displace slower ones as they arrive once we have 12 with slower ones moving to the backup):

Sasha
Ted
Craig Green
James Winzenz

Ok, I have been appointed to be the Team Captain. I have registered the team and now will just need to finalize the team members prior to DEC 31st. For those that are interested in being a part of the team I will need some information in order to complete the registration. We are trying to put together a team that can win so we are looking for the fastest 12 individuals that we can find. If you are interested the information I will need is as follows:

Name: First Last
Address:
City:
State:
ZIP:
Phone:
Email:
10K PR:
Birth Date:
Shirt Size:

Please email the above information to me as soon as you can and I will start to put together the official team and let everyone know prior to DEC 31st. My email is ted.leblow @ byu.edu. If there are any questions please let me know as well.

Shauna and James thank you for the offer for rooms and the extra van we will plan on bringing some air mattresses and taking you up on your offers unless something else comes up before then.

People on the blog I would love to recruit for this are below: Hopefully by listing them they will feel the pressure and join in!

Sean Sundwall - Understand you are further away but we would love to have you join us if possible.
Joe Wilson - Lives in Wyoming now and I have not seen on blog lately but would be great to have.
Steve Ashbaker - I am counting on you to join us! We need you on the team.
Logan Fielding - Another must have, please!
Mike Kirk - Another fast runner that would be a big plus.
Clyde Behunin - Our Southern Utah speedster.
Dave Holt - Clyde's speedy running partner.
Bob Thompson - A big plus for the team if he can join us.
Chad Derum
Nate Hornock
Jeff Shadley
James Barnes
Cody Draper
Kory Wheatley
Chris Rogers

And any others I may have overlooked. The bottom line is we need the 12 fastest runners we can find so we can go out and win this race! If you know any others that are currently not on the blog but would like to join the team please feel free to invite them as well.

Ted if you didn't get my email... I'm in. We have to go not only win this but dominate. So lets get a real blood team together. I'll also try see what I can do about getting some rooms like we had last year. Come on guys a Southwest ticket down there is only around $60. It was way fun last year and this year will be better because we will win.

I checked air prices from Salt Lake and the cheapest was on Southwest for $111 each way so $222 roundtrip. I think the prices have gone up since last year. With this in mind the car/van pool is the best option for me. However, if their are those that want to fly then we can just link up in Pheonix upon arrival.

Clyde, if you get some rooms that would be great just let me know.

I agree with Clyde, we need to put our best team forward and get a Utah FRB/St. George Running Center victory! So if you know any fast runners start talking to them. ie. Hobie, Teren, McCombs, Vick, etc...

I think if you are trying to make it a Blog team then keep it as a Blog team.  There are enough good runners on the Blog that a dominant team should be fairly easy to put together.  I mean, we almost won that thing this year with a rag-tag bunch of guys, half of which were just starting to get into shape (including me).  I also think that experience can be as valuable as a couple of minutes of speed in a marathon, relays are a different ball game.  

If James W. is willing to let us use his van I think he should be invited to drive and be a part of the team that way.  When we did our Ultra team at WBR in 2006 Paul and Ben drove and they were as much a part of the team and the good times as the rest of us, maybe more.

I would be perfectly happy to drive, although part of me is certainly hoping I will be able to run as well, depending on who else will be taking part . . .  :)

James, I like the idea of inviting drivers such as James W if they are willing and we end up with 12 faster runners. Of course tha assumes we end up with 12 faster runners. Having dedicated drivers makes a big difference in an event like this and like you said they get to have just a lot fun and be a part of the team.

I don't think we will get many interested from outside the FRB community. I think Sasha would allow new guys to join in from outside the FRB as long as they were willing to join the FRB as well. But I think you are right we can put together a pretty dang fast team from within the blog as long as we get 12 of our top guys to join in. I have sent invites out to most on the blog today and am just waiting for responses to confirm who is in. Considering we have about 20 on the blog who have run a sub 2:40 marathon I hope we can get 12 to join in.

Ok, the goal is to get answers from everyone interested NLT 10 DEC so we can finalize the team and let everyone know. This way everyone can make plans accordingly well in advance. Once we have the team members identified then we will start finalizing the travel, ldoging plans etc... Right now the costs should be very minimal. We should have places to stay and our entry has been covered thanks to Paul. So the only real expenses should be food and sharing gas for van/car pool as necessary. So if you have not sent me an email and let me know that you are interested please do so by 10 DEC. Thanks Everyone!

Guys- my thoughts:

My training partner Dominique is one of the race directors, so I can get any inside info we need at any time, such as competitive teams they are sponsoring, etc. She told me they sponsored the Runner's Corner team at the NW Passage race last July, and that team blew everyone else out of the water. Could FRB put together a team at least as fast as Runner's Corner? Definitely. She said they aren't sponsoring Runner's Corner at Del Sol, but I'll double-check to see if they are sponsoring anyone and who the favorites are.

