What could be more fun than 12 Strangers packed in 2 vans for 26 1/2 hours and collectively running 187 miles?
Kym and I arrived back in Seattle from Mexico around midnight Thursday and slept almost 4 hours before meeting the team at 6:00am. We split up our supplies, took inventory of our safety gear, said a corny improvised team cheer, and headed north. I went in van 1 to Blaine, Kym headed to a friends house in Anacortes to get some sleep near her volunteer location and van 2 went to a teammates house near the first major exchange to bake cookies and watch Ferris Bueler's Day Off while van 1 worked our way back down south to the first major exchange. I was runner position one and the first leg was awesome! There was lots of energy and excitement at the start so I took off a little faster than I intended (7's vs 7:30's), but it seemed really easy after running in that thick Mexican humidity for a week so I just went with it. There was about a dozen runners in the 10:00am start group and I stayed toward the front with two other runners most of the way. In the last mile I passed one of them, but couldn't catch the leader.
10:00am First leg(1) 6.2 Hard:
Distance Split pace
1.00 7:06
2.00 6:44
3.00 6:42
4.00 6:55
5.00 7:01
6.00 6:41
6.24 7:06
After my first leg I was struck by a serious case of Moctezuma's Revenge so I didn't get any sleep at the first major exchange point. I was sure I would end up living out my worst nightmare on this next leg. I was so worried that I forgot to start my garmin until I was about a 1/2 mile in. Fortunately, I was able to hold it together and I covered a "moderate" 4.4 miles with 4 kills and no spills!
8:00pm Second leg(13) 4.4 Moderate:
Distance Split pace
1.00 6:45
2.00 6:40
3.00 7:13
4.00 6:41
4.14 7:10
I got about 2 hours sleep at the next major exchange point and felt pretty good about my last "very hard" leg. This was actually my favorite part of the race. The moonlight over Skagit Bay made for an amazingly scenic view during miles 4 through 7. I should have been running with my camera! The last mile of this leg was a long unforgiving hill that almost made me forget about that view and I was sooo glad to be finished!
4:00am Third leg(25) 7.8 Very hard:
Distance Split pace
1.00 8:30
2.00 7:28
3.00 7:30
4.00 7:07
5.00 7:15
6.00 7:15
7.00 7:23
7.83 8:39
At the end we all ran across the finish line together and got a great picture of us climbing all over the Ragnar van. There were so many good times, jokes and team building moments on this trip that I want to write about, but I am just too tired right now. I'll just say that I had so much fun on this adventure that I will be doing it again for sure.
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