Running Ragnar!

The much anticipated Ragnar Relay in Las Vegas was this past weekend.  I'll do my best to give you the play by play of all the fabulous Ragnar madness. 
First off, a little background about what Ragnar is for those who have no idea (like I didn't 4 months ago).  Ragnar is a team relay.  Each team consists of 12 runners split up into 2 vans of 6.  Each runner does 3 legs of the race.  Ragnar Las Vegas covered 188 miles from Lake Mead to Las Vegas.  When you're not running, you're in your van supporting your runner with cheering or water or whatever they need. Sounds simple enough, right?  Yeah, that's what I thought.  =) 
The relay started on Friday.  We got down to Las Vegas on Thursday night around 8:00.  Nate dropped me off at the team dinner while he took the kids over to his parents house to get them all settled in.  It was a long drive down there with a couple of hours worth of construction delays so they were all pretty worn out.  
I didn't sleep well at all on Thursday night.  We got to bed late because after the dinner I still needed to pick up some last minute race essentials.  Nate and I got up bright and early (5AM) so he could take me to meet up with my team.  We loaded up the vans and headed to the starting line.  
The race started in the Valley of Fire area at Lake Mead.  Our start time was 9:00AM. For those that don't know, your team name, costumes, and van decorations are apparently a vital part of the Ragnar experience.  Our team name was "Horns & Halos".  One van was the "Horns" and one was the "Halos".  I was in the Halo van.  

Yes, our van actually had a halo on top of it.  Miraculously, it even survived the entire relay!

Do you just love the wings on the back?  We did lose one of those.  Our other van tried to save it, but it got run over by a truck before they could get to it. 

The Horns van.  I never did get an up close picture of the horns van.  This is the best I've got.  But they had actual devil horns attached to the top of it and a curly tail on the rear window.

The start line.

I was in runner #9 and was in Van #2, which means that we had a while to wait before our turn to run.  We met up with Van 1 at the start line to see them off and then the waiting began.  My van consisted of me, Erika (who actually used to live in our ward a couple years ago and served in the primary presidency with me), Mark (also in my ward and our team captain), Michelle (Mark's sister-in-law), Cassidy (Michelle's 16 year old daughter), and Nate (a Boston Marathon runner).  While we were waiting, Erika and I got an early lunch from the restaurant at the marina.  The poor place was swamped with all the Ragnar runners.  They only had 2 waitresses and 1 cash register.  We didn't mind waiting.  We definitely had some time to kill.  We didn't get our food for about an hour and a half.  It was nice to just sit and visit with Erika and catch up on each others lives.After we got our food, we headed back to the van and got ready to go to our exchange point to start our 1st leg of the relay.   

Every runner gets this temporary tattoo before the race.  I managed to apply mine with a wet napkin in the backseat of the van.  These things are durable!  After 3 runs, lots of sweat, and probably 4 or 5 showers, it's still on the back of my calf. 

Cassidy, Michelle, and Erika hanging out at the starting point. 

By the time we started running, the Nevada heat was in full swing.  The temperature quickly got up to about 90 and stayed there.  The first leg was brutal for all of us.  We quickly learned that the ratings given for each of the legs by the Ragnar organizers are worthless.  My first leg was 3.1 miles and was labeled easy.  Well, unless running uphill for 3.1 miles in 90 degree heat is your idea of a picnic......I'm just saying.  Pretty much everyone's legs were like this.  I think it was around 2:30 or 3:00 when I did my 1st leg.  I was dripping with sweat after about 30 seconds.  I don't usually like to carry a water bottle when I run, but I was really grateful when my van handed me one about a mile into my leg.  I was determined to run my entire leg even though nearly everyone was walking at least part of their first leg.  I managed to only walk for about one minute, then ran the rest.  Even some of the die-hard runners did some walking, which made me feel better.  Our van finished our first legs around 6:30-ish.  All these times are going to be very vague because everything really just ran all together and it's pretty much a blur.  

Erika decided to try running in her halo and wings that we had for our costumes.  A lot of the teams were running in crazy stuff.  We saw everything from tu-tus to bridal veils, aprons, and speedos.  Anyway, she lasted about a half mile or so.  The wings were really floppy, so we had her drop them at the side of the road and we crossed over and picked them up. 

Nate, the super runner, handing off to Erika.  Ragnar uses a slap bracelet as the "baton" for the relay. 

Mark, Cassidy, and Erika.  Cassidy was runner 12, the last runner.  We were waiting for Michelle, runner 11, to come in for the exchange.  Since Cassidy was starting around 5:30, she had to put on her full reflective gear and headlamp. 

