Wasatch Back roll call

[hostile]

Come on fellas - where are the race reports? Surely at least one of you can take a few minutes to give us an update along the way.

Great weekend for the race. Clear skies and not to hot. We started at 6:30 which was great. I wonder if we ever passed ER's team. Our team had undergone some changes due to injuries/family emergencies. 3 runners were added who significantly decreased the overall pace of our team. We made our last exchange in Heber at 5:30 this morning. Our overall time was 27h30ish for an average of 8:30 or so (that's what the other van told me). The winning team in the past (usually BYU xcountry team) finishes running sub 6 minute miles for the entire course.

I took a relatively easy leg this year (runner #2) as I haven't trained much. All four women in our van were amazing. I was definitely the weak link.

Overall this year was great. I'm already signed up for next year.

[ERCougar]

I'm in NYC now on our anniversary trip, so if I want to make it to another anniversary, I better leave CUF off the itinerary. But the wife's still asleep, so I'll get a quick report in.

We stayed at a friend's house in Hyrum and stayed up talking until about 11:30, despite our 5:15 start time. 4:00 comes quickly the next morning. We get to the start, a complete zoo, as all the teams (>1000 this year!) were told to show up early for a mandatory safety training, a new change with the 2 deaths in the last year. We're not the earliest start time, but we're close, and while I'm pretty excited, I also wouldn't mind being back in bed. Not a good start to 30 hours with no sleep.

Salsa powers through leg 1, logging 25 kills. She sort of cheated, starting at the back of the pack, but still--25 kills is nothing to sniff at and only about 5 kills came in the first mile. I'm guessing there weren't more than 35 starting with her. She finishes with an average pace of 8:40, and a pleasant gift of her leg being about a mile short. I run leg 3, a nice 5.6 miles along Hyrum Reservoir and up (really only 275' of climbing) into Paradise. I run the whole thing in a helmet, tunic, and sword, since it's still cool, which gives me an excuse for the two who kill me, but I count 9 kills of my own. I feel great and finish at an 8:20 pace. Plenty left in the tank. Learned my lesson from last year, where I paid for it after going way too hard on my first leg.

The rest of the morning goes nicely, with everyone meeting their pace goals and still feeling good. I guess everyone heard my lecture on turning in conservative paces. Oh, and the weather was unbeatable. We pass off to the other van in Liberty, head to the nearest Subway (which despite the prevailing opinion, tastes fantastic in the middle of a race), and up to Snowbasin for the next exchange. As one of the first cars to arrive, we get first choice at sleeping spots on the grass, and I get to catch up from last night with a nice little catnap. Hint to future Wasatch Back contestants--the bathrooms at Snowbasin rock!

Salsa starts leg 13, a long 9 mile descent from Snowbasin, around 3 pm. I ran this leg the first year about 8 pm, as the sun was setting, and I still get chills thinking about how amazing that run was. It's still mid-afternoon and hot, so Salsa's isn't quite as pleasant, but still gorgeous scenery. She kills 5, again with a pace of about 8:40. As we're picking her up at the bottom, I overhear this hulking specimen of a man discussing his job in "orthopedic trauma" to several admiring women. I think, "is that hostile?", but can't come up with anything better than "are you hostile?" as a way to broach the subject in the 30 seconds I'm there, so I forget it. Man, that dude was tall.

I start my leg 15 at about 4:45 pm. This is my easiest leg, a 5 mile jaunt with no net elevation change--down 250, up 250--a rarity in WB, but it's hot. I lose the costume. Without a costume and with bunches who apparently hate the heat or didn't pace themselves on leg 1, I log 20 kills. Killed by no one. I should have had 21, but a guy with a red Fleetfoot shirt picked up his pace quite a bit for the last half-mile and I decided not to chase him down. Our toughest leg's ahead of us and he'll pay for that. Pace was 8:30, and I'm feeling good.

Our van stays right on pace, even a little ahead through the next 3 legs and we pass off to the other van at East Canyon. With twice as many teams this year, East Canyon has the potential to be a complete mess, but we're early enough in things to avoid too much congestion. We head off to North Summit High school to catch some sleep.

