And Then There Were 12

Although I know that last year we ran the TIR with a team of 10, I had hoped to upgrade this year to a team of 12. The addition of Dorian and Fred to the already proven 2008 team seemed like a great way to go, despite Jonathon's contention that a team of 12 would present less challenge than a team of 10, or 11. (Don't worry, Jon, you still get your assignment for 4 legs totaling almost 20 miles.)

Let it be, I thought, as I played through every option I could think of for a 12th runner. Everywhere I turned I found no 12th taker, so you can imagine how Maeve Goetz's email yesterday, saying she might still be able to run with us, lifted my spirits. But this morning it looked as if this was not meant to be. Maeve still has to attend a track meet on Saturday. However, a little creative scheduling was explored and I'm pleased to tell all of you that Maeve will now be with us as our twelfth runner. She will get three leg assignments, which means several of us who were not especially keen to log four legs will fall back to three legs. Alright Brian and Fred, take a break. Your mileage has gone down by 4 or 5 miles. My mileage goes down too, which I hope will allow me to pick my pace a little more aggressively.

Brenda has been chomping at the bit to manage the van assignments, so it's all now in her hands. I anticipate that there will be some van changing required, though we will keep that to a minimum. Just in case Brenda encounters some problems insurmountable from the rather creative leg assignments I came up with, I will hold off for a little while before posting the new and final assignments. Thanks to everyone for their understanding. We are now a much stronger team with the addition of Maeve. Weather and other conditions permitting, we just might be able to challenge last year's surprisingly good finish time of 31:18:02.