Wednesday, October 26, 2011

For those who AREN'T sick of hearing about the Ragnar yet...

This last weekend I ran the Las Vegas Ragnar with 11 of the coolest girls you'll ever meet. It was worth every second of early morning training and planning that went into making it happen. Truly one of the most challenging and fun things I've ever accomplished!!

I want to be able to remember so many of the details from this race, but I would have to write a book to get it all down. I'll just jot some of the highs and lows (because there were certainly both)


LOWS:
  • Getting only 1 hour of sleep from Friday morning at 4:30am until Sunday at 1:00am. This was the most uncomfortable hour of sleep in my life. In the driver's seat of a 15 passenger van. Steering while in my knees, and no room to stretch my feet through the gas and brake.
  • Aubry eating the asphalt/dirt/rock at the end of her 3rd leg. She was rocking it down the hill so fast and lost her footing at the exchange. She went down faster than anyone had a chance to figure out who it was. She sprained her ankle, got road rash up her leg, cut open her elbow, and ripped open her awesome zebra pants.
  • Eating dinner at the Cheesecake factory between runs #2 and #3. Why is this a low, you ask? I ordered my absolute favorite meal (Shrimp Franschese) and didn't get to enjoy one second of it because it was taking every thing I had to sit up at the table. It's not fair to not be able to appreciate a meal like that!
  • Getting lost as the driver when we got on the freeway going the wrong directions for 20-ish miles trying to get to the next major exchange.
  • My 3rd leg. 6.4 miles on a "dirt" road. It was more like a gravel/dirt/rock road. My headlamp was going out and it was pitch black (about 3 or 4am). Twisted my ankle more times than I was able to keep track. When vans drove by in the dirt, it was like running through thick fog and the dying headlamp didn't help. I ended up mooching light off of a fellow runner as I ran next to him for the last mile or two.



HIGHS:
  • Spending time and laughing with 11 of the most amazing girls I've ever met. You would think that a 5-6 hour drive to Vegas and back with 12 girls in one van would equal disaster, right? Not even! We had a great time and even cried together (happy tears)!
  • Getting up at 4:30am to drive to the starting line with my van. We got to cheer on Lauren as she started the whole adventure out for our team. I got a little choked up!
  • Running through the finish line with Sarah (our final runner) on the very last leg of the whole 188 miles. Our team met up with her for the last couple hundred yards and we all ran in together. Again...choked up (what a baby!?).
  • My 1st Leg. 7.4 miles in blistering miserable heat with 1 unmanned water station. The hills were killer and it was still the best 7.4 mile run I've ever had. I felt strong and pumped up! Loved it!!! PR 8:18 average.
  • Getting all gussied up for a night on the strip in Vegas. We all showered and got cleaned up at Planet Hollywood, then walked to dinner at Serendipity. Bit of a mistake though because we ended up as 12 hobbling girls trying to get up and down the stairs and the Strip. We called it good after dinner and hung out in the hotel instead. :)
  • Ragnar Amnesia. I'm pretty sure I heard at least half of the girls (myself included) say we would never do this again. Who's idea was this anyway? On the drive home, we are all figuring out when we can plan our next Ragnar. It was that amazing.


A few of my favorite pics:



3 comments:

theniufamily said...

I love all the pictures! Hopefully I can be there next year!

Mike and Alecia said...

Such a cute post. I need to get mine done before I forget things. What a crazy, fun weekend! Thanks again for getting all of us to do it!! Your the best!

Brandis said...

Yep, I'm insanely jealous and definitely want in on a future ragnar.