We were just 12 ordinary people...

Yup, that's right. We were just 12 ordinary people who met on the internet (or through TNT in my case) who decided to run the Inaugural American Odyssey Relay race on April 24-25, 2009.  I believe the slogan is: "Don't just run a relay, run an odyssey!" 

Around Christmas, my friend Jeff sent me an email asking if I'd like to replace a lost teammate on the team "Four Score & 7 Blisters Ago" and run the relay. Had I ever run a relay? Nope. Was I interested? You betcha! I was pumped. I couldn't imagine why no one would want to participate in this. 200 miles, 12 people, 24-36 hours needed to run from Gettysburg to Washington DC.  Our team was composed of people (good thing, huh?!), mainly bloggers from all over the US and Canada. EVEN COOLER! The team was originally built about a year ago, unfortunately things happen and about half the team needed to be replaced over the last few months.  

Obviously I am a huge fan of Facebook. Over time, teammates started finding me on there and daily contacts started to be made. Our team captains were Karen and Jeff. (Wonderful captains, might I add...) I was in charge of two things: myself and van decorations. Naturally, I'm great at putting things off until the last minute. I approached the art teacher at school and asked her for help. What did we come up with? Check it out:

   

Thursday afternoon, Scott and I loaded up the CRV and began the trek to Gettysburg. I can't even tell you when the last time I was in Gettysburg was.  Before we hit the road, we stopped at Lowe's. I needed to figure out a way to attach the decorations to the van and low and behold - they make double sided duct tape! It worked like a charm by the way, and just in case any residue was left on the cars - Goo Gone is a miracle. We reached the hotel around 5pm, checked in and decided to head to dinner. We found a cute little local italian restaurant close by and took a drive.  After an amazing meal of Baked Ziti, it was time to drive through some battle fields. I mean, we were in Gettysburg, right?! 

At 8:30pm there was a Team Captain meeting. I knew Karen had thought it might be good for the team to attend the meeting. Except, NONE OF US HAD EVER MET! Hmm... how would I find everyone? I already knew Jeff, but had yet to spot him. Thanks to my awesome Facebook stalking skills, I did have a good handle on what people SHOULD look like. However, most people post only the good looking pics, which could mean - if Thursday was a bad day... I'd never know who was who. Turned out, we didn't all have to attend the meeting, so I went to the lounge with Scott while the rest of the team went to dinner. We had a brief team meeting around 10, and decided to head to our rooms around 10. I laid out all of my clothes like I do the night before every big run - creature of habit... I know... 

5:15am... the phone alarm goes off. DAMN it's early. I didn't really even fall asleep until 12:30am. Up and at'em, time to get ready. I was headed for a shower that was going to be great. It was also the last time I would KNOW when I'd be showering. Who knows when the next one would be. I woke Scott up at 6 - it was time to decorate the vans... he said he'd help the night before..........

So, this is how this works... 12 people, two vans. 6 people per van (Hey dad, check out those Math skills!) We all met outside and got to decorating. We had to be at the start line before 7, that was when our team was scheduled to start. We shot a few photos of each van and a squeaky clean team photo:

Continue reading below...