Congratulations, Rank Strangers!

Congratulations to the 12 Rank Strangers who completed the 2010 edition of the Madison - Chicago run relay. The weather again challenged us, particularly the blistering heat on Friday. Everyone was definitely tested by their pieces of the 200 mile puzzle.

We've done this enough times that you would THINK there would be no more surprises but each experience is unique because of the makeup of the team (35 different runners have contributed to the Rank Stranger legend), the weather and the fitness we bring into the event. Unique and wonderful because of the makeup of the team. The 2010 roster featured old hands (including uber veterans, 6-tmers, Jeff Shampo, Mark Clear and Eric Engdahl, pictured L-to-R above) and rookies (Bev Schuller, Steve Schmidt and Deb Addison, below). Marc Golab, Renee Roux and Pete Boll ran for the third time and Chris Montgomery, Steve Hill and Martin Tagge for the second time. I have no statistics on patience, humor, enthusiasm (there was lots!) but here are some numbers from the Rank Stranger record book:

- Martin (21.7) and Marc (20.7) became the 8th and 9th Rank Strangers to cover more than 20 miles in a single year.

- Steve Hill (19.9), Renee (19.3) and Jeff (19.3) gave us a total of 6 runners who have run between 19 and 20 miles in a single year (Jeff previously did this in 2008).

- Martin and Martin moved into the top 10 in all time Rank Stranger mileage, Chris 11th and Steve Hill moved up from 29th to 12th. The runners with more than 30 miles: 1. Eric 124, 2. Jeff 110.4, 3. Mark 95.8, 4. Art 86.8, 5. Holly 59.2, 6. Marc Golab 52.7, 7. Pete 50.9, 8. Renee 47.5, 9. Randy 45.5, 10. Martin 41, 11. Chris 36.6, 12. Steve Hill 34, 13. Anne Martino 33.9.

Congratulations again, team, and thanks for making it happen. And thanks to the friends and family who gave us leave to take part in this mad event.

Eric