Introducing team “Chasing Trail”

Runner Joey is just a beginner runner who has done three marathons, all under 4 hours and 15 mins.

In 2010, Runner Liliya decided to take on the challenge of completing her first half marathon. She ran the Women’s Half Marathon in St. Petersburg, Florida, and got hooked! She had no idea how addicting running/racing would become and how much of an impact that it would have on her life. When she’s not running or doing all things active, traveling, eating yummy foods or playing with friends and family, she works as a Labor and Delivery nurse at a local hospital. She really enjoys helping to bring beautiful babies into the world. She has run the Ragnar Florida Keys Relay, and is super excited to run her first Trail relay in the Appalachians!

Runner George B. Lafiguera is the Flight Director for the Worldwide Support Flight, 582 Missile Maintenance Squadron, 309 Missile Maintenance Group (MMXG), Ogden Air Logistics Complex, Hill Air Force Base, UT. He is an avid yogi, can heal you with herbs, has the kindest heart around, and will let you know when he needs a meditation break.

George was born in Manila, Philippines, and has three children: Amber, Anthony and Amelia.

Florida dolphins sometimes squeak of a local legend. If the harvest moon rises while the gulf breeze whistles a certain tune through the mangroves, a creature emerges from the choppy waters. Some say it’s a manaman (half manatee, half man) while others whisper in hoarse tones that it’s an aquasquatch (aquatic sasquatch). Really, it’s Runner Dan, exasperated and covered in seaweed after emerging from another training swim before hitting a run or bike workout.

When not teaching high school students, Dan spends almost all of his time training for Ironman 70.3 triathlons and his first full length Ironman scheduled for later this year. He still enjoys road races and treasures the family atmosphere of a Digital Running Ragnar. This will be Dan’s third Ragnar (second trail) with the Darrow fam. He still dreams fortnightly about the Ragnar Tahoe Trail adventure, and occasionally has a nightmare about the poor nutritional choices that wreacked havoc (just say “NO!” to Uncrustables). He can’t wait to relax at the campsite with new friends after a hard run in some of the most majestic scenery around.

Runner Michelle aka MJ is a Ragnar vet, having run the Florida Keys Ragnar in 2013. Michelle lives in Tampa Bay Florida and spends most of her free time training for marathons and triathalons. Her favorite memories from Ragnar Florida Keys are the friendships she made, running on the shoulder of oncoming traffic and surviving, running under the stars, sleeping on a van floor and using port-o-potties for 2 days straight.

Michelle is a member of Marathon Maniacs, and is pursuing completing a 1/2 marathon in all 50 states. Michelle is excited to meet her WV teammates and make many amazing memories!

Runner Erin’s love of running truly began when she decided to run her first marathon at 19 after she went to a Team in Training meeting where the coach said, “If you can walk a step, you can run a marathon” and she naively thought to herself, “I guess I can do one then.” For her training, she fondly remembers running 20+ miles in the rain and calling her parents collect from a Wendy’s payphone when she was too exhausted to run back.

The redemption of training came in her first race as she ran alongside whales in the crystal blue waters of Maui, and she had an epiphany that running is what she was always meant to do. Although she grew up playing a variety of sports, she only spent one brief, lackluster and cold semester on the high school winter track team. Her favorite race was the 4×400 she with her twin sister and another set of twin classmates, which was confusing for the spectators. Since then, Erin has done several other marathons, half marathons and most recently triathlons, and she continues to be inspired by the energy that each one brings.

Her love for adventure is at the heart of who she is, and she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa living in a mud hut with no electricity or water and studied her Master of Public Health in Thailand traveling around the country for disaster relief and disease prevention projects. Although this is her first Ragnar, she has already signed up for another (Ultra!) and hopes to continue to challenge herself and dream about new races.

Runner Monica drove a van for Digital Running’s Ragnaritaville team at the 2013 Ragnar Florida Keys, and decided that she simply must run a Ragnar. So she joined their TaHoes and TaBros Ragnar Trail team. Running for fun is a far cry from where her mindset was years ago. After one particularly grueling basketball practice that pretty much consisted of all suicides, she distinctly remembers seeing people running on the sidewalk on the way home. She disgustedly asked her dad, “Ugh, why would anyone EVER run for fun?!?” Fast forward five years and she was doing her first marathon.

Originally from North Carolina, Monica found her way to the Sunshine State and has made it home. Her job however, keeps her traveling all over the world.

