The results are in

Google1 finished the race in 18 hours, 5o:05, over an hour in front of #2. Strong runs from everyone involved. The official results are here and our pictures are here.

Ragnar New York 2009

Dawn is breaking and van 2 is almost finished with second legs

Mike is on course right now, having received the baton (read: snap bracelet) from brian after a short but sweet 3.2 mile leg (that blurry streak is him-a testament to his speed). Matt is warming up to take us into the exchange with van 1.

The way we roll

Just crossed the town square of eastchester-the android is out of
batteries, so sorry, but no more pictures. We're approaching the
exchange right down the street from tom phillips' house. In fact, I
believe tom personally drew up this part of the route. Next post will
probably be from van cortland park.

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Sent from my mobile device

Sunrise Over Upper Westchester

Driving through a foggy Peeksill, NY after finishing leg 2. The legs were shorter but the hills were unruly -- not unlike some of Elita's 80s playlist selections. McDevitt got a nice little gift in the form of leg .5 mi shorter than mapped out. We trimmed another 5 min off our goal bringing us 35 minutes ahead of pace. Van 1 is rolling through their final stretch. Less than six hours 'til the Bronx.

On the Road Again

After a two hour respite, Van 2 is back in action. Van 1 padded our predicted time by another 5 minutes (on the strength of Tom's speedy 6.9 mile leg), putting us 30 minutes ahead of our goal. Grant started us out big time and Eddie 'the Big Cat' Higgins is attacking the hills in Fishkill. Is there anything more tortuous than pulling up to a Dunkin Donuts for some joe, only to find it closed? Perhaps. We did have college kids in New Paltz offering us free beer in exchange for running tips.

Van 2 is turning in

The picture is holstrom on his way to constructing a delicious sandwich out of the van's trunk. We're camping and hoping to get about 2 hours of sleep. More updates to come tomorrow.

McDominant!

Exchange 10 offered up a bit of comedy under the stars.Brian McDevitt was waiting for the baton as a runner approached. :e shouted, "Chris?!" The runner responed yes twice to Brian. As the runner got closer, Brian called out,"Google Chris?"
"NO!" called out the equally confued runner. Turns out SRC had overtaken our Chris in leg 9. That cost the leaders a few seconds narrowing the lead to about 15 seconds. The lead was short lived as McDevitt regained the lead within his first mile. Clearly we've earned a break.

Update on van 2's progress

We just handed off to mike, our #11. We're about 15 minutes ahead of schedule and running through some of the most gorgeous country-the catskill mountains in central NY. The pictures can't do this justice (but mike looks badass). If you want to get an idea of the clear skies we're seeing, check out google sky map (just released for android) or the sky function in google earth. Shameless plug.

Update on van 2's progress

Just handed off to our 11th runner in the middle of some gorgeous

Van 2 is on the go

After blazing fast runs by van 1 including a tough 7.4 mi leg by Chris Mah and an insanely speedy trek by Anthony DiMarco, Google1 re-took the lead over SRC. Jared Grusd passed off to Grant at exchange 6 giving us a 30 second lead. Currently 3.5 min ahead of Tom's goal pace! Desperately in need of bug spray.

And we're off

Will Nicholas led off at 5:00 pm. Google1 started with the last group
of runners (there are a total of about 75 teams on the course, some of
whom started as early as 8:00 this morning). Started with one other
team...and so it begins.

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Sent from my mobile device

Both vans en route to the Catskills

Both vans are on the road after enjoying a delicious meal at the Phillips home. A big thank you to Ellen for her hospitality.

Next Stop: Woodstock

After a delicious tortellini lunch (cooked by Tom's wife) we packed the vans and we're on our way to Woodstock for the start of the 181 mile trek to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. We have a solid team. Joining me from the NYC office is Jared Grusd, Brian McDevitt, Anthony DiMarco and, of course, our captain Tom Phillips. From Cambridge: Grant and Matt K. From: Mountain View: Chris Mah, Andrew T. SFO: Eddie Higgins and Will. Kirkland: Chris H. And we are led by our fearless drivers Elita Walker and Esther Lim.

Mobile test

A quick test for the mobile posts (though in true Google fashion,
we'll have laptops in both vans). Beautiful friday here in the big
apple. Heading to the Chelsea office now and then driving to
Bronxville.

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Sent from my mobile device

The team assembles

The full Google team is now in New York City, getting ready for tomorrow's race. The weather is shaping up a bit--the rain is now predicted for Saturday (http://www.wunderground.com/US/NY/New_York.html). We'll be missing a few relay mainstays, but our captain Tom Phillips will be running the show again.