The Pride of Columbus

Rita and her "Ultra" Son

The Start

The Start with the Girls!

Woop!

As Mike said, Rita finished! It was incredible watching her cross the finish, fulfilling a dream she's had for years. Maria and I had a great time helping get the job done. It helped have such a great runner and other crew members to work with.

The weather was typical Death Valley hot, 115 degrees, on the first day then Rita got a little lucky the second day with temps only reaching 95 when crossing to Lone Pine. A little rain fell along with some scary thunder but on she pushed.

I am so proud to be able to be a part of this. She is the toughest person I know. I still can't understand how she kept moving foward even when she wasn't doing well. Maria and I had the priveldge of crewing her during the witching hours of 10pm to 5am and she hung tough.

I am working on editing the large amount of video I took and adding daily notes that I took. I have a whole weekend so don't get snarky on me, I'll get to it.

:-p

Bad Water

So since Jenn has not had a chance to post (even though she said she would last night :-p), I figured I would post something to let everyone know how the race went. My mom, Rita, finished the race in 42 hours, 21 minutes, and 13 seconds. The race had its ups and downs, which I'm sure Jenn will discuss in her upcoming posts, but it was an amazing race. As I type this she is on the phone with a publication back in Columbus and discussing the race. Pictures will be posted soon from my mom and Jenn. Overall the experience was incredible, everything from Bad Water in Death Valley to Mt. Whitney Portal was amazing. The landscape in this area is incredible, which I'm sure my mother would say was worth the battered feet she now has at the bottom of her legs. By the way, I would like to thank Jenn, Maria, and John for making this race a dream come true for my mom. She has been talking about this race for 4 years now, and I'm thankful that the four of us could help to make this dream a reality. Check back soon for Jenn's "detailed" race blog, pictures, and videos of the Bad Water race.

P.S. Congrats to my mom's "Ultra-Son", Jeff Schmidt on his completion of the race as well.

Best Wishes from Lone Pine California,
Michael Reggie

The gang's all here

We finally all met in person today and I think we have a darn good crew. We spent some time going over logistics and looking at supplies then Maria and I were treated to a great dinner at PF Changs. Afterwards Maria and I headed to Pahrump so we could get a little closer to Death Valley. We had to back track because the road was closed down by the police which added an extra 30 minutes to the ride. There are many flash flooding warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings so it is possible the road was washed out. We did see some incredible lightening driving into Pahrump.

For a quick intro to the crew, here is a short video. Left to right: Maria, John, Rita, myself (Jen) and Mike.

This is it for a couple days. When Maria and I check out in the morning we will be off the radar. Cell reception disappears within about 20 minutes of Pahrump then we are off into the wild! Next time I'll get to post something is on Wednesday when we reach Lone Pine. I'll be taking notes as we go and will do a long write-up when we finally reach civilization again.

Ta ta for now!

Las Vegas

Rita, John, and Mike have arrived in Las Vegas and are awaiting Maria and Jennifer. Vegas is unusually cool for this time of year. It's only 85 degrees in the middle of the day. It seems as though the weather followed her here just as it did a few years ago when we were here in april and it snowed. If this keeps up in Death Valley there will have to be an astereix next to the record breaking results.

blackberry test

Just a test to see if we can post via blackberry.