An Ironman Cooks!: Non-Cooking: Ragnar Relay!

Two weekends ago, I participated in a 12 person, 200 mile relay with several of my coworkers (both ones I knew and new ones I met). It was SO MUCH FUN! Basically, the idea is you are on a team with 11 other people and the teams are split into two large vans. One person from the team is running at all times and you trade off every 3-10 miles for a total of 36 legs (I had a total of 13.8 miles scheduled). When the people in the one van are running/supporting the runner, the other van is "off" and tries to get a bit of shut eye and/or sustenance. We started at 10:30am on Friday in Cumberland, MD (hello Mountains!) and ended at 3:30pm on Saturday at National Harbor. I had been asked to do it several times but have always said no, mainly for a combination of not fitting into my training/recovery schedule and not fitting into my preferred bedtime of 9pm (slight exaggeration). This year, however, is my in between Ironman year so I thought, why the heck not?!

The journey began Thursday afternoon. I was in the first van, which mean we had to head up Thursday to be able to make the 10:30am start on Friday up in Cumberland. The morning was super stressful because I worked from home (contractor visit) and then headed to work only to get there, say hello to my boss, and then realize my computer was on my couch at home. Luckily I was able to let the work stress melt away as I met my teammates (only 2 of whom I knew and not extremely well) and we made the two hour drive to our hotel in Hagerstown. There were two company sponsored teams, so both Van 1's went to Walmart to get supplies and then headed to a delicious German place for dinner. I was starving & inhaled my food, but in between breaths I got to know everyone. My company has some awesome people!

Carb loading for the race

The other van decorated itself. Ours was probably the least decorated of all 400ish teams.

Round 1

Friday morning we headed to the race start. The first 6 legs were definitely the toughest as we were in the mountains. Our team had "Wonder Woman" as our lead runner and she started us off strong. I was the second runner on the team. My first leg was 6ish miles, the first two or so of which climbed up a mountain pass, then the last four or so descended the mountain. During the climb, I just put my head down & got it done, passing several people along the way! Several of these people then passed me on the downhill, partly because I was holding back slightly (there were still more legs to go!) and partly because I was stopping to take a million pictures of the beautiful scenery. It was so much prettier than the view of the office!

The third leg was the TOUGHEST leg of all of Ragnar. It was 8ish miles and predominately uphill. When I say uphill, I mean UPhill. I swear the average grade must have been 10% at least, the second half of which was on a dirt path that was super dusty. At the end of the leg, all of the runners got a belt buckle to signal their success & badassness. Next year, I am coming for that buckle! (Proving once again an Ironman = masochist).

The rest of the legs were equally tough climbing wise, just slightly shorter. We finished our first round around 3:30 and handed the reigns over to the other team. We grabbed some lunch/dinner & headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest. Our next leg was supposed to start around 9/10pm.

Wonder Woman and the rest of the team are excited to start the day

Our fearless driver

That is one way to identify the vans. People went ALL OUT with decorations (except us).

Grabbing our safety vests/lights for check in

Van 1 is ready!

These two work at one of the hotels & are AWESOME. I would love to work with them.

The first runners for both teams talk strategy.

Go Wonder Woman! Also, check out the scenic start.

Motivation

There was quite a bit of waiting around over the course of 30 hours

Taking that mountain! Although the pic calls into question my running form...

Awesome scenic view

So happy to not be in the office!

I don't hate this view

More hanging out

Recovery massage is key!

The belt buckle winner!

Still going

Done!

Thank goodness!

OUCH. His IT band did not recover all weekend & I have several similar photos.

Exchange 5

Oh yeah, this guy was on our team. And ran like that all legs. We may not have decorated our vans but we did our people!

Round 2:

Unfortunately, I failed to get any sleep before we met up with the other van to take over around 9:45pm. Surprisingly, I held up really well! I even drove the van for a few miles at 2am. My second leg was supposed to be 4.5 miles. However, Jared (the leg 3 runner) was not sure if he would be able to run due to his IT band issues (not to mention the GIANT blisters he got). I was really enjoying myself & itching to run more, so I decided I would keep running with him & take over if necessary. In total, I ran 9.3 miles at 11pm (pushing my total to 18ish for the weekend)! My leg was great because I just reminisced about my Ironman and was just so grateful to be able to run. I have so many friends right now who can't due to injury/illness so I am making sure to enjoy it while I can. The second leg was great because Jared and I got to know each other. Typical man, he ran the entire leg (Motrin works wonders at hiding pain) when he probably should have just rested (as evidenced by his taking Monday off to go to the Doctor). We ended our round around 2:30am at a creamery that stayed open all night for us. YUM! Jared bit the bullet & drove us the hour back to our next pit stop where I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep before meeting up with the second van around 8am.

I was a little premature with my safety gear

They look awake

Being a corporate sponsored team with access to cheap hotel rooms, we did not partake in the usual Ragnar sleeping arrangements (a bit of a bummer from the "experience" wise aspect but I will take sleep!)

Waiting for the other team

Still waiting

Supporting our runner

Creamery

Round 3

After not enough sleep, we met up with our second van at 8:30am at exchange 24. Our awesome team volunteer Winnie was there as well! The other team went to the wrong exchange - the look on their runner's face when she was informed that after nearly 10 miles at 7am she had to keep going cannot be accurately described with words! Poor girl. Luckily she is hard core! The last round was relatively uneventful and short. I only had to run 2.8 miles. Once we handed off to the second team, we had to hustle to national harbor. Due to the Government Shutdown, the final van had three of their 6 legs eliminated & only had about 10 miles to run (with some driving in between).

We got to National Harbor ready to meet our team to run through the finish line together & celebrate and then proceeded to lock our keys in the van. FAIL. Sadly, this was the second time in three weeks that had happened to me during/after a run. Luckily, one of the girls on the other team called AAA for us since her team had finished. Once again, I was reminded how incredible my coworkers are as she told us she would take care of that while we took care of finishing the race. After the race, both teams met up at a bar adjacent to the finish and celebrated. We hung out for a few hours while 1) waiting for AAA and 2) waiting for a volunteer to bring Jared's cell phone (which he had left at another exchange). Lack of sleep did not treat us well!

Overall, I had an amazing experience & cannot wait to do it again! I might even be tempted to do the ultra relay - one van, 6 runners, same distance (totaling ~30ish miles per runner). Anyone interested in joining me?