I know I'm late in getting this up, and there was SO much that happened that if I went into too much detail I would be writing an entire book. I'll try to summarize!
In short, Ragnar is a relay race with 12 team members divided into 2 vans. The start line for SoCal is in Huntington Beach and the finish line is on the Silver Strand state beach just south of Coronado in San Diego.
The day before the race, our team had a member drop out. She was in van 1, so the 5 remaining women in that van had to decided which of them would run extra to make up her mileage. One of our team members had made iron on decals and most of us planned to apply them to our shirts at the hotel. Unfortunately the hotel had one iron for the whole hotel and it was broken. It wouldn't heat up enough to make our shirts.
Our team had a start time of 5:15am on Friday morning. As a team, we decided that van 2 would sleep in since we had the majority of the middle of the night legs and just meet van 1 at exchange 6 where our runners would take over. We stopped at Target to buy an iron so we could work on our shirts in the van. When we got to the exchange, we got all checked in, watched the safety video and decorated our van. Apparently our van didn't have enough power or we had a faulty iron and it still wasn't hot enough to make our shirts!
The day before the race, our team had a member drop out. She was in van 1, so the 5 remaining women in that van had to decided which of them would run extra to make up her mileage. One of our team members had made iron on decals and most of us planned to apply them to our shirts at the hotel. Unfortunately the hotel had one iron for the whole hotel and it was broken. It wouldn't heat up enough to make our shirts.
Our team had a start time of 5:15am on Friday morning. As a team, we decided that van 2 would sleep in since we had the majority of the middle of the night legs and just meet van 1 at exchange 6 where our runners would take over. We stopped at Target to buy an iron so we could work on our shirts in the van. When we got to the exchange, we got all checked in, watched the safety video and decorated our van. Apparently our van didn't have enough power or we had a faulty iron and it still wasn't hot enough to make our shirts!
When runner 6 from the first van came in, our van began running. At that point, we were ahead of schedule by about 30 minutes which was awesome since we didn't have any cushion for getting to the finish line in time.
Runner 7 from our van had to run 12 miles next and wore brand new running shoes. She ended up walking most of her leg because her feet were so painful and blistered. I think at that point we were behind our projected time by at least an hour and we got news that another runner from van 1 quit after running her first leg. She took an Uber ride back home!
Our runners did great and it was finally time for me to run my first leg in Dana Point. It was beautiful! Rubber 11 came in to the exchange, gave me the bracelet and I took off. The first bit was slightly uphill but when I got to the top, I had the most amazing ocean view overlooking Dana Point and the rest was downhill. I had great music and couldn't stop smiling! I passed a few people and was passed by a few. I ran 4.9 miles at a pace of 11:00 (30 seconds per mile faster than my goal) and finished at Doheney State Beach around 7:45pm.
Since I was the last runner, our van drove to a restaurant to eat, changed our clothes and headed to the next major exchange. I would guess we started running again around midnight. I think I slept about 30 minutes in the van. Our team rocked it out and when it was my turn to run, it was about 5am and the time I regularly run with my running tribe! Talk about good timing! I ran through a commerical area of Carlsbad and again, most of my miles were downhill. I maintained a pace of 11:00 for 4.6 miles, my shortest leg. When I finished, I was so tired. I had been up for 24 hours at that point with just a 30 minute nap.
One of the girls in our van had booked a hotel room in La Jolla near our next big exchange. We drove there and checked in to take showers and sleep a few hours. That shower felt like heaven! I fell asleep hard when I heard somebody say that van 1 was finishing much faster than we expected because they were allowed to skip legs and that we needed to get our runner to the exchange. I flew out of bed after sleeping probably one hour. Runner 7 had a lot of miles, so we went to breakfast in Pacific Beach. She had 9 miles to run and her pace was much slower than anticipated. At that time we were probably 3 hours behind even with van 1 being allowed to skip ahead. She was in terrible shape so we found her along the route and let her get in the van while runner 8 took over for her and continued on through the exchange.
Things got so confusing here. We were so far behind that we ended up leapfrogging so we could finish before the 8pm cutoff. We drove to the exchanges and had runners start running before the previous one finished. We did this through all of our last legs and managed to get back on track. Van 1 had dissolved at that point. 2 of those girls joined our van and the rest went home. I was nervous for my last leg. I had to run 8 miles and my hips were aching no matter how well I stretched and foam rolled and iced. I took off in Imperial Beach and most of my leg was along a bike path. If you've been to the Silver Strand, you know it's usually windy. That evening it was INCREDIBLY windy and I was running straight into the wind. I was exhausted and sore and there was nothing to look at. I could see the place I would finish across the bay and it was miles and miles away. I walked more than I wanted to and started feeling defeated. Two runners came up behind me as I was walking and started chatting, so I ran with them and was able to keep a good pace and distract my mind.
