*Ragnar Niagara blog posts sponsored by Reebok, however, all opinions and expressions of fun are always my own.
Ragnar relays are well known to require a lot of preparation. Planning running legs, team names, reading the race bible, keeping track of last minute route changes, accommodation, food, etc. Our team Endorphriends had all of this planning--and more! Allison wasn't just the captain of our team, she was also an ambassador for the race and we all tried to help her out as much as we could. And then there the amazing sponsorship of our team by Reebok. While planning our own packing lists in the weeks prior to the race, we were also coordinating fun runs, blog posts, and trying out products that would keep us well-geared during the race.
Above all of this, I had a few extras up my sleeve...
Given I'm a graphic designer and one of the products our company gawck produces is automotive grade decals, it was an easy team decision to determine who would be in charge of van decorations! I got started on the logo design months before. My play-on-words team name suggestion evolved to include the logo and little 'endorphriends' monsters.
Days prior to the race, our shop was full of the little monsters. They were coming off the printer as full logos for each side and front of the van. Seventy 8" monsters were making their way to the trimmer to but cut out and masked. And 150 (each team member had their own monster character) of 'You've been Phriended!' circle decals were being pumped out to get ready for all the team van tagging we'd be doing! Erick gave me installation tips and tricks (our shop fridge is still covered in monsters) since there would likely not be a lot of time to get everything done, and I would need to be able to instruct my team on how to do the install as well.
Above all of this, I had a few extras up my sleeve...
Given I'm a graphic designer and one of the products our company gawck produces is automotive grade decals, it was an easy team decision to determine who would be in charge of van decorations! I got started on the logo design months before. My play-on-words team name suggestion evolved to include the logo and little 'endorphriends' monsters.
Days prior to the race, our shop was full of the little monsters. They were coming off the printer as full logos for each side and front of the van. Seventy 8" monsters were making their way to the trimmer to but cut out and masked. And 150 (each team member had their own monster character) of 'You've been Phriended!' circle decals were being pumped out to get ready for all the team van tagging we'd be doing! Erick gave me installation tips and tricks (our shop fridge is still covered in monsters) since there would likely not be a lot of time to get everything done, and I would need to be able to instruct my team on how to do the install as well.
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Meanwhile, I had another production line happening at home! I'd wanted to create a little gift for the members of my team and decided to create custom handmade wrap bracelets. Each disk was hand stamped with love with our team name and in the colours of our individual monsters.
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I also made some 'real' endorphriends monsters. Several of these little guys would later make their way to our van 2 windshield for the entirety of the race thanks to Leanne's idea!
Ange from Calgary surprised the team with some amazing trucker hats at our team dinner the night before the race. These awesome hats were made by Katie from Damn Good Sports Group. Be sure to give her a follow on Twitter or Instagram.
I coordinated the screen printing of our team t-shirts through Waves Apparel, a Toronto-based street-ware company producing their shirts hands-on, in house. If you are looking for custom shirts, give Russ a call. In addition to making custom shirts, they do amazing collaborations with local artists. I may have purchased a couple other tees when I picked up our order!
Here's a glimpse of the little care packages that were given to each team member.
Thursday morning saw the launch of operation Ragnar packing. Given that we were wearing Reebok for the race, it actually made packing very easy! Not to mention fun to lay out nice new gear! I am proud to say I met Michelle's one-bag rule...well, for my stuff. There were three other bags / packages for the install and gifts.
Planning out the gear for each of my run legs...(a little more challenging than one race kit!)
Planning out the gear for each of my run legs...(a little more challenging than one race kit!)
 | Leg 1 |
 | Leg 2 |
 | Leg 3 |
*Reebok Floatride generously sponsored team Endorphriends. If you'd like to try the awesome Floatride shoes, you can do so at Rosedale or Whitby Running Room. You can also order them online at www.reebok.ca. They retail for $180.
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I met several of the girls in the north end of the city for the trek commute up to the Reebok head office in Woodbridge. Grey clouds were rolling in as we fought long-weekend traffic out of the city. It was going to be a race against mother nature when we arrived!
We arrived at the Reebok head office parking lot finding a collection of vans and runners. I immediately got to work with installing the larger logo decals. The wind was crazy, so it was great my team members were there to help hold things down! Once the logos were applied I gave a 'monster install 101' demo and we spanned out with decals and plastic squeegies. We'd finished one side and posed for literally one photo when rain and hail started to pelt us. We ran to our vans quickly making the decision to finish the install once the torrential downpour was done.
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The team made their way east to Scaddabush in Scarborough where we filled up on carbs, finalized plans for the next morning and celebrated Angela's birthday!
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