Ford Escape Recall

Holy mackerel!

I was reading through my old blog post about the DC Ragnar Relay in 2011, and was reminded about when my Ford Escape had a "stuck accelerator pedal" failure the week before.

A year later, Ford makes a recall about the exact same failure scenario!
http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/26/autos/ford_escape_recall/index.htm

When the gas pedal is pressed almost all the way down, a cruise control cable can become stuck between the engine cover and a cruise control cable cover. The problem can occur whether cruise control is in use or not.

So it wasn't just me...   Apparently somebody got killed from this failure.  Eek!

Ragnar Pennsylvania 2012

I just got finished with the Ragnar Pennsylvania this weekend.  This is my second run, having done the PA Ragnar last year, with the same team.  I've done three Ragnars with team "NO JOKE", and they're really awesome!

I left on Thursday afternoon to drive up to the team captain's house in Narvon, Pennsylvania.  (No, I've never heard of it, either).  I spent the night there, and the whole team assembled at 0430 for an 0500 departure the next morning.  Our team started running in Lancaster, PA at 0700 on Friday.

This PA Ragnar was not as well attended as last year's event, with only 75 teams in attendance.  At the start line, our team only had 7 other teams starting at 0700, compared to the 15 teams or so last year.

I was runner number two.   This year's Ragnar was going to be different.  For the past three Ragnar races I've done, I started out too fast: killing myself on the first run, and limping along for the second two legs.  This one would be different.  The first leg was just shy of 8 miles, and I was not going to run that at my 10K race pace, or at my 5K race pace.

Naked Foot 5K

I did a 5k race last month, and got interviewed by a writer for the Washington Post.  My interview actually made it into the article he wrote! (Even though he spelled my name incorrectly).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/naked-foot-5k-spotlights-barefoot-running-in-washington/2012/06/25/gJQApnLy2V_story.html

"Pietr [sic] Barber of South Riding has run hundreds of miles completely barefoot, donning minimalist shoes only in winter. He likes to run in the rain, without shoes to get wet and heavy.His running posture has improved dramatically. 

The key is “learning to land softly,” he tells me. “The whole body has to be doing everything right to run barefoot.”

I did mention, while getting interviewed, that I ran the Marine Corps Historic Half-Marathon completely barefoot.   But I guess that didn't make it to the article.  

I suppose I should blog about that. 

My barefoot mileage to date is around 360 miles this year. Total mileage for 2012 so far is 590 miles. 

Ragnar Cape Cod 2012

I had such a good time with the "No Joke" Crew from the Pennsylvania Ragnar in 2011, that I signed up for the next available Ragnar Relay race that I could fit into my schedule.  I really should have blogged about the PA Ragnar experience.

Fortunately, the team captain of the same team I ran with in Pennsylvania decided to sign up for the Cape Cod Ragnar Relay race.  In previous years, that race was referred to as the "New England Ragnar", with a different route.  So in a sense, this was an inaugural race.   I seem to keep finding these and signing up for them.

Originally, I was set to fly directly to Amsterdam after my Ragnar Cape Cod, but thankfully, that trip got postponed until July.  Planning the logistics for getting from the tip of Cape Cod all the way to Boston in time for a flight to Europe was seriously stressing me out. Once the announcement came that the Amsterdam trip was to be delayed, I was incredibly relieved.