Taper Madness

Unusual extra energy. Somehow still tired. Lots of time to waste. No more wasting time. Resting up. Kicking butt in gear.

Feeding Frenzy!

To round out my trio of races is the Ragnar DC Relay: 12 people, 198 miles from Cumberland, MD to Washington DC. Straight. Overnight. FUN! So the story starts when I asked around to find a skydiving buddy, and my roommate countered with the offer to run Ragnar with his team. I couldn't say no :)

Ragnar Relay: Washington DC
Cumberland, MD to Washington DC
FRI/SAT September 23-24

He was the only one of the other eleven that I knew, and I was in Van 1 with five other girls - wasn't sure if that would be good or bad, haha. We met down in DC last Thursday night for a "team dinner" of sorts in DC's Chinatown. It was a place called Vapiano, and it was an interesting setup - you swipe your card that they give you and runs you a tab. Then you pay on your way out. Anyway, good food and I got to meet the rest of the team. I stayed over at a teammate's house because 5am comes nice and early.

Our wave started at 11am, so we left with enough time to get us there by 9am. Stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts on the way - their hash browns were not good. We got there, checked in, went through the safety instructions and then we decorated the van! I should clarify here that our "vans" were really SUVs, but I'm going to call them vans anyway. Our team name was "Feeding Frenzy" so we kind of had the whole shark/Jaws theme. We had dorsal fins and teeth. It was awesome.

I was our second runner, so my first one was Leg 2 from Rocky Gap (where the start was - Leg 1 just circled the lake) to Flintstone. It was raining lightly and was basically 2 miles up and 4 miles down (6.3 total). Managed to run it at a 7:08 pace - good start. Then it was time to cheer on the rest of the team for a while. Legs 3, 4 and 5 were especially hilly, and 4 & 5 were on the gravel/dirt roads that had since become mud. That made running and driving on them very difficult. In fact, they ended up having to cancel Legs 4 & 5 for teams after us at some point because vans were getting stuck! Hooray 4-wheel drive! Props to Laura, Amelia and Sarah who championed through those legs. Laura even got a belt-buckle for conquering the toughest leg on the course - pretty cool.

Finishing up Leg #2

At Exchange 6 we handed off to Van 2, who got to sleep in a little, and headed over to Exchange 12 for some food and rest. Exchange 12 was at a local high school, so they had spots to sleep inside, food at the cafeteria and showers for $1. I chose not to shower and just cleaned up. We had a good meal including spaghetti, apple sauce and cake! Didn't really sleep due to the noise and hard ground, but I wasn't all that tired yet either. We learned at the exchange that Van 2 had downloaded the Jaws theme and were circling other vans in the parking lots :)

My second leg (Leg 14) came around 11pm. The night legs were interesting because of the dense fog and rural areas - made it a little creepy! I tend to run a little bit faster in the dark, and that was no different. I averaged 6:32 for 4.6 miles. We met Van 2 at the creamery (Exchange 24). Who doesn't love a breakfast sandwich from a creamery at 3:30am? Mmmmm, bacon... and tasty chocolate milk!

I started to get a little tired toward the end of my van's legs, so it was a good thing we decided to split a hotel room for...a few hours...haha (checked in at 5am, left around 7:30ish). Nice hot shower, nice quiet power nap on a bed... refreshed me enough for the next day, but my stomach didn't seem too happy before my last leg.

 I used the disgusting port-a-potties at Exchange 24 before my last leg (Leg 26) around 8:45am. My stomach actually settled down during the run and my legs responded better than I could have asked for. The annoying thing was the red light RIGHT before my finish! GAH! So weird stopping at a red light during a race... 4.35 miles (book said 4.2) at 6:44 pace. It was sure nice to be done! The last leg was easiest to cheer since you get to tell them they're almost done :)

We handed off to Van 2 at Exchange 30 (after we found out we had gone to 31...haha) and headed to the finish line to await the team. We explored a little, had a snack, and watched other teams come into the finish. Our team came in after about 29 hours, 18 minutes of running - placing 78th of 261 teams and 24th of 115 teams in our category (open mixed). Go Feeding Frenzy!

Overall, it was a great experience and a lot of fun. After my sister did Hood to Coast a few years back, I've kind of wanted to do a relay like this, so I guess thanks to my ex-roommate for inviting me to the team! Looking forward to doing another one. Learned a few things and what to bring next time. I want to do Wasatch Back Ragnar at some point. Legs surprised me (yay). I need to sleep a lot afterwards though, as I got sick this week!

Ole!