Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Happy Birthday, Jim (Ragnar Superstar)

Happy Birthday, Jim!  I have to say, regardless of age (he's turning 51), Jim showed us young bucks that he can still kick our butts when it comes to running. 

Some of you saw on Facebook and Instagram that a group of us (Jim, my dad, my mom, and I from the Moore family) ran the Napa Valley Ragnar Relay.  This was a 12 person - 205 mile relay run from Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to Calistoga.  Over the Golden Gate, winding through the NorCal farm land, and running into the rolling hills of Napa, it was a grueling 33 hours of running, navigating, and "sleeping" in a 12 passenger van.  It was awesome.  The quick version of the race is you have a 12 person team that runs 3 legs of the race each.  Your van completes 6 legs, you hand off to your teammates van, they complete 6 legs, and then it's back to you.  Complete that three times.

Jim looking biblical gearing up for the heat in his last leg
Even more awesome was Jim absolutely killing the hardest run in the Ragnar Relay circuit.  On our third legs, all of our limbs felt like they had 50 pound weights tied to them.  It was rough.  Jim went out and ran his third leg, an 11.4 mile run, in the heat of the day and beat his estimated pace time.  That run put him at a total of 30 miles in less than 30 hours.  Seriously impressive.


"Eternal Glory" - He didn't even seem out of breath after going 11.4
After all was said and done, team "Outta Your Mind" finished 85th out of 500+ teams in the Co-Ed Division.  We averaged 9:35 miles for 205 miles and finished in 33 hours and some change which we were all very impressed with. It was an unreal race that challenged you in a ton of ways but in the end the stories and memories were what stuck with you (along with these muscle aches we're all dealing with). 

So Happy Birthday, Jim!  It was a blast getting to spend the weekend with you and run like we did.  I hope I'm moving like you do when I'm 51!

"Outta Your Mind" - Finished!








8 comments:

Jen said...

SO JEALOUS!!! I wish I would have been there!!! I am not surprised at all that you rocked it the way you did! Happy Birthday Jim, way to show all of those guys that it doesn't matter the age, it's the skill! :)

Johnny Piano said...

Happy birthday, Jimmy! So great of you to put together the Ragnar Race. Glad that so many participated. I hope you're recovering with aplomb; you're the bomb.

Anonymous said...

Happy, happy birthday little bro. I'm very proud of you and all that you have accomplished. Hope you got to celebrate your day in style.
Love, Connie

mary said...

Happy Birthday Jimmy! this looks like a totally awesome weekend. I wanna be in the van next year!
Hope your day was great. See you this weekend.

Jan said...

Happy birthday, little bro!! Of course you rocked the sox off those young punks!! Your dedication to running never ceases to amaze me. You and Tommy are something else!! It sounds like this race was something to behold. Wish we could have been there. Hope you celebrate in a BIG way!!

Anonymous said...

Happy belated Jimmy! What a rock star you are. I hope you had a great day!

Love ya!
Molly

meg and ry said...

Happy Birthday Uncle Jim! You did amazing! I throw up even thinking about running a mile! Way to go!

Schulte Clan

Hannah said...

Seriously impressive!! That is so incredible! Thanks Nate for all the details. Happy Birthday Jim- you are amazing! :)