 |
| Randy running south on LaSalle St., near mile 11. |
 |
| Denise near Mile 11. |
 |
| Paul near Mile 11. |
 |
| Randy on 35th street - less than 3 miles to go. |
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Chicago Marathon recap
I tracked four (4) Rank Strangers on the course today and was able to photograph Paul Miller, Denise Meacham and Randy Meacham. Peter Wagner also ran the rac.
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Rank Stranger watch party - Sunday's Chicago Marathon
Rank Strangers and 1,000,000 others are invited to join a Chicago Marathon watch party. I plan to use last year's plan (link below) which worked so well to link up with Rank Strangers Randy Meacham, Denise Meacham and Paul Miller. Come to the spots shown on the job aid and I'll be there at times the runners I'm tracking suggest they'll pass my 3.5, 11.1 and 23.1 mile spots.
Running? Let me know so I can look for you.
This year I'm looking for teammates Peter Wagner, Paul Miller and the Meachams.
Running? Let me know so I can look for you.
This year I'm looking for teammates Peter Wagner, Paul Miller and the Meachams.
Paul advises: I am in Corral-F, which is the first corral in Wave-2. Therefore, I should start within a minute or so of 8:00. I’ll probably be doing about a 9:05-9:10 pace this year. My bib is # 19435 so you can also track me online should I start to fall back or something.
Denise: I am also in Corral F this year with a starting time of 8:00am. I'm should be running at 9:10-9:20 pace. My bib is # 24750. Tori, Jordan, Joey and Emma (new host daughter) will be volunteering at the 2nd aid station which I believe is at mile marker 3.2. Then they were planning to head towards mile 25ish.
Randy: I'm in corral C and starting at 7:30. I am shooting for 8 minute pace.
Peter: You have too much time on your hands.
Timetable for Sunday, Oct. 9.
Peter: You have too much time on your hands.
Timetable for Sunday, Oct. 9.
Denise
|
Randy
|
Paul
|
Peter
|
|
Start
|
8:00
|
7:30
|
8:00
|
8:00
|
3.5
|
8:32
|
8:00
|
8:30
|
8:27
|
11.1
|
9:43
|
9:00
|
9:43
|
10:00
|
23.1
|
11:34
|
10:36
|
11:35
|
11:50
|
 |
| Paul's Chicago Marathon fashion: Imerman Angel singlet with pink shirt, white visor, greenish shoes, blue compression socks. He also advises the woman at right may run with him. And what's better, she's a prospect for a future run relay. |
Sunday, September 11, 2016
4,000 miles apart...
Rank Strangers ran marathons a continent apart on Saturday, Sept. 10 -- Jennifer Sell travelling from her home in Germany to run in the Medoc, France marathon and Randy and Denise Meacham of Glen Ellyn (Chicago), Illinois running in the BQ2 Marathon in nearby Batavia, Illinois.
Randy and and Denise Meacham ran in a race exclusively for Boston Marathon qualifiers, designed to allow them to improve on their times and therefore guarantee their place on the starting line in Hopkinton, MA. At Batavia, IL, they ran a 3.21 mile loop course promising plenty of shade, scenic views of parks and forest preserves bordering the river, and a glimpse of downtown Batavia. No wine, no oysters.
Jennifer's hot weather experience brought to my mind her race in Boston in 2012 where she and teammate Art Saffran ran together (Link ). She reported, "Hot, hot weather, no luggage arrival, borrowed running clothes from friends and new shoes purchased at the start line. They're broken in now after a great race event! PS: the wine is good, too, and oysters at mile 24 were fantastic".
 |
| I'm thinking Jennifer's borrowed costume didn't include the requirement that she join a group like this one. |
 |
| Jennifer: there was water too, wasn't there?! |
 |
| I don't think that's Jennifer in the Cabernet bottle... |
 |
| Oysters better than Clif Bars, for sure. |
Randy and and Denise Meacham ran in a race exclusively for Boston Marathon qualifiers, designed to allow them to improve on their times and therefore guarantee their place on the starting line in Hopkinton, MA. At Batavia, IL, they ran a 3.21 mile loop course promising plenty of shade, scenic views of parks and forest preserves bordering the river, and a glimpse of downtown Batavia. No wine, no oysters.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Heat, storm slow Rank Strangers (race report)
Severe weather was a major theme for the Madison-Chicago relay, with highs of 90 degrees on Friday in Madison and 93 in Chicago on Saturday (compared to averages of 76 and 79, respectively). More climactic spice was added by Friday night’s thunderstorm which put the brakes on the race for two hours, from 10pm to midnight.
In short, running conditions were extremely difficult, perhaps the worst ever for our relay runs. This slowed everyone down, even the team members who had obviously trained well.
