And what exactly is that you wonder, well grab a beverage
and take a seat because it’s a long, sorted tale.
For those of you unfamiliar with a Ragnar Relay,
it’s a 202 mile running relay race completed over 48 (continuous) hours. Most
of the teams have 12 runners but there are what they call “ultra” teams, which consist of 6 runners
(this particular race even had one crazy 2 man team, nuts I tell you).
The race is divided into 36 legs of different length and
difficulty. Our running coach, based upon our speed, skill level, injuries and
experience assigned our legs. The race starts with runner number one and you
continue through your team in order until you complete the 202 miles. The 12
man teams are divided into two groups who travel together in a van (so runners
1-6 are in van 1 and runners 7-12 are in van 2). The race is extremely
organized and each team is provided with a “race bible” (you can get the skinny
here: https://www.ragnarrelay.com).
Ok, enough introduction, aren’t you glad you grabbed a
drink? I ran leg 6. I started my first leg, 4.7 miles at 11:am Friday morning.
Not bad but it was getting a bit warm and since I had been up since 3:30am (to
get runner 1 to the starting line) I was dragging a bit. After my run van 1
headed to the home of a friend of one of the team members to shower and
nap. We were back on the course by
7:00pm for runner 1 to start his second leg I started my mine (5.5 miles) at
12:30am. Yes, 12:30am! After my run we all got cozy in the van to grab a few
winks because runner 1 was due to start at 5:00am. It was a very short night!
We made our way to runner 1’s exchange point, which marked the start of our
final runs. My third and final (thank goodness) 5.7 mile leg started at 10:00am
in Fountain Hills, AZ (this is not a
misnomer). When I reached my final exchange half of our team was done! We
headed to a local watering hole while we waited for the other half of our team
to complete their runs.
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| We were going for a punk rock look. (orange hair and tattoos for me) |
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| The guys in my van being "cute". |
We joined the other six members of our team near the finish
line and we all crossed it together.
And then I proceed to sleep for 12 hours straight…
So how was your weekend??
