The boys found some good cell signal so here are some catch-up posts:

Mav finishing leg 6 (the end of his first double leg) at the Maker’s Mark Distillery:

Mav changing clothes (the other Pirana’s are having an increasingly more difficult time getting Mav to keep his cothes on.)

Goose finishing the first of his two legs:

Goose finishing his double leg:

Goose took it to heart when he was told he could rest for the next two legs:

T3 finishing his first leg (he past 6 other runners during this leg!)

It really helps to see the Pirana flag flying bravely in the wind and rain at the end of a tough leg:

Goose made the leg 8 exchange in good form at 6:40 on the race clock. He is headed on to The leg 9 exchange where T3 takes over. The scenery is amazing as the team winds around the hills and small farms and communities.

Goose took over the baton at Maker’s Mark and headed out for leg 7. Pics and video when the connection gets better….

The exchange for leg 6 was not accessible to the vans, so the team parked down the hill and only Goose went up to help Mav as he started his second half. The van parking area was at a Catholic church that was having a chili supper later and was next door to a country store that could be used in a movie as an authentic 1900’s store. The Pirana’s are sure there are parts of Kentucky they are going through that haven’t changed at all in a hundred years.

There is very little cell phone or wifi coverage in the bourbon hills of Kentucky, so the updates are going to a little sporadic until later.

BFG managed to run his second half without getting lost and came in strong, setting Maverick up to get off to a great start on leg 5.

Leg 3 had some rough spots in it for BFG. Seems he took a wrong turn somewhere and got lost. He borrowed someone’s cell phone and called T3 who talked him through getting back on course. In his unique way, T3 was telling BFG where he turned wrong to which BFG replied, “I don’t need to know where I have been, I need to know where to go!”

He got back on track and came through the exchange looking strong:

Leg 4 (BFG’s second half of his double leg is the hardest leg on the whole course. Lots of steep uphill.

The Pirana van was in need of gas (no, no one thought to fill up last night before the start) so between exchange 2 and exchange 3 Mav found a perfect place to gas up…

The boys had a hard time getting Bourbon Chicken to leave. No one in the group had ever seen a chicken that big…

Then is was on to the exchange to set up the Pirana welcome party for Weeble.

Bourbon Chicken got out at the exchange and had some fun too:

The Bourbon Chase also has attracted the attention of the local law enforcement:

Weeble finished his first double and BFG is off and running:

Leg 1 is done and done!

Team Pirana rolled into the exchange point and snag the premo spot and then set about meeting and greeting the other teams.

The exchange is right next to a house made famous by the song, “The Railroad Runs Through The Middle of the House.” Of course, like many things in life, the reality is that the train just runs really close to the house, not actually through it:

After taking care of necessary business:

Weeble came in to the exchange in 1:02 and after wiping off his face was on to leg 2:

The team is on the way to the next exchange.

It is 5:30 local time Friday morning, October 9, 2009. Goose arrived late last night and knocked on T3 and BFG’s door at 11:00pm. They were both asleep since Mav had told them he gave Goose HIS room number. This little indiscretion will come back to haunt Mav later…

The boys are packing up and loading the van and plan to roll out by 6:30.  Weeble will run the first leg for Team Piraña at 8:00AM. It might be helpful for those of you following along at home to know a little about how this is going to work.

There are 36 legs. Each Pirana has to run 3 double legs and an extra single leg, plus Mav has to run an extra-extra single leg. Legs average 5.5 miles and the Team plans to run around 10:15 pace average so each double leg should take about two hours. Since Big bowed out, the team has to take turns driving. Each person will get to rest while the next two people run. Then they will drive while someone runs, then they will crew and ride shotgun while they prepare to run.

Weeble runs first, Mav drives and BFG crews.

BFG runs next, Goose drives and Mav crews.

Maverick runs third, T3 drives and Goose crews.

Goose runs fourth, Weeble drives and T3 crews.

T3 runs last, BFG drives and Weeble crews.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.

While someone is running they are kind of on their own. The boys will carry fluid and some calories, but will rely on getting additional things at the mid point of their run from the person crewing for them. Finally, since it will be several hours before they run again, they will have time to eat and recover after each run (they hope!)