Miles: 15.5
Hours of
sleep: maybe 4?
Solid foods
consumed over 24 hours: very little
Ragnar! I’ve wanted to do Ragnar for years, but have
never been able to make it work. So when
some of my friends from the gym invited me to join a team for Ragnar Trail, I
jumped at the opportunity.
(Sadly, I cannot run trails in toe shoes, so this is my best "toe" shoes pic.)
For those of you who aren't complete running nerds: Ragnar is a 24ish hour relay race. Traditional Ragnar is run on roads and has teams
of 12. They are point to point and each
team member runs three different legs (varying in distance from a couple to
several miles). The runners are shuttled
to each transition area in one of the team’s two vans. Ragnar Trail is, as the name suggests, run on
trails. There are three trail
loops: green (short), yellow (medium),
and red (long). Each team member runs
each loop one time. Ragnar Trail teams
have eight members and a central campsite instead of vans. The logistics of Ragnar Trail are simpler and
thus more appealing. Plus, I have a
ginormous tent that never gets used because we are not camping folk. See?
Already contributing to the team!
(The main building is up, the east and west wings are still being constructed.)
Each team
member gets a number, one through eight.
There are twenty-four legs total, so if you are runner 1, you run legs 1,
9, 17. When it came time to assign
numbers, I boldly said I was fine doing my long run last because I feel like I
am a pretty strong runner (not fast, but consistent). This is how I became runner 8 and ended up
agreeing to do my 8.4 mile trail run at the end of a 24-hour trail relay. As runner 8, I ran legs 8, 16, and 24. My team was assigned an early-ish start time
of 11:00 am on Friday. We all met up at
7:00 am. I carpooled with KO Kennedy.
Peppy, who has run many Ragnars and has a knack for organization, rented a huge
cargo van to get all our stuff in and out of the campsite. Another of our teammates, Go Pro, had the
foresight to go up on Thursday night and rope us off a sweet campsite, which
she reserved with cones and a pirate flag.
(Death to ye who think of stealing this spot!)
We were
initially a little disappointed that we didn’t get a spot in the main “village”
(which filled up lightning quick) and had to stay a quarter mile down the
road. But this turned out to be a
blessing. It was quieter where we were
and the bathrooms situation was infinitely better (porta potties were less used
in our area and our campsite was far enough away to be free from the
odor). My tent is truly a monstrosity
and – oh yeah – doesn’t have directions.
KO Kennedy is a master tent setter upper and figured it out. My tent and her pop up did not fit on our
allotted space, so we encroached onto other campsites. Oops.
People were nice, though. (I
later found out Mo Jo’s friend, Flash, had a campsite very close to mine.) We had our camp set up by 8:30ish and I was
HYPED! Due to time constraints, I had
skipped my 6:30 am boxing workout and was full of normal energy topped off with
a little nervous energy. I began to
realize the drawback to being runner 8.
I would not run my first leg until approximately 5:00 that evening. I joined my teammates in a pre-run beer and
wandered around the village.
Our first
runner, Sombrero, got us off to a great start with his 3.1 mile (green)
leg. He was followed by Nike, our second
runner who ran the 4 mile (yellow) leg. He
finished strong, but looked a little wobbly from the heat after finishing. This made me nervous for my later runs. KO Kennedy was up next with her 8.4 mile (red)
leg. She had selected runner 3 so she
could get the 8.4 miler done first. It
was stressing her out and by this time it was friggin’ hot! She did great, though, and finished
strong. I still had several hours to
go. Our teammate, Yogi, then rocked the
3.1 (green) again, despite the heat. She
was able to beat the heat a little by running in shorts and a sports bra. Something I could never do with my (lack of
visible) abs. Maybe I should take up
yoga . . . Sparky was up next (KO
Kennedy is going to kill me for giving him an ASU name when she didn’t get
one). He ran the 4 mile (yellow) loop
and I was interested to hear how he liked it since – when I FINALLY got to run –
I’d run that first. He warned me it was
hilly. Specifically, you get up one hill
and think you’re done, but it is a cruel hallucination. There is more hill to climb. Great.
Go Pro set off for her 8.4 mile run in the merciless desert sun and I
went back to camp to rest a bit.
At that
point, a dilemma emerged. I was
hungry. But my stomach is the first
thing to go when I run. I prefer to run
with no solid food in it, which is easy when I run at 6:00 am. Not so much when I run at 5:00 pm. I chose to eat a banana and granola bar and
just live with the rumbling tummy. I had
also been aggressively hydrating, but decided to cease all water intake at that
point so I would not have to pee on the trail.
Go Pro triumphantly avoided heat stroke. Then Peppy ran her 3.1 and I was FINALLY
up! The sun was just starting to go
down, so I got some relief from the sun, but it was still warm. And Sparky was right; the yellow loop was
HILLY! But I thought I would be
fine. I can do hills. I run hills up in the mountains. I know trails are supposed to be harder, but
surely the 7000 foot elevation I get in the mountains would offset itself with
the increased difficulty of the trail.
