Wasatch Back Ragnar 2011

What am amazing time!  That is an endurance test!  You're awake for over 36 hours in a van - and you are expected to run three times.  Three challenging times.  When you're done you're sore from head to toe and physically & mentally exhausted.  Yet you're strangely excited to do it again because it was so much fun!   The thing that I love so much, as Nancy pointed out, is that we are all running the same race yet it's an individual experience for everyone.   Each leg is so diverse.  And beautiful!  And a different challenge completely.

What I want to know is why are my arms sore?  I get why my legs, back and even my hands hurt (story below) but my arms? 

What I need to remember for next time (yes you read me right):

Dramamine (I had no idea I could get that car sick)
Pepto (remember the car sick?)
Bring my salt pills & other fueling items such as my shot blocks
Get good sleep the week BEFORE the race (no need to start in a deficit)
AND don't stress!!!

So let's start at the beginning...

Ragnar is a relay race series covering about 200 miles.  It is broken up into 36 "legs" and 12 people run it in a team - taking turns on the legs.  (Or 6 if you're really really really crazy).   You split up into two vans so you really only get to spend "quality" time with 5 of them.  Plus if you're really lucky, a 7th person who is your dedicated (and much loved) driver.

Here's the official explanation from their website: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/about

The one I participated in is the Wasatch Back Relay.  191.7 miles.  (I think it was a few miles longer because they made some last minute course changes.)  Starts in Logan, UT and ends in Park City, UT.  I was runner #12 so that means I ran legs 12, 24 & 36.   Yup, I finished it!   I was in Van 2.

My adventure started on Friday morning while 6 of my friends (and THEIR amazing driver) started the race off in Logan at 6:30 a.m. on Friday, 6/17.   I woke up in my own bed that morning which was the main perk of being Van 2 (haha).  After a terrible and anticipatory night of "sleep" of course.  I was picked up at my house by Kelvin at 8:30 a.m.  (Along with Mina who was dropped off at my house.)  And then we drove up to Syracuse to meet our van (which was aaaamazing by the way....so much room!  Thank you!!), our driver (Trent) and two more team mates (Nancy & Carrie).  After that we sped on up to Eden to pick up our last (but not least!) teammate, Leah.

Then after that it was a quick trip to our first exhange in Eden - #6 - to wait for Van 1 to show.  Of course, based off of my bad reading comprehension skills, we went to the wrong park (exhange #7) which was on one end of Eden.  When we finally found exchange #6 (thanks to the better navigation & reading skills of Kelvin & Trent), we started the "Hurry up and Wait" part of Ragnar.  Which should be the official name.

Something terrible I did to myself - somewhere around leg 7 or 8 I came down with a migraine - the visual aura part & head pain.  Seriously.  No, I didn't tell anyone.  I didn't want to worry anybody or give them stress.  I took some ibuprofen & acetaminophen and closed my eyes.  This is why I said above "don't stress!".    I know that stress (and don't forget just THINKING I'm going to get a migraine) is my biggest trigger.  It all went away by leg 10 which is a good thing seeing as I was running soon!

My first leg -- #12.  I can't figure out which leg was hardest for me.  But I'm pretty sure this was the one.  4.7 miles.   I "ran" up the very steep road to Snow Basin.  It also had a terrible headwind.  It's hard to run up a steep hill with the wind pushing you backwards.  It was gorgeous though!  I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to mess with that, but I really did have time to look at the view.  I had to walk quite a bit of the first three miles.  Nothing wrong with that!  I'd run for a few minutes, then walk, etc.  My asthma was horrible and completely unimpressed with the steep hill.  There was one little part that Mina showed up and walked up with me.  It was too steep to run.  She's awesome!

And, omg, I think I had a cold the whole race.  I was thinking it was just allergies but my lungs had (and still have) so much crap in them.  After my first leg I was downing Robitussin the rest of the race (and cough drops).  I'm soooo glad I thought to bring some with me as a "just in case" measure.  And I'm really sorry to my van-mates for the hacking and possible germ spreading I did. 

