GNOME GNOME GNOME!

Hey all! This is Gary your roaming Gnome here. I must say, this is really shaping up in this adventure. I thought about shipping myself home at one point, but I have had so much fun now that I am going to stick this thing out and travel the 199 miles this most awesome of teams.

I have even reached celebrity status and have been requested for photo opps. My popularity has grown tremendously. The sites and sounds have been spectacular, the wind was a force to reacon with earlier and almost blew me away. I have not seen any other gnomes to swap tales with, but I hope to see one or two before the end. I have seen 12 individual legs so far and I am enjoying the cool night air. I have seen Dean himself and so many cheering runners. Soon we will hear chants of "GNOME, GNOME, GNOME" and all will be good.

I know that when other gnomes see my spectacular pictures that they will surely seek out teams in the future. I envision future races as great gnome gatherings with big tea parties and tale and picture swapping. More to come from your traveling gnome Gary. I must go and grab a picture over there!

My brutal, monster, masochistic first leg!!!!! LOL

Words cannot describe the difficulty of my leg. The steep climbs and constant increasing gradient forced me to wlak for 2.5 miles, breathing hard the whole way with a HR that equaled racing a 10K! But the longer downhill was treacherous in it's drop-off and rough rocky road surface. I managed to average 11 min. miles even though I did a lot of walking because I made up for the slower walking pace but bombing the downhill even braking to avoid disaster!

My teammates called me on the phone giving me encouragement and I stopped a few times to take pics. With this amount of pain, I wanted to enjoy myself! LOL Now we have to see how we recover and fare on our next legs at night and on our last leg? This is new to me and quite the adventure! Se you guys later with more info.

Alex ( I am way too old to be doing this, LOL)

Wow, so cool! It was great to finally be able to start running after the excitement of the day. My turn! Beautiful run with vineyards on the side. Felt great and had to work to not start off too fast. For the majority of the run, there was a cold, strong headwind - sometimes it felt like I was running and not making much forward motion. The cold is not a problem as I warm up quickly, but the headwind was the strongest I've run in. Saw another runner far in the distance and decided to try to catch him. It took a while, but I caught him and passed him with a mile to go. It was such a fun run and I finished minutes faster than my anticipated time. Yeah! This has been an awesome experience. The distance on my leg was 5.6 miles and the iPod showed 5.63 miles. How's that for accuracy! Next leg will be about 4 am in it will be cold!

SlowAsHell

I can't remember my log in, so I'm taking over Monks. My first leg as great, even though I was hit by gusts of winds that brought me to a stop. I had three kills and extra points for not stopping to help a little old lady that got a flat tire as she was driving past me. There is probably a place in hell for me because of that.

About six miles into it I was starting to feel bad, slowing and cramping, then I caught up with Dean's dad and starting to talk with him. We ran together for probably five minutes, and it was awesome. That was the kind of moment that makes all the pain of running all worth it.

On the flip side, there was a man in a fish net tank top and fake hair extensions that was mooning people, and I got an eye full. There is probably a place in Hell for him for that.

That's all for now.

Pekingese Puppy Palace?

We are currently on the way to the 3rd van exchange. We had a nice soup and sandwich dinner at the Cheese factory after leg 12. The wind has been blowing pretty good since somewhere during Monks leg. The Gnome has been traveling and people are now requesting to get pictures with him. He has obtained celebrity status!

Leg 8 was great and I ran it a little faster than my projected 7:30 pace, I can really feel the elevation difference. So when we were driving to the 8th exchange, we saw Dean for the first time, it was great. Since then we have seen him at every exchange as he leaped frogged us. His father actually ran the first part of leg 8, but some runners took a wrong turn and ended up going a wrong direction. It was great to see dean and his support team.

The first 3 miles of leg 3 wove through the vineyards, very scenic, there was a pretty quick and steep hill about a mile in. About 2 miles in I passed a house with a lot of yapping little dogs. It sounded like what a Peruvian Pekingese Puppy Place would sound like. The vineyards were great, but I didn't hear any harps and there weren't any grapes to taste. The vines were small and not the high walled and mazes that I had envisioned that the vineyard run would be. The markings were well displayed that showed which direction to take. Within the vineyards I only passed 2 people.

