Adventures of the Ragnar Relay

Another Ragnar has come and gone. It seems like I am still re cooperating and lacking energy. Each one seems to bring on a new adventure. (Tiffany wished for adventure...and did she get it). You can only prepare the best you can for running 24 straight hours, but somethings I have found are just completely unexpected. This year we were the first van which meant we were the first 6 runners to start the race.

Van #1 Carson's Crusade
Tiffany, Minnie, Jenny, Tishia, Kim and Nichole.

Leaving the night before was much more calm than last year. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed up to Prescott, arriving around 10pm.

Tishia and Jenny ready for some sleep!

Even though we had a nice bed to sleep in (our room was super nice), I don't think I slept more than 2 hours. Dang nerves any how! The alarm clock at 5am was definitely not welcoming.

Excited to start the race.

We arrived at the start line about 20 minutes before our start time. We quickly gathered our numbers, race map, and got Tiffany ready to go. Reflective vest, red flashing light, and head lamp. Check!

Checking in.

And there off!!

It was a mean 23 degrees when Tiffany led off with about 7 other teams at 6:30am. All I can say is BRRRRRR. My body was not happy.

Run.... Tiff...... Run!! She didn't even realize she was running by this beautiful lake.

By 7:ooam our second runner Kim was ready to go. I was starting to mentally prepare for my mountain climb. I choked down a Power Gel (I had never tried) and was hoping for some serious energy boost. After all that's what the package states. With about 5 minutes to spare I hit the port o potty one last time. Just as I was walking out adjusting my pants, Kim ran right by me! I sprinted behind her to grab the baton...not really how I wanted to kick off the race. But, I managed and blasted my music and was off.

Faking my excitement with a smile. Really I was dying.

Running up the beastly hills. Feeling much better at this point.
Nichole taking extra clothes from me.

The first 3 miles I was DYING. I am not sure if it was the combination of the high altitude, my numb toes (I was still freezing) and running up hill. But, it wasn't good. Hoping for some sort of energy boost, I plowed through the wall and around 4 miles by energy kicked in, I was warm and ready to run. Unfortunately, I only had 2.6 miles to go at this point, but you better believe I ran them fast. (PR 7:34 down the hill!)

Tishia followed me, then Minnie and our caboose was Tiffany's sister Nichole.

Exchange 6, meeting up with van #2 at 11:00am.

Once Nichole finished our set of legs (aka runs) were done, so we headed off for food and a place to sleep. Along the way back we stopped to stretch at the lookout point. The views were really amazing.

The town of Wickenburg about 15 miles from the exchange definitely didn't have many restaurants to choose from. We spotted a pasta restaurant and decided that would be a great carb loader. We walked around looking for an entrance and finally found the "Pizza" sign.

Italian food?? Oh, around the corner.....

We walked in and was confused by the inside. It was very cowboyish and the menus on the table read: Cowboy Cafe. Huh?? I knew we were tired, but seriously a completely different cuisine?

The proof we weren't all CRAZY

Tiffany questioned the waitress (which hardly spoke English) and basically told us she had no idea what we were talking about and said we don't serve pasta. O....K...A....Y.... being completely exhausted to get up. We all decided it wasn't worth the effort to try and find another place to eat. We are still cracking up that the lady who supposedly walks in the door everyday had NO clue there was a HUGE Pasta/Pizza sign on the door. We ate and all felt a little more alive and headed out to find a place to crash.

Notice I couldn't go without my Circle K Diet Coke.

There was a park across the street and we had about 2 hours to spare. I was so tired I didn't care what I was on, as long as I could lie flat. I am sure we all looked like a bunch of bums, but that was probably the best cat nap I had ever taken. By 4:30, it was time to head over to the next major exchange.

Lindsey running in. I LOVED these girls tutu's. I wanted to run in something like this, my teammates had different ideas........

For our 2nd runs (which were at night) we were smart and had bike pacers. Last year, none of us had anyone to ride with and it got a little scary. Ty and April Havey were SO nice to take time away from their family drive 2.5 hours to ride with each of us while we ran.

Exchange 12

Tiffany's #2 run was a dirt trail, which I know she was nervous about. Luckily, she had April beside her and completely half of her run before it got dark. Thinking we knew where we were going we drove out of exchange 12. 45 minutes later (passing the place we needed to be 2 times!) we made it 10 minutes after Tiffany ran. Sorry Tiff! She patiently waited as Kim grabbed the baton and was off for her 2.8 mile run. My night run was my longest out of the 3, (8.7 miles) thinking I needed some of that extra energy I went out on a limb and tried one of those 5 hour shot drinks. Crazy?! Yes. I felt like I was high on something for about the first few hours it was instant and quite bitter to the taste. About half way through my run my stomach was NOT happy. I managed to finish it, but the rest of the night I paid for it. No more energy shots for me!

