I'm off!  Tomorrow I head out to Valencia for the start of the Furnace Creek 508, a 508-mile race from Santa Clarita up into and through Death Valley, and thence out into the Mojave Desert before finishing in 29 Palms, climbing 35,000' along the way.  The race starts at 7:00AM Saturday morning, and I will finish sometime Sunday night / Monday morning; the deadline is 7:00AM on Monday.  Here's an overview of the course, please click to enbiggen for more detail:

I will have a crew of three in a camper van behind me all the way; you can follow our progress on our Facebook page or via our Twitter feed.  Every competitor has an animal "totem"; mine is Rocky the Flying Squirrel :)  Please stay tuned and wish us luck!