Then I went out onto the freeway and onward I went. I soon saw many chances to rack up Road Kill points, and I tell you, it was almost a Primal feeling, seeing a runner coming up and knowing that I would get some roadkill points. Very motivational to run hard & Fast.

Before I knew it the leg was over, 7.4 miles in 54 minutes. A pretty good pace and time was had. I saw wondermom and readied the baton, there was another roadkill possibility, but he was too far ahead!

Wondermom's son met us after her leg, and Alex was off on the longest and hardest leg of the race, and the wind was blowing hard. As we waited for Alex we captured some more Gnome shots and van photos. We chatted with Dean's Dad, and he told us his story of Leg 8 and how he got off track. A very nice guy!

So, all in all, the adventure is going well and I will release the laptop to the next person to fill you in.

1Mile out for now!

Monk Updateaoonie

Hello listeners, we have been in a 'black out' zone of some kind, unable to post! So much has happend. Van 2 is on its way to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and wait to begin our next set of 6 legs. We are stinky but happy.

My leg was the 7th. It was bright and sunny and I was nervous and ready to go. A bit of panic when I couldn't get my Nike+ to work. But I relinked the sensor and was ready for super team captain, texasbuckeye, as he sped around the corner and passed me the 'baton' bracelet.

I recalibrated my Nike+ with my Garmin the first .25 miles for accuracy. I started the run at the same time as another team's runner and shadowed him. He got quite a lead on me and my chances for road kill seemed slim until he slowed down to sort of throw up. I thought, "this is my chance! No mercy!", but he kept going once I caught up with him. We shadowed each other the entire run. Up that first big hill and through the vineyards. We chatted a little but I could tell this guy didn't want me to pass him.

We both had garmin's and both knew when there was only .50 miles to go. I sped up. He sped up. I kicked. He kicked. I started sprinting and so did he. It was neck and neck! I think we tied, but my team says the other guy looked like he was about to die. I will count him as a well earned road kill. I hope I can pick him out on the next leg where I will meet texasbuckeye as he finishes crossing the GG Bridge.

See you later readers! Thanks for all your support!!

~Monk

Gnews from the road

It's been the most amazing day of my life.

Iwas awakened early, and powered up with some Red Bull before hitting the road with the Van 1 half of the team. We drove through lush, beautiful wine country to the race start, where for some reason everyone wanted to take my picture. I posed with the team at the start and at various interesting waypoints, and hope to share some of those shots with you soon.

The van smells funny, but everyone has been very nice to me. I'm hoping I'll have a chance to run, but even if I don't, I know that I'm experiencing things that few gnomes have experienced. Even if I do wind up living out the rest of my years in a garden somewhere, I'll always be grateful for the memories of this weekend.

my first leg done

it was great to finally get to run after cheering on my team for 5 legs. I knew I had a short run and I wanted to collect some kills and combine that with the fact that I wasn't able to run the past 3 days I came out fast, but under control. I'm looking forward to my next leg over the bridge. Having a blast.

My first Leggggggg!

5 miles - Beautiful area, beautiful weather! I started out feeling good and tried to enjoy the scenery sans headphones (not allowed) for my iPod. My route had 4 turns, all clearly marked! I ran through a quaint little town before my last turn after which was the final 3.2 mile stretch to pass the "baton" to texasbuckeye!

At a point I see two port-o-johns coming up and according to my Nike + they are at a little over 5 miles. I'm think that is the baton exhange, but to my dismay as I get closer the runner's are still about half a mile down the road. I mawz-sprint the last 100 meters or so to a 5.5 mile reading-on-the-Nike+, red-faced, hyperventilating finish, but HEY I finished it!

See you at Leg 17!!! Go Team Waiting For Runs!

1 down 2 to go

Got the shortest leg done... the next two is longer and harder... taking advil and keeping a smile... the views are beautiful.......wish me luck!!!!!!
mrs. Foo

Leg one is in the bag.

Today is proof that God loves runners and wants them to be happy. We have full sun and mild temperatures and cross-breezes just where we need them. And we have miles of gorgeous, gorgeous wine country to cover in a (so far) well-organized event.