Minnie, Jenny, Nichole and our bike pacer, Ty.
Jenny GLAD to be done with her run.

We left our other van around 11:30pm and headed back to our 2nd hotel. After showering and eating we climbed into bed around 1am. We were thinking the other van would finish around 5am or so.....but they called about an hour earlier explaining we must come quick there had been an accident. Our hearts all sank and really no one knew what was going on. Between phones and text messages we figured out that a boy had been hit on the Carefree Hwy while trying to give water to his runner. At this point the road was closed for a few hours, several runners were stranded, others stopped on the road. It was a mess. Our teammate Marisol unfortunately had to run by the scene as the boy had just gotten hit. Luckily van #2 got passed the accident and none of our runners were stranded. I think we all had mixed feelings at this point whether or not to continue, not knowing details, we started back up again at 5:30am to finish the last set of our runs.

They started the race back up a few teams at a time, 10 minutes apart.
Our start time was 5:30am. Poor Tiffany never ran except in the dark.

The reward of running early, check out that sunset.
Gorgeous!

This is the point in the race everyone is exhausted, tired of using port o potties, and ready to be done. Fortunately, my last 7.1 mile run was all down hill, however I never would of imagined it to be so difficult.

I managed to keep a great pace, (56 minutes) however my toes were not very happy. You can imagine how excited I was to be done at this point.

Over tired, and sleep deprived meant I was slap stick happy. Tiffany shared the same mood, and we amused ourselves for the next few hours in the front seat. Good times.

We each took turns giving water to our runners, at this point we were all fighting who would get out. I sacrificed and stood waiting to give Nichole some water.

Tiffany happy to stay in her seat.

Saturday at 11:15am an awesome feeling to mark off those last runs!!

Yay!! Now off to hot showers and the finish line! Van #1 was finished.


The beauty of all the major exchanges, which include a lot of the teams you don't normally see is how many crazy teams their are. This van was fully equipped with a flat screen t.v. and full bed. You can guarantee they didn't need a hotel!

Nice.

Then there was the "Victorious" team. Would you ever run like this?? Not. This isn't even close to half as bad as some we didn't capture on film. Except this guy......

He didn't have a problem posing for us, he claims to have lost a bet and said he ran like this. Hmmm.....I'm pretty sure he's okay in the confidence department.

Showered, clean clothes, and eating REAL FAT FOOD. Famous Dave's hit the spot!

We all ran in with Lindsey our #12 runner. Boy, did my toes hurt at this point!

One last team photo.
Carson's Crusade
Back Row: Lindsey, April, Minnie, Tiffany, Nichole, Tishia, and Jenny
Front Row: Martha, Jen, Marisol, Kim and Tammy


Ragnar Del Sol, 2010. Complete!
Thanks ladies for all the great memories!
My next half marathon is this Saturday, wish me luck!

We Do Hard Things

Minnie, Marisol, Tishia, Jenny and Tiffany

Well, the official training for Ragnar Relay has begun. We bit the bullet Monday morning and trekked out to South Mountain (30 minutes away) in order to run hills. I definitely felt unprepared for the difficulty of it especially pushing Weston in the jogger. However, luckily Tishia offered to speed walk him up the hill so I could finish my last 3 miles of steep grade. It kicked my butt, but I did it. I ran 4 miles straight up hill and then 4 miles down. It just goes to show you can do anything you put your mind to. Gotta love our new running motto "WE DO HARD THINGS!" Bring on the hills, next Monday I'll see you there!

Three's A Charm

Stephanie, Amber, Jenny, Denise, Carol, Jenessy, and Rachel

I ran my 3rd half marathon of the year Saturday. And it was my best race yet. I managed to cut a minute off of my time (which was huge for me) and the best part was I walked away injury free and felt GREAT! Me and a few other runner girlfriends carpooled over to the start at 5:45am. (we missed you Tiffany, Minnie and Tishia!) Denise was kind enought to load us all in her car and drive down to Mesa. Don't we look chipper for such an early morning event?

Doug met up with me at the finish line and got some "action" running shots. Just looking at them made me realize how goofy I look when I run. Relax the fists Jenny (apparently I am ready to beat someone up?) Or maybe I was listening to Michael Jackson's Beat It at the time. Ha!

