Totally TL;DR: My So Cal Ragnar Relay 2011 Race Report!
Yes, this is a very long race report. It was a very long race!
This past weekend I was one of twelve heads and two of 24 legs on the 2011 Southern California Ragnar Relay team. We called ourselves The Away Team, a team organized by brokenheather!
The Ragnar Relay is a series of relay races of significant distances and lasts more than a day. Our Ragnar was a 200.9 mile relay race from Huntington Beach to San Diego. Our team and all other Ragnar teams were shuttled to and from our exchange points by two vans driven by volunteers. (As dictated by Ragnar rules!)
My Teammates
My team consisted of four women and eight men of various ages and running abilities. Eight of us were from California and four from Utah. Our team started at 6:30 AM on Friday, April 15th and our entire run lasted over 32 hours. In my van there were two guys from Southern California, (Brett and Chris,) one guy from San Jose, (Michael - Northern California represent!) and two guys from Utah, both of whom had run several Ragnar Relays prior to this one. (Jonathan and Trevor.) In the second van was our fearless Captain brokenheather, two gals from Utah (Shelly and Christy,) two more So Cal guys, (Alejandro and Ed,) and aparigraha, also a So Cal person. Me, I'm from the SF Bay Area.
What's what when running a Ragnar.
I'm used to running in races with closed off routes, like marathons where cops stop traffic for you and the cities wall off traffic. Because of the immense route no such closures or protections existed. Therefore, if you happened upon a red traffic light, you had to stop and wait for it to turn green before continuing on course. Talk about putting a dent in your pace! And jayrunning was not a good idea. If a Ragnar official caught you doing so you could get nailed with a violation, violations that could end up getting your team disqualified! Runners one through six are brought to exchange points in one van, and runners 7 through 12 in the second van. (I was runner #5!)
Each runner gets three legs to run for a total of 36 team legs. The legs could be as short as 2.1 miles, or more than 9 miles. My miles basically added up to a mile short of a half-marathon, while my teammate aparigraha had miles that nearly added up to a whole marathon!
The baton was a slap wrist bracelet, one of those things that kids played with all the time back in the 90's!
The Start
We arrived at the starting line at 5:30 AM for a safety briefing, which involved standing in a small crowd of about fifty runners and trying to listen to a man mumble quietly into a not-very-powerful microphone. Seriously, the guy sounded like he was stoned off of his ass, and really, someone giving out pertinent saftey information needs to SPEAK UP! Fortunately our Utah compatriots had already run several Ragnars and they were able to fill us in on what we couldn't hear.
Our teammate Brett was in the first position and got to the start line for a 6:30 AM start along with at least two dozen other runners. They started off teams at 15 minute intervals to avoid traffic jams of runners and teams.
If you look closely in the background you can see my
teammate Brett warming up behind the other runners in
his red Commander's shirt. He was pointed out in a local
ABC news report as a Star Trek Captain, even though he
was only wearing a Commander's rank. (Yes, I am a nerd!)
My First Leg (Team leg 5)
According to the Ragnar course map my first leg was a measly 2.5 miles. Each leg was rated on the Ragnar site from 'very easy' to 'very hard'. This course was rated as easy. I figured on pushing myself slightly faster than my usual pace on this leg to try and keep my team's timing at a good pace. I was especially eager to do this since I was one of the slower runners on the team. I started preparing for my run long before the number 4 runner was to take off.
At the exchange: My teammate Michael charged up the street at full speed and slapped the baton on my wrist without missing a step! After getting the slap-wrist baton from my teammate I raced up the street for half a block and then stopped and waited for the light to change. Yeah, kind of a buzzkill. After the light turned green I ran up a slightly steep hill, stopping for two red lights and one passing beer truck. At the top of the hill I discovered another hill, this one steeper and longer than the hill I just ran up. It was at this point that I was wondering just what the Ragnar people considered to be an 'easy' course. I would soon find out, for when I finished chugging my way up that second hill I discovered a third even steeper and longer hill! The first 1.5 miles were uphill.
Determined, I charged my way through the hills and then ran downhill for the last mile until I spotted my teammate Trevor. I whipped the slap-bracelet onto his arm so he could start charging, only I missed and it curled up and fell to the ground. D'oh! I fudged up my first baton exchange! So ended my first leg.
Here's one of our baton exchanges.
