Join the Team and See the Sun Rise!

The other day my only chance to run a few miles was to leave before dawn. Not a problem! Thanks to my Rosie Ruiz Fan Club night time running kit. (Mine consists of a headlamp, blinky lights and a reflective vest.) As a bonus during the run I had a chance to see the sun rise over the horizon. So what you ask? You only ask because you have not been privy to the experience. But if you join the Rosie Ruiz Fan Club for the relay you will be! The race runs through the night and so does our team. The attached photo was taken during the relay two years ago. Now contact us and sign up so you can see the sun rise over the New Hampshire mountains as well!.

Join the Team Today and Pay Less to Run the Relay!

Last year we did not have a team and I had to deal with tongue cancer. This year the goal is to switch that around! Help me reach my goal by signing up for the team. As an incentive to do so I am starting a new cost allocation system. Before you procrastinate read on!

In year's past many people put off joining. They figured that they would wait until the team was nearly full or just hoped that somebody would get hurt and they could sign up at the last minute. No doubt, there was something to be said for this strategy. But it left me scrambling to get 12 runners. Plus it left me on the hook for the whole team's registration and hotel costs, both of which I need to pay up front. All in all, my life is a whole lot less happy than it need be. This year if you help me fill the team early I am going to help you. 

Here is this year's cost allocation structure. When it comes time to split the team's costs for the registration fee, van and hotel how much you owe will depend on when you sign up. The earlier you sign up the less you pay. As a bonus, if others procrastinate and you do not you pay even less! 

Cost Allocation: Depending on when you sign up you will have a certain number of points. The fraction of the bill for the registration fee, hotel and van that you owe will equal your points divided by the sum of the points of everyone on the team. So fewer points on your part mean you pay less. Also, the more points others have the less you pay. As an example if you have 300 points and everyone else has 400 the fraction of the bill you would be responsible for is 300/(300+11*400). In this example that would be 6.4% of the bill. Everyone else on the team would owe 400/(300+11*400) which comes to 8.5% of the bill.

Point Accumulation: If you sign up between now and April 1 you will be allocated 300 points. If you or anyone else signs up after April 1 they will be allocated 300 points plus 2 points for each day after April 1. For example, you would get 304 points if you sign up on April 3. 

Once we have 9 team members I will put down the money for the registration fee and hotel under the assumption we can fill out the remaining 3 slots. Help us cross the finish line with 12 team mates! Sign up today!!!

It is March. Time to Join the Rosie Ruiz Fan Club for this Year's Relay!

It is March which means our annual team recruiting season has started! This year the Reach the Beach Relay is September is September 14 and 15. Come join us! I guarantee you will have a blast. If not, you get to go and not have a blast! :p Interested in signing up? Just send an email to rosieruizfc at gmail dot com and I will get back to you.

Great Year for Pictures!

This year's team wins a gold star for sharing photos! Each year we create a photo drop box to make it easy for everyone to swap pictures. Most years we get a few people to add their pictures and end up with a really nice collection. This year though was off the charts! 

Below are pictures from Dan,

Barbara, 

Bruce, 

Nancy and 

Ragnar's own photographer!

The Morning Run

After a good night's sleep . . . all right that is a total lie. After a brief nap the vans are up and running again! Around 7am the Orange Line pulled into the Van Transition Area located at Bear Brook State Park. Bruce came running around the corner

handed off the wrist baton and stopped for pictures!

This is one of the more picturesque transition areas with a small lake near where the runners perform the exchange.

Kind of cold but Bruce braved the icy waters anyway! Through the whole relay the weather was spectacular. Here Deirdre and Kirsten hang out in the sun while waiting for our runner to appear.

This is a particularly good picture of Nancy and Paul where you can see just how beautiful the day was.

Running by Moonlight

One of the most memorable parts of the relay is running at night. You run down a road with your headlamp, blinking tail light and reflective vest. Ahead and behind you can see a stream of other similarly decked out runners. Occasionally, one is wearing a tutu. Yes, a tutu. It is difficult for teams to identify their runners at night and use things like tutus to help. We used little blinking dots. Chris had the brilliant idea, pun intended! :), to put them on her sneakers. That apparently made it easy to spot her from far away. Expect this to become a regular part of the Rosie Ruiz Fan Club's night running outfit!

