The Story of Ragnar

Well, I guess the most important part of this story is...We survived! Yay! Kinsey and I were part of a 12 woman team that ran "across Florida"...literally. The race started in Tarpon springs (close to Clearwater) and ended in Daytona Beach. 32 hours, 203 miles to be exact. Each of us taking 3 legs of the race. Kinsey ran 5 miles, 6.7 miles, and 6.4 miles. I ran 8 miles, 4 miles, and 3 miles. I was so worried about this race for quite a few reasons, the top reason being some of the health issues I am dealing with and pain I experience when I run, so I am writing this post with much gratitude. Gratitude that the race is behind me! So hard, so challenging, so exhausting (mentally and physically), but also an amazing experience. Way to go CHICKS THAT RACE (CTR).

Some of my "misconceptions" about the Ragnar Relay (the way I pictured it in my head VS. the way it really was):

1. We will be running on nice rural roads, not much traffic, very safe. WRONG. (Many times we were running on 4 lane roads,...tons of traffic...many times without even much of a shoulder to run on...against traffic...many times through construction...very vulnerable to be squished by a car).

2. There will be no fear of getting lost. We just follow the other runners on the road with us. We will never feel alone. WRONG. ( The hundred teams started runners all different times of the day, from 7 am to 2 pm. We were all very spread out. Most of the time I did my runs without seeing many other runners. Maybe just a couple. I felt VERY ALONE).

3. Since we have such long runs, I am sure there will be water stations along the way with cheering volunteers. WRONG. (No water stations or cheering volunteers. Volunteers were just at the exchanges, and our own team had to be our own water stations, which usually worked out pretty well).

4. I'm sure I will get a good amount of sleep. I can sleep anywhere...even in a car. WRONG! (Usually I really can sleep anywhere. But no...not this time. For some reason, I didn't get much sleep at all. Maybe just the anxiety of the race. We had a hotel the night before the race, and I didn't even sleep then. Rested, but awake, too keyed up all night. We had another hotel for a short nap...again couldn't sleep...tried to sleep in the car...think i got about a total of one hour. Wow...48 hours on this entire adventure...and one hour of sleep. NOT ADVISABLE!)

5. My night run will be totally safe. Well lit...lots of volunteers cheering me along...other runners...my car following along. WRONG! (Pretty sure my night run was the most dangerous thing I have done in a long time. Ended up being on a dark dark trail through the woods that we lovingly called "the dark abyss". My Van could not follow. Pitch black. No moon. 4:00 a.m. No cheering volunteers or bright signs. Three of the 4 miles I was totally alone. Only saw two other runners, and one scary man out on his own 4 a.m. run. Weird. Even ran past some abandoned warehouses...seriously thought I was endangering my life. Yikes. Luckily, Kinsey's dark run (which was at 7:30 p.m) was on a road, so her vehicle could follow her. Whew! )

6.Florida has no hills. My course map shows hills...but they can't be that bad. Right? WRONG. (HUGE HILLS DURING MY 8 MILE RUN. CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY. My course map was absolutely right)

7. There will not be much STRESS on the race. We will just get out and run our legs and cheer each other on. Maybe read a book in between. WRONG!!! (There was stress, though it was not horrible. I just didn't realize how much effort it would be to be in the car, navigate to the next exchange, stopping along the way to give water and cheer the runner, plus make sure the next girl is ready to run...making sure we are hydrated and have something to eat...and maybe make potty or gasoline breaks during that time. Nothing we couldn't handle...but different than I pictured).

So as you can see, the race was a little different than I expected, but also a really GREAT experience. I just never imagined all the little things that went into it. But Kinsey and I also have so many amazing and funny memories. I love the girls that I ran with and it was good for us to do this together. Just one of those things where you have to be very allowing of different kinds of personalities...which some people were better at than others...but it all ended well. I have so much pain when I run these days, and so this race was a true accomplishment for me. It was so hard...but I made it. Kinsey on the other hand was the "Rock Star" of her car and did such a great job...with no aches or pains or ailments like the rest of us. Everyone loved her.

We had two vehicles. 6 girls each. This was my "van" as we called it. We were van #2, which meant that we had runners 7-12. And somehow, got the really horrible times to run (either the heat of the afternoon, or the middle of the night...fun). The night before the race, we decorated our car, put our team name out there for everyone to see (on the other side of the car), and then headed to the gulf coast of Florida to spend the night before the race.