While the 500+ teams idled all along the course (staggered race starts begin at 5:30AM; Rank Strangers started at 9AM), race management shuffled the deck. They shortened our race by cancelling two “legs”, with Van#1 skipping ahead on the night shift, running four legs rather than six. They also invited us to run the vans concurrently for our Saturday rather than consecutively so we could meet a newly imposed finish deadline of 8PM. The changes allowed us to reach the finish at LaBagh Woods Forest Preserve about 2.5 hours ahead of our expected time.
 |
| Friday night tweet predicted the turbulence for the relay, the storm sweeping in from the north and west where it felled trees and knocked out power |
Congratulations to the 2016 team at Ragnar Chicago – Mark Clear, Jeff Shampo, Bob Holzer, Peter Wagner, Pete Boll, Amanda Hall, Steve Hill, Eric Engdahl, Greg Masenthin, Daniela Gavric, Pat Hurley, and Cathy Jooste.
This year's rookies were Peter, Amanda, Daniela and Pat. That brings the total to 57 who have represented us in the 12 years of Rank Strangers in the Madison-Chicago relay (first named Great Midwest Relay, net MC200 and now Ragnar Chicago).
 |
| Amanda |
 |
| Daniela |
 |
| Peter |
 |
| Pat |
 |
| Before the heat treatment. Front row: Jeff, Cathy, Bob, Eric Boll, Pat, Peter. Back row: Daniela, Eric, Steve, Greg, Mark, Amanda, Pete. |
 |
| Eric Boll is a regular at the traditional Perkins breakfast. Burger with fries - he had the works. |
It was a great showing for family at the finish, some caught by the camera and pictured here. Family support for this wacky event is much appreciated (starting with sacrificing the runner to the cause).
 |
| Cathy Jooste and family. |
 |
| Steve Hill and family. |
 |
| Daniela (right) and sister-in-law Seja. |
See below for updates to the record book (last year's update here Link ). Photos will be assembled for the annual photo book but a few samples are here.
 |
| Peter, Jeff, Greg, Steve - waiting for action in Madison |
 |
| Daniela (left) handed off to Cathy. |
 |
| Steve Hill waiting to start his first leg. He ran into the lightening storm and suspension of the race. It was "nothing like" the nastiness he encountered closing out Hood To Coast last August, he reported. |
 |
| Amanda handing off to Peter. |
 |
| Bob entering the tunnel made famous by Jeff. |
 |
| Greg braves traffic on the south side of Milwaukee. |
Updated record book, July 9, 2016
Here's a summary of the team's adjustments to the Rank Stranger record book.
1. Steve Hill's 22.7 miles was his 2nd 20+ mile race and the 7th most miles for a single race. He joined Art (3), Eric (3), Jeff (2) and Marc Golab (2) as the Rank Strangers will multiple 20-mile races.
2. Eric (204.4) and Jeff (202.3) both passed 200 miles in relay miles.
3. Bob (9.9 miles) and Steve (9.7) both became two-timers on the list of Rank Strangers with runs of more than 8 miles. There are 16: Keith (2), Kim (2), Randy (2), Marc G. (2), Martin (2), Bob (2), Steve H. (2), Jeff (2), Holly, Ed S., Art, Monique, Jennifer, Beth, Therese, Paul. The 8+ mile runs: Monique 11.8, Keith 11.7, Jennifer 10.9, Keith 10.7, Kim 9.9, Art 9.9, Bob 9.9 (2), Steve H. 9.7, Jeff 9.6, Beth 9.3, Art 9.1, Randy 9, Martin 8.8, Holly 8.6, Steve H. 8.6, Randy 8.6, Marc G. 8.4, Kim 8.4, Marc G. 8.2, Martin 8.2, Ed S. 8.2, Therese 8.2, Jeff 8, Paul 8. (Keith’s runs, Monique’s 11.8 and Art’s 9.1 mile runs strung together multiple legs; the others were single legs).
The other long runs this year were 7.8 and 7.6 by Peter and 7.5 by Greg.
4. Rookie Peter Wagner joined the 20 mile club with 20.3 miles.
Following is our Hall of Fame: 57 different runner have made the trip.
