Pack it up, Pack it in

It pays to be punctual.  After last year's close call at the start, we've learned our lesson and made it out of Safeway with plenty of time to spare.  Calistoga here we come.

(Currently playing on the Bone:  "You Can't Always Get What You Want" - Rolling Stones)

In napa

On 29 going through St. Helena. Starting to see runners...

T-minus 15 hours

The weather couldn't look better for this race. We'll have some good pictures for sure.

Welcome to the NEW blog & Organs R Us

Google1's preparing for the Calistoga Relay this weekend. We'll post updates to the blog and to Twitter (follow us @google1relay) as the race approaches.

Meantime, our congratulations to Organs R Us, the beneficiary of the race this weekend. They recently were awarded a grant from Google to expand their message using Google advertising. The importance of the cause of organ donation is impossible to overstate and Organs R Us has done an excellent job raising money and awareness, with $25 million raised to date. We're delighted to partner with them and join the hundreds of others in the Relay.

Official results and pictures

A race well run--official results are here (pdf)! We finished in a little over 20 hours, clocking 6:07s over 197 miles of beautiful Arizona desert. Below are some pictures--see if you can tell when the sunset turns into a sunrise.

Ragnar Del Sol 2011

Thanks to all of the volunteers (especially those from Future for Kids, the organization that benefited from the race) from the race organizers. And, finally, to the steady hands on the Google1 van wheels, Kerry and Megan.

Done!

We finished around 11 am in Tempe Arizona (near Phoenix). Angela closed it out with a strong kick at the end. We enjoyed the complimentary massages at the end and muscle milk samples to refuel (and get huge). Just had a nice brunch at a nice little spot called U.S. Egg. We finished in first place!

After some food, two hours sleep and the second leg done looks like we are still ahead!