The lead is reclaimed! Cedric is out for a blistering 7.4 miles with DSE close behind.

Off to a great start

Google 1 off to a great start in The Relay. Andrew ran a great leg one and Larry a fantastic leg 2 moving the team into 1st. Also off to a great start...107.7 The Bone playing all my favorite classic rock hits.

Andrew and Larry wrapped up legs one and two maintaining a brisk pace, and Chris is currently wielding the baton on this whirlwind wine tour. We're currently in second place, behind Stanford Running Club.

For those about to run ... we salute you!

I'm posting from Van Halen, along with the two Ben's, Loren, Blake, Jeff and our veteran van pilot Kerry. Andrew starts rocking at 3 pm PST in Calistoga. He's riding in the other van with Angie, Gretchen, Larry, Cedric and Chris in Van Halen, driven by pilot Christine. We're decked out in our new team jackets (thanks Jeff!).

Eddie, aka Big Cat, who typically captains these events, is in Australia, where I trust he'll be devouring each post immediately as they go live, and +1'ing each compulsively. We'll miss you Big Cat!

Good luck to all the other Google teams and everyone else in the Relay. For those about to run ... we salute you!

On the way! View from Van Halen

Super pumped for The Relay ... and supermoon

It's that time of year. The stars have again aligned to bring together 12 fast, fun-loving Googlers from across the company for one 200 mile journey. As an added bonus, Saturday night's supermoon, the biggest, brightest moon of the year, has kindly agreed to shed its celestial rays on these insomniac harriers and their two fearless van pilots, as they race from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. And it looks like the weather gods will cooperate.

Yes, it's that time of year again. The Relay is once again upon us, kicking off the Google1 team's racing season. Time to pile into two vans and race through vineyards, cross the Golden Gate bridge under a full moon and, if all goes well, finish with legs intact in Santa Cruz on Sunday -- all in the process of raising money for a great charity that promotes organ donation through athletics (Organs 'R Us).

One crazy Google1 runner mapped the hilly course two years ago using Google Earth and My Maps. Awesome, and it looks like I got stuck with one of the "Very Hard" rated legs.

On a Saturday night, what could possibly be more exciting than following a bunch of crazy, nerdy runners as they run a ridiculously long race? Well, perhaps running The Relay, but then again, the sweat smell in the vans get pretty bad starting around mile 12 ...

See you out there!



-MK10K (aka Matt Kane)

Run ALL the relays!!!

1st place corporate division at the 38th annual Christmas Relays on Dec 18th.

We finished a respectable 11th overall, officially in 1:40:11. That works out to a 5:37-per-mile average over the 4 x Lake Merced course. Who knew we thrived on little sleep?