2013 Ragnar Relay Recap - Part 3

Catch up on part 1 and 2 ...

So, it's Saturday morning, team Six Pack With Racks is now on Whidbey Island and we all haven't slept one minute. It is about this time we all started getting a tad grumpy and didn't mind telling everyone about it.  At one point someone asked what was one word to describe the way you are feeling right now.  Rebecca proudly proclaimed "POOP"!  We all then determined that we all felt like poop, needed to poop and looked like poop...TMI? Sorry!

SSLLAAPPP, Robyn handing off to Bethany for her last run!

It did help that we all had one last run to complete and we snapped out of our poopy moods within a couple hours :).  Before Bethany took off on her last run she said the only support she wanted on her 6+ mile run was a hot Starbucks waiting for her a the exchange...done! It was almost run time for me but all I wanted was to eat everything at Starbucks.  I was starting to feel pretty bad to be honest...no sleep was making me feel kind of nauseous and making my stomach upset.  How I came up with the energy to run those last 10.5 miles I honestly have NO IDEA!


RUN #3 - 10.4 MILES - 1:38:28, 9:43 PACE <---out of body experience I tell ya!

Pre-run, can't keep eyes fully open!

Before this run I told my teammates the only support I wanted was photos during my runs since I didn't have many from the first two and they delivered.  I started off on my last 10.4 mile journey a little after 8:30AM.

10 seconds into my run, those arm warmers came off 30 seconds later

The first part of my run was super duper short...less than 2.5 miles so hearing everyone say "you're almost there", "this is the shortest leg ever" wasn't very encouraging considering I had another 8 mile leg to go.  We wound through some neighborhoods that were pretty hilly and I started getting in my groove.  Shockingly, I felt pretty darn good...legs weren't hurting yet and I didn't feel like passing out on the side of the road.

Eventually I made my way down to the water and got a glimpse of my first HILL...or mountain rather.  Leana from the Nuun team captured it all for your enjoyment...it was worse than it looks!

see below for steepness

I ran up the first chunk, then started power walking until another team was cheering me on so much I had no choice but to make them happy and run up the rest of it! I made up some serious time on the downhills and was ticking off the miles at a sub 10 minute pace...NOT a clue how I did that.

My team was at the top of that first mountain and when they asked how I felt I shouted (sarcastically) "THAT WAS FUN!" Jessey said "good, cause you get to do it again in a couple miles"...lovely!

Based on the sheer fact that I knew I would be done soon I powered up that last hill, running the whole thing, and pretty much sprinted downhill to the finish.  As I was running up that last hill I got this giant smile on my face thinking..."hey! look at me, I'm running up a giant hill and I already ran 30+ miles in the last 24 hours".  I couldn't help but be insanely proud of myself!

My hips hurt, my feet hurt, my ankles hurt and even my shoulders hurt.  I figured I had nothing to loose so I just ran as fast as I could to the finish knowing I could rest as long as I wanted after.  I passed a few people on the way down and finished with a sprint through the chute and a slap on the wrist to pass off the bracelet to Rebecca...DONEZO!

Joyce captured this awesome photos of my steps from the end which sums up the way I was feeling at that moment -SOO happy to almost be done! Thanks Joyce!

Yep...DONE!

P.S. In my delirious state of no sleep I wore pretty much brand new shoes and socks during that run...SO glad it didn't backfire on me, no blisters or major pain!

SUMMARY - In less than 24 hours I ran just over 33 miles in about 5 hours, 40 minutes!

We still had 4 runners to go until the finish line but the time passed pretty quick.  Still running on adrenaline and the excitement that we were doing so well and were going to finish strong for sure was all that kept all of us going!

Super runner Jessey had one last long run of a little over 12 miles and she finished strong.  There is absolutely NO way we could have run this relay without her endurance...runner 7/8 is the hardest at Northwest Passage as an ultra with over 38 total miles...most of which were hilly!

Jessey leaving for her last run!

Rira and Robyn rounded out our 6 pack and we all changed into our team shirts for some finish line celebrating!

Before Robyn's last run!! (Rira not pictured cause she was runnin) 

The finish line area is always one of my favorite parts of Ragnar.  Teams are all lined up along the sidewalk and they cheer loudly for every single team finishing. We saw Robyn coming up the sidewalk far away and started chanting "Robyn, Robyn, Robyn" and soon everyone on the sidewalk joined in.  We all joined her and crossed the finish line together and got a shout out from the Ragnar announcer for being an ultra team!

TEAM SIX PACK WITH RACKS FINISHES 196 MILES IN 31 HOURS, 10 MINUTES, 59 SECONDS! Good enough to get us 2nd place in the Women's Ultra division...we won't talk about how there were only 5 teams in the division ;)

We are highlighted...does that mean we get a prize? 

We all started to crash pretty hard immediately after the finish line and decided to hightail it out of there and get in the ferry line.  We waited an hour and a half to get on the ferry but it was worth it since we were able to get Dairy Queen while waiting.  We talked about ice cream and blizzards almost the entire relay so when we saw a DQ in the ferry line we were certain we were all hallucinating! 

The ride home was very uneventful and after dropping off the rental I went home, showered, and crashed hard!  

Of course everyone asks me if I would do an ultra Ragnar again and my answer even hours after doing the first one is "absolutely YES!"  I would say that our entire team was made up of pretty average runners who just happen to enjoy running long distances and are pretty good at it.  Also pretty sure none of us really trained differently from a regular race and relied on our past fitness to get us through...and it DID! 

If you are on the fence about doing a relay as an ultra...YOU CAN DO IT! The battle is almost entirely mental and being prepared to get absolutely no sleep for over 36 hours ;).  

Who wants to be on my team next year? ;)