Ragnar Relay Del Sol: We Run Arizona

2 days. 197.6 miles. 6 people. How hard can it be?

What kind of sick joke is this, you ask? Well, it's called the Ragnar Relay, and last weekend 5 of my closest friends and I ran 197.6 miles over the course of 27 hours and change. Not that they were my closest friends before the weekend, but trust me. After 30+ hours together in a van without a shower? You get pretty close.

The weekend started early on Friday morning when we met at Run AZ in Gilbert, the host of our Ragnar Relay Team and the inspiration for our team name. We loaded our gear into the van provided by one of our team members and hit the road toward Wickenburg. With a brief stop in Peoria on the way to pick up our 6th runner, we made it to the start line with time to kill before our designated 11 am start time. We got checked in, went through the mandatory safety training, shared some home-made blueberry muffins and then got Runner #1 lined up ready to roll.

With Ragnar, there are a total of 36 legs of varying length. Each team has two options: 12 person team where each person runs 3 legs total with a total mileage of somewhere around 15 miles for the weekend. Or the ultimate challenge: the Ultra, a 6 person team where each runner tackles about 30 miles (some more than others). On an ultra team, a runner has 2 back to back legs, 3 times. We, of course, chose to be an ultra team. And it. was. awesome!!

I was Runner #2. So after the start, we made a quick stop in Wickenburg for breakfast (read: white toast with jelly since I would be running in less than 2 hours). I nervously bounced around the cafe not wanting to be late to the exchange while everyone else enjoyed eggs, toast, potatoes, etc. Finally, we were out the door and driving to the exchange point. I was ready to get started. My first leg was fairly easy. A flat 13.5 miles with a bit of a wind to add some challenge. I ran it just slower than an 8 minute per mile pace. The van stopped a couple of times along the way to cheer me on and boost my spirits. Before I knew it, I had passed the "slap-bracelet-baton" to the next runner.

Having learned from past Ragnar experiences, I took the time to stretch and change into dry clothes after my run. I ate a PB&J sandwich and drank some Cytomax (hello, crack!). (No, seriously, have you ever tried Cytomax? I highly, highly recommend it. Pure sugar high without the yucky mouth feel.) The miles seemed to fly by as we got closer and closer to sunset. We had one near miss at exchange #8. The road between 6 and 8 was terrible and we were driving so slowly due to all the potholes. Just as we pulled up to the exchange point, we saw our runner heading into the chute. We nearly threw Runner #5 out of the van. He had no time to even apply body glide before his 17.6 mile leg, the longest of the whole weekend.

At this point the sun had set and everyone was wearing headlamps and reflective vests. It was neat to watch the stream of runners line the highway in the dark. I was starting to get sleepy but knew I needed to stay awake till after my second leg. By about 9:30 pm I was at exchange #14 waiting to take the baton for round 2. My second leg was my toughest. It was 12 miles, uphill, with about a mile and half on a rocky trail, in the dark. Within a mile of starting the run, I hit the trail section. This part I really embraced. I can run trails, and I can run trails in the dark. So this was one little piece where I could lose myself in the moment and not think about running. I enjoyed it. Coming off the trail, back on surface streets was a little frustrating. The shoulder was not wide enough for me to safely run on with the oncoming traffic. So every time a car came, which was quite often, I had to jump off into the gravel which I hate running on. But I HTFU'd and kept it going. I managed to keep a 9:50 per mile pace for this entire leg. Not bad for my second half marathon in less than 10 hours. (And did I mention it was uphill?)

Again I stretched. Changed into dry clothes. This time it was 2 PB&J sandwiches and the rest of the Cytomax. Then on to a few other easily digestible snacks. I took a little catnap and tried to support my team at the exchange points. The night stretched on and we caught a lot of teams that had started earlier in the morning on Friday. We cheered on friends from other teams. By the time morning rolled around I was exhausted. Having been awake for roughly 24 hours, I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open and stole a few minutes of shut-eye whenever I could.

At about 7:50 am, I was hitting the road on my 3rd and final leg. 12 miles, down 9-Mile Hill and through Rio Verde. I had been looking forward to this leg all weekend. Down hill is my strength. It doesn't beat me up. My quads don't hurt. I just fly. And fly I did. After a 1 mile climb to the top of Dynamite, I began the 9-mile descent. I ticked off miles and picked off people left and right. I passed a total of 16 runners in this final segment. Roadkill as they are called in Ragnar. I thought once I came off the hill at mile 10, my pace would slow, but surprisingly it didn't. I ran 12 miles in 8:46 pace. I was shocked. My 3rd half marathon in less than 20 hours. I felt my strongest. I wasn't fatigued (other than sleepy).

My grand total for the weekend: 37.4 miles, 5:31:16, 8:51 minutes per mile average.

I was thrilled to be done. 'Again, stretched, changed clothes, at PB&J (my fourth sandwich!). At the next major exchange point I ate pancakes with syrup. I was happy as a clam. And now I was tired. While driving to the next exchange point, I feel asleep in the middle of reading directions to our driver. Literally. Gave one instruction. And before I could open my mouth to shout the next turn, I was asleep. I woke up a half mile later, just before we missed our turn! I slept in the van while driving the rest of the way and woke up some time later as we were waiting for the last exchange to happen. Then it was on to the finish line.

Our team ran across the finish around 2:30 pm on Saturday. 197.6 miles, 27 hours 38 minutes and 3 seconds. We averaged 8:24 per mile. Team We Run Arizona took first place in it's division. We placed top 5-6 among Ultra Teams, and were 44th overall out of over 300 teams. And we had a blast while doing it. Afterwards, I ate a Hawaiian Delight Pizza from Papa Murphy's and was asleep by 5 pm. After 16 hours of sleep I awoke refreshed, and ready to go for a run.