Ragnar Relay Planning Run

Do you do you best thinking while running? I do. It's a great way to work out problems and come up with new ideas.

Sara and Maggie deep in thought

Today, I met some of my teammates from the Ragnar Relay Chicago in New Lenox for some running, planning and noshing. First I met Maggie, Kate and Suzanne for a few extra miles. We knocked out four before picking up a few more people for another three. I had a 9:14 overall pace for the seven-mile total. Not bad, considering I couldn't shut my mouth while we ran. I love to talk running with runners while running.

Then, we went to Panera to refuel. I got my favorite chicken noodle soup and the classic salad with a baguette and a coffee. It hit the spot, but I also stopped for a banana and a Snapple after our meeting.

We had so much to discuss: who wants to run when and how far, the myriad odds and ends we'll need for the transportation cars, if we will have drivers, how we'll find sponsors, who is going to volunteer and most importantly, what is our team name and theme?

I volunteered to run in the middle of the day. If there's anything I've learned from other bloggers and athletes about preparing for the Ironman 70.3 Racine, it's that you need to prepare yourself to run in heat. So prepare I will, and run in heat I shall.
After an hour of chatting and plotting, we decided we need to rent a cargo van, but we'll use my SUV or my dad's truck for the other follow vehicle. Every team needs to provide three volunteers or else we have to pay for volunteers, so we're working on that (and I can pay in cookies, if you want to volunteer for our team). I'm also working on getting sponsors to help us defray the costs, so if you have a business and would like to help us out in exchange for social media traffic, I'd love to hear from you.

As far as themes, we're thinking either something patriotic or a zombie theme.  So either Team America, which would be awesomely easy given the Fourth of July and Memorial Day decor available everywhere, or Running Dead, which would be oh so on trend right now.

I've never done Ragnar, but now I'm so excited to cross this off my running bucket list!

If you're up on these things, what companies do you suggest I contact about sponsorship?