Race Report: Ragnar Relay

I don't remember who's idea it was to do this, but if it was mine then I need my head examined! Carrie and Kelly have done relays before, but being the crazy girls we are we decided to make it tough. Let me start at the beginning:

A Ragnar Relay is a 200-mile running relay race where 12 people in 2 vans take turns running to their destination. You run all day and all night until you finish. Sounds like a good time, right?

I am new to the game because of work and being pregnant, but I really wanted to participate in this adventure. Well, one of us got the brilliant idea of running it ULTRA. That means instead of 12 of us running 200 miles, only 6 of us would. I know, it was a good idea at the time...

We signed up and began recruiting for our team. Who would be crazy enough to join us? Somehow we found 3 other women as nuts as us and we had our team. Throw in a hunky male driver and a super-fun photographer and you get the perfect Ragnar Relay team.

The fun started on Friday morning at Huntington Beach. We would each take turns running a leg of 2-11 miles. We would run 6 legs, so each person would end up running between 30-41 miles, depending on which runner you were. Since I had a baby a few months ago, I chose to run fewer miles than some of the others.

Friday was blistering hot! I think I heard it mentioned that it was near 100 degrees. We made it priority #1 to keep hydrated. Our first runner, Linda started our race at 11:30am at Huntington Beach. She was off and we piled into our super-rad 15-seater van to the first exchange. I'm so glad we had a huge van. It was the perfect size and I never felt cramped.

I was Runner #6, so I didn't start until 2:35pm. My first leg was only 2.7 miles and it was downhill. I wanted to show that I could keep up with everyone else, so I planned on sprinting the entire time. My stomach was full of butterflies, but I was so excited to start. I grabbed the baton from Carrie and began running downhill. I was flying! I was running near 6:00 mile pace down the hill for almost a full mile. I got to the bottom and hit a stoplight. The rules say that you must wait for a green light to cross the street. I waited a full 2 minutes for a green light. I was furious! All my hard work of running fast downhill was undone. Four other runners caught up with me. After the light turned green I sprinted to the next stoplight. I had to stop and push the button again. Everyone slowly caught up to me again. This happened 5 times! I was doing all the work, yet everyone was right with me. I finally made it to my exchange and I was dripping with sweat and super mad. My watch said I ran 2.9 miles at 21:35 (7:17 pace), but my actual time was about 24 minutes at a 8:53 pace. At least it was just a few minutes in the grand scheme of things. Still, I wanted to contribute as best as I could. We picked up free Krispy Kreme donuts at the exchange and I powered down two very quickly. It was so hot outside! I felt bad for everyone who had longer legs than I did.

Leg #1 2:35pm 2.9 miles 21:35 7:17 pace

The sun was just about to go down as I began my next leg and I had to wear the night gear, which consisted of a headlamp, reflective vest, and blinking red light. I was happy about that because I didn't have to deal with the heat anymore. My run started at Corona Lake and ended near Lake Elsinore. Right before I left, Robin called to tell me about how good Desmond had been all day (she watched him for the whole weekend). That made me so happy! My run was mostly flat and really peaceful. I passed a few people (8 to be exact) and felt really strong as I finished. Robin sent me a video of Desmond getting ready for bed. I was totally crying and an emotional wreck. Running does that to me.

Leg #2 7:19pm 4.5 miles 37:48 8:21 pace

After this leg was over, our van headed to Taco Bell to get some Doritos tacos. I wasn't feeling like fast food, plus I wanted to pump, so I passed. I got my pump all ready to use and started it up. I had already pumped twice that day with no problems. Sadly, I found out that my pump was no longer working. What should I do?! I couldn't not pump or I might explode. I was frantic! We asked around to other vans with no luck. Luckily, we were close to a Wal-Mart and I was able to purchase a manual pump. Thank goodness! It did the job, but was a lot of extra work. The last thing I wanted was to burn extra calories using a hand pump. Oh well.

I had been dreading this next leg since I first heard about it. Honestly, I didn't look at the profiles for each leg, but a week before two people told me about this monster of a run. 7.5 miles with the first 2 miles at a 6% grade uphill. Yikes! Oh, and it was expected to take place at 1:00am in Escondido. I was scared! I started off and felt great. Our van cheered me as they drove by. That always helps a lot! I felt like I was flying up the hill. That doesn't happen very often. Once I reached the top of the hill, there was some downhill and rollers for the rest of the time. I "killed" 34 runners on this leg, the most out of my team for the entire weekend. I was on cloud nine when I came into the exchange.

Leg #3 1:24am 7.5 miles 1:02:44 8:23 pace

This is where the weekend took a turn for the worst. I got back into the van, covered up with a blanket, and tried to go to sleep. This was a mistake because I didn't change out of my sweaty, wet clothes. I felt so cold. I knew I needed to eat but I didn't feel like it. I couldn't fall asleep because my adrenaline was too high. My stomach was churning. At every exchange until my next leg, I was in a porta-potty with the runs. Not fun. I was not looking forward to running again, but just a few shorts hours later I was getting ready to hit the pavement.