Wrestling mats on a gymnasium floor with hundreds of others snoring around you are surprisingly not terribly conducive to sleep. 1:30 am comes way too early, and I don't think I've slept a wink. We have some problems getting to the next exchange, so it's a good thing the other van is falling behind schedule (they didn't listen to me, young punks). Salsa starts her last leg from Oakley to Kamas about 2:45. Nice pleasant run with clear starry skies in the some of the most beautiful country outside of Cedar City. She kills another 2, as kills are getting sparser and the faster teams with later times are catching us. Her pace is again right about 8:40--she's a machine.

I start my final leg, a 7.9 miler from Francis to partway around Jordanelle. at about 4 am. There are some nasty climbs, with some hard downhills to balance out the elevation change. I've been nervous about this one because my mileage has been down the last few weeks. I down some caffeine and feel it carrying me for a few miles. Again, an absolutely gorgeous clear starry night with dawn breaking as I'm finishing and this turns into my special leg for this year (IMO, every year has a special run that sort of etches itself into your memory--part of the fun of this race). I'm glad I hill-train, as I kill another 14. One guy kills me--he wasn't too much faster and I probably could have held him off, but it was about mile 5, and I didn't dare. I finish with an 8:20 average.

We all push it our final legs and pull into Heber a little ahead of time. Our second van exchanges around 7 am and man, does it feel good to be done this early! We grab some breakfast in Park City--Whole Foods makes a mean breakfast burrito!--and head up to the Canyons and wait. The second van loses about 75 minutes over these next 6 legs, partly due to the scheduler always underestimating "You've got to be kidding me" and "Ragnar" and partly due to them being young bucks who went out too hard, and we finish right around 31 hours.

Fun fun race, even funner than last year. That may have had something to do with not having to the "Ragnar" leg this time, but I think I ran a smarter race. I think I've finally figured out how to run these. Put a conservative pace in the scheduler, remembering that you're running at elevation and on no sleep. Take it easy for the first two legs--it should never hurt. Push it the last leg if you want. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I'm convinced that what saved me on the last leg was me noticing that despite feeling really good and having downed a 32-oz gatorade after my second run, my resting HR was still in the 90's an hour out. I drank another 32-oz and brought it down to the 60's. And take in the scenery--seriously some of the best Utah has to offer (outside of Cedar City of course ). There's not an ugly leg on this entire 190 miles.

[Solon]

I'm in NYC now on our anniversary trip, so if I want to make it to another anniversary, I better leave CUF off the itinerary. But the wife's still asleep, so I'll get a quick report in.

We stayed at a friend's house in Hyrum and stayed up talking until about 11:30, despite our 5:15 start time. 4:00 comes quickly the next morning. We get to the start, a complete zoo, as all the teams (>1000 this year!) were told to show up early for a mandatory safety training, a new change with the 2 deaths in the last year. We're not the earliest start time, but we're close, and while I'm pretty excited, I also wouldn't mind being back in bed. Not a good start to 30 hours with no sleep.

Salsa powers through leg 1, logging 25 kills. She sort of cheated, starting at the back of the pack, but still--25 kills is nothing to sniff at and only about 5 kills came in the first mile. I'm guessing there weren't more than 35 starting with her. She finishes with an average pace of 8:40, and a pleasant gift of her leg being about a mile short. I run leg 3, a nice 5.6 miles along Hyrum Reservoir and up (really only 275' of climbing) into Paradise. I run the whole thing in a helmet, tunic, and sword, since it's still cool, which gives me an excuse for the two who kill me, but I count 9 kills of my own. I feel great and finish at an 8:20 pace. Plenty left in the tank. Learned my lesson from last year, where I paid for it after going way too hard on my first leg.

The rest of the morning goes nicely, with everyone meeting their pace goals and still feeling good. I guess everyone heard my lecture on turning in conservative paces. Oh, and the weather was unbeatable. We pass off to the other van in Liberty, head to the nearest Subway (which despite the prevailing opinion, tastes fantastic in the middle of a race), and up to Snowbasin for the next exchange. As one of the first cars to arrive, we get first choice at sleeping spots on the grass, and I get to catch up from last night with a nice little catnap. Hint to future Wasatch Back contestants--the bathrooms at Snowbasin rock!

