Del Sol Relay

[Sasha Pachev]

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. 

[Ted Leblow]

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.

[Shauna]

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!

[James Winzenz]

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.

[Sasha Pachev]

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

[Ted Leblow]

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.

[Superfly]

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.

[Ted Leblow]

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...

[James Barnes]

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.

[James Winzenz]

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 . . . 

[Ted Leblow]

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.

[Ted Leblow]

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!

[Craig Green]

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.

[Jon Allen]

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.

[Paul Petersen]

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.