In rare form, Van #1s
team mascot
(Ezmerelda)
assumed her duct-taped position on the van antenna during the team's annual trek across NH.

The Race

In it's 3rd year, Runners With NO Sole (RWNS) enthusiastically welcomed the 2008 Reach the Beach Relay Race. With 2 days of travel, it's a 4-day adventure into the mountains of NH. It's also about eating, sweating, burping, sleeping, snoring, and living in a 15 passenger van for, four days... with 5 other highly eccentric, oddball characters! Oh, geez.

This year, RWNS continued to experience gradual attrition from it's original core of 12 (AKA - Runners With Sole). Between race registration (3/08) and race day (9/08) the number further dwindled from 8 to 5. As RWNS approached race day, there was a never ending lottery to keep all 12 slots filled and refilled due to being plagued with illness, injury and pregnancy. This year... RWNS was not so lucky with having the traditional team of 12 runners. Instead, they ran with only 11 sole-less wonders. This changed the preset running order and it meant that some would run 4 instead of 3 legs during the race (Ugs). WaWaWarren was one of those victimized by this shift in leg rotation. In 2008 he was required to relinquish his three, 4-mile... flat-as-a-pancake legs. He now had to run a 9.1 mile leg - the longest distance he'd ever run in his life! WaWaWaWaWaWaWaWaWaWaWa WaWaWaWaWaWaWaWaWaWaWaWaWaren!

But, more important than WaWaWarren's whining... you ask... Who are the Runners With NO Sole? (Good question!)

2008 Runners With NO Sole

Van #1:

Monk-E: 2008 Team Captain; 3rd year team veteran During the 2007 RTB Trek, Monk-E surprised her teammates by revealing an inked image on her back of 108, 1 inch tall, brown monkeys - all running along various trails in a wooded backdrop. If you look carefully, each monkey's face bares the likeness of various RWNS, friends and family. Only the few and privileged get to see this side of Monk-E.
Paddle-Jammer: 2nd year team veteran Strong as an ox... and, as driven as the rain... Paddle-Jammer experienced a jolt of pain in his right wrist with every step he ran. Only a mere 5 days before this year's RTB, P-J developed a stress fracture to his wrist as he and his paddling partner (again) won the 3-day, Canoe Classic Race (Adirondacks, NY). Paddle-Jammer gave new meaning to the phrase, giving it your all!
Crabby Cabby: 2008 Primary Van Driver; 3rd year team veteran Don't let this mild mannered woman mislead you. Crabby Cabby can drive a 15 passenger van into a parking space the size of a postage stamp - at 30 miles and hour! She's been known to express (only a few) expletives at construction workers and little ol' ladies for driving their geriatric buggies a tad too slow. Never the less, she drove RWNS safely over the 210 mile RTB course with barely a mishap - except for that raging, fishtailing state trooper who nearly totaled (a parked) Van #1 while in hot pursuit of a random pickup truck at 2:00 AM. (PS: Thanks for your driving!)
Gentleman Sprinter: 1st year RWNS; 2nd RTB As a physical therapist who turned green in 2005, Gentleman Sprinter abandoned the use of his car at work. He now sprints from house-bound-patient to house-bound-patient to provide his services in Albany County. Consequently, this 6'-10" man rocked some serious pavement as he zoomed across the RTB course at record speeds. Always direct and to the point, he kept Van-1ers focused on the true meaning of RTB - Let's drink beer!
Sean-Bradley Tank: 1st year RWNS, back up van driver Known for running with only one leg (as depicted above), S-B Tank is a military guy whose earning his Ph.D. in psychology. His mentor at the Albany VA (NY) was non other then RWNS' own... WaWaWarren. (Help us all!) A condition for completing his psychology internship was filling a vacant spot on the team's roster. (PS: Doesn't S-B Tank embody the image of a well balanced psychologist-to-be?)
"g": 2006 Team Captain; 3rd year RWNS veteran Ordained enduro-man, "g's" slow pace was counterbalanced by his willingness to run any RTB leg resembling last year's 10-mile hill. Sporting a running utility belt to carry his Bayer Aspirin, nitroglycerin pills, bee sting kit, camera, shoe polish, flask of Hammer gel, and water bottle, "g" trudged up and down the mountainous RTB course at a steady 18 minute per mile pace. It took him so long to complete his legs, Van-1ers clocked him by calendar.