All you really need to win this thing is runners that can average 6:00 miles over all terrain and legs. It's a bit harder than it sounds, though, because the 7:00 uphill means 5:00 over the flat and/or downhill.

6:00 per mile isn't really too hard on RDS if you have the right team.  Our team last year averaged 6:10/mile, and we had a number of runners who were not in ideal shape (including me).  Plus, we had some runners who really struggled on the last leg (i.e. 1 to 2 minutes per mile slower than their first few legs).  RDS is a fairly flat race, especially if you are used to running in Utah or have run Wasatch Back.

I'm guessing the race will be more competitive this year, so the winning team will likely need to be under 6:00 pace.  But the FRB should not have much trouble putting a team together than can meet this.

I'm not sure if the race will be more competitive or not. Part of me thinks you will roll over the competition with a 6:00/mile team. I think Google showing up last year was kind of a freak thing, and aside from them, we blew everyone else out of the water. Since Del Sol is during the school year (ie - indoor track season), you will never have good college athletes there to compete against. Hard to say though. In any case, I see this race being less competitive in general than Wasatch Back and Hood to Coast simply because of time of year.

Ted, if you are having trouble getting 12 runners, you could do an ultra team with only 6.  A bit harder, but any in-shape marathoner should be able to do it without slowing down much for the added distance.  Plus, I think it would be cool for a 6 person team to win the whole thing, beating all the 12 person teams.  12 is preferable, but 6 is doable.

I am most likely in. Let me get Cross Country Nationals behind me this weekend before I commit formally, but if we are truly going for the victory then I am in.

It looks like Google won last year with a 6:01 pace. Our Hood to Coast team averaged 5:18s so really what we need are folks who can consistently run three sub 33:00 10ks...on little rest and that would put us in at 17 hours 19 minutes which would be a course record. The course looks a little harder/slower than Hood to Coast but hopefully we can get 12 guys running sub 33:00s.

Going ultra is definitely another option. You run back to back legs so you still run only three times. I would think we have 6 runners on this blog who can run 10miles x3 at 5:30 pace or better.

Sean-Last year we had a team (sponsored by Paul and MarathonGIS) of 1/2 bloggers, 1/2 not and almost won (we battled with Google most of the way) until the third leg 2nd van had some troubles.  It was pretty exciting.  We could put together a team of Bloggers that would EASILY beat Google's team of last year.  Ultra or not.  It should be pretty exciting.  Especially when more surprise teams show up that will also have a shot at winning.

Yea!  We got Sean!  Yessss!  Who else?  Come on, guys!  Time to shine in the Valley of the Sun!   I wonder if Nick would consider doing it.  I don't know his last name, but he's the Run Buffs Run! guy.

I am sure Nick should speak for himself, but the race is toward the end of indoor track season if I am not mistaken and usually coaches get mad if their athletes compete in races outside of collegiate running (I know my coach did when I did a road race).  Possible eligibility issues too if there is a purse.

The only purse from Ragnar races is a baton to each member of the winning teams, plus any free goodies you snag from the exchange stations (last year there were some good Clif protein bars and some really nasty Caranaba (sp?) bars).  No money.

I have been out of town this weekend but it is looking good for us having a great team. Right now we will have 12 no problem and some very fast runners at that. I really think we will have a strong enough team to go for the course record and put up a pretty dang good time at that. Once I catch up on email this week I will post the runners that have indicated their interest/intent and then try and solidfiy the team by the end of the week. The FRB is going to rock DEL SOL this year.

Just checked and Google is registered again this year!

Surprising, but good!

Well, I am out of town this weekend but should here back from the last couple of possible runners by Monday. I will post the team members on Monday and also send an email out to all. Then we can start working on the logistics and overall planning. I will say this, we are going to have a very good team and all are from the blog as well!

I found a hotel right around the second van exchange that I reserved using Marriott points. It comes with free internet and free hot breakfast. What I need to know is when we would start the race. If it's anything like hood to coast, we will be one of the last teams to start which means we would start late Friday. Assuming that is the case, I have reserved a room for Thursday and Friday nights. It can hold up to four people.


https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/phxfi-fairfield-inn-scottsdale-north/

Fellow FRB Runners,

The selection for the Del Sol Relay is complete. It was much tougher than I anticipated trying to narrow down the 12 runners (I am actually one of the slowest runners on the team). We had a lot of very good runners from the FRB interested in running. I wish we could take everyone but unfortunately we are limited to 12. After talking with Sasha and taking many things into consideration the team members are listed below. The good news is that we have a very fast team that should go down and not only win but hopefully set a course record in the process. If for some reason we have any last minute changes we will keep everyone on the alternate list just in case.