I have to say...Van #2 had the most AMAZING CONTRAPTION. A shower! Can you believe it? Beckie Lowes neighbor heard about our race, heard Beckie talking about how we wouldn't have many places to shower or change...and he then built this amazing shower on the back of the suburban. It had a pump and turned on with a switch of a button. It even had a circular shower curtain that we would hook to it for showers or for a changing room. This contraption got SO MUCH ATTENTION from the other runners. Everyone wanted to take a picture. Too bad it broke down half way through the race, but we still used it for a changing station.



This is our course Overview. The first map is the entire course. The second map is my personal first run. My 8 mile hilly stretch.

I had to include this to show the elevation scale at the bottom. When I found out I was going to have to do 8 miles for my first run, I seriously almost had to drop out because of the pain I am having in my legs. I had originally had five miles for the first run, then it got changed to 3, then up to 8 (they kept changing the course because of construction). So not only did I have such a long run, but the hills were the worst. The Florida I know is flat...so I just didn't want to believe the chart...but it was just as bad as it looked.

Here we are, ready to get Van #1 started on their runs. Their first runner started at 7:30

Awww. Cute Kinsey. She filled in for this race at the last minute for Carmen who hurt her knee (we missed you Carmen) and so she was in a different vehicle than me...thus different running group than me. So we really were not together that much during the race...but it ended up being such a great thing. When Kinsey is with me, she tends to lapse into the Mother-daughter thing where she kind of just takes the back seat and does her own thing. She is quieter than me, and she lets me do all the talking. But I truly think she bonded with the ladies in her van. She got to be herself and she was always cheerful and smiling...and wanting to hug me (wow), every time she saw me. It looked like she had so much fun.

Kinsey got her first leg out of the way early. She was runner number two so she ran around 8:30 a.m. I think her first run was 5 miles or so. I didn't get to see her, but she would always text me and tell me how her run went. She did great. She said her runs were easy and fast. Hey...I guess all the cross country training in 96 degree heat is really paying off.

Okay, I just had to tell about the picture below. Our van finally started our running around noon. At this point, (waiting for our first runner to come in) we were waiting at an exchange to cheer our runner in, and send another out. All of a sudden, we see this guy walking towards our shower...and without even a glance around, he just turns it on and starts using it. Even sprays water down his pants (which I think I caught on film). We were standing there with our mouths wide open. Could not believe it. Funny memory for sure.

Below...The exchange. The baton (or bracelet) would just slap onto your wrist. This is Jessica coming in, and Andrea going out.

Jessica enjoying the shower at our second exchange. Gotta love it.

One last "Happy Pose" before the pain begins. I may look smiley, but I have to say that I had not been that nervous in a long time. My 8 mile hilly run was coming up in moments, and I was just picturing how bad it was going to be. Cute Brittany kept telling me that I should chant "I control my body...it does not control me". Normally I totally agree, but lately, this pain in my legs when I run... totally controls me. I was just picturing myself having to walk the whole 8 miles. Yikes.

Since my run started at 4:30, I had to wear the protective running gear because it would get dark at the end of my run. Vest, head lamp, and rear light. Running with all this extra stuff did not please me. I was nervous enough as it was and didn't realize I would have to wear it for the first run. Looking back I realize how dangerous the traffic was, how small the shoulders were, and how the drivers were probably blinded to me at dusk...I am glad I had the gear. And I did end the run in the dark.

Below is me on about mile 1.5 of my race. This is my first hill...and believe it or not...this was the easiest hill. As I topped this hill, I could see a huge hill ahead of me. As I topped it...I see three more gigantic hill rising before me...like a giant roller coaster. I'm not being dramatic. This Florida girl has not run hills like this...the whole time I have lived here. It was quite the scary task, but I truly believe I was granted a little miracle on this run . The pain that I normally feel lately when I run, mysteriously was not bothering me. The run was still hard, I was not super fast, but my legs did not seize up. AMAZING! I was praying and praying...and the prayer was answered.

FINISHED! Yipee!!! It was so hard, but so much better than I thought it would be. It was the most amazing feeling to know that I did something that my body just doesn't want to do right now. What a blessing and miracle. And yes...I RAN up all the hills except the very last one.

