RAGNAR relay Fri/Sat:
A very close friend of mine asked me and my wife to join her Ragnar team a few weeks ago because they had a few team members drop out. She has helped crew me for my Wasatch 100 runs, so I was happy to return the favor and help her team. A few days before the run she called to let me know that one of the guys in our van was having some medical issues and wanted to see if I could pick up some of his miles. Sounds good to me, sign me up for all of them, so I was runner #1 and #6 in Van #1.
By time we got together as a team on Thursday, had dinner, decorated the van and checked into the hotel it was 11:00 pm and by time I fell asleep it was after midnight. 3:00 am wakeup and I started running at 5:15. The first leg is just under 8 miles and were listed as 'very hard' in the Ragnar guid. I wanted to run conservatively because I was going to do close to 40 miles, but it is very hard to take off the gas when people are passing you. I settled into about 6th place in our pack of about 80 and just went with what felt good. We ran from the University up to the BST and that was one of my favorite sections. I passed a few people on the trails and my legs felt fantastic, so I opened it up and cruised that section well. I did my best to hold back, but still ran a lot faster than I normally would for an ultra.
My next section was 7 miles. Half of the run was on a dusty dirt road. I was following my wife who did the previous 8 miles all uphill on a dusty mountain road. She killed it and I was so proud of her. It was the toughest run for our van during the whole race and she was awesome. The dust was just horrible with all of the van traffic and because it was so crowded we couldn't get to her until about two miles in. I jumped out to give her some water and ran with her for about a mile. She actually beat our van to the exchange and I got out and ran up to meet her because we were stuck in a line of vans. There were too many people on the course in my opinion and there were a few instances where we couldn't get to an exchange before the runner.
I noticed immediately that my legs were stiff and sore from sitting in the van and my left knee was hurting in the same place that it did after the Buffalo 100. I wasn't happy about that and ended up just sucking it up and running with knee pain the rest of the time. At times it was very painful, but when I would get into a groove it seemed to be a bit less sharp. It started getting really hot on this section and I was happy to get it done. After that run we had a break while van #2 took over and we ate and took a brief nap in a park before meeting up at Snow Basin ski resort where I would be running a tough 8.2 mile leg.
My knee was bothering me a lot on the next section, but after about two miles it warmed up and I felt a lot better. This was the toughest section for me and I tried to run on the side of the road in the dirt where it was possible. The last few miles I really picked up the pace and pushed it strong to the exchange.
The next several hours were not all that fun. My legs got stiff from all of the sitting in the van, I was starving and got tired of eating snacks. I needed some real food. We lost a runner for over an hour that got out of the van at one of the exchanges. We were all tired and super grumpy and ended up at South Summit (I think) high school where we crashed on the floor for 3 hours to try and sleep. People were very loud and not very considerate and none of us slept well at all. We were up at 5:00 am and I was the first runner for our van in the morning. Without any real food for breakfast I ate a banana, granola bar and choked down two gels. It was freezing when I started my leg and my legs were so stiff, but I worked out the kinks and actually enjoyed the leg. After I finished I had some real food at a school (I can't remember which one). I had pancakes, eggs and sausage and that helped put me in a better mood.
My last leg was an easy 2.1 miles. I felt ok the first half, but when I got my groove I pushed it strong all the way to the finish and had a sub 6 pace for the final 1/4 of a mile. I finished that leg with a 7 min average and my legs felt fresh after 30+ miles and I felt like I could have kept on going, but I was happy to be done.
Overall it was a really good experience. There is a lot to dislike about Ragnar, but there is also a lot to like. There are way too many teams and the exchanges were a mess and there were rarely enough POPs. I really didn't like the sleep deprivation and all the time spent cramped in a van. That said we had some fun people on our team and I really enjoyed a lot of it, but there is a lot of sitting around and waiting and that did get old. The best part was watching my wife crush it on her runs and run farther than she ever had before in a single day (12 miles). I also enjoyed the scenery and for the most part really liked the legs I ran. I'm not sure if I will ever do it again, but I think it is a good event that gets a lot of people out running and that is a good thing.
A few pics: My wife and I at the finish:
My van:
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