I love relays. I ran my first one probably around eight years ago (the WSU 100k) and have made Hood to Coast a must-run event for the past four years. This is my first trip to the EAS Santa Cruz Relay.

I have to admit I didn't look closely at the map. I wanted to be surprised, to get out and run without knowing what I'd see around the next turn. And so I didn't know to expect the endless views of vineyards, just beginning to green, or the bucolic estates.

But I did expect the runners! I reeled in eight road kills on my first leg, and hit a 7:15 pace. And I got to run in the California sunshine in my sports bra! It doesn't get much better than that.

Now the team and I, having handed the wristband and the Gnike Gnome to Van 2, are in hot pursuit of food. Food . . .

FooRunner First Leg report

I ran the first leg! It was pretty incredible. The scenery was absolutely amazing. It was near perfect running conditions, although the sun was pretty warm.
I did pretty well, finishing quicker than expected. I felt pretty good overall. I hit a nice pace at one point, but unfortunately it didn't last long. I felt great after, and hope it lasts for my next leg.

First leg

Its coming1! I made all my teammates promise to phone me on the run. I need all the encouragement I can get. Nothing like 9 miles with 1000 feet of climbing in the first 3 miles!

Lets see what happens? Like they say - "Just do it!"

Alex

Van 2 prepped and ready

We are waiting to run here at the first van exchange. We had a big breakfast and are good to go. Van 1 is scheduled to arrive here within the hour, so it is go time for van 2!

Breakfast of Champions!

We just got done with breakfast, very filling and tasty at GillWoods Cafe - http://www.gillwoodscafe.com. Van 1 has a fire lit under, it has the be Gary he is driving them along with Gnome Power

See our breakfast items below and try and determine who had what.. I will give you what I had. A tasty Apple Chicken Sausage omlette with potatoes and muffin. Look at the interesting French breakfast of French Toast and French Fries.

Breakfast #1



Breakfast #2



Breakfast #3




Breakfast #4



Breakfast #5





1Mile's Breakfast

Noel is on the road

Mrs Foo came in 6 minutes quicker than projected so our team is now 17 minutes ahead of schedule, we'll see if we can carry that energy through the rest of our legs. Killing time at the exchange points has been easier than expected for me, our first few legs aren't very long so by time we let the runner cool down a bit, drive to the next exchange, unload and readjust it is time to get ready for the runner to come in. Good times! Be sure to click ok the texasbuckeye slideshow on the right to see all the photos I have uploaded.

11 minutes ahead of schedule :)

with a blazing first two legs the team is ahead of schedule for now, we'll see how it all unfolds. Van 1 is on fire with 13 kills and counting. Mrs. Foo is on the road and noels71 has promised a time we will all sing songs about to our children.

Off to the 1st exchange

Well van 2 is on the road to the first van exchange. We passed Foo on the road and he was toward the front of the 8:30 wave. We are driving through vinyards and enjoying the scenary. We will soon be at the first van exchange and will have another 4 or so hours to kill. Sounds like a good time to grub it up. More to come as the first runner exchange comes up.

The vans, let the roadkill begin:

waiting for the first exchange

foorunner is off onthe first leg and the anticipation of seeing him come around the bend is crazy! Its been fun watching runners make the first exchange, our van is ready to go. Noel is into the peanut butter sandwich and the sport of people watching is at an all time high, some these teams are crazy/funny. I'll update when foo comes in.

The meaning of THE

Well we are off, we were introduced as Team Waiting for THE Runs, so that got some laughs at the start! Foo went out strong and led the pack. The start was a little chilly, but soon warmed up. So it begins, the trek for 199 miles.

Here is a picture of Foo taking off at a 4 min/mile pace:




Team waiting for Runs!




Team Waiting for Runs - screen names:

its freaking freezing in here mr bigglesworth!

we had to scrape ice off the windows this morning! Foo is ready to lead the team shortly, updates to follow...

T-minus 2 hours

Well, it is finally the morning of the Relay. We are all preparing to go. We will be leaving the hotel at 6:30 and are planned to arrive at the start by 7:30. More to come as the team assembles.