Brett hands off to Jonathan:
What it's like in the van
We had fairly large vans, with enough seating for more than a dozen people. But even with eight people, (six runners and two volunteers,) it gets cramped with all the gym bags, backpacks and supplies of water, gatorade, and snacks. Not to mention that during the runs we not only got really sweaty, but also covered with sand, mud, dirt and other stuff. The van also became a strip club as we kept changing in and out of various running shirts, t-shirts, shorts and sweat pants. (I didn't get any tips though, even when I inadvertantly flashed a large group of people at an exchange!)
Being in a runners van is all about sweat. Lots of sweaty people means lots of sweaty clothes, sweaty towels, sweaty blankets, sweaty sleeping bags and so on. It's a sweaty job, but someone has to do it!
My Second Leg (Team leg 17)
This was my longest leg, a 6.6 mile course that was graded as "hard". Considering what Ragnar (apparently) thought was an 'easy' run I was very curious and a little worried to find out what this part was like.
By the time I made it to my second leg the sun had gone down. A nearly full-moon was shining down on us. The Ragner Rules required all participants to wear refelctive vests from 6:45 PM until 6:45 AM, even for anyone who just happened to be oustide the van. For anyone running a leg during these times, runners were required to wear not only the refelective vest but also a headlamp (or carry a flashlight,) and a backlight.
I was equipped with an orange reflective vest, runners flashlight, and red-blinky backlight as Michael once again charged past me and slapped on the bracelet. Off I go! I charged up the block and then waited for the light to change. (Sound familiar?) For about the next 1/3 of a mile I spent probably about 10 minutes altogether waiting for red lights to change.
The street I ran up emphasized the need for reflective vests and lights. There were tons of whizzing cars going by, and even with all the blinky bling I still felt nervous about crossing the street! But I wouldn't have to worry about the street for long. The course veered off of the streets and I had to run across, get this, a golf course!
A very very dark golf course! For 4 holes I ran along a golf cart path with no illumination whatsoever save the moon and my flashlight. And there were no other visible runners, not behind or in front of me. The only signs of non-plant life were about half a million ribbiting frogs from the golf course ponds. Only carefully placed signs told me where to go. It was rather eerie, but not nearly as eerie as the next part.
Following the signs I went across a small patch of grass and onto a trail, a trail that lead into a steep and heavily wooded hillside. And the trail was not made of dirt, but rather compacted sand. The trail was coming out under my feet. There were a few more directional signs, but I only ran into one more volunteer through the dark and wild trail. Not only did the sand trail slow me down, I kept having to dodge small ravines, large rocks, branches, and I even had to jump over a small creek. A few times I heard animals rustling around in the underbrush. At least I managed to run into some other fellow runners, but even so I half expected someone in a hockey mask to leap out at me from the bushes! I also wondered, more than a few times, if I was still even on course.
I finally emerged back out onto a street. Talking with fellow #5 position runners later on, I would learn that a fair amount of runners had gotten lost in the hilly trailside part of this particular leg.
The street that comprised the last half of this run was an unlit two-lane street, with only a two-foot wide sidewalkless lane on the side of the street to run on. There were no street lights of any kind, and I made sure to waggle my flashlight around as oncoming cars were approaching. At least the traffic was not too heavy, but it was still somewhat rattling to have the cars so close. At one point I nearly face planted because I tripped over a branch, and I had to jump over a large and dead orange cat that was lying right in the middle of the narrow lane! Another Ragnar runner came running up behind me and said "My god, I've been trying to catch up with you. I don't want to be out here alone!"
Asides from a short walk up a particularly steep part of the sandy trail, I ran the entire stretch, not stopping once, (Except for stoplights of course,) even at the water station. (I had brought my own water!) This course was, without a doubt, the most wacked out course I have EVER run in my life!
A night time exchange from brokenheather to Brett.
All of the traffic on the left are Ragnar team vans:
The volunteers
By now it was becoming obvious what kind of work the volunteers were doing. Chet and Tam were our drivers. Us runners got to sit and lay around the van between runs, but these two were constantly driving and navigating, trying to figure out where to go next. They not only drove, but kept track of our pace, resupplied the van with things like ice and Gatorade, found restaurants for our meals, and set up the van at halfway points in the legs to support the runners. (Hand off water, make sure no one was gimped out, check if needed extra supplies...) They didn't do any running, (Okay, Tam ran around the van a couple of times, probably out of sympathy for us,) but I'm convinced it was more grueling for them than it was for us! Believe me, I'm sure glad that I didn't have to drive!
