Rank Strangers in the Madison-Chicago relay: March 2015

Greetings team,

I'm counting the days until the Madison-Chicago relay (only 74 days, by the way; I am excited to see this team on the road.

Today's note is to catch you up on status of team building for June 12-13 and also to knock out some administrative details.

Team size is still at 11 (one open seat) so keep talking to people you would like to have in your van. Ed Stojakovic had to drop out (saving himself for Hood To Coast in August? lured by a work-related junket to San Francisco?) and Greg Masenthin has taken his spot; Greg returns from the 2014 team and is also on the roster for Hood To Coast in August.

Administrivia:

1. If you haven't done so already, mail me a check for $265 which covers your share of the team entry fee and van rental, gas, snacks. No refunds after May 1.

Eric Engdahl
100 E 14th Street Apt 3109
Chicago, IL 60605

2. Review assumptions I've made for "fast" and "slow" minute per mile pace on the attached schedule. Let me know if adjustments are needed. The more accurate we can be, the better we can estimate transition times and our finish time. Also, the assignments are tentative - let me know if you want a different spot.

You can find maps for your legs on the Ragnar website. http://www.ragnarrelay.com/race/chicago/course_maps

Newcomers Susanna, Jill and Ivanka will want to see the schedule tutorial on the web site; it'll help decode the spreadsheet. http://rankstrangers.blogspot.com/2012/03/decoding-rank-stranger-schedule.html In the example, Mark's projected minutes-per-mile pace is at best (fastest) 9.5 minute miles. Worst (slowest) – 10.5 minutes per mile. Total mileage for Mark is 13.3 miles. Mark's first leg, starting at 9AM on Friday, is 4.5 miles. Mark's second leg (#13 overall) is 4.2 miles. He'll start between 6:16PM and 7:06PM – depending on how we do on the intervening 11 legs. If we all nail our "high" pace, it'll be 6:16PM. Mark's third leg (#25) is 4.6 miles and starts between 4:04AM and 5:46AM on Saturday.

3. Send me your emergency contact info: name and phone number of the person we should call onlet me your behalf in case of an emergency. (This has been necessary, and I can only assume that as long as I keep collecting the information everyone will be safe!)

4. Send me your t-shirt size and phone number (the phone you'll have during the race).

5. Looking far ahead for Chicago runners:

a. We will ride together to Madison, meeting at the Cumberland Blue Line stop on Thursday night, June 11, at 6pm. We'll stop for a light dinner along the way, arriving in Madison at approximately 9:30pm.

b. We will share rooms at the race hotel, the Sheraton on John Nolen Drive. Cost will be approximately $75 per person.

6. Madison runners: we have reserved a Madison van; I'm counting on Art picking it up from Enterprise on Thursday afternoon. You'll shop for your own supplies (drinks, snacks) only but please bring a large cooler for Van#2.

7. On race morning, Friday, June 12, we'll have the traditional team breakfast at Perkins at 7AM. Hopefully the Boll family and other veterans of races and breakfasts will join. (I will handle early Friday morning race registration and safety check for Van#1; everyone will get their safety gear, etc. at Perkins.)

Questions? There are a lot of answers on the web page but otherwise, let me know.

best,

Eric

PS: As customary, you'll be hearing from me weekly until the race. See my communication plan below. In addition to the training tips that make veterans yawn and roll their eyes, I'm adding a snippet of trivia for a featured runner (names in parentheses below).

Rank Stranger 2015 communication schedule:

1. Sunday, March 29 - first draft of the race schedule
2. April 5 - Weekly training tips begin: training distance (Randy) #1
3. April 12 - Night running (Art) #2
4. April 19 - Off cycle running and Boston Marathon preview (Denise) #3
5. April 26 - Boston Marathon report (Pete) #4
6. May 3 - Rank Stranger history (Eric) #5
7. May 10 - To rest, perchance to sleep & how to tie your shoes (Bo) #6
8. May 17 - Dress for success (Steve) #7
9. May 24 - Warm up, cool down (rookies) #8
10. May 31 - Replenishment (Greg) #9
11. June 7 - (a) One week warning (to 2015 team); (b) About to hit the road (notice to all Rank Strangers and friends)