My next leg was in Carlsbad. It started off with another hill. It wasn't nearly as long as the Escondido one, but it was still a hill. Surprisingly, I felt ok running. The entire leg was full of rolling hills. I enjoyed running at dawn approached. It was quiet, no cars around. I had 14 kills. I was happy when it was over, but it soon turned bad again.

Leg #4 4:45am 4.9 miles 42:58 8:50 pace

I really needed to eat but my body was rejecting all foods. I curled up in a ball in the back of a van. I was shaking and cold again, still wearing the same clothes and still no sleep yet. I told myself I needed to sleep. I forced myself to close my eyes for an entire hour. No sleep, but at least my body was resting. After a few others ran, the van decided to get some "real" food. We headed for McDonalds. The thought of food was making me nauseous but I knew I needed to eat if I was going to run again. I managed to sip a smoothie over the course of 30 minutes. Next time I think this is the way to go: all calories in smoothie form.

Although I had eaten some food, I still wasn't feeling any better. My next leg was in Torrey Pines. I didn't know anything about this leg and it was probably better that I didn't. I took the baton from Carrie and began running...straight up a huge hill. This hill never ended. Again, I felt good running. I don't know why I only felt ok when I was running. This hill was gnarly, yet I was running up it like it was completely flat. I passed lots of people. The weather was foggy and humid so I was wet, but it wasn't cold. Once I came to the top of the hill (it was probable 1.5 miles), I didn't have too much further to go until the exchange. Mark was there to greet me with a water bottle and I was happy to be done for a while.

Leg #5 9:27am 4.2 miles 37:52 9:10 pace

Everyone's last legs were really long so I wouldn't be running for a while. The sun was up so there was no chance I would be sleeping. Kelly's leg was the longest, at 11 miles. We arrived at her exchange and waited & waited & waited. No Kelly. We thought she might be injured, but I assumed a volunteer would radio it in. After waiting for more than an hour longer than expected, Kelly ran into the exchange in tears. A volunteer had steered a group of 20 runners in the wrong direction, adding an additional 4 miles to her leg. 15 miles! I felt so bad for her. Not a great way to end her race.

The race went on and I (im)patienty waited for my last turn. Since I was runner #6, I was the last one to run. My stomach still wasn't feeling any better, but I felt good knowing that the end was near. Carrie passed me the baton and I was off for my last run. I began running down the street and within a 1/4 mile a van pulled up to me and told me that I was running the wrong way. They were right. I had missed a turn sign because it was on the other side of the street and I had been looking at my watch. Thank goodness that van helped me out. The last leg was kinda boring. It was along the water of Coronado Island, but everything looked so far away. I couldn't see the finishline because it was on the other side of the street, but I knew it was out there somewhere. There weren't many people left on the course, so it was a pretty uneventful run. When I got to the "1 Mile Left" sign, I texted my teammates to let them know I was coming. I got within 20 yards of the finishline and met up with the team. We all ran across the finishline together. We did it!

Leg #6 4:07pm 6.5 miles 53:38 8:12 pace

I was thrilled to be done, but so emotional. We immediately began taking pictures and enjoying the finishline festivities. I began feeling a lot better and even felt hungry to eat normal food. We drove to a restaurant to eat dinner, but all I could think of was Desmond. I wanted to see him so bad, but I knew I was still a few hours away from that. We were all zombies at dinner. Our appetites hadn't full returned yet, but we enjoyed eating as much as we could. I had a giant glass of root beer. It tasted wonderful!

Total Distance: 203 miles, Total Time 29 hours, 30 minutes

Here are a few stats about us:

-We finished 50th out of 553 teams

-We were 2nd place in our category. We missed 1st by only 15 minutes, which is a pretty small amount of time considering how long the race was. We probably would have been 1st if Kelly hadn't ran her "extra credit."

-We finished before any 12-person all-women team.

-We finished before any 6-person all-men team.

-Our team pace was 8:31 overall.

Several times during the race I told myself I didn't want to be there. I felt awful, I didn't want to run, I was starving, my stomach hurt, I missed Desmond, I missed Skyler, I felt alone, I felt tired. Yet after it was over we immediately began talking about next year. Why do we put ourselves through such torture? It's called runner's high. I haven't met many people who really enjoy pushing hard during a running race, but I know lots of people who love the finish. So now we're addicted to relay races and we can't wait until next year!

The aftermath: I finally slept on the car ride back home. My sister dropped Desmond off at my house and we spent a few minutes together before I put him in bed. He woke up twice that night and at 6am the next morning. I felt like a zombie. Not having Skyler there to help me out was awful. I was exhausted, yet I had a very-awake baby. Desmond just wanted to play, but I wanted to go back to sleep. Luckily I got to nap when Desmond napped that afternoon. It took me several days to not feel tired all the time. My appetite came back the next day. Although I promised myself I wouldn't do this again, I totally will.