Just one more thing. . .: What we've been up to this last weekend. . .

This last weekend was one of little sleep, mostly for Andy and James, but for us and the kids also. Andy and James ran the Ragnar Relay with 10 other people on their team. This is a race from Blaine (at the Canadian border) to Langley (almost at the end of Whidbey Island). The Ragnar motto is "Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat."

Their team called 'Shell Shocked' started the relay on Friday at noon and finished Saturday at 12:20 p.m. Each team member ran 3 legs of the relay with varying degrees of difficulty. Their team finished with a time of 24 hours, 20 minutes and 47 seconds. They did a great job (they had a pregnant woman on their team, I want to be like her!) and got 22nd place overall and 5th place in their division (male open), and they averaged a 7:43 pace. It was pretty amazing. Holley suggested that we could do this with the guys next year but I am way too slow, and there is no way James would let me be on the team. ;) (for those of you who don't know, James is just a wee bit competitive. You know your still my friend, right James?) Holley could totally do it though, she is a great runner!

Anyway, both guys did a great job and were exhausted (of course!). Holley and I and the kids were exhausted too. We drove up to Bellingham to see Andy's first leg of the relay, went to eat dinner and then drove to Edison to see James' first leg. By the time we saw James it was somewhat near 9:00 p.m. Friday night and then we drove the course so we could see where Andy and James would run in the middle of the night. (Andy ran around midnight through the Swinomish Indian Reservation, near La Conner, and James got to run over Deception Pass Bridge around 4:00 a.m.) By the time we got home it was around 10:30 and the kids (and us) were exhausted. I put my kids to bed and tried to crash but didn't get to sleep until midnight. The next day was early because Andy ran his final leg around 8:00 a.m. and I jumped up and got the kids ready to go see it. We ended up just missing the start (as you might imagine the kids were not in the most cooperative mood after getting little sleep), but drove the route he was to run and saw him on the way. After that we met up with Holley and we all drove down to Langley to see the end because James' final run was at the finish. Wow! What a race!

Here are some pictures:

Andy is just coming in from his first leg. I missed the start and the exchange. I was not a great picture taker, sorry.

James getting ready for his first leg. On your marks. . .

Get set. . .

GO!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Just gotta say, I love this picture! It is so James!)

And he's off!!

Here are the kids, playing while waiting for James to finish his first leg.

There he is!

The handoff.

Andy on his run early the next morning. I was trying to get him while looking out the car window. I almost didn't make it, he runs so fast!!!

Here he is coming in to the exchange. (this is near the Keystone Ferry for those of you who are wondering)

Perfect exchange!

This is at the end. They nicely provided a bouncy house that the kids could play in while waiting for teams to finish. Luckily it wasn't very crowded. While the boys loved it, this is about as close as Ayden got.