Runner Terie has been a crazy high-school science teacher for the past 16 years, and teaches at a small high school near Rockford, Illinois. She is relatively new to running, starting four years ago to add some variety to her workouts as well as to make sure that a 16-year smoking habit didn’t rear its ugly head again. Since then, she has run many 5ks, a few more 10Ks, several half-marathons, three marathon and the Chicago (twice) and Tennessee Ragnar Relay with Digital Running’s Lower Wacker Gang, Dark Side of the Moonpie and How Now Spotted Cow! She ran her second Ultra Ragnar last week.

When she’s not running around the country roads near her house being chased by farm dogs or startling livestock, she can usually be found chained to her computer writing something for her students, blogging about teaching, wasting time on Pinterest, or serving as primary slave to her dog Emma. She has been married to her dog’s secondary slave, David, for 11 years.

Runner Philip is a 32 year old Staff Sergeant in the United States Army from Saint Louis, MO, but currently living in Alexandria, VA. Running is not new to him, as he has to run for Army Physical Training. When living in The Netherlands for three years, the running bug really bit him as the running routes were waiting there for him.  Coming back to the USA in 2012, he heard about the Ragnar Relay, but after hearing about how many miles it was overall, he chickened out.

A year later, he was still skeptical about the distance but went ahead to finish the 2013 Washington DC Ragnar with his co-workers. He has done two Ragnars, one Rebel Race DC (playing in the mud) and his first Rock n Roll DC ½ Marathon recently, and is looking to add more medals (especially the Double Ragnar medals) to his cubicle at work so he can be the envy of his co-workers. His fastest two mile run recorded is 13min 21sec, which he plans to break in the near future. Always competitive, if you are in front of him and running, he will do his best to pass you and not look back.  Call him Sarge if you see him on the course and you’ll be greeted with a smile.

Runner Robin has recently fulfilled a lot of running goals. 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!

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.

This will be Robin’s 5th Ragnar with Digital Running Club. If you see her on the trail, ask her why her head is shaved and share in her story.

Runner Judy is a 50 year old with a bucket list of lots of running to do and some triathlons stuck in there for good measure. She started running for stress relief when she was left a widow with a 5 year old, back in 1997. She mostly ran by herself for about 5 years, and then joined a group that ran from a local running store… which led to signing up for races all over the place!

Judy has run Ragnar Chicago and Ragnar Florida Keys, is a Marathon Maniac and barefoot waterskier!!  She loves a challenge – and this year alone ran the Dopey Challenge, a Winter Night Time Trail Marathon, Atlanta Marathon, Little Rock and Ragnar Chicago as a member of an ultra team! She’s also registered for the Muncie 70.3 1/2 Ironman in July, which will be her first 1/2 Ironman. We thank Judy for filling in on our team at the last minute!

Runner Hannah Sternberg is a novelist living in Washington, DC. In addition to preparing her second book for publication this summer, she runs casually, gardens in her postage-stamp front yard, and joins a group of strangers to run around with in West Virginia!

Runner Maureen (or Mo, as she prefers to be called), at the age of 31, is at that point in her life where she has been a runner for longer than she has not been a runner.

She began her running career as a high school freshman in 1998. She chose track over the softball craft she had perfected over a number of years, mostly because track was a no-cut sport. After finishing dead last in her first race, the 55 meter dash, her coach quickly switched her to the distance side of things, and a star was born. To date, Maureen has completed 89 half marathons, 10 marathons, 5 Ragnar relays, and countless races of other various distances.

She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her longtime boyfriend and their sassy stuffed lion, Orton. If you thought you saw a 12 year old with a ponytail run past you on your last leg, it was probably Mo.

Runner Lucas considers himself a new runner (with the best camping gear around). After being inspired by other family members who had been working on improving their own fitness, Lucas began running with the Couch to 5K program in June 2013. Since that time, he’s participated in three 5Ks, run distances in excess of 20 miles ‘for fun’ and lost over 80 pounds in the span of a year. Feeling in the best shape of his life, he runs with the memory of the lives of those we’ve lost too soon.

Team Mom Raffi, was named one of the Top 5 Inspiring Ragnar Moms by Ragnar themselves. And when did she get the great news? On Mother’s Day, fittingly, while flying home from the Cape Cod Ragnar Relay. She has over 17 years of Mommy-ing under her belt. She sorts out details & graphic design for our events, and makes sure the water bottles are kept on ice. As the online Editor of digitalrunning.com, her years of writing, marketing & graphic design experience come in handy. Raffi is kind of a health nut, and loves Yoga, dark chocolate, Disney and reading. She lives in Florida with her husband and two teenage daughters. This is her 21st time not running Ragnar Relay. Be nice, and she’ll make you a s’more.

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.

Also on our team but without bios: Bridget and Tanis