Watch me start the latest trend in blogging, the blog checklist! Since I have to do it anyway and it might give you a little insight into what I’m stepping into the next two days I’m presenting my checklist of equipment for the Ragnar Relay here, with a little commentary on the items included. The basic list I am lifting from the main Ragnar page, with personal additions as well. Let’s see what we have here.

[ ] Headlamp – Safety gear we are required to wear between 7pm and 7am, I bought my own when they had a deal on Woot after my first relay just so no one else had to share my sweat. I’m pretty sure they really appreciate it.
[ ] Reflective Vest – Everyone needs to have one, mine will be making its third appearance.
[ ] LED Tail light – More safety, again I bought my own (it was pretty cheap) so no one else has to touch it.
[ ] Pillow – For the four or five hours of sleep I tend to get on these things.
[ ] Sleeping Bag – Ditto, though I tend to sleep in the van so I could probably just get away with a blanket, but the sleeping bag I have rolls up pretty compact.
[ ] Snacks – Yay, food! We do stop for meals along the way, but it’s good to have back up for mid-van drive snack attacks. Salty and sweet, so we’ll see what looks good at the store.
[ ] Sports Beans – My preferred long distance carb source, Jelly Belly makes what essentially amounts to Gatorade in a jelly bean. Got me through my previous half marathon and marathon, will trust them to do the same for me here.
[ ] Water – Oh bottled water, how I love thee on these things. It was not having time to grab a bottle of water that almost did me in last year on my last leg. Won’t make that mistake again.
[ ] Energy Bars – Hopefully I can find my standard Snickers Marathon bars, but they’ve become less frequent in these parts so I may have to find a substitute.
[ ] Cash – Yup, have to hit the bank beforehand.
[ ] Jacket – Probably less necessary this year than the last ones, it’s supposed to be warm this year. But that does remind me . . .
[ ] New Warmup – Because the cat adopted my old one as a seat cushion and, even if I washed it, it would probably set off anyone’s cat allergies at this point. Yay clothes shopping! (Wait . . .)
[ ] Sweat Pants – Just in case.
[ ] Three pairs of shorts – Yeah, we’re going to exceed Ragnar’s estimates here.
[ ] Six shirts – And just plain double them here.
[ ] Undies – You do not need to know how many pairs of underwear I am taking, we’ll just draw that line right here.
[ ] Socks – Ditto socks, this one more because I know you really don’t care.
[ ] Toothbrush and Toothpaste – Umm, well, probably.
[ ] Running shoes – I believe this falls into the “duh” category.
[ ] Comfortable shoes – Which for me is likely my old pair of running shoes.
[ ] Medications – Guessing just pain relievers here.
[ ] Large Ziploc bags – I mean the really big ones to house my running gear AFTER I’ve run in it.
[ ] Laptop – Actually need this for work (teaching) purposes, otherwise I’d leave it at home.
[ ] Laptop Charger – Because it is an old laptop and thus the battery sucks.
[ ] Phone – So many practical and impractical uses on a trip like this.
[ ] Phone Charger – Because using it for all those uses takes up a lot of juice.
[ ] Car Power Strip – So everyone can share the juice, this is actually a nice one I picked up I don’t know where that actually powered a drill (haltingly) when I needed to put a door knob on our storage unit that was outside, nowhere near a power outlet.
[ ] iPod – I need my music when I go on distance runs, it helps distract from the fact that I’m a 230 pound man going on a distance run.
[ ] iPod Cable – I don’t think I’ll run it all the way down, but can’t be too careful.
[ ] Garmin Watch – Just to see if they’re lying to me about the distances I’m running. I can also see how far I’ve gone and how much I have left.
[ ] Hat – For daytime running.
[ ] Sunscreen – Ditto.
[ ] Sunglasses – Also ditto. (Wait, how redundant is that?)

That’s all I can think of for now. Hopefully I’ll be able to cram all of that into a fairly reasonable space, since five other people and a driver all have to make their stuff fit into one vehicle along with mine. I’m off for the initial shopping trip now, but I’m certain there will be at least one more, plus whatever I pick up on the way. If I’m forgetting anything, drop me a line in the comments before tomorrow (or afterwards if you just want to rub it in).

Weight: 231 Loss: 9 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 104.2 miles
Fitocracy Level: 18 (39321 points, 529 to next level) – ID: disciplev1
Soccer – Last Game: W, 13-5 (Record: 2-4) Next Game: 4/22 – 7:30 pm