LEG 1 (7.0 miles) - 6:45 am
After a sluggish start with our 4am wake-up call and some navigational issues, we hit the road a bit late, which meant having to jump into a later wave than our originally slated 6am wave. Being runner #1 for our team (12 runners, 2 vans, 3 legs each, ~200 miles for those unfamiliar), I knew I'd have to go right off the bat. I did my best to stay loose and hydrated, taking in water and jogging around in the grocery store parking lot to try and wake the body up as our van made a brief supply stop before heading out. We then made the trek up Mt. Charleston to the start line.
Most people think of Vegas and think 'OMGHOT!', but this was not the case at the starting area, where an inch or two of freshly packed snow covered the ground and 40 degree temperatures greeted a shivering crowd - and me merrily prancing around in my shorts and singlet. We arrived just in time to join the 6:30 wave, which started closer to 6:45, with the race itself being under a bit of a delay. My target pace for this leg was about 55 minutes. That might seem ambitious for 7 miles, given that I had listed my estimated 10k pace at about 8:30 a mile, but the entire leg had a pretty significant net downhill, with only one small (but annoying) uphill at about halfway. I hoped that 1)I'd be able to handle the down-hills well to successfully hit my target and 2) that my nagging calves would hold up ok.
Being only my second Ragnar event and first as runner #1, it was exciting to toe the start line and represent us for the 'straight-up' start. Lots of nervous energy in the air, with about 30-40 runners in my wave with their accompanying vans there to cheer them on. We counted down from 10 and then team 'Spooning with Strangers' was on its way! To my amusement, I was briefly in the lead for about 5-10 seconds not even by my own design (gotta represent, right??), then pulled back on the reigns and let some other folks in front. I was pretty much expecting at least one person to take the 'hi mom!' approach and shoot out at mach-1 to take the early lead, but surprisingly nobody did and the very front was clumped together pretty nicely. I settled into about 7th and could see the leaders until just past half-way or so. About a mile in, I passed a guy and moved into 6th. I caught up to a woman in a bright pink shirt and ran neck and neck with her for a minute or two, then let her re-open a bit of a gap, as I was conscious about not getting too carried away with the early downhill and saving myself for later miles (not to mention later legs!). At about mile 2, I was passed by a different guy and dropped to 7th. Nonetheless, I still felt good and tried to stick to the plan.
I kept the woman to within about 100-200 yards (the bright pink shirt was easy to zero in on with the early morning light!), but wasn't really able to make much headway. Despite this, I was running quickly and comfortably. I purposely did not check my watch much during this leg, as I knew the splits wouldn't mean much, but could perceive that I was definitely on target. At about halfway, I reached the only uphill of the entire leg - a pesky thing of about 400 meters. Giving my lungs their first real workout, I powered up pretty aggressively, known that I'd have downhill the rest of the way to recover on. I had been enjoying the cool shade of the early morning hours at that point, but as if right on cue, the sun came out for the first time just as I began my ascent. This made things a little more challenging, but I was able to hold it together pretty well. At around 5 miles, my team's van passed by, honking wildly and menacingly brandishing a cowbell, and pulled into a turnout to hoot and holler some more. Their enthusiasm, complete with the obligatory 'NICE @SS!' from my wife, was a nice pick-me-up and helped me to bring it home.
I was breathing pretty well at this point, but my legs were definitely starting to feel the effort over the closing miles and I had to dig a little bit to close the pace. After blowing past the always wonderful "one mile to go" sign, I set my sights on trying to close the gap on the woman ahead of me. I ran a strong last mile and closed quite a bit of ground, but ultimately ran out of room, finishing ~15 seconds back. However, I was able to soul-crush my 55 minute target with a 51:54.
Splits: 6:51, 7:39, 7:40, 7:41 (included uphill), 7:33, 7:30, 7:05 Avg: 7:26 (aint downhill wonderful?)
And with that, it was off to the races and the ~36 hours of immature hilarity, sleep deprivation, odd fart/body odor hybrid smells, and general weirdness.
LEG 2 (3.9 miles) - 5:40pm
My biggest concern after the early downhill run + sitting around in a van was that my legs would be trashed for the next two. So as our van members completed their legs - ranging from 3.6 to 9.4 miles - I jumped out of the van as much as I could to stretch and attempt to loosen up. The calves were definitely sore at this point, but seemed to get better as the day went on.
After handing off to the next van, we drove ahead to exchange 12, where would pick things back up later that afternoon/evening. This exchange was conveniently located in a large shopping plaza with a Target that we were able to re-supply at. We also grabbed lunch at a counter service deli-type place, where I had some awesome pasta that must've included about a dozen meatballs.
The exchange area for this leg was a bit disorganized. There was a single narrow road leading into and out of the exchange that lead out about 400 meters to the main road. So you had both inbound and outbound runners sharing the same path, along with two-way traffic that had not been shut down. This is always a bit challenging, particularly during night hours, hence the strict race rules regarding night gear (headlamps and vests lighted on both sides). Being on the eastern edge of pacific time, it gets dark pretty early in Vegas. Thus it was already pitch black at ~5:40 when I took my next hand-off for the 3.9 mile leg. My target time for this leg was 34 minutes - a little bit slower than 10k pace at ~8:40 or so, but also taking into account it being my second leg and the substantial uphill in the second part.
This was a fairly busy stretch of road, which lead to multiple stop-light pauses (ragnar has strict rules about obeying traffic laws, threatening DQs on the spot to those who do not, so I found myself waiting patiently for the little white man quite a few times). As a result things became a bit bunched up and I joined up with a small pack of about 4 people for most of the first mile. It was nice to have the company for a little bit, as I worked on staying relaxed in anticipation of the hills. I pulled away from the pack just before the mile mark and was a bit surprised to see a first mile split of 7:43, but still felt good in both legs n' lungs, so I went with it. Another woman soon motored past me with relative ease, only to put the brakes on another quarter mile later, allowing me to motor right back past her just as quickly. Glad I could be used for somebody else's kill tally. I feel so exploited now!
With just under 400 feet of elevation gain in about 2.5 miles, these hills were pretty substantial, so I just worked on using my arms and moving forward. I was breathing harder at this point, but still able to keep a pretty good clip going. This would have been decidedly less fun at the 7000 ft. of thin Wyoming air that I was used to, so I was quite thankful for the extra oxygen. I passed a couple more people on this hilly stretch, one of whom screamed out - apparently startled by my ninja prowesses. I guess the shock of being passed in a race is pretty traumatic?
There was one more stoplight pause in this stretch, which I was admittedly somewhat relieved for. Then I had to briefly halt at a crosswalk for some traffic. Other than that, I was able to keep moving forward pretty well. The road flattened out slightly on the final stretch, and finally I saw the bobbing lights of teams gathered together and red glowsticks of race officials. I put in a good kick and was able to gun down two more people on this last stretch before handing off again.
Final splits: 7:43, 8:45, 9:07 (crosswalk stop), 8:39 pace (.9 miles)
With the exception of a crosswalk stop or two to let a couple cars pass, I paused my garmin at all traffic light stops, so my total running time was 33:26 for an 8:33 average pace, which still had me under my target, so I was quite pleased. It probably took me an additional 1:30-2 minutes with the traffic lights as well.
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