This past weekend, 10 of us ran the Wild Miles Relay, 183 mile event of 30 legs, of hilly desert country in baking hot temperatures

Team "Shaolin Running" does the Wild Miles Relay!

Weds. May 25, 2005

This past weekend, 10 of us ran the Wild Miles Relay, 183 mile event of 30 legs, of hilly desert country in baking hot temperatures.

Our team, Shaolin Running, named after cult kung-fu matrix style soccer movie Shaolin Soccer, consisted of 2 teams of 5 in 2 vans, plus 2 volunteers.

The course started in Borrego Springs, a little under 2 hours from Redlands swinging around through Palm Springs and then down past the Salton Sea.

Our co-ed team consisted of 7 guys and 3 girls and even more nationalities (American, British, Canadian, Chinese, Dutch, Mexican, Mongolian, and Swedish!)

Here’s how each runner did:

		cumulative
	Miles	time	pace	feet climbed
mike	20.2	2:41:12	7:59	524
glen	28.4	4:03:33	8:35	6,071
victor	20.7	3:07:13	9:03	575
grace	13.5	1:48:07	8:01	291
donny	9.5	1:17:40	8:11	295
nikki	21.1	2:52:33	8:11	494
bjorn	17.3	3:02:34	10:33	1,497
tsol	15.1	2:33:50	10:11	936
wan	14.4	1:46:35	7:24	362
kelvin	24.0	3:28:15	8:41	1,638
total	184.2	1 02:41:32		12,683

Some photos…

The start at 7:45 in Borrego Springs. Not my Hum-V

The support crew Victor and Glen ready to go.

The only other guy in my 7:50 start wave.

8 am and already 95 degrees!

Glen starts his 2 legs.

Here’s Glen after 19 miles and 4100 feet of climbing. The last 13 miles was on ash-tray fine sand, or leg 3, known as the Grapevine half-marathon. People doing the Grapevine got the prestigious GV written on their calf with Jiffy Marker, a badge of honor.

Victor finishing leg 4.

Grace taking the wristband from Victor and starting leg 5.

Gracefully running down San Felipe Canyon.

Handing off to Nikki and leg 6, the first leg for Van 2 team.

Nikki breezing along.

Marco crewing at exchange 6, with Bjorn on deck and Kristin standing by.

Tsolmon awaiting her turn while Bjorn runs.

Bjorn looking strong in 105 degrees.

Van 1 teamers Mike and Glen geocoding some PCT trailheads.

A hot Bjorn glad to be done!

Tsol takes off on leg 8.

Tsol gets the wrist band ready for Wan.

Wan sprinting despite the heat through leg 8.

Kelvin zinging a water bottle to Wan very Matrix/Shaolin style…

Kelvin begins leg 10 in blistering 107 degrees!

Van 2 supplies regular bags full of ice to help cool down.

Kristin crewing at exchange 11.

The gang hanging at exchange 11 waiting for Victor.

Donny suits up in the Yuma hat and a nice icey bottle.

Here comes Victor!

Passing the wrist band.

No better way to end a run than getting drenched in ice water!

Van 1 crew gets ready to support Donny

Donny is melting but doing great!

Finishing strong!

Glad to be done.

The sun starts setting and Glen rips through Sweeney pass.

Flies up hills like they were flat.

The cool breeze at sunset and the temperatures dipping below 100 feels good.

Time for reflective gear on leg 14.

Nikki out on leg 18 in the dark.

Waiting for Tsol and Van 2 at exchange 20.

Victor running a sandy leg 22 at 2 am.

Beautiful Plaster City at 2 in the morning. Grace ready to go.

Jacumba Mountain, 5am.

Glen blitzes to the top and back in 36 minutes, beating the 2^nd place guy by 2 minutes. Wan takes off for a fast leg in the cool morning air at 3000 feet.