My third and last leg (Team leg 29)
Yes, to all you Beavis and Butthead sniggerers out there, there was a lot of wisecracking about the 'third leg', like "My third leg is three miles long!" or "I have the longest third leg in the van." Huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh!
My last leg was a 3 mile run, graded as moderate. I told myself that I was just going to go for broke and run my ass off, as fast as I could, for this whole stretch.
As I waited the 6:45 AM cutoff point for reflective gear had arrived, and I was able to hand off my vest and lights to Chet. My teammate Michael was charging at me fast, up a hill! Slapping the bracelet onto my wrist I took off up the rest of the hill.
Can you guess what happened next?
I charged a block and a half like a cheetah chasing a gazelle, and then I had to wait for a stoplight. :/
On the green light I charged up (yet another) hill through a nice suburban neighborhood. There were a few hills at the start of this course, but considering they weren't that steep and weren't made out of sand they were pretty easy. After a short while the course went downhill and then became flat along a waterfront. I gave it my all, running out my least controversial leg under a bridge and towards Trevor.
I had finished all three legs. As I had planned, I ran this last leg the hardest. Damn the torpedos! A few minutes to stretch and I was back in the van. We went to the next exchange and picked up our last runner Trevor and head for the finish line!
The Exchanges
Every exchange involved lots of vans, mostly white vans, driving to and from the exchange points. At most exchanges it wasn't too big a deal. Teams got in and out rather quickly at each exchange point, but at the major exchanges, where the last runner from van 1 would hand off to the first runner from van 2 or vice-versa, there were vast convoys of vans and eventually giant fields of parked vans.
The major exchanges were where Ragnar set up water stations and other service stations, like first aid, coffee, and sometimes food. The grounds of these major exchanges were littered with sleeping, resting and napping runners and volunteers.
The Finish
After picking up our last runner we stopped for a quick lunch and headed to the finish line at Coronado, right along the beach. We got there early and it was going to be several hours before brokenheather arrived to finish the race. I watched a few of the first teams to come into finish line. When the last runner of a team came in to finish out the very last leg of the race, the entire team would join up and all cross the finish line together.
The runners and volunteers from my van spent the time shopping for Ragnar swag, sleeping on the beach or in the van, and hanging out in the beer garden. (Just for kicks one of the vounteers sent a cell phone pic of a gaggle of van one people drinking in the beer garden to someone in van two!) In the meantime, about three of us were receiving text updates on the last six runners progress. Once brokenheather started the very last leg of the race we herded all of our teammates close to the finish line. The rest of the runners from van two arrived and we were all decked out in our red Away Team shirts and argyle socks. (Team member Shelly insisted we wear them unless we wanted to make a pregnant woman cry!) When she came through we all got behind her, pacing ourselves and making sure she was the one to cross the finish line first. The last few yards were on the beach. Lots of hugging, high-fiving and picture taking ensued.
For more than 32 hours of race time along the 200.9 mile race route there was not one minute in which one of our team was not running. Awesome!
I'm still processing the experience. One of the best weekends I've ever had!
The Aftermath
It took a while driving back. My legs were somewhat sore, being as that I ran a lot faster on all the legs than I usually run in races. I was inspired during my runs by my teammates' efforts: Brett charging as hard as he could on every run. My teammates Jonathan and Trevor toughing it out through minor injuries, and seeing Michael charge as fast as he could to the exchange, and Chris, the only other guy in the van with a wee bit of gray in his beard besides myself toughing out his courses.
The Ragnar Relay
If you are capable of running the distances involved you should run a Ragnar Relay race. It is a remarkable and unique runnning experience. When I showed up to run for The Away Team the only person I knew from the group was brokenheather, and now I have more than a dozen new friends!
The Ragnar experience involved a few logistical snafus: They're could've been more volunteers on some paths, a few last-minute changes went unannounced, some wonky directions, etc, etc... but considering the massive scope of this race it was
very well organized. It was at least as well organized as many of the marathons I've participated in.
Some of the teams I encountered along the way: Mexican Running Beans, Slomosexuals (dirigibles's team!), Does This Skirt Make My Butt Look Fast? (A gang of girls in running skirts!), Double Secret Probation, Pants Optional, Dude Where's My Van? and We Lost Doug.
