Honey Badger Don't Care

While we undeniably have the BEST team name in town (Thanks Zop!), some of the others are pretty amusing, too.  There was the "Who Has The Keys?" team ('No one,' the answer to that one turned out to be for that group the previous year, who in consequence had to hitchhike the entire race).

Checking out the teams this year I noticed a honey badger theme. One team is "Honey Badger Don't Care" and another is "You Stole Our Honey Badger Name."  Huh? Curious about just what was up with this Honey Badger thing, I did a little research. Turns out it is referencing a viral YouTube video that is worth your few minutes:

Ok, so we are at the starting line now

The team members of van 1 finally arrived to Lincoln, NH. We all had a great time eating the sort of good pasta meal the relay organizers offered us, then we came to our great hotel and waited for our team mates of Van 2.

Mean while we hang out at the bar and had fun dancing.

Yes, updates galore are us!  The local hurricane appears to have washed out part of the course.  Due to various changes to accommodate that the course has been shortened a bit.  My personal often wrong but never in doubt pace calculator spreadsheet now claims we will arrive at the finish at 4:43pm on Saturday.

The weather forecast continues to look good.  The night legs may be a bit chilly with predicted lows around 38!  But the start should be just over 50 and the finish a beautiful 65!

In other news I think I may have figured out how to enter the location of our transition areas using latitude and longitude coordinates!  Yes, this is newsworthy since the spreadsheets the course officials provide include this information; often in lieu of an actual address.  After all what is the address of some camping area inside a park?  See what I mean?  That is why I am so proud of my discovery!

Well RRFC readers there are only three days left until the team departs for the starting area!  So far so good in terms of the weather report.  According to www.weather.com (zip code 03580) it appears that both Friday and Saturday will be sun filled with ideal running conditions!

You say you want to follow your favorite relay team in real time?  Well we can help you out!  At least whenever there is a WIFI connection we can!  Expect to see updates on occasion when we can upload pictures.  My cell will let me handle brief updates as well as upload cell phone quality (i.e. not all that great) pictures.  Other members on the team may be helping to keep our fans informed as well.

So when do we start you ask?  Who is running when you want to know?  Here are some answers:

We start at high noon on Friday.  My magical pace and time crystal ball (i.e. Excel spreadsheet with a lot of built in guesses) has us finishing around 6:30pm on Saturday.  In running order we present this year's team!

Staffing the Orange Line: Bruce, Nancy, Matt, Cara, Taylor and Lisa.  Yea team!

Staffing the Green Line:  Captain Erica, Weldon, Chris, Karin, Joe and Judson.  Go team!

We expect to hear about lots of virtual cheering so remember to follow along as we cruise through New Hampshire at around 7.5 miles an hour!

Weather? Looks Good Right Now!

The two years I ran the Reach the Beach Relay it rained. Actually, it poured at times! During the years I was sidelined word is it . . . rained. I resigned myself to the idea that this race was just snake bit when it came to weather and that it would rain sometime while the vans were out and about. But as of now the weather forecast is pretty good for next week! Yes it is early. This is a long range forecast. It very well may change. But here is what it currently says at www.weather.com for Franconia, NH (03580) for next Friday and Saturday.

Friday September 16: A few clouds. Highs in the mid 60s and lows in the low 50s.
Saturday September 17: Clouds giving way to sun . Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the low 50s.

Keep your fingers crossed and this will be a rain free year with, if we are really lucky, two fairly sunny days!

A Big Welcome to the 2012 Rosie Ruiz Fan Club Team

The first thing you may be wondering who this Matt guy is to be posting here in the team blog. Well, after being sidelined from running for two years (yes two years!) I can run again. Not as fast as I used to but I can run. That means I can rejoin the relay team! I am really glad to be back on since the Reach the Beach Relay was always one of my favorite "races" of the year. More on the quotes in a second.

Okay, why do I get to post here? Well, yours truly is actually the guy who started this team blog. In fact it is a very exclusive club. If you are on the Rosie Ruiz Relay Team you can post here too! Just let Erica or me know that you want in and we will get you registered. Beyond text if you decide to get in on the action you are also welcome to post pictures! So please feel free to help with the blogging!

Now welcome to the 2012 team's tentative lineup by running slot: In van 1, better known as the Green Orange Line, we have Bruce, Nancy, Matt, Cara, Taylor and Lisa. In van 2, the Red Green Line, our runners are Erica, Weldon, Chris, Karin, Joe and Judson. I hope everybody is ready for 36 hours of sleep deprivation in a smelly van with trash all over the place! No? Well, then you might want to prepare yourself! :)

I see from last year's blog the team set a new land speed record. After doing a bit of sleuthing on line I think I can safely say we will too! Yes, my guess is that this will be the slowest Rosie Ruiz Fan Club Reach the Beach Relay Team in history! Go team! Anybody who takes getting to the finish fast has clearly wound up in the wrong van! But, I bet we have more fun on the way than anybody else!

I look forward to seeing everybody in just a bit over a week.

MTA:  Fixed the van colors!  Sorry folks.

Chris's Blog

Read what Chris has to say about his RTB experience here:
http://c-dawson.blogspot.com/