After all our runners finished up our first distances of the race, we chatting with van #1 for a bit as they were sending out their first runner. Kinsey was ready to go for her second leg as she is their runner number 2. They had rested at the exchange and tried to get some sleep laying on the grass. We were SO happy to be done and headed toward a hotel.

On the way to the hotel, we grabbed some real food at Panera Bread. I was so exhausted, tired, hungry, and cold by then, that I almost wanted to cry. I don't think soup and sandwich has ever tasted that good before. At the hotel, a few of us still needed to shower, and then we only had about two more hours before we had to leave for our next exchange. Everyone went right to sleep, and I pretty must just layed there. So annoying that I couldn't sleep. Apparently the alarm did not go off, and we woke to Kinsey's call saying that they were almost done (and that she had run 6.7 miles in 60 minutes and felt GREAT...oh the glory of youth). I have never seen so many ladies hop out of bed and into the car so fast. We started our night runs at MIDNIGHT. Seriously...how did we pick these times to run?
The night runs were SO SCARY. I was worried that we would be tired, but not so. We were so anxious about navigating in the dark, making it to the next exchange before the runner finished, and running on dark scary paths, that the fatigue did not register. I started my night run at about 3:30 a.m. I have to say it was scary in a whole different way than my long run. I was scared for my LIFE. These trails were so dark. Like running into a pitch black abyss of darkness. I don't even run alone on wooded paths during the day. We should have brought a "support" person to bike along with us at night. I was all for it, and John even offered, but as a whole, the girls decided against that...in the name of "girl power" or something like that. In retrospect...WE SHOULD OF HAD A BIKER. 4 miles of dark scary trail. ALONE. I only saw two other runners way ahead, and then they were gone. Misty and foggy to add to the effect. Seriously thought something or someone was going to jump out at me the whole time. Prayed a lot!!!! Plus...my legs went back to my old pattern of PAIN and seizing up, so it was a hard run. I think Andrea did about 6 on a dark trail. Brittany did 9 on a dark trail. Even men were coming off those runs saying it was the "freakiest" thing they have done.

This picture below is Sara right before her run into the DARK ABYSS. This is what each trail looked like as we began.

We lived...ran all night...and Van # 1 was waiting at the exchange to start their last runs at 6:30 a.m.

We headed to the next big exchange...where we would meet the last runner of van #1. We had about five more hours until our first runner, Jessica, began her last leg, and we were going to try to get some sleep. Josh Elledge was at the exchange as a volunteer. He and his crew were in costume and would welcome each runner with an "AARRGGH". Gotta love it.

Sleeping bodies everywhere

We had a tarp...and sleeping bags...and room in the car. But again, I couldn't sleep. Heck, only 9 hours to kill before I run again. Who needs sleep? But I did get a fun phone call from my sister Brenda at this exchange. Made my whole day. Texting was also a fun way to pass the time and feel connected to family or friends. And some of the girls would update Facebook as we proceeded through.

Noon-ish...Van #1 is finished. NO FAIR. Seeing their happy faces and knowing that our van would be running and following and cheering for the next 7 hours...was almost too much to handle. This last day...or afternoon to be exact, was where the fatigue and the hunger and the stress set in. Following runners on the endless road of heat. We should have eaten another real meal. We were mostly living off of power bars, shock blocks, and junk. We should have had more sleep. Blah blah blah blah.

My last leg of the race started about 4:15. It began here at the Cabbage Patch biker bar. Earlier in the day we saw about 200 bikers pass us...maybe they had been here. John and the kids drove up to meet me and cheer me on for my last leg (sweet). John had also driven out to see Kinsey run that morning at 8. He is a good Dad.

My run should have been a piece of cake, but it was SO HARD. My legs hurt so much and I was just physically and mentally exhausted by then...and needed some food. Poor Brittany and Sara that ran 6 and 7 mile stretches to finish the race after me.

We all ran across the finish line with Sara. We were AT THE BEACH in Daytona. On the board walk, but it was too dark to take in the full effect of the ocean. It was so cute to see Sara's husband and kids meet her and run the last bit with her. By this time...we were all so exhausted, and we just wanted to GO HOME. So proud of us all...quite the journey! Learned many things, had some really fun moments, and achieved something that I didn't think I could do right now...plus...got to share it with my daughter. So neat...but please don't say the word RAGNAR for a while. This chick wants a break from racing.