Finally, I came to the tunnel that lead to the finish line. I had to cross through the tunnel under the road to get to the beach on the other side. As I ran through, I was flooded with emotion. I couldn't believe I was actually about to finish. I came out of the tunnel and right away saw my husband and two boys cheering for me with a big sign. Right behind them was my team. When I reached the remaining 6 members, we all ran to the finish line together. I was happy that I maintained a pace of 11:30 even with walking breaks. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it felt to make it there. We had overcome so many obstacles together and I was on such a runner's high. We received our medals, took photos and ate cold pizza before parting ways.
Ragnar was like nothing I've ever experienced before. I was exhausted, hungry, sore and at some times delirious. In total I ran 18 miles. If you had asked me 2 years ago, I would have never considered signing up for something like this. It was such a huge accomplishment for me! I definitely plan on running it again, hopefully with a more organized, committed team!
Runner 7 from our van had to run 12 miles next and wore brand new running shoes. She ended up walking most of her leg because her feet were so painful and blistered. I think at that point we were behind our projected time by at least an hour and we got news that another runner from van 1 quit after running her first leg. She took an Uber ride back home!
Our runners did great and it was finally time for me to run my first leg in Dana Point. It was beautiful! Rubber 11 came in to the exchange, gave me the bracelet and I took off. The first bit was slightly uphill but when I got to the top, I had the most amazing ocean view overlooking Dana Point and the rest was downhill. I had great music and couldn't stop smiling! I passed a few people and was passed by a few. I ran 4.9 miles at a pace of 11:00 (30 seconds per mile faster than my goal) and finished at Doheney State Beach around 7:45pm.
Since I was the last runner, our van drove to a restaurant to eat, changed our clothes and headed to the next major exchange. I would guess we started running again around midnight. I think I slept about 30 minutes in the van. Our team rocked it out and when it was my turn to run, it was about 5am and the time I regularly run with my running tribe! Talk about good timing! I ran through a commerical area of Carlsbad and again, most of my miles were downhill. I maintained a pace of 11:00 for 4.6 miles, my shortest leg. When I finished, I was so tired. I had been up for 24 hours at that point with just a 30 minute nap.
One of the girls in our van had booked a hotel room in La Jolla near our next big exchange. We drove there and checked in to take showers and sleep a few hours. That shower felt like heaven! I fell asleep hard when I heard somebody say that van 1 was finishing much faster than we expected because they were allowed to skip legs and that we needed to get our runner to the exchange. I flew out of bed after sleeping probably one hour. Runner 7 had a lot of miles, so we went to breakfast in Pacific Beach. She had 9 miles to run and her pace was much slower than anticipated. At that time we were probably 3 hours behind even with van 1 being allowed to skip ahead. She was in terrible shape so we found her along the route and let her get in the van while runner 8 took over for her and continued on through the exchange.
Things got so confusing here. We were so far behind that we ended up leapfrogging so we could finish before the 8pm cutoff. We drove to the exchanges and had runners start running before the previous one finished. We did this through all of our last legs and managed to get back on track. Van 1 had dissolved at that point. 2 of those girls joined our van and the rest went home. I was nervous for my last leg. I had to run 8 miles and my hips were aching no matter how well I stretched and foam rolled and iced. I took off in Imperial Beach and most of my leg was along a bike path. If you've been to the Silver Strand, you know it's usually windy. That evening it was INCREDIBLY windy and I was running straight into the wind. I was exhausted and sore and there was nothing to look at. I could see the place I would finish across the bay and it was miles and miles away. I walked more than I wanted to and started feeling defeated. Two runners came up behind me as I was walking and started chatting, so I ran with them and was able to keep a good pace and distract my mind.
Finally, I came to the tunnel that lead to the finish line. I had to cross through the tunnel under the road to get to the beach on the other side. As I ran through, I was flooded with emotion. I couldn't believe I was actually about to finish. I came out of the tunnel and right away saw my husband and two boys cheering for me with a big sign. Right behind them was my team. When I reached the remaining 6 members, we all ran to the finish line together. I was happy that I maintained a pace of 11:30 even with walking breaks. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it felt to make it there. We had overcome so many obstacles together and I was on such a runner's high. We received our medals, took photos and ate cold pizza before parting ways.
Ragnar was like nothing I've ever experienced before. I was exhausted, hungry, sore and at some times delirious. In total I ran 18 miles. If you had asked me 2 years ago, I would have never considered signing up for something like this. It was such a huge accomplishment for me! I definitely plan on running it again, hopefully with a more organized, committed team!
xoxo, Annie
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