Why brokenheather is my hero!
She's become one of my biggest running inspirations. She trains, she runs, she bellydances, she goes ovaries to the wall for her pursuits, and for this Ragnar Relay she went out of her way with a great deal of time and energy by forming a team. She simply could have joined someone else's team, but for her first Ragnar Relay she wanted to direct the effort and assemble her own troops. I achieved my dream of completing a marathon nearly two years ago, and I wondered what else I could do to challenge myself in the realm of long distance running. A crazy woman with a crazy idea convinced me to take part in a very grueling and unique event. She didn't just inspire me by example (I would love to be brokenheather fast,) and by encouraging me and cheering for me on my runs, she got me involved in my first ever relay race. Yeah, I could've gotten into a four person relay at one of those marathons, but why not a 200 mile 30+ hours relay and eleven running companions for my first?
My Ragnar medal is going to hang up on my wall with my marathon medals!
Pictures pictures pictures!
The Away Team crossing the finish line!
I'm the chubby guy in the middle
with the black basebal hat, just right
of brokenheather
Runner #1 Brett getting ready to
start the race on the very first leg!
Fuzzyish Cell phone pic of aparigraha getting
ready to run a nighttime leg. She was runner #7.
My teammate Shelly. Yes, the t-shirt doesn't lie.
She ran this race while pregnant! (About 4 months
along, I think!)
People crashed out whenever they could.
Getting ready for an exchange! Everyone always
prepared way in advance. From left to right: Chris,
van driver Tam, and Michael who was runner #4 and
always handed the baton off to me.
The Utah crew! From left to right: Trevor, Christy, Shelly, and Jonathan.
Trevor was runner #6 and I always handed off to him. They're
previous Ragnar experience was really helpful as they schooled
us along the way about long distance Ragnar running. They also said
the So Cal version was one of the toughest Ragnar courses.
Our van drivers! From left to right: Tam, Andrew, (brokenheather's man,)
Tina and Chet. Chet and Tam were the drivers for my van.
You don't have to be crazy to run a...
well, okay, yeah, you do have to be crazy!
I'm all the way to the left.
http://www.ragnarrelay.com/
This past weekend I was one of twelve heads and two of 24 legs on the 2011 Southern California Ragnar Relay team. We called ourselves The Away Team, a team organized by brokenheather!
The Ragnar Relay is a series of relay races of significant distances and lasts more than a day. Our Ragnar was a 200.9 mile relay race from Huntington Beach to San Diego. Our team and all other Ragnar teams were shuttled to and from our exchange points by two vans driven by volunteers. (As dictated by Ragnar rules!)
My Teammates
My team consisted of four women and eight men of various ages and running abilities. Eight of us were from California and four from Utah. Our team started at 6:30 AM on Friday, April 15th and our entire run lasted over 32 hours. In my van there were two guys from Southern California, (Brett and Chris,) one guy from San Jose, (Michael - Northern California represent!) and two guys from Utah, both of whom had run several Ragnar Relays prior to this one. (Jonathan and Trevor.) In the second van was our fearless Captain brokenheather, two gals from Utah (Shelly and Christy,) two more So Cal guys, (Alejandro and Ed,) and aparigraha, also a So Cal person. Me, I'm from the SF Bay Area.
What's what when running a Ragnar.
I'm used to running in races with closed off routes, like marathons where cops stop traffic for you and the cities wall off traffic. Because of the immense route no such closures or protections existed. Therefore, if you happened upon a red traffic light, you had to stop and wait for it to turn green before continuing on course. Talk about putting a dent in your pace! And jayrunning was not a good idea. If a Ragnar official caught you doing so you could get nailed with a violation, violations that could end up getting your team disqualified! Runners one through six are brought to exchange points in one van, and runners 7 through 12 in the second van. (I was runner #5!)
Each runner gets three legs to run for a total of 36 team legs. The legs could be as short as 2.1 miles, or more than 9 miles. My miles basically added up to a mile short of a half-marathon, while my teammate aparigraha had miles that nearly added up to a whole marathon!
The baton was a slap wrist bracelet, one of those things that kids played with all the time back in the 90's!