Salsa starts leg 13, a long 9 mile descent from Snowbasin, around 3 pm. I ran this leg the first year about 8 pm, as the sun was setting, and I still get chills thinking about how amazing that run was. It's still mid-afternoon and hot, so Salsa's isn't quite as pleasant, but still gorgeous scenery. She kills 5, again with a pace of about 8:40. As we're picking her up at the bottom, I overhear this hulking specimen of a man discussing his job in "orthopedic trauma" to several admiring women. I think, "is that hostile?", but can't come up with anything better than "are you hostile?" as a way to broach the subject in the 30 seconds I'm there, so I forget it. Man, that dude was tall.

I start my leg 15 at about 4:45 pm. This is my easiest leg, a 5 mile jaunt with no net elevation change--down 250, up 250--a rarity in WB, but it's hot. I lose the costume. Without a costume and with bunches who apparently hate the heat or didn't pace themselves on leg 1, I log 20 kills. Killed by no one. I should have had 21, but a guy with a red Fleetfoot shirt picked up his pace quite a bit for the last half-mile and I decided not to chase him down. Our toughest leg's ahead of us and he'll pay for that. Pace was 8:30, and I'm feeling good.

Our van stays right on pace, even a little ahead through the next 3 legs and we pass off to the other van at East Canyon. With twice as many teams this year, East Canyon has the potential to be a complete mess, but we're early enough in things to avoid too much congestion. We head off to North Summit High school to catch some sleep.

Wrestling mats on a gymnasium floor with hundreds of others snoring around you are surprisingly not terribly conducive to sleep. 1:30 am comes way too early, and I don't think I've slept a wink. We have some problems getting to the next exchange, so it's a good thing the other van is falling behind schedule (they didn't listen to me, young punks). Salsa starts her last leg from Oakley to Kamas about 2:45. Nice pleasant run with clear starry skies in the some of the most beautiful country outside of Cedar City. She kills another 2, as kills are getting sparser and the faster teams with later times are catching us. Her pace is again right about 8:40--she's a machine.

I start my final leg, a 7.9 miler from Francis to partway around Jordanelle. at about 4 am. There are some nasty climbs, with some hard downhills to balance out the elevation change. I've been nervous about this one because my mileage has been down the last few weeks. I down some caffeine and feel it carrying me for a few miles. Again, an absolutely gorgeous clear starry night with dawn breaking as I'm finishing and this turns into my special leg for this year (IMO, every year has a special run that sort of etches itself into your memory--part of the fun of this race). I'm glad I hill-train, as I kill another 14. One guy kills me--he wasn't too much faster and I probably could have held him off, but it was about mile 5, and I didn't dare. I finish with an 8:20 average.

We all push it our final legs and pull into Heber a little ahead of time. Our second van exchanges around 7 am and man, does it feel good to be done this early! We grab some breakfast in Park City--Whole Foods makes a mean breakfast burrito!--and head up to the Canyons and wait. The second van loses about 75 minutes over these next 6 legs, partly due to the scheduler always underestimating "You've got to be kidding me" and "Ragnar" and partly due to them being young bucks who went out too hard, and we finish right around 31 hours.

Fun fun race, even funner than last year. That may have had something to do with not having to the "Ragnar" leg this time, but I think I ran a smarter race. I think I've finally figured out how to run these. Put a conservative pace in the scheduler, remembering that you're running at elevation and on no sleep. Take it easy for the first two legs--it should never hurt. Push it the last leg if you want. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I'm convinced that what saved me on the last leg was me noticing that despite feeling really good and having downed a 32-oz gatorade after my second run, my resting HR was still in the 90's an hour out. I drank another 32-oz and brought it down to the 60's. And take in the scenery--seriously some of the best Utah has to offer (outside of Cedar City of course ). There's not an ugly leg on this entire 190 miles.

Awesome write-up, ER. You guys are fast. Congrats to you and salsa.

I love that Oakley to Francis run. I've spent a lot of summers in Oakley.

[hostile]

I'm in NYC now on our anniversary trip, so if I want to make it to another anniversary, I better leave CUF off the itinerary. But the wife's still asleep, so I'll get a quick report in.

We stayed at a friend's house in Hyrum and stayed up talking until about 11:30, despite our 5:15 start time. 4:00 comes quickly the next morning. We get to the start, a complete zoo, as all the teams (>1000 this year!) were told to show up early for a mandatory safety training, a new change with the 2 deaths in the last year. We're not the earliest start time, but we're close, and while I'm pretty excited, I also wouldn't mind being back in bed. Not a good start to 30 hours with no sleep.