Sean Sundwall
Nick McCombs
Logan Fielding
Steve Ashbaker
Sasha Pachev
Clyde Behuin
Dave Holt
Jeff Shadley
James Barnes
Ted Leblow
Kory Wheatley
Adam Wende

I need all of the runners listed above to send me the following information as soon as possible so I can register each for the race and start to work on the logistics and race plans.

Name:
Address:
City:
State:
ZIP:
Phone:
Email:
10K PR:
Birth Date:
Shirt Size:
Running Strength: Do you think you are a strong/weak uphill or downhill runner? Or if you don’t think it makes a difference let me know.
Transportation: Do you want to be part of a van/car pool to get to Phoenix or will you be going on your own?

Thanks and more details to follow on lodging, travel arrangements and race strategy as soon as I gather all of the information from everyone.

This is great. It looks like with this we will end up with plenty of places for everyone to stay. The tentative plan is to arrive on Thursday and depart either Saturday or Sunday depending on everyone's preference. Either way we should still have enough other rooms for Saturday night for those that prefer to stay. More details to follow.

Thanks Sean!

The room would be better on Thursday and Saturday nights. Because on Friday night things will be moving along and you may only get to use it until like 9 or 10 p.m. max. plus last year we had both vans go to the start and with all that running around it may not be that good. Last year I got 2 rooms for 2 nights one on Thursday night and one on Saturday night so people could crash after it was over before making their way home. I just got a late check out on Friday so we slept there Thursday night and then hung out until like 1 or 3 p.m. whenever the late check out was and then made our way to the start. Anyways that's just an idea. If you do something like that Sean- Dave H and I would love to stay in the room there. I'm guessing we will fly Southwest out of Vegas on Thursday and fly home on Sunday morning unless something else comes up.

Wow, that is a stacked team!!!  I would be disappointed if you guys don't break 17 hours, at least.  Is Nick the only non-blogger?

Paul, you could grab most of these guys for your Hood to Coast team.

I agree. This is the best non-college relay team I've seen. And imagine this same team has the firepower to win WBR on some years. A lot of these guys are on the HTC team. I hope to get more bloggers on the HTC team, as people improve over the winter and spring. Right now the cutoff is 5:15/mile, but I imagine the pool of bloggers who can hold that pace will increase as people keep working hard.

Jon BTW, Nick is on the Blog.

Too bad you two aren't doing Del Sol this year, it won't be the same without you.  But it does look like a fun and fast team.

Paul, I am sure Jon will be doing 5:15s as soon as he decides to lose that winter 15 lbs., and busts out the lawn mower green shorty shorts.

Paul...have you already secured a spot in the H2C relay? They are hard to come by.

Clyde, we should check what Nick M. is doing as well, being from down here maybe he would like to tag along.
Also I think my dad has shuttle tickets we could use to get down and back from Vegas (let me know if that would be a good idea, or just easier to drive, and I'll get it set up).

Sean - I need to check on that actually. I am not the one who registered.

Something for next year?
http://www.usatf.org/events/2007/USATFClubXCChampionships/results/OM.asp

Holy Club Championships, Batman!  That actually sounds pretty darn cool.   Maybe we could even have two teams if there are enough bloggers that want to run . . . I have no idea what the requirements are, it just sounds awesome to be able to tell your buddies, "yeah, I ran at the USATF Club XC Championships . . . "

This is the race I ran in last weekend. It was awesome. 500 runners on one muddy yucky course. To enter, your club has to be a registered club with the USATF and each member of the club has to be a USATF member.

Here's the link: http://www.usatf.org/clubs/application/download/info.asp?associationNumber=34&sumbit=Go+-%3E

Looks like it's $50 to register a club in Utah. I'm not sure if there are residency requirements to belong to a team but the link above should help.

Next year's race is just down the road in Spokane, WA.

Score- I'd much rather do CC than another road race!  Especially muddy!

Mud is good!  I would love to run on an old has been cross country team!

I talked to Sasha a little bit about this the other day. I think it would be fun to do, if not next year, then the year after.

GO DEL SOL TEAM!!! You're gonna blow them away- can't wait to read the race report!

Good Luck you guys!!

Bonnie

Congrats on dominating all teams and getting 1st place! Your average pace was insanely fast!

Apparently the Del Sol Team was very successful. Where can we read about your experience? Will you put it here where those of us who will never run fast enough to do something like this can enjoy it vicariously? Congratulations! Now let's hear the gory details!

The gory details can be found on Clyde's blog!  But for everybody else's, go to Race Reports and take a peak.

Nice job, guys, on a great race and amazing win! 

Hey guys, one of you left your hard-earned trophy baton in my front room.  Let me know whose it is and I'll get it to you!