The Start
We arrived at the starting line at 5:30 AM for a safety briefing, which involved standing in a small crowd of about fifty runners and trying to listen to a man mumble quietly into a not-very-powerful microphone. Seriously, the guy sounded like he was stoned off of his ass, and really, someone giving out pertinent saftey information needs to SPEAK UP! Fortunately our Utah compatriots had already run several Ragnars and they were able to fill us in on what we couldn't hear.
Our teammate Brett was in the first position and got to the start line for a 6:30 AM start along with at least two dozen other runners. They started off teams at 15 minute intervals to avoid traffic jams of runners and teams.
Click to viewIf you look closely in the background you can see my
teammate Brett warming up behind the other runners in
his red Commander's shirt. He was pointed out in a local
ABC news report as a Star Trek Captain, even though he
was only wearing a Commander's rank. (Yes, I am a nerd!)
My First Leg (Team leg 5)
According to the Ragnar course map my first leg was a measly 2.5 miles. Each leg was rated on the Ragnar site from 'very easy' to 'very hard'. This course was rated as easy. I figured on pushing myself slightly faster than my usual pace on this leg to try and keep my team's timing at a good pace. I was especially eager to do this since I was one of the slower runners on the team. I started preparing for my run long before the number 4 runner was to take off.
At the exchange: My teammate Michael charged up the street at full speed and slapped the baton on my wrist without missing a step! After getting the slap-wrist baton from my teammate I raced up the street for half a block and then stopped and waited for the light to change. Yeah, kind of a buzzkill. After the light turned green I ran up a slightly steep hill, stopping for two red lights and one passing beer truck. At the top of the hill I discovered another hill, this one steeper and longer than the hill I just ran up. It was at this point that I was wondering just what the Ragnar people considered to be an 'easy' course. I would soon find out, for when I finished chugging my way up that second hill I discovered a third even steeper and longer hill! The first 1.5 miles were uphill.
Determined, I charged my way through the hills and then ran downhill for the last mile until I spotted my teammate Trevor. I whipped the slap-bracelet onto his arm so he could start charging, only I missed and it curled up and fell to the ground. D'oh! I fudged up my first baton exchange! So ended my first leg.
Here's one of our baton exchanges.
Brett hands off to Jonathan:
What it's like in the van
We had fairly large vans, with enough seating for more than a dozen people. But even with eight people, (six runners and two volunteers,) it gets cramped with all the gym bags, backpacks and supplies of water, gatorade, and snacks. Not to mention that during the runs we not only got really sweaty, but also covered with sand, mud, dirt and other stuff. The van also became a strip club as we kept changing in and out of various running shirts, t-shirts, shorts and sweat pants. (I didn't get any tips though, even when I inadvertantly flashed a large group of people at an exchange!)
Being in a runners van is all about sweat. Lots of sweaty people means lots of sweaty clothes, sweaty towels, sweaty blankets, sweaty sleeping bags and so on. It's a sweaty job, but someone has to do it!
My Second Leg (Team leg 17)
This was my longest leg, a 6.6 mile course that was graded as "hard". Considering what Ragnar (apparently) thought was an 'easy' run I was very curious and a little worried to find out what this part was like.
By the time I made it to my second leg the sun had gone down. A nearly full-moon was shining down on us. The Ragner Rules required all participants to wear refelctive vests from 6:45 PM until 6:45 AM, even for anyone who just happened to be oustide the van. For anyone running a leg during these times, runners were required to wear not only the refelective vest but also a headlamp (or carry a flashlight,) and a backlight.
I was equipped with an orange reflective vest, runners flashlight, and red-blinky backlight as Michael once again charged past me and slapped on the bracelet. Off I go! I charged up the block and then waited for the light to change. (Sound familiar?) For about the next 1/3 of a mile I spent probably about 10 minutes altogether waiting for red lights to change.
The street I ran up emphasized the need for reflective vests and lights. There were tons of whizzing cars going by, and even with all the blinky bling I still felt nervous about crossing the street! But I wouldn't have to worry about the street for long. The course veered off of the streets and I had to run across, get this, a golf course!
A very very dark golf course! For 4 holes I ran along a golf cart path with no illumination whatsoever save the moon and my flashlight. And there were no other visible runners, not behind or in front of me. The only signs of non-plant life were about half a million ribbiting frogs from the golf course ponds. Only carefully placed signs told me where to go. It was rather eerie, but not nearly as eerie as the next part.
