Ragnar SoCal Part 2

So I left off with van 1 taking off for the second legs of the relay.

"Night hours" for this Ragnar were 6:30pm till 6:30am meaning anytime anyone was out of the van on the course during those hours we were required to wear a safety vest. The runner on the course also had to wear a headlamp and light on their back.

Thomas, Katie in a double leg (she and John had a leg swap), and Caitlin all did great. The course had been changed at the last minute so we would not be running through Camp Pendleton. It made for some interesting and congested exchange points. We also had to pick Katie up midway and drive to the next exchange which took us nearly hour to drive due to traffic. 

I was excited to take off on leg 17! I had 6.3 miles with a nice big hill towards the end. I had all the required gear and added glow stick necklaces and bracelets up my arms! That combined with my neon tutu and I was definitely going to be seen. 

I started out and it was going well. I was getting passed by some speedy runners on this leg including a guy running in nothing but a pink speedo! Turns out he was part of the winning team Pants Optional. I would have frozen my butt off in a speedo so I guess it as good for him he was running so fast and would finish way ahead of me.

The entire run the runner were really spaced out. A small cluster of people, usually about 3 would cluster up at the stop lights and then I would be left in the dust by the faster runners. About mile 3 my run started going downhill. We were getting into a much shadier area then I had expected. I had to pass under the overpasses for a major freeway alone and in the dark, I had people cat calling and yelling at me from vehicles as they passed (not the Ragnar people who were always encouraging as they passed you), and I had to run past some bars and drunks.

I wasn't comfortable during the end of the run. When I got to the hill I was having problems catching my breath and had to walk part of it when I knew I should have been ok running up it. I hit the "One Mile To Go" sign and was running again. I came into the exchange and handed off to Paige and she went off into the night. 

My teammates were congratulating me and all I wanted to do was get out of there. I don't scare easily and at that point I knew I was on the verge of tears. Everyone on the team was nothing but supportive, even when my initial reaction was to snap and withdraw. 

It's hard for me to write this. I don't think of myself as being someone who gets scared or unsure of them self. I was reassured that this is definitely not the norm for the night legs on Ragnar! Unfortunately the race as rerouted at the last minute and I do not think the race or race director realized where we were running could be problematic. I have faith that this shady area was the exception to the rule. 

I did learn a lot from this experience which I will take with me into my next Ragnar though!

We hit the next major exchange and Paige handed off to Dean as van 2 ran off into the night. 

Captain Awesome (aka John) being the Ragnar veteran that he is got us a hotel room near the midpoint of the run. Van 2 had checked in earlier and would be back following their second legs but while they were out running we had the luxury of showering (oh my god did that feel good!!) and catching a couple of hours of sleep. That shower and a couple of hours of sleep really helped me mentally and physically.

We were up and out of bed before the sun again to take on leg 3 of the race. I have to say the worst thing about the Ragnar setup is not being with all your teammates throughout the run! Van 2 was made up of Dean, Tay, Martha, Bonnie, Cat and Colleen. I just wish I would have been able to spend more time with them during the run as well!

At this point I was running on 2-3 hours of sleep and 12.7 miles in the last 24 hours. We were all running tired. 

Thomas (who ran 25.9 miles total!!) took off into the small hours of the morning to hand off to John who then had to start running his double leg up multiple flights of stairs! Dude killed it by the way! The rest of us had an awesome time being the worlds most supporting Ragnar van! We would leap frog John honking as we passed and stop about a quarter mile up the road, give high fives, make power tunnels and then hop back into the van to do it all again another 4 or 5 times. This was fueled by candy and lack of sleep and was an amazing time!

Finally we had to get to the next exchange and get Caitlin ready for the hand off. The sun was up but it was a chilly and wet morning. While waiting for John we had someone take what I think is one of the best pictures of the entire weekend. 

We were all huddled up trying to keep Caitlin (and ourselves) warm. Remember people, we had all finally meet in person less then 48 hours before! Something about Ragnar will bond you for life though. 

John cam in smiling from his coastal run and handed off to Caitlin who had the worlds most crazy hill on her leg!!! Seriously this was a hill that did not stop! She came running into the exchange smiling though and she handed off to me and I was on my way! 

My last leg was so good! It was primarily downhill and I love downhill running! I have found either you love to bomb the downhills or you don't. I love every quad crushing step of running downhill. I actually managed to get my fastest mile to date during leg 3 of a Ragnar! My new mile PR is 9:08! Keep in mind that my previous mile PR was 9:48. 

John is king of the running selfie and told us to make sure and take at least one selfie with a "One Mile To Go" sign during the race so I stopped by for photo op!

It's actually way harder to get a shot with the sign then I would have thought! Also, finally during leg 3 I found another runner my pace to run and chat with. She was running as part of an Ultra team of 6 runners and was really nice! 

When you are running into an exchange they get your teams bib number to announce at the exchange so your teammate can be ready to go. As I ran to the volunteers I yelled out our team number 145 and told them "Paige, our next runner is Paige!". They radioed in the number and name and then... I got stuck at a stop light! The exchange was so close and I was stuck at another stupid stop light!

Finally I got to hand off to Paige, they didn't call her name out after all but it would have been cool if they had. 

Ragnar will also make a hugger out of you!

Paige took off along the coast and began another crazy hill. We passed he on her way up and she was killing it and running strong! She is one bad mother runner! We got into the final major exchange and had a short time to hang out with van 2 before Paige ran up to hand off the Dean for the last time.

We were done running in van 1!

*********Leg 17 note*********

I have to re-emphasize that on leg 17 although I had a bad experience I do not think it was ever the intention of Ragnar to put us in positions that were less then desirable. I was not the only one to have a bad time through the Oceanside legs but I am sure that they will take this into consideration when planning for next year. I am also already planning to run another Ragnar and expecting a kick ass night leg