Bike paced my Ragnar running teammates through the night. I counted up the mileage, it was actually 26.2. Weird!! Probably around a 4 h bike ride, probably around 45-50% max hr. There were some nice rollers in WI. I made sure to keep seated on the bike to get a little burn in my quads. :) Bike pacing was a success! One of my good looking female friends got hit on around 2am by some drunk, creepy guy with a flash light out in the middle of nowhere with no people around. I'm so glad I was with her! He wouldn't want to mess with me! Ragnar was more difficult than I thought. At the finish, my team ran in the final runner. I, of course, could not run. I watched as all 6 of them ran through the cheering crowds to the finish. It was so sad! There went another race I was looking forward to. There would be no finisher's medal for me, they would be taking pictures of the team without me as I make my way over to them. I went along for the ride, driving the van all but 4 legs, and the legs I was bike pacing my teammates. As I make my way to meet up with my teammates. I force myself to hold back tears (doing a very good job of it, I must say). As soon as I link up with them and see their beautiful ultra finisher's medals they pull out a 7th medal and place it around my neck. I burst into tears. They made me feel so much a part of the team. I was sad and mad I couldn't run, but they were so grateful for all the work I did to help them through the race. Everyone is on a different running journey. Just as with life, there are highs and lows. You have to experience the lows to feel the highs. Last year was a big year of PRs for me. As I write this now, I am actually grateful for this injury. I know I would keep PRing, but now I will be starting a marathon training schedule fresh (for once) and my PRs will feel that much more worth it after sacrificing so much this Spring. | 