Ragnar: Hot Cops

Here is my team at 7:30 am on Friday.  We were just about to start our first runner and it was freezing!  Literally.  30 degrees.

I thought this was great.  I'd say we were ragnasty by the time the race was over.

All geared up for my first leg--8.5 miles averaging 8:30 miles.  Since I didn't really train I didn't set time goals so I was happy with that pace.  My only goal for this race was to finish my legs, which I did!  This leg had hills and I realized that if run this race again I will have to train for hills--they are hard!  (That's a big IF!)

Getting the "baton" for the first exchange.  It was a slap bracelet.  

Action shot

Water break minus the break.

Here's kinda how the race goes.  2 vans with 6 girls each.  The runners in van 1 run their first legs first. Then the runners in van 2 run their first legs.  While your van isn't running, you can eat or sleep.  Sleeping is hard to do.  After my van ran our first legs it was van 2's turn to run their second legs, and so on.  

Here we are at about 2:00 am.  Van 1 just finished their second legs and van 2, my van, was just about to start our second legs.  My van had gotten dinner and slept while van 1 ran their second legs.  We got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep that night before we were up to run again.  That was not the fun part of the experience.  

While my van's first runner ran her 2nd leg, we got word that one of the runners had been hit by a car and killed.  Everyone couldn't believe it.  We were so sad for him and his family.  We were confused as to what they were going to do about the race.  They had everyone stop where they were and wait while they decided. After 2 hours of waiting we were told they were going to continue the race, but not where everyone left off.  We were to go to the exchange to start van 1's third legs.  This meant that all but the first runner in my van (since she finished hers right after we got this news) weren't going to run our second legs.  I'll admit, I was relieved when I realized I wouldn't be running my leg in the dark!  I was totally scared of that.  But, I was bummed I wouldn't be running three legs.  Some of the girls in van 1 were sick and couldn't run so those of us who had to skip our second legs picked up their third legs.  So, instead of my 6.5 mile night run in the dark, I split a 4.2 mile uphill run and ran 2.2 miles of that.  

We did find out later that the runner who was hit did not die.  He was alive, but in the ICU.

Here I am running my last leg (3.4 miles) down in the valley.  Devin got to see me on this leg.  He was so sweet.  He was really looking forward to going to a gun show that day, but he came to watch me finish instead.  He kept driving past me and whistling at me and cheering me on.  

Coming in on my last leg!  I was glad to be done!  My knees were really hurting by then.

It was a fun experience and I'm glad I did it.  I don't anticipate doing it again because running in the dark is pretty much terrifying for me.  But, if I do, it would only be with girls that I know because with all the down time, it would have been much more fun with friends.  There were 3 other girls who didn't know the group so luckily we had each other.  

There were 350 teams.  These are some of my favorite team names:

"Haulin Asphalt"

"Scrambled Legs & Achin'"

"Gently Rolling Hills My A$$..."

"Knights of the Buffet Table"

"Ragnar, huh...welp, see ya later."

"6 Sweaty Chicks & Their Disco Sticks"  (I'm assuming this was a team made up of couples.)

"Bros and Hose"  (This was a team of firefighters we cheered for because we saw them a lot and were keeping pace with them.)

"9 Dudes and 6 Boobs"

"Hot and Sweaty Cact-Asses"

"High Speed Fartleks"  (Fartleks are a running training drill.)

"My Third Leg is the Hardest"