Editor,

Prepare for an invasion.

Sometime on Friday, thousands of men, women and children — well, teenagers — will arrive on Whidbey and traverse a combined total of approximately 34,000 miles of the island … on foot.

It’s that time of year again for Ragnar Northwest Passage, a 195-mile running race that begins Friday morning in Blaine and ends in Langley on South Whidbey on Saturday.

Nearly 6,000 participants with 520 teams will run, eat, sleep and repeat, each completing a distance of 13.6 to 19.1 miles.

Double that for members of the 50 ultra teams during this race that runs through the night.

So, while you are out and about on Whidbey Island this weekend, please be patient, we’ll be running on little sleep. Share the road and send a smile or wave our way.

JuLee Rudolf

Oak Harbor