57 miles down, 142 miles to go

So it took me a bit longer to get back to blog... I just finished two great legs (7 and 8) and was quickly followed by Kevin. Hard to believe it's already been 4 hours since I started my run.

Last time at Ragnar, I got stuck with the ungodly hill up Rt 40... this time, it was Greg who got the hill. Technically, he had more of a vertical climb than I did, but mine was over a shorter distance!

The weather has not only held, it has gotten very warm... I debated with running with or without a belt and ultimately ended up running with it (which ultimately was a very good decision). I felt great for the first mile of leg 7 or so (chasing a guy from another team) but then quickly hit a wall as the heat and a steep uphill got to me. After the third mile I was feeling in the zone and having liquids made a big difference - I started picking other teams off. At one point I was running around a sub 7 minute mile, but had to slow myself down as I reminded myself that I had 33 miles or so to go... Leg 8 also went pretty well - after a long slow uphill climb the last 3.5 miles was all downhill - steep downhill. I took advantage of the downhill and flew into the checkpoint to hand off to Kevin for legs 9 and 10.

Kevin's legs also went well - except he had literally run through several miles of farm fields that had been freshly manured. At one point he almost felt like he had to throw up due to the heat and the smell...

Kevin finished up his 10.6 strong and handed the bracelet off to new team member Matt for legs 11 and 12. Matt wanted say hi to his girls Madison and Peyton - and they should know the van is not stinky... yet! More coming soon on Matt's progress.

Also wanted to give a shout out to Tony, who ran Ragnar with us but unfortunately couldn't run this time due to injury. Wish you here brother!