Run, Drive, Sleep?, Repeat

AKA The Ragnar Relay

Ok, yes, this happened a good two months ago. But it was a rather kickass event, so I think it's worth mentioning. Plus, you know, this is MY blog (of which I may be the sole remaining reader) and I want to be able to look back five years down the road and fondly reminisce and whatnot. So. Here goes.

It all started back in July of last year. The friends I had trained with back in 2009 for the Dublin Marathon wanted to put together a team for Ragnar. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm sure most of you [See? See how I made it seem like there are a lot of you out there? I'm a wizard with the words.] are thinking to yourselves "what the frak is Ragnar?" Let me esplain. ...No, there is too much. Let me sum up:

The Ragnar Relay is a 200-mile relay race that occurs in various locations around the country. Here's how it works: [I just spent 20 minutes typing out a description. It was long, you guys. So very long. So I just stole the description from the Ragnar website. Enjoy.]

Your relay team will consist of 12 members (or 6 for Ultra teams). During the relay, each team member runs three legs, each leg ranging between 3 - 8 miles and varying in difficulty. So, from the elite runner down to the novice jogger, it's the perfect relay race for anyone.

How do you cover 200(ish) miles? Only one runner hits the road at a time. The rest of your teammates are on support duty in your race vehicles. Teams require 2 vehicles, with runners 1-6 in van 1 and 7 -12 in van 2. Van 1's runners will cover the first six legs. It's a relay, so as the each runner begins, the crew in the vehicle can drive ahead, cheer their runner on, and meet them at the exchange point to pick them up and drop off the next runner. After the first 6 legs, van 2 picks up the slack and starts putting in the miles. A day, night and day later, you'll have made it all the way from start to finish!

So anyway, the emails were fast and furious and by August our little group had decided to go for it. But we had one problem. Our little group was just that. Little. There were six of us and we needed 12. So J got us hooked up with the team he had run with last year and we were good to go. But then life happened and everyone started to bail (including J!). By the time registration rolled around, there were only three of our original six people left. But we stuck it out and stayed with the team where we didn't know 75% of the people. Adventure!

ANYWAY. The race started at 8:30am on a Friday up in Wickenburg. Both our vans drove all the way up there and all of us were on hand to cheer on our first Runner as he took off from the start line with the other 30 or so teams starting in our wave (there were more than 300 teams overall). My friend Karen, my cousin Cassie, and I were in Van 2 (runners 9, 11, and 12 respectively) along with Kam, Karrie, and Karyn. That's right. Kam, Karrie, Karyn, Karen, Cassie, and Kristen. I know.

So since we were in Van 2 and since the first legs of the race are almost always the longest, we had a LOT of time to kill. It was a little weird getting all pumped up for the start of the race, cheering as the gun went off, and then...going to get some breakfast. Kind of anticlimactic or something. But we ate some delicious food and then drove along the course cheering for the Van 1 runners for awhile and then booked it to the first Major Exchange Point, where our first runner (Kam) would take over. Van 2 started our journey at about 2pm. We were definitely running on the side of a highway through the middle of nowhere, but it was all desert-y pretty and whatnot.

Since I was runner 12, I had the last leg before we turned it over to Van 1 again. So my first leg of the race started around 6:30pm, just as the sun was setting. Ragnar is big on safety, so any runners on the road from twilight to dawn had to wear a headlamp (or carry a flashlight) and a reflective vest, and affix a blinking red LED light to their back. As I took off on my 6-mile journey into the night, all I could see for miles in front of me was a string of blinking red LED lights. It was pretty awesome.

My run went really well in spite of the hills, cars, and darkness. As I approached the exchange point, I started to get the baton ready for the swap. Now, you'd think the baton would be a... baton... right? No, no -it was a neon yellow slap bracelet straight out of the 1980's (you know, if the 1980's were sponsored by Nathan Hydration Systems). So I got the slap bracelet all straightened out and ready to slap onto Dave's wrist so he could take off on his second leg of the race. I could see him ahead of me. I could hear the cheers of my teammates as I ran to the exchange line. Dave stretched his arm out for the exchange, legs bouncing in anticipation. I lifted the bracelet high and gave it a good *thwap!* on Dave's wrist and *ZING!* the bracelet bounced off his wrist and hit him directly in the face. [Note to self: hold onto the bracelet a little longer next time.]

At this point we had about 5 hours to eat dinner, drive to the next Major Exchange point, shower in a community center (one that rivaled Forever Fitness in its luxuriant beauty. Unicorns aplenty at this place.), and try to get some sleep. In a van. In the cold. With six other people.

About midnight:thirty we started the rotation again. Around 3:30am in the pitch black and frigid cold (we were on a mountain and it was February, so don't give me any of that "but you live in the desert" garbage. It was cold.), I started my second leg of the race, a 4 1/2 mile journey UP the mountain. Hoo boy. That was something. The field of runners had really spread out by this point, so the entire time I saw maybe three other people. The rest of the time it was just me running on the side of a highway heading up a mountain in the middle of the desert. I could only see the crescent of light cast by my headlamp and about a bazillion stars shining in the inky black sky. It was pretty great.

After Dave and I made the (uneventful) bracelet swap, Van 2 headed straight to the final Major Exchange point to get some sleep. The exhaustion had really set in by this point and we knew we only had a few hours before we had to start up again. This exchange was located at a high school and we made use of their (sadly ordinary) locker room/restrooms and then curled up in the van for a couple hours of sleep.

By 8:30am of Day 2 we were off for the last time. My final leg--Leg 36, the last leg of the race--began around 12:30pm at the edge of the park HTD and I used to gasp and wheeze our way around way back in 2008 when we decided to start this whole crazy running thing; it was pretty fun to think back on that as I started in on miles 10-15.5 for the day. I was definitely feeling the lack of sleep, the seat belt buckle I slept on, and the previous miles, but knowing that the 11 other members of my team were waiting for me near the finish line so we could all cross it together kept me plugging along.

And finally... I was there. With the finish line in sight, my teammates all fell in behind me (in what my cousin later described as a Flying V formation (Mighty Ducks ftw)) and we crossed that finish line, 197 miles and 27 hours after we started.

We took this picture.

And got this medal (why yes, that IS also a bottle opener).
(and no, that is not my man-hand)

And then we went to IHOP.