Ragnar Relay – I still don’t like running

The Ragnar is a 200 mile relay consisting of 12 teammates in 2 vans. It starts at 5:45am on Friday and ends about 4:30pm on Saturday. Each team member runs 3 legs, each leg is about 12 hours apart. One van is on duty, picking up and dropping off 6 runners, while the other van is off duty catching some rest.

http://www.ragnarrelay.com
http://www.ragnarrelay.com/public/race_documents/1328554357-racebible2.6.12.pdf

I was really nervous about this event. I agreed to join the team because the challenge sounded fun, and I wanted the badge of saying I ran in the Ragnar.   By my standards I’m in really good shape right now so I felt like I should take advantage of this opportunity. But the reality is I’m not really a runner and I’ve never liked distance running.

I was surprised that 2 of the key members of the team also say they don’t like  running, yet they consider themselves distance runners. I can’t bring myself to say that yet, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was a strong member of our team, so maybe I can’t deny it.  Prior to this event I can only count 2 times in my life when I had ever run more than 5 miles: one was the Super Spartan 2 weeks ago (8 miles), and one was last Tuesday (8 miles) in preparation for this event. I did not train for this event.

On the Ragnar I had three runs: 5.5, 5.7, and 7.4. By my standards, I totally kicked butt. I wasn’t so much worried about the distances, I was worried about doing all 3 runs in basically 24 hours, but did I say I kicked butt? It wasn’t easy, but I was looking for a challenge! I muscled through it, I brought it, I dug deep. Sweet!

Unfortunately I don’t have any good pictures to show. Nobody was taking pictures really and most of the event for me was in the dark, which is a good thing, I prefer to run in cool air. So please allow me to describe to you what the event was like in words.

2/24

1:00am – wake up, drive to carpool location

4:45am – arrive at Ragnar starting point, Wickenburg, AZ (register, safety bringing, equipment check, etc…)

5:45am – Race begins with Runner 1, Van 1

7:00am – Time for me to run. The waiting was the hardest part. Not only did I have to get up at 1am, but earlier that night and the night before, 2/23, I was not sleeping well. I was nervous and anxious, unsure what I was getting in to, feeling guilty about leaving the family for another selfish adventure, this time for much longer. To make it worse, our team had a bad hand off. After a runner starts, the van drives ahead about 2 miles. For most people on our team, you can plan on 10 minutes a mile. So you wait till the runner catches up, give him some encouragement, ask him if he needs anything, and then move ahead again. Well, on the first run we didn’t keep track of the miles well. It happened that the place we stopped to provide support to the runner was just around the corner from the hand off location. So we pulled ahead and I jumped out, but I wasn’t ready to run yet. I threw on my reflector vest, head lamp, tail lamp, and ran down to the hand off point, but our runner had already arrived and was waiting on us. This was kind of embarrassing so I took off running. I was already anxious with anticipation, so rather than running my distance pace, I hit the gate running. I usually run with a heart rate between 156 and 165 beats per minute, ~10 minute miles. But it seemed like I could not slow down enough to get my heart rate below 174. To make matters worse, I spent most of the race running with a girl who was pushing me, and I didn’t want to lose to a girl! I finished the 5.5 miles with a pace of about 7:45 miles! Unfortunately, she did beat me but I had 3 “kills” (passed 3 people) and ran a heck of a leg. The sun come up over the desert hills while I was running. I tried to enjoy the experience, but cactus really aren’t that pretty and the sunrise gives way to sunny pretty quickly. Plus I tend to be a heads down runner.

8am to 12:30pm – Ride in the van and support the other 4 runners. 2 miles, stop, wait, 2 miles stop, wait, 2 miles stop, wait. Get out, wait for the runner to arrive at the hand off, cheer for the hand off, 2 miles, stop, wait. Now of course, when you’ve just run a hard run, the last thing you should do is sit in a crowded van for 4.5 hours, your muscles get tight quickly. Our team of six was squeezed into a mini van. Each person had 1 or 2 bags, multiple pairs of shoes, pillows, snacks, the van was full. And not only that but people are trying to do things. Ward rope adjustments, eat, sleep, get ready for their run, in and out to support runners, the van was in a constant state of clutter. Your legs cramp, you get stiff, you can’t sleep beyond a 5 minute nod-off. And during the day the sun is on you. Thankfully we have air conditioning, but the sun is still on you and the air is still dry. And it’s not just you, but hundreds of vans are on the same desert trail with dirt parking lots and shoulders. The dust in the air and the constant exposure to the elements gets to you. And during the runs you’re taking large breaths for long periods of time. By the end of the event everyone was starting to develop a cough and my contacts were driving me crazy even though I gave them a break over night.