When I was running through the finish line, both Van 1 and 2 were there to cheer me on.  And of course the wonderfully sarcastic Clint Luft (van 1) yelled at me "only 1 more mile!"   I promptly gave him the bird and continued to run (with laughter from the crowd in the background) to pass the slap bracelet off to Terra Luft.  :)  Clint is lucky I love his wife.  Otherwise I'd be kicking him....  hahaha  ;O)

After that we had a few hours to break at a high school where we ate a great dinner of chicken, pasta salad (I made it and it was the yum), bagels and PB&J sandwiches.  It started to get dark & really cold which made us all a little apprehensive of our night time runs.   Yup, van 2 gets the wonderful opportunity of running all night long.  Van 1 had to attempt to sleep and be bored all night in a van.  Not sure which was worse. 

But thankfully even though it was cold, it wasn't bad.  The weather was nice!  In fact it was nice the entire race.  Unlike right now as I type this where it is windy, raining & hailing outside my window.  Wow we were lucky.  My tomato & basil plants are not.

My next leg started at about 6:30 in the morning.  #24.   At this point I was feeling really sleep deprived and sick.  When I am really tired I get sick to my stomach.  I was weak and not fully with it.  A big part of this was most likely because I was not fueling correctly and I wasn't getting enough electrolytes.  It was 6.9 miles.   I was doing really well the first part of it but then at about mile 4 I hit a wall.  Or bonked.  Whatever you want to call it, I did it.   But first, at about mile 3 I got a rock in my shoe so I was moving over to the left to take it out.  I was concentrating on what was directly in front of me so I didn't notice until just before it was too late that there was a rotting deer carcass.  I had to do a little leap over one of the legs.  It was stinky but not too bad.  It had been there a while.  That woke me up!!!  haha   But not for long.

After I hit that wall, I started to get a little side tracked and had a hard time concentrating on where I was and what I was doing.  Then the bad happened.  The road I was running on in Oakley wasn't well taken care of.  Lots of rocks and cracked pavement.  At around mile 5 I looked away from the road and my right foot hit a divit in the pavement.  My ankle twisted and I fell on my knees and hands and actually skid a bit because I was running downhill at the time (oh how I love you gravity).  #1) I'm so glad I was wearing gloves & long pants and #2) I am also glad I didn't sprain or break anything.  I jumped up as a van stopped to see if I was okay.  I just started walking (and limping) quickly forward and they drove off.  But at this point both palms of my hands were killing me (left more than the right) and my right knee was banged up pretty bad.  I tried to run again and it hurt. 

I was really upset and emotional so I started to cry a bit.  This was a "no van support" leg which means my van-mates weren't there to support me at all.  So I was lonely, really needed someone to cheer me on to give me energy and in pain.  I tell you -- none of my legs were van supported and I felt that.  It is really hard to run without people there ringing the cow bells and cheering for you.  When I got to an aid-station I stopped and drank some Powerade.   They asked if I was okay...well gee, I was limping and crying!  haha  I just nodded my head, stopped crying and finished my leg.  I actually did run some of the last part.  The Powerade kicked in and my head cleared a bit.  So I ran into the finish line with as much energy (and no limping) as I could!   After that, I lifted my pant leg to see the damage and told my wonderful nurse, Mina who took great care of me!

Now for the best part of Van 2.  Oh and of course Mina.  One of her students lives in Heber.  And well, Heber just happened to be where our next set of legs would be starting!  So Cam (I think that's how she spells it) let us go to her house for a few hours!   I took a shower and cleaned off my knee.  Mina bandaged me up.  I then tried to take a nap but just couldn't fall asleep.  I kept thinking about when we needed to be at the next exchange and was too wired.  Plus I was really hungry and feeling yucky. 

I ended up getting up and Cam let me have a couple of bowls of cereal for breakfast. Oh yummy!  I am a cereal fan.  Happy happy!   This all gave me much more energy and positive brain power.  Then we found out that our schedule was off by almost three hours.  Van 2 had a couple of injuries.  It was late handing off to them by about 1.5 hours but it was lengthened a bit.   When I heard that my body finally allowed me to sleep.  Kinda.  haha  I dozed off and on but mostly just laid there and relaxed.  It was so refreshing.

So THANK YOU CAM!  Really....she is a jewel and a savior. 

