I was so intrigued that I semi-stalked a lady in my local grocery parking lot because she had the Ragnar sticker on her minivan. Yep, she confirmed that it was a blast.
I had put thoughts of it out of my mind when my first running partner and friend Virginia emailed me. Her hubby, Clint, was doing Ragnar Del Sol again and they needed a twelfth person. I know how fast Clint is and how much he runs, there was no possible way they really wanted me on the team. Alas they were that desperate. After much debate and Clint telling my hubby (they work together) that they really didn't care how slow I was, I agreed to do it.
We had one team meeting and it was nice to put faces to names. There was a great deal of email communication and I felt very welcomed.
Three weeks before Del Sol I caught whatever bug the kids were passing around school. I stopped running and just tried to get well. The week before I was feeling better and went for a little run. The Wednesday before, I became sick again and Thursday I was in bed all day as sick as I could be.
Friday - Ragnar Day, I woke up feeling mostly better but still coughing like crazy and with a sore throat. I packed my bags and my hubby took me to the meet up spot. We loaded the six of us and our gear and were off.
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| Van 2 |
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| Almost everyone |
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| Van 2 - don't we look clean and fresh? :) |
So the way Ragnar works is van one, their six runners each run a leg, once they are done they hand off to van two and their runners run their legs, and then hand back off to van one, and so on until each runner has run three legs. Since I was the slowest of the team I had the shortest legs. At first I was a bit embarrassed but after the first run being so sick I was thankful!
Day one of running was one of the hottest of the year so far and my first leg was on a dusty road. By the time I was done with those few miles my throat was on fire and I was wondering if I would make it. My team was great and waiting at the end with cool water and wipes. I was never so happy to see the end.
We ran and cheered and drove and ate. After our first legs were over we went to Macyo's for dinner and then headed to the next major exchange. It was at a community center that had showers and floor space to sleep on. The girls in the van found a quiet corner of the center and tried to get a couple hours of sleep. The two guys slept in the van and decorated it with glow sticks.
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| Not our team but it was dark out there. |
Before we knew it it was time to go again. I think it was around 2am. We sent off our first runner and got ready to drive out to cheer him on and make it to the next exchange. The second runner in the van was me. We drove and had to catch up to Matt, he was flying in the night! We got to the exchange and they were announcing "team 315 your runner is in!" I had to run to the shoot and to our exchange and I was off.
This time I tried running with cough drops to help sooth my throat. It worked to a certain extent but produced a thick mucus that I had to spit out every few steps. It was either spit, choke, or not breath. Mind you this is at about 3am, it's dark, and I'm trying to figure out where to go... the signage wasn't great at one turn so I followed other runners. Once I got into the rhythm of run, spit, and then breath, it was really nice. We ran through a neighborhood with horses and crested a little hill and could see the city lights.
I finally made it to the end of that run and crawled into the back of the van. I did get out to cheer on another runner but after that I thought it would be better if I tried to rest and recover for my last run. My throat was killing me and I wasn't sure I'd make the last run.
I woke up and we had arrived at our next rest station, which happened to be one of our teammate's in-laws. They were A-mazing! We walked in and they had towels laid out in the entry way. We grabbed towels and headed to the showers. After showering we were treated to fresh fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, OJ, coffee, water, bagels, cream cheese, and muffins!
I ate a little and went to bed. I never slept so well. We awoke refreshed had a little more to eat and were out the door to make the next and last exchange.
My last leg was mostly downhill but in a good way, it was literally down hill. I felt much better and my pace showed it. At the end there was a slight up hill and my tummy started to show it's distress but I carried on and made the exchange.
From there we cheered and drove, stopped at Subway, and finally made our way to the end. When our last runner came into sight we joined with our van one teammates and several of the team's kids and ran across the finish line together.
It was an amazing run. Tons of fun. Made new friends and I'd love to try it again and see what it's like when I'm healthy!
~Happy running
