On a Mission from Cod

Runner #1 Gordon started long distance running in an attempt to make his friends put their money where their mouths were. Two of his friends had been commenting back and forth for some time that they wanted to run their first marathon at Disney World the following January but were shy on pulling the trigger. When Gordon stated he would run the half if they ran the full they just laughed at him. Out of spite he signed up that night and forwarded the confirmation email to his friends. That January, with not nearly enough training under his belt he completed his first half marathon. Now, people who know him would think okay, you’ve run your half so now you can go back to being lazy. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Gordon made friends with a couple of people at Disney who told him how awesome running the Goofy Challenge was. So, caught up in the excitement, in March just two months after completing the half he signed up to run his first, and only, Goofy Challenge. Needless to say his good friend Patti who had run the full in January also signed up for the challenge once she learned he was running. The sense of competition was too strong. Fast forward three years to 2014 and Gordon has run in 6 marathons and about 20 halfs. Some may say he’s weather cursed as a good number of the races he’s participated in haven’t had ideal weather conditions. The inaugural Providence Rock N roll half. (Torrential downpours the entire time). Disney 2012 and 2013 (Hot). Boston 2012 (inferno). Boston 2014. (Far too warm). Disney Land 2011. (Very warm). Marine Corps Marathon 2012. (Early fringes of hurricane Sandy threatening the race). Sensing a theme here? Besides the fact that he seems to like to run Disney races. Even one of his coaches from TNT thinks he’s weather cursed. This hasn’t stopped him from continuously signing up to run these races. Although his days of running marathons appear to be over, the support from the crowds along the way make it tough to walk away. They’re the main thing that keep him going on those tough runs. While not the fastest runner, he still gets enjoyment out of waiting for the starting gun to sound to start off on the race of the day. Ragnar seems like a natural progression for him. Where else would he be allowed to sleep while participating in a race?

Runner #2 Sara (no bio)

Runner #3 Cheryl was driving home two years ago, when she saw some random runners crossing the Bourne Scenic Highway and into the Eastern Mountain Sports parking lot. Intrigued, she looked up the event online and decided that she MUST add running a Ragnar Relay to her bucket list. In 2013, Cheryl, who is quite private, decided that a great way to break out of her shell was to spend eighteen hours in a van with absolute strangers and through a mixture of driving and running made it from Hull to P-Town. She even brought home a Ragnar sign left at the end of the street for a permanent memento of her journey. This gave her a sense of power and strength as a runner, and since last year’s Ragnar she has joined three other relays: two One Run for Boston relays and more recently a 26.2 mile relay which took place on a cool, misty April morning. She also signed up for her first marathon, which will take place in October, demonstrating that she lost her sanity when she joined the first Ragnar crew! She is excited to join the Cape Cod Ragnar group again this year for shenanigans and running!

Runner #4 Craig only likes to run with us when he is a last minute replacement. In fact, the first time he joined us (as a member of the “Gladeiators” during the 2012 Florida Keys Ragnar Relay), we found him 23 hours before the start. He was replacing an injured runner who was already a replacement for an injured runner. This year, Craig continues the tradition again serving as a replacement replacement runner. One might call him a mercenary, but he’s an all around good guy who can run 3 solid legs. We’re happy to have him back.

Runner #5 Elizabeth is 48 years old and accidentally became a runner about 4 years ago when she decided it was finally time to stop smoking and a few pounds started creeping on. Never having ever been remotely athletic, she began walking (more like trudging along, actually) and disliked it so much that she quickly realized if she ran a little here and there, the walk would be over faster! It sounded like a good plan, but when she ran her first mile she was so surprised that she decided to build on the running. Who knew where it would lead?? Elizabeth did her first 5K at 45, first 10K at 46, and somehow at 47 got talked into the Tough Mudder New England! Coming off that adrenaline, she somehow also got talked into running her first half marathon just 2 weeks later by a friend (with the aid a few Coronas), despite never having trained or ever having run over 7 miles. She finished that Half Marathon with a smile and was hooked! Since then Elizabeth has completed a total of 10 Half Marathons, participated in both last year’s and this year’s cross country relay One Run for Boston and she ran this years 2014 Boston Marathon (her first marathon), and it was the thrill of a lifetime. Five days after Boston she returned to Nashville to run the Country Music Half Marathon again. This October, Elizabeth is scheduled to run her second marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC.

Elizabeth loves the beach, warm weather, traveling and her 3 nieces and 2 nephews!

Runner #6 Whitney lives in Florida. This is her 5th Ragnar with Digital Running and 6th overall. She has an affinity for decorating vans with window markers and tasting local brews.