Nope. The terrain is uneven and
my feet slipped a bit on the way up.
This does not happen on pavement.
Then, when I got to the top of the hill, I could not fly down the other
side. There were too many rocks, ridges,
holes, etc. for me to go full speed down the hill without jeopardizing my
ankle. And this screwed me. When I run up The Beast at 7000 feet, I chug
up at or just below a 10:00 pace. But
then I cruise back down at up to a 7:30 pace.
My pace did not have any such rescuing on the trails. I did my 4 miles as fast as possible, which
required me to really push myself up the hills.
It was hard and I wanted to vomit (glad I didn’t eat!) and my pace did
not reflect my effort. I ended up with a
9:27 average pace and decided to be happy with it. I was happier still when my teammates greeted
me with a beer at the finish. Suddenly
my nausea improved. And I was happy to
have finally contributed to the race! I
went back to camp and ate two slices of cheese to celebrate. I followed it up with a couple handfuls of
chips. Health food!
My next run
was at 1:00 am. I tried to get some
sleep, but only managed to doze several times. Did I say I’m not a camper? I’m not a camper. And the ladies in the tent next to us were
loud. And it was COLD as soon as the sun
went down. I was in running clothes
covered by sweats wrapped in a sleeping bag and was still chilly. Desert weather is ridiculous. I managed to get to the transition area to
wait for Peppy (who was just finishing her 8.4 loop). She looked at my jacket (which was over a
long sleeved top) and told me I didn’t need it.
I couldn’t imagine taking it off, though, so I ignored her advice. Plus, I was holding my bear spray in one hand
and my phone in the other and didn’t want to deal with the logistics of
un-jacketing. I just wanted to be
done. I switched on my headlamp and set
off. Yes, headlamp. It was the desert in the middle of the
night. We had a full moon and some of my
teammates were brave enough to run just with the moonlight. I was not.
I’ve never run at 1:00 am before and certainly not on a trail. It was not my favorite experience. I began by telling myself pace doesn’t
matter. I very quickly laughed at myself
for thinking I could abide by that.
The headlamp
was really bright, but did not light the area directly around my feet. So I nearly turned my ankle several
times. My ascents were difficult and my
descents were cautious. Then we ran
through some washes, which are filled with sand. Every time somebody passed me (which happened
more than I care to admit), sand would go flying into the air right in front of
me. This was an unexpected attribute of
the headlamp: I was able to see all the
dust and sand swirling in the air. I’m
sure it was all there during the day as well, but there is something extra
special about actually seeing all the crap going into your eyes, nose, and
mouth. I finished my 3.1 with a 9:47 pace
and fought nausea (and regretted the second beer I had after my first run)
while Peppy (who had stuck around for me to finish) handed me my sweatshirt and
we walked back to camp together. Still restless, I walked her and Nike back to the transition area to welcome Sombrero back from his third (and final) run and send Nike off on his final run: the 8.4.
I then slept poorly on the floor of the
tent. At some point during the night, I
moved onto an air mattress and slept a little better. KO Kennedy finished her last leg at around
5:00 am and took off to catch the ASU/Notre Dame tailgate and game. I was not awake to see her off, but woke up 6:00
am and went in search of coffee. The sun
began to rise and it was gorgeous. Sparky
was running his 8.4 leg at that time and I decided I was jealous of him. I love running as the sun comes up. Instead, I got to run my 8.4 at 10:15 am,
when the sun was up in force and the temperature was hellish again. I was tired and had only eaten a banana for
breakfast.
(The view from my (coffee) run.)
Sparky told
me he really liked the 8.4, despite most other people complaining about
it. Yes, mile 2 was all hill, but it was
gradual and the views were fantastic. I
decided I wanted to really enjoy one leg of this race and I would not push
myself to the point of nausea. For once,
I stuck to this plan. I ran, but didn’t
race. It was challenging. There was no relief from the sun and there
were lots of sandy washes and brutal hills. But I still enjoyed it. After the big hill (which I ran to prove I could),
I walked the steeper inclines and sometimes even walked sandy portions. I still managed to finish the whole loop in
an hour and 29 minutes. I regretted
being runner 8 until I approached the finish line and my whole team (minus KO
Kennedy) was there: wearing our team shirts and waving our team flags. I got a burst of energy as they cheered and
ran in with me. They once again handed
me a cold beer and all was right in the world.
We lounged
around the campsite for awhile. Peppy
scrounged a stick of butter from another campsite. She and Sparky used it to make grilled
cheeses on Sombrero’s propane grill.
Hot, solid food never tasted so good!
And, my god, I’ve never had a shower so divine as the shower I took upon
arriving home. I thought I appreciated
my post-marathon NOLA shower. But this
shower put that shower to shame after more than 24 hours sweating it out in the
dust and sand. Husband #1 asked why my
shower was so short if I liked it so much.
I answered his question by passing out in my warm, clean, pillowed
bed. No matter how awesome the shower, I
could not let it delay my non-camping sleep. Aaaaaaah.