Salsa powers through leg 1, logging 25 kills. She sort of cheated, starting at the back of the pack, but still--25 kills is nothing to sniff at and only about 5 kills came in the first mile. I'm guessing there weren't more than 35 starting with her. She finishes with an average pace of 8:40, and a pleasant gift of her leg being about a mile short. I run leg 3, a nice 5.6 miles along Hyrum Reservoir and up (really only 275' of climbing) into Paradise. I run the whole thing in a helmet, tunic, and sword, since it's still cool, which gives me an excuse for the two who kill me, but I count 9 kills of my own. I feel great and finish at an 8:20 pace. Plenty left in the tank. Learned my lesson from last year, where I paid for it after going way too hard on my first leg.

The rest of the morning goes nicely, with everyone meeting their pace goals and still feeling good. I guess everyone heard my lecture on turning in conservative paces. Oh, and the weather was unbeatable. We pass off to the other van in Liberty, head to the nearest Subway (which despite the prevailing opinion, tastes fantastic in the middle of a race), and up to Snowbasin for the next exchange. As one of the first cars to arrive, we get first choice at sleeping spots on the grass, and I get to catch up from last night with a nice little catnap. Hint to future Wasatch Back contestants--the bathrooms at Snowbasin rock!

Salsa starts leg 13, a long 9 mile descent from Snowbasin, around 3 pm. I ran this leg the first year about 8 pm, as the sun was setting, and I still get chills thinking about how amazing that run was. It's still mid-afternoon and hot, so Salsa's isn't quite as pleasant, but still gorgeous scenery. She kills 5, again with a pace of about 8:40. As we're picking her up at the bottom, I overhear this hulking specimen of a man discussing his job in "orthopedic trauma" to several admiring women. I think, "is that hostile?", but can't come up with anything better than "are you hostile?" as a way to broach the subject in the 30 seconds I'm there, so I forget it. Man, that dude was tall.

I start my leg 15 at about 4:45 pm. This is my easiest leg, a 5 mile jaunt with no net elevation change--down 250, up 250--a rarity in WB, but it's hot. I lose the costume. Without a costume and with bunches who apparently hate the heat or didn't pace themselves on leg 1, I log 20 kills. Killed by no one. I should have had 21, but a guy with a red Fleetfoot shirt picked up his pace quite a bit for the last half-mile and I decided not to chase him down. Our toughest leg's ahead of us and he'll pay for that. Pace was 8:30, and I'm feeling good.

Our van stays right on pace, even a little ahead through the next 3 legs and we pass off to the other van at East Canyon. With twice as many teams this year, East Canyon has the potential to be a complete mess, but we're early enough in things to avoid too much congestion. We head off to North Summit High school to catch some sleep.

Wrestling mats on a gymnasium floor with hundreds of others snoring around you are surprisingly not terribly conducive to sleep. 1:30 am comes way too early, and I don't think I've slept a wink. We have some problems getting to the next exchange, so it's a good thing the other van is falling behind schedule (they didn't listen to me, young punks). Salsa starts her last leg from Oakley to Kamas about 2:45. Nice pleasant run with clear starry skies in the some of the most beautiful country outside of Cedar City. She kills another 2, as kills are getting sparser and the faster teams with later times are catching us. Her pace is again right about 8:40--she's a machine.

I start my final leg, a 7.9 miler from Francis to partway around Jordanelle. at about 4 am. There are some nasty climbs, with some hard downhills to balance out the elevation change. I've been nervous about this one because my mileage has been down the last few weeks. I down some caffeine and feel it carrying me for a few miles. Again, an absolutely gorgeous clear starry night with dawn breaking as I'm finishing and this turns into my special leg for this year (IMO, every year has a special run that sort of etches itself into your memory--part of the fun of this race). I'm glad I hill-train, as I kill another 14. One guy kills me--he wasn't too much faster and I probably could have held him off, but it was about mile 5, and I didn't dare. I finish with an 8:20 average.

We all push it our final legs and pull into Heber a little ahead of time. Our second van exchanges around 7 am and man, does it feel good to be done this early! We grab some breakfast in Park City--Whole Foods makes a mean breakfast burrito!--and head up to the Canyons and wait. The second van loses about 75 minutes over these next 6 legs, partly due to the scheduler always underestimating "You've got to be kidding me" and "Ragnar" and partly due to them being young bucks who went out too hard, and we finish right around 31 hours.