Driver Susan hails from North Attleboro, MA. When not perfecting her skills as a seahorse rodeo clown, she can be found donating time and money to one of her many philanthropic interests such as The Home For Displaced Nineteen-Year-Old Cabana Boys, The Flipper School of Dolphin Training or The Skunk Cabbage Planting Project. She holds a world record in cat herding, and she spends her weekends teaching Gregorian Chants to tree frogs. Let’s be thankful she handed over the keys of her Bugatti Veyron for the weekend to drive a van.

Last time we saw runner #7 Robin, she had big running goals. Fast forward a year and a lot has changed. Running has taken on a whole new meaning for her, from becoming a Certified Running Coach, joining and meeting some amazing people in a running club, to the ultimate goal of running the 2014 Boston Marathon. What’s next? “What’s not next?” she asks. “You’re only limited by your imagination.” Hers is big!

This will be Robin’s 4th Ragnar with Digital Running Club and she is signed up to take on her 5th with them on the trails of West Virginia in June.

Looking back, Robin wishes she had never quit freshman track. Channeling her inner Shalane, she hopes someday that her passion for running will inspire her boys to love the sport as much as she does because you never know…

In the mean time look for Ricky Robin (as dubbed by her nephew Owen) going fasssst, whether it be in a Marathon, 1/2, Relay or a Sprint across the Vineyard Sound in her Whaler. She knows that you only get one shot at life and you’ve got to live it.

Runner #8 Magen (no bio)

Runner #9 BJ began running after her second son, now 9, was born. She fell in love with it, for a while, and was able to shed some baby weight. She competed in many races and 2 sprint triathlons. She also ran her first half marathon 10 months after her third son, now 6, was born. As she was coming to the finish – just passing a guy laying on the ground with an ambulance, she thought, I will NEVER do this again! After that half, she quit running for over a year. The pounds slowly began to creep on and she took up running again 3 years ago. Never quite having the running high before the hiatus, she now experiences it and can’t wait for new running opportunities. Last year, she competed in at least one race every month – even with a concussion! She was also talked into her first overnight relay and fell in love! This will be her first Ragnar and is looking forward to hours in a cramped van with other smelly people, laughing and being delirious from lack of sleep!

Runner #10 MJ has been running for more than 20 years but only entered races sporadically. Since being diagnosed with ADHD a little more than a year ago, he discovered he could hyper focus and took a new approach to the sport. After the tragedy in Boston, he ramped up his training (including 93 miles from the day after the bombings until the end of the month) and rejoined the race circuit. Over the course of the year, he completed several 5Ks, a 5 miler, 10K, an ORFB stage and then decided to take on bigger challenges, completing the BAA and NYRR half-marathons and ran 9 miles on a relay team in the local Manchester, NH Marathon. A recent injury derailed what would have been his first 26.2 in Boston this year.

MJ’s first introduction to running relays, however, was back in September when he joined several friends to run Reach the Beach NH. It was the highlight of his running career – even on a torn meniscus. He’s looking forward to his first Ragnar outing and is very excited to be a part of a team that he mostly met through One Run for Boston.

Runner #11 Tomoe grew up in Japan. Thus, she’s Japanese. She lived in two other countries before landing on US soil in 1998. This will be her very first Ragnar experience. When she trained for the Tokyo Marathon in 2012, she ran through her busy schedule as a flight attendant. She ran over 27 miles during her short layover in Sacramento, CA, (she got lost and couldn’t find her hotel) and flew the red eye flight back to Boston. That experience might help her running this relay on a messed up body clock. Not a fast runner by any means, she will happily run for food. At 5’2″ and less than 110 lbs, she eats like a 6’4″ man (ie, her husband). She lives in Providence, RI with her husband, one teenage daughter and their pet parakeet, Pavarotti.

Runner #12 is a man named Eric
A poor mountaineer, whose life was kinda generic,
Then one day he was shootin’ at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.

Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.

Well the first thing you know ol Eric’s a millionaire,
Kinfolk said “Eric, move away from there,”
Said “Ragnar is the relay race you gotta see!”
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.

To run hills that is, and swim in pools, with movie stars.

Team Captain Brian Darrow grew up playing volleyball in the Midwest. He signed up for his first marathon in 2007, after talking to a bourbon drinking, smoking graphic designer he met in a hotel bar in Atlanta. Hey, if she could run one, he should certainly be able to! He is now an avid runner who coaches adults across the country. In his spare time, Brian enjoys wearing little more than afro wigs while decorating vans with Christmas lights and taking long runs with strangers in the middle of the night. He has a Ph.D. in Oceanography with a specialty in numerical modeling and has an awesome Ragnar-times-estimation-algorithmic spreadsheet.