Here I am racing in at the finish. The clock was a minute off of my chip time (which is the time they use) My official time was 1:50:14 A personal best! I someday hope to at least get a 1:45 or less.

Jenny, Denise, Amber, Rachel and Jenessy

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see a few run in for the finish since we had to hurry off to make it to Luke's soccer game. Jenessy ended up getting a 1:40 (impressive!), followed by Amber 1:47. So even though I felt fast these two ladies were REALLY fast.

Once again I owe much of my thanks to my faithful running partner Amber. I seriously would not have gotten up MANY mornings at 4:30am without her help! (not to mention increase my pace...) I am not sure which race will be next, but tomorrow it's back to the grind for another early 6 mile run. Gotta keep in shape for the turkey trot in two weeks. Stay tuned......

We DO Hard Things

The four of us left mid-Saturday morning leaving our spouses in charge. No kids. No husbands. Just girls wanting to have fun. And fun we did have.

Amber, Tishia, Tiffany and Jenny

It was so nice to leave behind the 100 degree/brown scenery for something more refreshing.

Yes, we did eat fresh, but this wasn't the fresh I was really meaning. It was especially hard for me to try and eat good on vacation, but when it comes to running. That is just what you do.

We got to Cabazon about 3:30pm and literally shopped until we dropped. By the end of the day they were kicking us out of the store. I am kicking myself for not capturing the ginormous line we stood in for Amber and Tiffany to get their Coach purses. But, they scored some awesome deals. I walked away with my favorite True Religion jeans. I was a happy girl!

Sometimes a little happy (ha) Those who know me can attest I get a weird sort of burst of energy when I am overly tired. I couldn't help jumping on the beds and if you look close enough Amber couldn't either. (her legs are behind me)

Sunday we headed down the road for sacrament meeting at 9am. Becca was sweet enough to give me all the information for church times/etc. The church building was absolutely gorgeous. We took a ton of photos and I think most of the members thought we were a tad strange over all of our ooooing and awing. I have never seen a chapel so unique.

Aside from the beautiful weather and lovely scenery we some how managed to drive on several toll roads. The GPS (aka Gwen) always gave us the fastest route which ended up being a toll road! And me being the cheap skate I am got a little tired of paying 2.75 to drive on a freeway. My friends found it humerous how upset I got over the whole thing.

After church we headed down to Crystal Cove near Newport Beach to soak up the sun. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Talk about a perfect relaxing day just before a race.

We couldn't resist doing a little Karate Kidd meditating, along with some cheer jumps in the sand.

Minnie flew in late Sunday night, just in time to eat a great pasta dinner from CPK.

Monday was race day. The weather was just right, over cast and most of the course was downhill. I think we all had the race jitters. We had our energy beans, FRS chews, and gu's all prepared to give us the boost we needed. I stayed with Amber until about mile 10.5 and my knee started giving me some agony not to mention I threw up one of the gu's I hadn't tried. At that point my body just couldn't keep up the great pace I was holding for so long. I was so bummed. I told Amber to run ahead and kept her in my sight as long as possible. She ended up leading the pack, but I still was able to improve my time by about 20 minutes. My average pace ended up being 8:28. Yay for me!

My time according to my garmin

Becca and Laurie ended up meeting me at the finish line. It was so fun to finally put faces with voices. I wish I had more time (and not so stinky) to talk to them. Perhaps next time we can do lunch.

Becca, Laurie and Jenny

Once we all ran into the finish line we were ready to head back to the hotel. The bummer part was the shuttles took a tad longer than I would have liked.

The line wrapped around Laguna Hills, HS

We were all pretty beat after such an intense race. I think we all pushed ourselves to our best ability. It was nice to ooze the muscles in the hot tub.

Last but not least, we ended up at In and Out Burger. After trying to eat semi-healthy for the first day, my body was seriously having some major withdrawals. Nothing like a double/double after burning close to 1600 calories! And it was really tasty!

It was such a great weekend. I hope to do it again next year, who knows which race we will do. St. George??? (Minnie, Tiffany, Tishia) At any rate it looks like I am being forced to stay off the road. (which may make me a little crazy) My knee caused me some major grief about 10 miles in to the race. But, with exercise there is bound to be an injury now and again. We all decided after running the Ragnar and putting ourselves through such a challenge we all may be a little crazy. But, soon after the race we began to train again for a half. I have to say even though I sit here with my knee throbbing it was worth every ounce of pain. Because in life, we do hard things, that is what we do!