2012 Adirondacks Ultra Ragnar, Here We Come!

We registered in the nick of time and are heading up to the Adirondacks in September, 2012,  for the Adirondacks Ragnar. Even better, it looks like we’ll have at least two, and maybe three, teams coming from Ithaca.

One of the upsides of registering as an ultra team (6 people max) is that the total race fee is $800 vs $1200 (or more, depending on the date you register by). It works out to more money per person, but with only 6 people it should be easier to track them down and make them pay! The price hike after the early registration isn’t that bad, I think it’s a 15% increase. In the grand scheme of how much you’ll spend on the race for fees, transportation, food, and extras, it really isn’t too much.

We are starting to figure out the logistics; unsurprisingly it looks like the hotels in the vicinity of the finish area around Lake Placid are totally booked up. This really works out well for us – we’re going to use Vacation Rental By Owner (VRBO) to get a condo or house for the weekend. We used this the last time we went to Hawaii and split a 3 bedroom condo with two other couples. The price for a 3 bedroom condo, in Hawaii, with laundry, full kitchen, pool, etc? $1300! Per person, per night, that works out to about $31!~Try and find a hotel for that low of a nightly rate! It can take a little more work on your part to get it set up and there is usually a security deposit, but in my mind it is totally worth it; you generally end up with somewhere much nicer than a hotel, more space, and a more comfortable setting. After completing an “ultra” Ragnar relay I think we’ll be happy to have a place to relax for a night or two before driving home!

For those of us who also ran the Cape Cod Ragnar, we can get the double Ragnar medal – they have a medal for people that run both the Cape Cod and Adirondacks Ragnar relay in one year – The “Docks & Dacks” medal. We are in dire need of more ways to open beer bottles so we basically had to sign up!

Next up is to get a big van rental. We’re going to try something a little different and attempt to convince a friend to be our driver for 24 hours so that no one has to actually drive during the race. Since we’re going to try and set it up so we each run 6 legs we won’t have much time to sleep – it might be a little safer to have a dedicated driver.

We’ve got the basics figured out, now to get our to-do list knocked out!

• Transportation (Large van)
• VRBO rental
• Sponsorships (yup, going to try and get some sponsors this time!)
• Drive halfway the night before or go the whole way the morning of…(2.5 hours vs 5 hours)
• Team name
• Team shirts!

Are you running the Adirondacks Ragnar relay? Let us know!