Our van exchange was at the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort. The place was a madhouse!  When you have 400+ teams of 12 runners each, things get a bit crowded.  Finding parking was always a problem at every exchange point.  Ragnar had tents set up with gear, water, massages, food, etc.  Our teammates in Van 1 had been hanging out there for quite a while.  They even played in the pool and napped while we were running in the heat of the day.  My van decided to forgo all the "hype" at the exchange.  We were all starving and tired.  So we decided to head towards the next major exchange and find some food on the way.  We stopped at Rubio's Mexican Grill for dinner.  It was so nice and quiet and relaxed.  I scarfed down my delicious grilled chicken tacos, gave myself a baby-wipe bath, changed into clean clothes and then we were off.  
We headed to the Henderson Pavillion for our next van exchange.  The plan was to try to get a little sleep before our next leg.  Most of my van decided to sleep inside the van, but I ended up with my sleeping bag on the sidewalk.  I didn't get any sleep, but it was great to just stretch out and close my eyes for a while.  
Leg 2 was our night run.  I'd never run at night before, so I was a little nervous about it but it proved to be my favorite leg of the relay.  
I started my leg somewhere between 11:30 and midnight.  My leg was 4.2 uphill on a slow steady incline along the freeway frontage road.  It was nice and cool out, which was a welcome change from that afternoon.  I ran my entire leg.  I even had 4 kills.  A "kill" is when you pass another runner.  I wasn't expecting to get any at all because I'm a beginner and my pace isn't exactly fast.  But it felt really good to pass these guys, especially since every single one of them passed me first.  They all ran right by me within the first mile.  I just kept my pace nice and steady and eventually caught them all walking or barely running.  Then, at about the last 100 yards, one girl that had passed me and then I had passed her came up and passed me again.  I thought "Heck no!" and had  a sudden burst of energy.  I managed to sprint to the exchange and pass her up once again.  I don't think she was too happy with me. =)

I sure was happy though!  Here I am right after leg #2 in my vest and my headlamp. 

After we all finished our second legs, all we wanted to do was sleep.  The next major van exchange was #30, but we decided to stop at #27 where they had indoor sleeping and showers.  It was a small high school in the middle of nowhere Nevada.  Most of my van were already asleep when we got there, so they just stayed in the van.  I got out and took my sleeping bag and my clothes with me to find a place to sleep and maybe get a shower.  It was almost 4:00AM.  The wait for the showers was about 25 minutes and I was ready to collapse, so I opted for sleep first, shower later.  They had us sleeping in the gym.  It was nice and quiet in there and dark.  I found myself a little corner and laid out my sleeping bag.  I think I managed to get a little sleep, but not much.  Mostly I just laid there with my eyes closed. Sadly, I'm cursed with only being able to sleep well in my own bed.  And a gym floor is definitely not my own bed.  At 7:00 I got up and headed to the restroom.  No time for a shower and I'd left my baby wipes in the van.  So I did my best to clean up with paper towels and water.  I was none too happy to see that I had some lovely chaffing from my sports bra that had become really sore while I was resting.  Soon after that, we loaded up and headed to exchange 30 to meet van 1.  
This exchange was at a dirt pit.  We had to drive quite a ways on a dirt road to get there and I felt so bad for the runners who had to run this leg.  They had vans passing them constantly and kicking up the dirt in their faces.  
We started my van's 3rd leg sometime between 8:30 and 9:00, I think.  Nate was our first runner.  He had to do 10 miles. It was already getting hot out.  Most of his run was uphill and I was so impressed to see him run the entire thing and even pass something like 32 runners.  Well, most of the runners were walking a lot of this one.  Then Erika did her 3rd leg, which was all down hill.  After running mostly uphill so far, we thought that sounded nice.  But she soon found out that running 5.7 miles downhill is anything but easy.  
While Erika was running and we were headed to the next exchange, I got a phone call from Nate, my Nate.  He and the kids were at the next exchange waiting to cheer me on.  It was so great to see them.  As soon as I opened the door to the Jeep, Jayne said, "Mommy! We're here to scream at you for your race!" 

Me and Jayne before my last leg.

My last leg was 5.6 miles uphill yet again.  By the time I started, the temperature was already up to 90 degrees again.  There were no water stations along this leg, so my van planned to stop every mile or two and give me some water.  Nate and the kids decided to help out.  They took over cheering me on and giving me water so that my van could go ahead to the exchange and get parking.  It was so great to hear my kids cheering me on every mile or so and the ice water that Nate brought me was a life saver.  I managed to run the first 2.5 miles of my leg.  Then I was getting really light headed and sick to my stomach.  So I decided that it would be better to walk than to pass out along the side of the road.  I would walk a while, then run a while.  Then I ran the last mile into the exchange.  I don't feel bad at all about walking.  For most of this leg, everyone I could see ahead of me was walking at some point.  It was brutal!  

This is what my last leg looked like.  This part was relatively flat, just slightly inclined.  The biggest hill was right at the beginning. 

My darling kids in the Jeep to cheer on Mommy.

Nate took this less than flattering picture of me running my last quarter mile to the exchange. 

After I handed off the bracelet to Mark, my van drove me to Nate and the kids and gave me permission to go hang out with them and meet them at the finish line.  
 Nate had a big, ice cold diet coke waiting for me and a sweet card that the and the kids had gotten for me. Since the finish line was only about 3 miles from Nate's parents house, we headed there for a shower and some clean clothes.  Then Nate and I headed over to the finish line at Desert Breeze Park. 
There, I met up with my team.  We all put on our wings, halos, and horns and crossed the finish line together. 

Horns & Halos headed to the finish line.  You can't see me in this picture, but I promise I'm there. 

My medal.  I didn't even know I got one, but I totally earned it!=)

Miss Cassidy.  I have to tell you, this girl was amazing!  She was so sick for this relay.  She was congested and coughing and exhausted.  But she ran every single one of her legs like a pro! 

The whole Horns & Halos team.  

 So there you have it.  My Ragnar experience.  It was exhausting and hard.  I'm so glad that I did it!  When I started running in April of this year, I could barely go one mile.  And now, just 6 months later, I ran in a Ragnar Relay.  I've gotta say....It feels pretty darn good!