Fun fun race, even funner than last year. That may have had something to do with not having to the "Ragnar" leg this time, but I think I ran a smarter race. I think I've finally figured out how to run these. Put a conservative pace in the scheduler, remembering that you're running at elevation and on no sleep. Take it easy for the first two legs--it should never hurt. Push it the last leg if you want. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I'm convinced that what saved me on the last leg was me noticing that despite feeling really good and having downed a 32-oz gatorade after my second run, my resting HR was still in the 90's an hour out. I drank another 32-oz and brought it down to the 60's. And take in the scenery--seriously some of the best Utah has to offer (outside of Cedar City of course ). There's not an ugly leg on this entire 190 miles.

That probably was me at the bottom of leg 13 (although "hulking" is a term that I have never heard in describing me) I was just getting ready to start my second leg of the race.

Your points about taking the first two legs easy are spot on. If you feel like either of those legs are hard you're going too fast. That third leg after little, if any, sleep is much more difficult. I loved starting as early as we did. Getting in and out of the exchanges was much easier (except for the summit of Avon pass) and there was plenty of places to lie down and sleep while waiting for the other van. The scenery is great - we had four first time runners in our van, all from Utah. They all commented on how they had never seen these parts of the state. As I said, I'm looking forward to next year - I just need to be more dedicated in my training.

[bluegoose]

Great reports guys. This sounds like a fun, fun race.

We had really hoped to have been there with you guys this year, were it not for one of our guys getting called as Stake Pres this January and having his first stake conference already calendared for this weekend. hopefully next year we can make it work.

[ERCougar]

Great reports guys. This sounds like a fun, fun race.

We had really hoped to have been there with you guys this year, were it not for one of our guys getting called as Stake Pres this January and having his first stake conference already calendared for this weekend. hopefully next year we can make it work.

It really is fun. After last year's race, I wasn't so excited about things, and had decided not to run it again, but I had some friends that had a team and talked us into it this year. I only agreed if we could run in Van 1, because Van 2 sucked last year. I'm really glad we ran because we had a great time. I think it sucked last year because I ran too hard. If you ease off, run a smart race and don't push it until the end, realizing that the difference between you pushing it hard and hurting the whole race or taking it easy and having a good time is a few minutes more on your finish time (out of 30ish hours), you'll have a much better experience. Next year, I'll run 9 or 10 again and see if I'm still singing the same tune.

I'm still amazed at how they string together 190 amazingly scenic miles. There's seriously not a boring or ugly leg on the course. We've just finished putting together a 31 mile course for a relay in cedar city later this year, and while the course is pretty cool overall, there are some boring stretches. 190 miles of great scenery is a pretty cool feat--I'm not sure where else in the country you could pull that off. PCH, maybe?

[ERCougar]

That probably was me at the bottom of leg 13 (although "hulking" is a term that I have never heard in describing me) I was just getting ready to start my second leg of the race.

Your points about taking the first two legs easy are spot on. If you feel like either of those legs are hard you're going too fast. That third leg after little, if any, sleep is much more difficult. I loved starting as early as we did. Getting in and out of the exchanges was much easier (except for the summit of Avon pass) and there was plenty of places to lie down and sleep while waiting for the other van. The scenery is great - we had four first time runners in our van, all from Utah. They all commented on how they had never seen these parts of the state. As I said, I'm looking forward to next year - I just need to be more dedicated in my training.

Shoot. I should have said hi. Maybe I was intimidated by your height; I'm not used to running into guys taller than me.

I agree about Avon Pass--it had me very nervous about the rest of the race, as it was much more congested than it ever has been. But everything else went really smoothly. Have you talked to anyone with a later start? I'd be curious to hear how their exchanges went.

[hostile]

Shoot. I should have said hi. Maybe I was intimidated by your height; I'm not used to running into guys taller than me.

I agree about Avon Pass--it had me very nervous about the rest of the race, as it was much more congested than it ever has been. But everything else went really smoothly. Have you talked to anyone with a later start? I'd be curious to hear how their exchanges went.

