In this time of physical distancing, it’s easy to feel disconnected from our teammates. Kate Bashore, a former Brooklynite now representing PPTC Mountain West out of Colorado (along with her husband and fellow teammate, Efren Caballes), decided to combat that by virtually reuniting her past Ragnar teams for an ongoing relay. A significant PPTC contingent belongs to the group (myself included—I’m based out of Chicago!)

Kate Bashore at the Cape Cod Ragnar relay

If I do say so myself, Team Captain Kate has done an excellent job keeping the relay organized. She created four subdivisions (Quaranteams Salty, Shaker, Sgt. Pepper, and Margarita), which are rearranged each week to allow everyone to virtually get to know others if their paths hadn’t previously crossed in person. Every week, Kate also poses a new question for each participant to answer when they “tag off” via email. Topics have ranged from what motivates us as runners, to favorite recipes, to a running-related “Would you rather ______?” list. As teammate Adam Devine commented, “The best part of the virtual Ragnar has been connecting with a whole group of people who are not the ‘usual suspects’ in the club. Plus, Kate is one of my favorite people on the planet, and her level of enthusiasm is so ridiculously infectious that it has been a wonderful contrast with the craziness that has been going on.”

Kate was kind enough to provide further insight into her history with relay races and the development of the virtual edition for the Lost Shakers of Salt.

These days, are you still (theoretically) splitting your time between Brooklyn and Colorado, or have you made Colorado your permanent home base?

I have been able to make Colorado my permanent home. We have really been loving Colorado and bought a house right off a trail, which was a huge selling point for two runners! I was actually in New York a week prior to the shutdown to move my stuff out of the apartment I had been keeping in the city. I felt like I was trying to outrun the quarantine, and made it back to Colorado the day everything began to shut down.

How many relays have you completed, and where?

Technically, I have captained four teams and run on four teams, but I did not run on one of the teams that I captained. I have completed the Florida Keys, Chicago, and Cape Cod Ragnar Relays as both a runner and captain. In 2015, I assembled a team for DC, and then had a work conflict that prevented me from running with that team. I was bummed to miss out on that relay, so I joined up with a team in Colorado to fill the void. My Colorado Ragnar experience was a full year before Efren received his job offer in Denver, but having experienced the beauty of Colorado during my Ragnar helped make the transition easier when we moved from Brooklyn.

What inspired you to start this up? Is it your first time participating in a virtual relay?

After I saw some other runners on Instagram had started their own virtual relays, I thought this would be an amazing way to reconnect with past teammates while establishing a sense of community during a time when people can feel so separated or isolated. Ragnar was the first time I was part of a running team, so it has always held a special place in my running heart. When I assembled a team for the Florida Keys back in 2015, none of us had run a Ragnar, so we were a bunch of rookies setting off on a 200ish-mile journey together. The bond formed in a van over 36 hours is so special, and I have always considered any member of my Ragnar teams a teammate for life.

Is the relay ongoing as long as social distancing is in place?

I would love to keep the relay going as long as possible! Races keep getting canceled, and a lot of us are in need of motivation and social interaction during the current era of social distancing. We are experiencing something unprecedented and it has shaken all of us in many ways. Bringing the “tagging” element back into our running routine has been a lot of fun, and it can also help you get outside and just take a mile-long walk or a four-mile jog—any distance that matches your current level of physical or emotional fitness.

What’s the story behind the team name? Was it originally your idea?

The Lost Shakers of Salt originated with the Florida Keys relay in 2015. When I came up with the idea to use the iconic line from Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville,” it seemed so obvious and perfect! I wouldn’t say that we were “lost,” but the FLK team was made up of people from eight or nine different cities. The original teammates formed such a strong bond with the Salt Shaker identity that it seemed like a great idea to adapt this team name for future Ragnars.

I always love good wordplay, and we discovered so many great ways to play off the salt (what is saltier than 12 runners who haven’t showered in 36 hours?) and shaker aspect of the team name! A few of my favorite examples: When we tagged other vans, we would say things like “You’ve been shaken!” In Cape Cod, we created a series of boomerang videos with teammates shaking it out, using the slogan “Show Us Your Best Shake.” Anytime a runner was coming in for a tag, we would cheer that another Lost Shaker had been found.

For DC, we had a subtitle: “Salty McSalters Goes to Washington.” For Chicago, we manipulated a saltshaker image to look like [former Chicago Bears player] Mike Ditka, and called ourselves Da Lost Shakers. I think my favorite might have been adapting it for Cape Cod by calling it the “Wicked Salty Edition” and turning the saltshaker into a lighthouse!

Is everyone in the virtual relay a previous Ragnar teammate of yours, or were there some additions?

We currently have 23 teammates, all of whom are former Lost Shakers. Six members of this virtual relay are also members of PPTC [Kate, Efren, Carla Benton, Adam and Sara Devine, and Sarah Quinlan]! I think it has been great to bring together people who might not know each other but all have this one thing in common. We have a runner in every time zone of the U.S., and it has been fun to reconnect with people I haven’t seen in 3 to 5 years!

What’s been your favorite part of this activity?

I created a club for the Lost Shakers on Strava, which has provided teammates with the ability to give kudos in the absence of real high fives. The enthusiasm that every person brings to the team is probably my favorite part! It has been inspiring to see everyone’s photos from their activities. If we can’t travel or get together, it is helpful to see different landscapes and selfies while embracing the community aspect of running.

Are there any bucket-list relays of yours that you hope to check off after physical distancing has ended?

I have definitely been eyeing some of the trail relays. As much as I enjoy the van life and traveling through different parts of the country, I think it would be a great experience to spend more time with the entire team on a campsite. It would also be fun (did I say fun?) to try for an Ultra Ragnar road team at some point, because getting three hours of sleep during a Ragnar is just too much.

Interview and text by: Carla Benton
Photos courtesy of: Kate Bashore
Produced by: Alison Kotch

The Lost Shakers Of PPTC: A Cross-Country Virtual Ragnar Relay