Back on the road for our final set of legs.  Van 1 was completely finished so all they had to do was wait for us at Park City High School.  That couldn't have been fun!  All I had to do was be supportive to my van-mates and do my final leg.  But I was really stressed and car sick!  I didn't get it at first...all morning I'd been feeling sick in the van.  But I thought it was just sleep deprivation and lack of proper fuel.   But no, motion sickness!  I felt great out of the van.  Oh and guess what else I did to myself!??  I was so nervous about running on my knee that I got ANOTHER migraine!   Gah!  This was visual and sensory.  Which means I got the aura, then the numbness.  My left hand and side of my face went numb. Then the pain.  But thankfully neither migraine I got this weekend was too bad.  I took more pain pills and just sat in the back of the van, miserable.  I didn't mention it until Leah saw me playing with my hand so I told her.  

I honestly didn't want to complain the whole damn time!   I had my asthma, lung congestion, migraines, exhaustion, car sickness, knee injury, etc.  I mean really!!   I was a mess!   I hate being a whiner and a downer.  *sigh*  I did my best to be positive and cheerful the whole race but I didn't succeed  Oh well, the only thing I can hope for is that I stayed mostly good.  Which I think I did. 

Anyway, migraine #2 went away.  But car sickness didn't.  lol  But that last set of legs were actually really fun!  And beautiful.   Leah was sick too but did her leg anyway (and did a great job!)   Honestly I already knew she was awesome.  So my opinion of her didn't have room to go up.  What happened was my opinion was solidified and re-enforced.  I'm so glad I talked her into coming with us.

Oh the beautiful is that we went through Heber, Midway and then up Wasatch Mountain State Park - aka Ragnar Hill.  Then down to Park City.   And wow....the view on the mountain was spectacular!   Kelvin & Mina split Ragnar Hill and did a great job!   They were both so positive and really pushed through it.   We called Mina our little billy goat.  haha  Carrie took us down that mountain and then I picked up my third, and last leg.  #36.

6.9 miles down and up rocky, uneven and gravelly trails through the hills of Park City.  When I saw my first "drop" I about cried.  There was no running through that part!   It was a rutted trail that was very steep that lasted about 1 to 1.5 miles.  I slid, cursed and laughed the whole way down.  Then I was on a fairly level trail for another two miles.  But after that it was up up up a trail until I had about 1.25 miles to go.   I was actually impressed with myself.  I ran up quite a bit of it.  But my knee hurt on the up-hill.   I felt fine going down.   It didn't hurt the whole time though - just would get a sharp pain every little bit which would make me walk.  It was getting cloudy and looked like rain but it didn't.  It was, however, very windy.   It's hard to go up a steep hill with a headwind.  Did I mention that?   Oh but that last 1.25 miles was awesome!   haha  Downhill and fast.  ;O)   And right after the "Only One Mile To go" marker, Mina showed up and ran with me.  That was great of her!   Did I also mention she's awesome?  I was so alone the whole time.   (And damn, I didn't take my mace....I was on this path by myself for a big chunk of it....)  The whole thing took me 1 hour 47 minutes, but was wonderful.   I'm so glad I did it.

Then at the very end, at Park City High School, my fellow runners (minus two who went home...hmph!) were there.  We all ran around the track together....albeit a little slow because poor Terra hurt her foot.  :(   Plus I was quite done.   But we did it together!   Terra said to a person who handed us our window stickers "Where's the medals?"  hahaha   We had our picture taken and they gave us pizza.  lol  I was pretty bitchy at this point and it was pepperoni.  Yuck.  So I picked that crap off and ate my cheese pizza.  haha  It was delicious. 

38 hours...yes we were slow.  No we didn't win.  But damn it!  We finished.  And that's all that matters.   So in a way, we did win.

Terra gave us our shirts, we all hugged and then that was it!  Took the long drive to Syracuse to pick up Kelvin's car and then Kelvin drove me home.  I dropped all of my crap off near the door, ate some pancakes (haha Josh had some leftovers) and crashed!  I slept for 11 hours.  11 beautiful hours. 

So today I'm sore.  My legs hurt because of the running - especially my right knee.  My back hurts from the van.  My hands hurt because I fell on them and bruised them.  But my arms?  Ya, explain that one to me.

Why do I want to do it again????   hahahaha  To know that I can push my body to its limit and succeed.  I didn't give up even though I had reasons to.  I finished.  It is a huge accomplishment.  I learned a lot too!  Now I want to do Vegas Ragnar in October.  And I'm going to be an early sign up for Wasatch Back next year too!

RUN PIGGIES RUN!!!