Other teams that I have talked to said that the major exchanges were really crowded, but everything seemed to transition OK. East Canyon is always crazy - we tried to get out of there as quickly as possible. Avon was so crowded this year that our runner passed the van with a quarter mile to go. The next runner got out of the van early to use the bathroom when I saw her in the rear view mirror and told him he had better hurry.

[ERCougar]

OK...who's running this year?

Just found out today that two of our team members (not to call anyone out, but their names rhyme with Mr. and Mrs. Schmolon) are bailing on us. This is not a tough race to fill, but while we're looking around for subs, I thought I'd check with the board to see if anyone was looking for a team. Everyone is really laid back about pace so don't worry if you're not super fast--we range from 7:30 to 10:30 minutes miles.

[Pheidippides]

OK...who's running this year?

Just found out today that two of our team members (not to call anyone out, but their names rhyme with Mr. and Mrs. Schmolon) are bailing on us. This is not a tough race to fill, but while we're looking around for subs, I thought I'd check with the board to see if anyone was looking for a team. Everyone is really laid back about pace so don't worry if you're not super fast--we range from 7:30 to 10:30 minutes miles.

Damn you. Damn you to hell! You'd have to have a spot open up this year of all years. I'd totally be in except (1) it's the weekend after my marathon and (2) it's the weekend of already planned family vacation. Good luck and have fun, though.

[hostile]

OK...who's running this year?

Just found out today that two of our team members (not to call anyone out, but their names rhyme with Mr. and Mrs. Schmolon) are bailing on us. This is not a tough race to fill, but while we're looking around for subs, I thought I'd check with the board to see if anyone was looking for a team. Everyone is really laid back about pace so don't worry if you're not super fast--we range from 7:30 to 10:30 minutes miles.

I've got a team but am having trouble filling all 12 spots. If it doesn't happen soon I'll try and sell my entry and hook up with someone else. I'll keep you in mind and let you know.

[Solon]

OK...who's running this year?

Just found out today that two of our team members (not to call anyone out, but their names rhyme with Mr. and Mrs. Schmolon) are bailing on us. This is not a tough race to fill, but while we're looking around for subs, I thought I'd check with the board to see if anyone was looking for a team. Everyone is really laid back about pace so don't worry if you're not super fast--we range from 7:30 to 10:30 minutes miles.

Good luck today & tommorrow, ER et al. I wish I was there.

(Yes, we bailed, against my wishes, but Mrs. Solon is having surgery tomorrow morning; and we gave up our entry fees.)

[ERCougar]

Good luck today & tommorrow, ER et al. I wish I was there.

(Yes, we bailed, against my wishes, but Mrs. Solon is having surgery tomorrow morning; and we gave up our entry fees.)

Yeah, you need to be here!
1 down, 2 to go.
it's packed this year. They really need close it sooner.

[Solon]

Yeah, you need to be here!
1 down, 2 to go.
it's packed this year. They really need close it sooner.

I love that ER checks in with CUF while he's in the middle of a race. That guy would give us an update from the Lusitania if he could.

[ERCougar]

I love that ER checks in with CUF while he's in the middle of a race. That guy would give us an update from the Lusitania if he could.

I'll ignore the comparison of our team to a sinking ship (although it's probably not far off), given that Solon totally atoned for his sins by showing up in Oakley at midnight with bagels, cream cheese, M&Ms, and a magic juice that Lance would envy.

Fun race again, although I'll be much less wordy this year. Guardsman pass kicked my trash again, although not quite so handily this year. My night run went 10 miles around Echo Reservoir on the "rail trail", which in its rocky and unpaved state in the middle of the night should really be called an "ankle breaker trail"; I couldn't enjoy much of the view because I didn't dare look up with my headlamp. My first run was an uneventful but pretty 3.5 mile jaunt through Eden.

It really is amazing how well they pull off the logistics of getting 14000 runners through tiny mountain towns in Utah, but this race is getting close to its size limit. The finish line and activities was their best yet. We held off the BYU cross country team (who started a mere 12 hours later) until the last leg, so everybody except our last runner got to watch them run the BYU flag through the finish line--a surprisingly cool moment. And dang--they're wicked fast.

If you haven't done this race yet, you need to. There's no better way to get to know someone, to get the shiest person to come out of their shell, then to spend 30 hours running and riding in a van with them. Even if you're not a runner, I can't think of a better introduction to the sport. But sign on fast--this thing sells out in weeks.

Hostile--did you run this year?