Rank Stranger
|
Relays
|
Miles
per relay |
Total
Miles |
Eric
Engdahl
|
12
|
17.0
|
204.4
|
Jeff
Shampo
|
11
|
18.4
|
202.3
|
Art Saffran
|
10
|
17.6
|
176.1
|
Steve
Hill
|
7
|
18.4
|
129.1
|
Pete
Boll
|
7
|
16.1
|
112.4
|
Mark
Clear
|
8
|
13.9
|
111.6
|
Renee Roux
|
7
|
15.4
|
107.6
|
Marc Golab
|
4
|
17.5
|
69.8
|
Randy Meacham
|
4
|
15.7
|
62.8
|
Holly Dowling
|
3
|
19.8
|
59.3
|
Ed Stojakovic
|
3
|
19.4
|
58.2
|
Paul Miller
|
3
|
18.4
|
55.1
|
Jennifer Sell
|
3
|
16.9
|
50.6
|
Greg
Masenthin
|
3
|
16.5
|
49.4
|
Bo Lackey
|
3
|
15.0
|
45.1
|
Martin Tagge
|
2
|
21.3
|
42.5
|
Cathy
Jooste
|
3
|
13.9
|
41.8
|
Monique Faber
|
2
|
20.4
|
40.8
|
Bob
Holzer
|
2
|
18.8
|
37.6
|
Chris Montgomery
|
2
|
18.4
|
36.7
|
Kim Hill
|
2
|
17.9
|
35.8
|
Anne Martino
|
2
|
16.9
|
33.9
|
Debra Addison
|
2
|
15.3
|
30.5
|
Brad Clark
|
2
|
14.9
|
29.8
|
Keith Dudding
|
1
|
28.4
|
28.4
|
David Maze
|
1
|
24.7
|
24.7
|
Jamie Quanbeck
|
2
|
12.1
|
24.2
|
Denise Meacham
|
2
|
11.8
|
23.5
|
Therese Nolan
|
1
|
21.8
|
21.8
|
Beth Fegan
|
1
|
20.7
|
20.7
|
Peter Wagner
|
1
|
20.3
|
20.3
|
Fred Bounds
|
1
|
18.6
|
18.6
|
Marc Damerjian
|
1
|
18.4
|
18.4
|
Ed Heberlein
|
1
|
18.1
|
18.1
|
Daniela
Gavric
|
1
|
18.0
|
18.0
|
Maddy Melin
|
1
|
17.8
|
17.8
|
Pati Flannery
|
1
|
17.8
|
17.8
|
Steve Smith
|
1
|
17.3
|
17.3
|
Ryan Lipscomb
|
1
|
16.7
|
16.7
|
Suzanne Shoff
|
1
|
16.6
|
16.6
|
Sergey Petrov
|
1
|
16.6
|
16.6
|
Rachael Weiker
|
1
|
16.6
|
16.6
|
Suzanne Holmes
|
1
|
16.4
|
16.4
|
Rachel Rivard
|
1
|
15.9
|
15.9
|
Bill Shepard
|
1
|
15.7
|
15.7
|
Angie Patnode
|
1
|
15.3
|
15.3
|
Ann Wilson
|
1
|
14.5
|
14.5
|
Steve Schmidt
|
1
|
14.1
|
14.1
|
Pat
Hurley
|
1
|
13.9
|
13.9
|
Jill Buhrfiend
|
1
|
13.7
|
13.7
|
Ivanka Sans Sarocelsky
|
1
|
13.7
|
13.7
|
Tim Scott
|
1
|
13.2
|
13.2
|
Beverly Schuller
|
1
|
10.0
|
10.0
|
Amanda
Hall
|
1
|
10.0
|
10.0
|
Kelly Bard
|
1
|
9.3
|
9.3
|
Cathy Van Leuven
|
1
|
8.6
|
8.6
|
Reggie Hill
|
1
|
2.5
|
2.5
|
Rank Stranger
|
Relay
|
Miles
|
Keith Dudding
|
2005
|
28.4
|
Eric Engdahl
|
2009
|
26.6
|
Dave Maze
|
2007
|
24.7
|
Jennifer Sell
|
2012
|
23.6
|
Randy Meacham
|
2007
|
23.5
|
Monique Faber
|
2012
|
23.4
|
Steve
Hill
|
2016
|
22.7
|
Holly Dowling
|
2008
|
22.0
|
Therese Nolan
|
2013
|
21.8
|
Martin Tagge
|
2010
|
21.7
|
Eric Engdahl
|
2005
|
21.3
|
Eric Engdahl
|
2007
|
20.8
|
Marc Golab
|
2010
|
20.8
|
Marc Golab
|
2011
|
20.7
|
Beth Fegan
|
2013
|
20.7
|
Art Saffran
|
2006
|
20.6
|
Ed Stojakovic
|
2014
|
20.5
|
Pete Boll
|
2007
|
20.3
|
Jeff Shampo
|
2012
|
20.3
|
Peter
Wagner
|
2016
|
20.3
|
Steve Hill
|
2011
|
20.1
|
Jeff Shampo
|
2013
|
20.1
|
Art Saffran
|
2014
|
20.1
|
Art Saffran
|
2015
|
20.0
|
Rank Stranger
|
Relay
|
Miles
|
Steve Hill
|
2010
|
19.9
|
Art Saffran
|
2009
|
19.7
|
Jeff Shampo
|
2008
|
19.7
|
Ed Stojakovic
|
2012
|
19.7
|
Mark Golab
|
2008
|
19.6
|
Bob
Holzer
|
2016
|
19.5
|
Greg
Masenthin
|
2016
|
19.5
|
Art Saffran
|
2008
|
19.4
|
Renee Roux
|
2010
|
19.3
|
Jeff Shampo
|
2010
|
19.3
|
Paul
Miller
|
2014
|
19.3
|
Kim Hill
|
2011
|
19.1
|
Eric Engdahl
|
2006
|
19.1
|
Holly Dowling
|
2005
|
19.0
|
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