We DID IT!

Can you believe it was over a week ago that we finished THE RAGNAR?

Way to go team Blister Sisters!

I got these pictures off of http://flo-foto.com/.

Missing in the group shot are Michelle, Staci, Kandice and Kilee. We were DANG tired so we went home.

I'm interested in having a follow up meeting to swap stories between vans, share pictures, etc. If you have pictures, can we send them all to one person - or post them on here? What do you all think?

Is It Time Already?

We're now down to a day or two and a few hours before it's time to start running! Are you ready? Don't forget that we're going to meet at the Chili's in Layton for our pre-race team dinner on Thursday night at 5:00 and then we're going to Kandice's afterwards to decorate the vans. We promise that we won't keep you Van-One-ers (aka the "Blistuhs") out too late because we know that 3:00 comes awfully early! See you all there!

Also make note...we didn't have enough interest in our after race dinner party at Jodee's family cabin, so we're not going to have it after all! Meet us at the finish line though because we all want to celebrate for a few minutes together! We'll see you on Thursday!

Meet Michelle Bennett

Hi, I'm Michelle. I have have been married 3 years this July to David and have two kids - Jasper who is 11 and Jackson who is 18 months. After David and I were married about 8 months Jasper who is David's nephew (his sister's child) came to live with us. We were his legal guardians until April when we adopted him. He has been such a blessing to our lives.

I have a love hate relationship with running.I really have a hard time getting my running clothes on, - and my caboose out the door. It seems I always have an excuse not to run. But I'm loving it now more than I ever have before. Running is my time to think and unwind.

I had planned on running the Ragnar in 2007, but I had to drop out and my sister Staci McKinnon ran it for me. She's running this year with me and I'm so excited to be a part of the Blister Sisters!

Info

Some info:

There is a meeting at Sheri's house! Today June 7th at 11 am.

We need to wear reflective vests:

Jodee has some - let her know or Sheri. They cost $7.25.

We can wear headphones, but here are some rules:

New Rules
For safety reasons, we still strongly discourage the use of headphones. The safest and best answer is not to use them. If you still choose to use them, you do so at your own risk and must meet the following requirements:

1. Hear traffic
2. Be aware of the sounds around you
3. Be able to hear instructions from course officials when speaking at a reasonable tone (not yelling)

Strikes will be given out if you are unable to hear instructions. Three strikes on any rule may result in disqualification for your entire team.

Tips on safely listening to music
Should you choose to use a personal (or impersonal) listening device, below are some tips:
1. Put the headphones behind your ears rather than in your ears
2. Use one ear bud rather than two
3. Use a device like http://www.safesoundsports.com/product.html
4. Keep the volume low
5. Use a device like an iPhone or Blackberry on speaker mode

TIMES!

Most of us have this info now, but for future reference, here are the times for each of our legs. Note how much time we have to complete each leg:

You have selected to begin at 05:40 am

Runner: Leg: Approximate Start Time: Minutes to complete: Leg Distance: 1 1 05:40 am 81 7.9 miles 13 03:39 pm 78 8.3 miles 25 02:57 am 49 4.8 miles 2 2 07:00 am 76 6.7 miles 14 04:58 pm 34 3.0 miles 26 03:46 am 37 3.3 miles 3 3 08:16 am 53 5.6 miles 15 05:32 pm 46 4.9 miles 27 04:23 am 73 7.9 miles 4 4 09:09 am 53 5.1 miles 16 06:18 pm 43 4.2 miles 28 05:37 am 34 3.8 miles 5 5 10:02 am 77 7.4 miles 17 07:00 pm 39 4.2 miles 29 06:11 am 28 3.0 miles 6 6 11:19 am 52 6.9 miles 18 07:39 pm 71 8.1 miles 30 06:38 am 25 3.1 miles 7 7 12:11 pm 35 4.0 miles 19 08:50 pm 39 3.8 miles 31 07:03 am 37 4.2 miles 8 8 12:47 pm 35 3.4 miles 20 09:29 pm 66 7.0 miles 32 07:41 am 65 6.1 miles 9 9 01:22 pm 28 3.5 miles 21 10:35 pm 80 9.6 miles 33 08:45 am 41 3.6 miles 10 10 01:50 pm 33 3.6 miles 22 11:55 pm 73 7.7 miles 34 09:26 am 51 4.0 miles 11 11 02:22 pm 35 3.7 miles 23 01:07 am 46 5.5 miles 35 10:17 am 36 5.4 miles 12 12 02:58 pm 42 3.7 miles 24 01:54 am 63 6.5 miles 36 10:53 am 44 4.7 miles

Exchange #: Arrival Time: Total Mileage: 1 07:00 am 7.9 miles 2 08:16 am 14.6 miles 3 09:09 am 20.2 miles 4 10:02 am 25.3 miles 5 11:19 am 32.7 miles 6 12:11 pm 39.6 miles 7 12:47 pm 43.6 miles 8 01:22 pm 47.0 miles 9 01:50 pm 50.5 miles 10 02:22 pm 54.1 miles 11 02:58 pm 57.8 miles 12 03:39 pm 61.5 miles 13 04:58 pm 69.8 miles 14 05:32 pm 72.8 miles 15 06:18 pm 77.7 miles 16 07:00 pm 81.9 miles 17 07:39 pm 86.1 miles 18 08:50 pm 94.2 miles 19 09:29 pm 98.0 miles 20 10:35 pm 105.0 miles 21 11:55 pm 114.6 miles 22 01:07 am 122.3 miles 23 01:54 am 127.8 miles 24 02:57 am 134.3 miles 25 03:46 am 139.1 miles 26 04:23 am 142.4 miles 27 05:37 am 150.3 miles 28 06:11 am 154.1 miles 29 06:38 am 157.1 miles 30 07:03 am 160.2 miles 31 07:41 am 164.4 miles 32 08:45 am 170.5 miles 33 09:26 am 174.1 miles 34 10:17 am 178.1 miles 35 10:53 am 183.5 miles 36 Approximate Finish: 11:37 am 188.2 miles

And Our Start Time Is....

We have our official start time...and I hope you all like to get up early! Our time is 5:45 a.m. and in case you were wondering, that's in the morning, which means if we're supposed to be there an hour early we'll be leaving here no later than 3:45! That's insane! Are we sure we want to do this? Well there's no turning back now, but us 2nd van people might be rethinking the part where we wanted to send you 1st van people off at the Starting line!

Meet Staci McKinnon

I’m Staci McKinnon and am 29 years old. I’m single and recently bought my first house – which is a fixer upper. Its been quite an adventure and I have loved every bit of it. I’m running the Ragnar in place of Cindy Taylor who had to get knee surgery. I ran the race before a few years ago, and it was a great experience. This time, I know it will be even better because I know tips and things that will help make it so.

I started running about 6 years ago – mainly to get help get rid of the 40 lbs that I had gained while serving a mission. J But then I continued to run because it felt good and relieved stress and anxiety. I have run off and on for those 6 years, most recently I've been on the off cycle, so this race has been great motivation to get me running again.