Following the signs I went across a small patch of grass and onto a trail, a trail that lead into a steep and heavily wooded hillside. And the trail was not made of dirt, but rather compacted sand. The trail was coming out under my feet. There were a few more directional signs, but I only ran into one more volunteer through the dark and wild trail. Not only did the sand trail slow me down, I kept having to dodge small ravines, large rocks, branches, and I even had to jump over a small creek. A few times I heard animals rustling around in the underbrush. At least I managed to run into some other fellow runners, but even so I half expected someone in a hockey mask to leap out at me from the bushes! I also wondered, more than a few times, if I was still even on course.
I finally emerged back out onto a street. Talking with fellow #5 position runners later on, I would learn that a fair amount of runners had gotten lost in the hilly trailside part of this particular leg.
The street that comprised the last half of this run was an unlit two-lane street, with only a two-foot wide sidewalkless lane on the side of the street to run on. There were no street lights of any kind, and I made sure to waggle my flashlight around as oncoming cars were approaching. At least the traffic was not too heavy, but it was still somewhat rattling to have the cars so close. At one point I nearly face planted because I tripped over a branch, and I had to jump over a large and dead orange cat that was lying right in the middle of the narrow lane! Another Ragnar runner came running up behind me and said "My god, I've been trying to catch up with you. I don't want to be out here alone!"
Asides from a short walk up a particularly steep part of the sandy trail, I ran the entire stretch, not stopping once, (Except for stoplights of course,) even at the water station. (I had brought my own water!) This course was, without a doubt, the most wacked out course I have EVER run in my life!
A night time exchange from brokenheather to Brett.
All of the traffic on the left are Ragnar team vans:
The volunteers
By now it was becoming obvious what kind of work the volunteers were doing. Chet and Tam were our drivers. Us runners got to sit and lay around the van between runs, but these two were constantly driving and navigating, trying to figure out where to go next. They not only drove, but kept track of our pace, resupplied the van with things like ice and Gatorade, found restaurants for our meals, and set up the van at halfway points in the legs to support the runners. (Hand off water, make sure no one was gimped out, check if needed extra supplies...) They didn't do any running, (Okay, Tam ran around the van a couple of times, probably out of sympathy for us,) but I'm convinced it was more grueling for them than it was for us! Believe me, I'm sure glad that I didn't have to drive!
My third and last leg (Team leg 29)
Yes, to all you Beavis and Butthead sniggerers out there, there was a lot of wisecracking about the 'third leg', like "My third leg is three miles long!" or "I have the longest third leg in the van." Huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh!
My last leg was a 3 mile run, graded as moderate. I told myself that I was just going to go for broke and run my ass off, as fast as I could, for this whole stretch.
As I waited the 6:45 AM cutoff point for reflective gear had arrived, and I was able to hand off my vest and lights to Chet. My teammate Michael was charging at me fast, up a hill! Slapping the bracelet onto my wrist I took off up the rest of the hill.
Can you guess what happened next?
I charged a block and a half like a cheetah chasing a gazelle, and then I had to wait for a stoplight. :/
On the green light I charged up (yet another) hill through a nice suburban neighborhood. There were a few hills at the start of this course, but considering they weren't that steep and weren't made out of sand they were pretty easy. After a short while the course went downhill and then became flat along a waterfront. I gave it my all, running out my least controversial leg under a bridge and towards Trevor.
I had finished all three legs. As I had planned, I ran this last leg the hardest. Damn the torpedos! A few minutes to stretch and I was back in the van. We went to the next exchange and picked up our last runner Trevor and head for the finish line!
The Exchanges
Every exchange involved lots of vans, mostly white vans, driving to and from the exchange points. At most exchanges it wasn't too big a deal. Teams got in and out rather quickly at each exchange point, but at the major exchanges, where the last runner from van 1 would hand off to the first runner from van 2 or vice-versa, there were vast convoys of vans and eventually giant fields of parked vans.
The major exchanges were where Ragnar set up water stations and other service stations, like first aid, coffee, and sometimes food. The grounds of these major exchanges were littered with sleeping, resting and napping runners and volunteers.
The Finish
After picking up our last runner we stopped for a quick lunch and headed to the finish line at Coronado, right along the beach. We got there early and it was going to be several hours before brokenheather arrived to finish the race. I watched a few of the first teams to come into finish line. When the last runner of a team came in to finish out the very last leg of the race, the entire team would join up and all cross the finish line together.