Here you can "see" Barbara coming down the road. The bright dots lower down on her vest are little blinking party lights we used to identify people in the dark.

I am not sure how Bruce got this shot at the transition area but he did! Dora is waiting for Nancy to come into the Vehicle Transition Area (VTA) where the Orange Line will take over from the Green Line.

Bruce even managed to get a shot of the transition!

Last picture for today is of Nancy and Deirdre walking back to the van from the VTA.

While not easy you can sometimes even catch a nap at night in the van as Kirsten demonstrates in this picture.

Day 1: Time to Go!

For this year's relay we have stunning weather! Not a cloud in the sky. Temperatures starting in the 40s and working their way up to the high 60s as the day progresses. Kristen started us off with a run up Bretton Woods. Yes up! Way up. To the very top. Then down again. A tough 2.5 mile leg.

We are team 43 and you can see her in blue on the photo's left. Since 2015 the course route allows the two vans to see off the first three runners. So, while Kristen was mountain climbing we had time for a picture of Nancy, Cathy and me.

Team support is very important. Who has the best team support? Why the Rosie Ruiz Fan Club!

Nancy had the van's last run and here she hands off to Dora.

Then it was finally time for the Green Line to stop for lunch.

Day 0: A Fun Filled Dinner

Day 0: We drove up to the Attitash Mountain Resort for the night. Arrived around dinner time and decided to eat at their restaurant, which turned out to be pretty good! Best of all was the company.

Next it was time for some van decorating. With an 8am start we figured there would not be enough time in the morning. Boy were we right! More on that later.

Un-official Rosie Ruiz Fan Club theme song – The Rosie Ruiz Marathon Blues

(Think Blues, 1-4-5 chord progression)

See Rosie was a runner, couldn’t run very far,

She ran just a little, but usually took a car,

Rosie entered the Boston marathon, to impress her boss at work,

But she never thought she’d end up such a marathon jerk,

 

Then she got the Blues……..,

The Rosie Ruiz marathon Blues……..,

And soon everyone heard,  the Rosie Ruiz  marathon news…..

 

Well Rosie had a scheme, to run Boston very fast,

But didn’t quite figure out, how long the run should last,

She jumped on the subway, after running just a while,

And then got off the train with a mischievous little smile,

 

Then she got the Blues……..,

The Rosie Ruiz marathon Blues……..,

And soon everyone heard,  the Rosie Ruiz  marathon news…..

 

Back in the race she went, but too far in the lead,

And ended up in first, then got caught for her evil deed,

So the story of Rosie goes, in good old bean town,

And Rosie will never be able to live this day down,

 

She got the Blues……..,

The Rosie Ruiz marathon Blues……..,

From then on and forever, she never wanted to see another pair of running shoes.

The 2016 Team T-Shirt!

This year's team t-shirts on the drying rack getting ready for their big race. Go Rosie Ruiz Fan Club Go! This Friday we start our adventure at 8am. Follow the action here or on our Facebook page.

Van Tags - What are They?

What is this you may wonder? It is an official Rosie Ruiz Fan Club magnetic van tag! What is that? Many years ago, our then Captain Erica came up with the idea of tagging vans with a little symbol of our team. Since then many teams have adopted this practice and by the end of the race our vans can end up with over a dozen tags each.

With just over a week to go the team's supplies are nearly all in! These van tags arrived recently. Next in line to show up are some lights that will (I hope) let us figure out which runner on the road at night is ours. So far none of the 8 tricks we have tried have worked. The first year we had no idea how difficult it would be to distinguish runners at night! Since then we have been on a never ending quest to find a solution.

We Are 100% Signed Up with Ragnar!

I am happy to report that the team is now 100% registered with Ragnar. Why does that matter? As you get closer to the race Ragnar starts to charge change fees. If people register late we need to pay the fee since we are adding someone to the team. Regular teams can have anywhere from 7 to 12 people on them (4 to 6 makes you an ultra team). If your team has 10 registered members Ragnar has no way of knowing if that is all you plan to have or if you looking for two more people.

To celebrate getting 100% registered I thought I would post this picture from the 2011 team.