12:30pm –  Our van finishes our first legs, time for a break. Super Salad never tasted so good. Quick stay in a hotel to get showered off and short nap. Remember that travel times from the race to civilization is an important time factor.

4:30pm  – Van 2 is nearing the end of their leg, time to get back in the van.

7:50pm  – Time to run again. This time the runners are dispersed enough that I’m practically running by myself. I only saw 2 people in the entire 5.7 miles. 1 kill. It was really nice because I was able to run my own race, I kept my heart rate under control and had a nice run. Running under the stars was nice. I rehearsed some bible verses and prayed for my family. It was nice, and I still ended up running 9:20 miles, that’s a great pace for me.

2/25

1am? – Van 1 finished our 2nd leg. Although we still have the hotel room back in Phoenix, we decide time is better spent getting a solid meal and resting at the next van exchange than driving to and from the hotel. Although we had a good lunch and have been eating lots of snacks, this 2am meal of real food was critical. Snacks and supplements can only take you so far. Not getting a good night sleep the night before is starting to take a toll too. We get to the next van exchange and pass out in the van.

6am – Time to run again. Not easy to wake up, wait in line for the port-a-potty, get dressed, and get stretched when it is cold outside. Worst of all, this is the hardest run for me. 7.4 miles, the last 4 of those miles are up hill, non stop, 412 ft elevation gain. This is what the whole race came down to for me, could I spank this leg or would it spank me? I may not be a runner, but I really think my P-90X/Insanity training helped me on this leg. The uphill work really works on your legs, I dropped my stride into low gear, about half the length of my normal stride, but I just kept pushing. I played games with myself. I would say, when you reach 30 minutes, you can walk for a while. You went that long, how about 5 more? How about you stop at the next stop light? Do 4 bible verses then you can take a break. Ultimately I decided to change my goal. Previously I wasn’t opposed to taking walking breaks, but after I head already run the previous two legs and more than half of this leg without walking, I decided I wanted the bragging rights of saying “I did the Ragnar without walking”. I spanked it. I ran it non-stop, no walking, with a 10 minute mile average, and I had 9 kills! I felt I was able to pass 9 people primarily because of my leg strength (and possibly cardio). I breathed through it, pushing out the pain on the exhale. When I finally got the last 50 yards, the last 50 yards of the whole race for me, I kicked it in. There was one person ahead of me nearing the finish line and I wanted one last kill. I ran it in with a sprint to be proud of.

12:30pm – Van 1 is done entirely. Time to get some lunch, hamburger and onion rings are on the order. After lunch we head to the finish line and wait for van 2 show up.

5:30pm – The last runner of van 2 approaches the finish line and we run it in together to get our medals.

6:30pm – home again, home again. Couldn’t stay awake much past 8pm.

In total I had 13 kills. I’m sure I got passed at least that many times, but that really isn’t that surprising considering that the faster people start later than the slower people. The start times are distributed such that the slower teams start earlier, and the faster teams start later. The intent is to have all of the teams finish within the same window of time to make the end a party and to minimize disruption to the town of Tempe.

The time in the van turned out to be a bigger challenge than I thought. I like to say that the Ragnar is essentially a 3/4 marathon with 1 big obstacle, the van. It just isn’t friendly to the body run a race, sit in the van for 5 hours, wait somewhere another 6 hours while the other van is running, then run again. Ragnar has a shirt that says “run, eat, sleep?, repeat”. Very appropriate. I got about 3 hours of sleep from 2/24 1am to 2/25 6:30pm, and during that time ran nearly 19 miles. Many marathon runners will avoid the Ragnar with a 10 ft pole because of the start and stop, 36 hour, endurance nature of the event.

But I did it and made some new friends. I consider myself lucky to have been added to a team of Christians, and we had some good discussions. I also consider myself blessed that I didn’t get any blisters, and my joints don’t have any pain! Praise God for the healing he did in my knees! Minor muscle soreness, as you would expect, but I played volleyball on Monday without much difficulty.

Thanks for your prayers, whoop!

Nate

Here’s some pictures from van 2:
 https://picasaweb.google.com/103377561994691169170/RagnarDelSol?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOuxhbv-5vSEoQE&feat=directlink