The runners and volunteers from my van spent the time shopping for Ragnar swag, sleeping on the beach or in the van, and hanging out in the beer garden. (Just for kicks one of the vounteers sent a cell phone pic of a gaggle of van one people drinking in the beer garden to someone in van two!) In the meantime, about three of us were receiving text updates on the last six runners progress. Once brokenheather started the very last leg of the race we herded all of our teammates close to the finish line. The rest of the runners from van two arrived and we were all decked out in our red Away Team shirts and argyle socks. (Team member Shelly insisted we wear them unless we wanted to make a pregnant woman cry!) When she came through we all got behind her, pacing ourselves and making sure she was the one to cross the finish line first. The last few yards were on the beach. Lots of hugging, high-fiving and picture taking ensued.
For more than 32 hours of race time along the 200.9 mile race route there was not one minute in which one of our team was not running. Awesome!
I'm still processing the experience. One of the best weekends I've ever had!
The Aftermath
It took a while driving back. My legs were somewhat sore, being as that I ran a lot faster on all the legs than I usually run in races. I was inspired during my runs by my teammates' efforts: Brett charging as hard as he could on every run. My teammates Jonathan and Trevor toughing it out through minor injuries, and seeing Michael charge as fast as he could to the exchange, and Chris, the only other guy in the van with a wee bit of gray in his beard besides myself toughing out his courses.
The Ragnar Relay
If you are capable of running the distances involved you should run a Ragnar Relay race. It is a remarkable and unique runnning experience. When I showed up to run for The Away Team the only person I knew from the group was brokenheather, and now I have more than a dozen new friends!
The Ragnar experience involved a few logistical snafus: They're could've been more volunteers on some paths, a few last-minute changes went unannounced, some wonky directions, etc, etc... but considering the massive scope of this race it was
very well organized. It was at least as well organized as many of the marathons I've participated in.
Some of the teams I encountered along the way: Mexican Running Beans, Slomosexuals (dirigibles's team!), Does This Skirt Make My Butt Look Fast? (A gang of girls in running skirts!), Double Secret Probation, Pants Optional, Dude Where's My Van? and We Lost Doug.
Why brokenheather is my hero!
She's become one of my biggest running inspirations. She trains, she runs, she bellydances, she goes ovaries to the wall for her pursuits, and for this Ragnar Relay she went out of her way with a great deal of time and energy by forming a team. She simply could have joined someone else's team, but for her first Ragnar Relay she wanted to direct the effort and assemble her own troops. I achieved my dream of completing a marathon nearly two years ago, and I wondered what else I could do to challenge myself in the realm of long distance running. A crazy woman with a crazy idea convinced me to take part in a very grueling and unique event. She didn't just inspire me by example (I would love to be brokenheather fast,) and by encouraging me and cheering for me on my runs, she got me involved in my first ever relay race. Yeah, I could've gotten into a four person relay at one of those marathons, but why not a 200 mile 30+ hours relay and eleven running companions for my first?
My Ragnar medal is going to hang up on my wall with my marathon medals!
Pictures pictures pictures!
The Away Team crossing the finish line!
I'm the chubby guy in the middle
with the black basebal hat, just right
of brokenheather
Runner #1 Brett getting ready to
start the race on the very first leg!
Fuzzyish Cell phone pic of aparigraha getting
ready to run a nighttime leg. She was runner #7.
My teammate Shelly. Yes, the t-shirt doesn't lie.
She ran this race while pregnant! (About 4 months
along, I think!)
People crashed out whenever they could.
Getting ready for an exchange! Everyone always
prepared way in advance. From left to right: Chris,
van driver Tam, and Michael who was runner #4 and
always handed the baton off to me.
The Utah crew! From left to right: Trevor, Christy, Shelly, and Jonathan.
Trevor was runner #6 and I always handed off to him. They're
previous Ragnar experience was really helpful as they schooled
us along the way about long distance Ragnar running. They also said
the So Cal version was one of the toughest Ragnar courses.
Our van drivers! From left to right: Tam, Andrew, (brokenheather's man,)
Tina and Chet. Chet and Tam were the drivers for my van.
You don't have to be crazy to run a...
well, okay, yeah, you do have to be crazy!
I'm all the way to the left.
http://www.ragnarrelay.com/