One more week until The Relay

The Fresno Jjammers head north a week from tomorrow, to start our 199-mile adventure in The Relay.

Our 12-person team (and two drivers) will spend the weekend running a 199-mile relay between Calistoga and Santa Cruz, promoting organ donation as a fundraiser for Organs 'R' Us ("ORU"). The transfer of the “baton” from runner to runner symbolizes the transfer of an organ from donor to recipient.

Last week we learned what our start time will be – the roads are not closed for this event, so start times are staggered, based on your team’s predicted pace. We might have called ourselves the Fresno Turtles instead of the Jjammers – we will be one of the slowest teams taking part, so we have an early start time. They obviously don’t want us dragging this thing out over an entire week.

Although this event is billed as "California's longest party," my partying mood dampened after our last team meeting last Sunday when, based on our 7 a.m. Saturday start time, we calculated our approximate finish time. I should be crossing the finish line in Santa Cruz between midnight and 2 a.m. MONDAY morning – hours after the official post-race party on the beach has wrapped up.

But it should still be a fun, bonding, character-building experience – or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.

POSTSCRIPT: As one of my team members commented, apparently someone at our last meeting shouldn't pursue a career in math. Upon further reflection of the numbers, we were in error in thinking that we would finish so late. Glad to hear it!