From left to right: Bruce, Nance and yours truly Matt. I am happy to report that all three of us are back for this year's 10th anniversary team!

I am sad to report that we have lost Denise from the team this year due to sciatica. We all wish her a speedy recovery. She has been a wonderful member of the team. Here is a picture of her (in the green shirt) during last year's race.

While I am sad to see Denise go, I am happy to Welcome Paul to this year's team! Yes, we still have a full team with 12 runners! Paul is a great runner and a wonderful guy. He is going to be a terrific addition to the team. I would post a picture of Paul but, this will be his first year with the Rosie Ruiz Fan Club so you all will have to wait until September before I have one.

Race Preparations Continue Right Along

A relay team needs a place to crash the night before the start and vans for the start. I am happy to report we now have both! This year we are staying at the same condo complex as last year and the picture shows the building we stayed at in 2015. 

As to the van here is a before 

and after - all lit up for the nighttime legs!

A BIG Welcome the 10th Anniversary Team!

This year the Rosie Ruiz Fan Club's Reach the Beach Relay team turns 10! Yes, big news. I realize you have all been on pins and needles wondering who will be in this year's lineup. Well fret no more. The fan club reached its 12 runner limit in record time this year. Before March ended we had two complete vans. Yeah! Who is on the team you ask? Well I am here to answer!

We have new first year members: Barb, Chris and Kristen.

Returning for their second run/ride:  Bruce, Cathy, Dan, Deirdre, Dora

For the third time! Denise, Paula and Nancy.

Plus old timer and current team captain/Metro Pass holder: Matt.

I am also happy to announce Jay's honorary return. Even though he cannot make this year's race he has offered to let us use his house as a pick up, drop off and clean up point. A very gracious offer and we want to thank him for it.

Like last year, this year's race starts at Bretton Woods and heads down to Hampton Beach. We will depart for the starting line on Thursday September 15.

In addition to racing there are some surprise swag bag accoutrements coming this year! Stay tuned for hints. One, of course is a whole new t-shirt design celebrating the team's 10th year. In the meantime, here is a picture showing off the front of last year's shirt

and the back

.

The stunning couple in the top photo is Matt and Jen. Alas, we have lost both of them this year to a group from their neighborhood kids' school. If you have to lose some wonderful comrades it is good to lose them to a team they will make a great contribution to.

The Fan Club Runs its 10th Reach the Beach Relay! In 2016 that is!

Next year the Rosie Ruiz Fan Club will run its 10th Reach the Beach Relay!  There are signs some long lost team veterans may return to the van.  For those of you interested in marking your calendars, assuming the relay stays on its typical schedule, the team will be departing for the starting area on Thursday September 15 and returning on Saturday September 17.

Sad But All Good Things Come to an End

We are back from another great year riding running the Reach the Beach Relay.  Tradition has the team run through the finish line together in one big mass.  Alas, tradition also has the Orange Line stuck in a traffic jam as it tries to get into the parking lot at the end of the final leg.  This year the traffic jam won and I made through the finish long before the van arrived.  Which just meant the team ran through the finish line twice!

Today it was time for me to put away the team's supplies to rest up for next year's race.  While I was at it I found the team's kill boards.  You see many other teams take the race seriously and proudly display how many runners each of their runners has passed.  This is called a kill count.  Well on our team we count passing or getting passed.  Each gets you a sticker on our kill board.  The goal is just to get a lot of stickers.  Normally we do van pictures with the kill boards at the finish but with the Orange Line's late arrival sadly that did not happen this year.  As I was getting the team's supplies organized and put away I came across a very sad sight.  The kill boards that had never been photographed with their respective van members.  To help make up for that sad state of affairs I took a picture of them doing their best to keep track of our kills.  Now I am not saying the Green Line had a bunch of slackers but . . . well judge for yourself.

Hanging at the Final Van Transition Area

Rosie's ride waits for the green line at the final vehicle transition area.



Denise and Karen explaining what it takes to be a winner in the race business!

Breakfast After the Transition

Breakfast at Popovers second year in a row!

6am at the Runner Transition Area

Dawn breaks as Rosie's ride waits for Denise to arrive.




Denise just after she finishes with Dierdre to greet her arrival.