2013 Ragnar Relay Recap - Part 2

Read Part 1 here!

Where were we?  Oh yes, we were all geared up to start our second runs, all of which occurred through the night and into the very early morning. 

I was feeling pretty good going into the evening, my legs weren't super tired and I was fueling properly even though I wasn't hungry.  I honestly have no idea how it is possible, but I wasn't hungry for the entire relay and even for a couple days after...super super weird for me!  But I still ate a quinoa salad I brought for myself hours before my second run and then ate a snack about an hour before.  

Bethany started us off again and I prepared for my night run. The temps were MUCH cooler, cold even so I went with a short sleeve shirt for this run.  

RUN #2 - 10.65 MILES - 1:46:06, 9:58 PACE

I started run #2 run right around 8:30PM and since it was flat as a pancake my only goal was to not go too fast and remember that I still had 10+ miles to go and that would probably be on little to no sleep.  The road wound around the Skagit River and the shoulder was pretty much non-existent.  Luckily, I literally only say 3 cars come at me and just made sure to keep an eye on them and make sure they saw me too!

I'm not really afraid of running in the dark and actually kind of enjoyed it.  I ran past some alpacas and even some cows who were sleeping in their indoor enclosures for the night.  I heard a few things rustling in the bushes but nothing jumped out at me ;).  

Rocking the reflective gear!

These miles were really uneventful and I honestly don't even remember much about them even a few days later.  

An hour and 46 minutes later I handed off to Rebecca and was done! I was starting to get pretty sleepy at this point and vowed to try to put my legs up and close my eyes while Jessey was running.  Speaking of Jessey, she had an almost 17 mile run in the middle of the night...HARDCORE to the max!  Her stomach was upset, she fell in the beginning of the run and got hit on my drunk guys driving along her route...she definitely had the most eventful night run of all of us!

Jessey warmin up!

I let Bethany and Rebecca support Jessey and I tried to get some shuteye in the back seat. I didn't succeed very well but just putting my legs up and eyes closed for an hour revived me enough to survive my 3rd run.  It is seriously amazing how you can function on pure adrenaline from the excitement of being a part of this relay...a sentiment that would be 100% the case for my last run!

Jessey finished her 17 miles taking us into Anacortes and Rira and Robyn took us all the way to into Whidbey Island.  Robyn got to run over Deception Pass at sunrise...lucky gal!

Hey look, it's morning time! Rira handing off to Robyn.

MAJOR RELAY TIP: Considering this is my 5th Ragnar you think I would have realized this but it got COLD at night and we did not have enough layers.  I thought a long sleeve and jacket was enough...wrong. And since we knew we wouldn't be sleeping none of us brought blankets or sleeping bags.  Next time, I would bring blankets to wrap ourselves in outside the van or more layers.  It doesn't matter how hot it gets during the day in the Pacific Northwest, it most always cools off significantly at night.

Oh hey, we are almost done with 196 miles!  Next up - run #3 and the finish!