For those of you unfamiliar with Ragnar Relay, it's about a 200 mile relay race from Cumberland, MD to DC which is run by teams of 12 individuals split in to two vans. While one van's runners run their legs, the other van is "off" and free to sightsee, eat, or (more likely) sleep. The team runs from Friday morning to Saturday afternoon, with runners completing legs during Friday night and early morning Saturday.
When I signed up for Ragnar I only knew four people on my team. We had a few happy hours to allow everyone to get to know each other, most of which I couldn't make. When we drove up to Cumberland on Thursday night I knew two people in my van and had met another girl once. I was extremely lucky - everyone in my van was drama-free and super-awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to run through the night and hang out in a smelly van with.
Van 2 after finishing our first set of legs
As we were Van 2, we got to sleep in on Friday morning while Van 1 started the race. They were troopers as our first runner took off at 5:30AM! We had a chance to check out Cumberland and go shopping at Roses. The best way I can explain that store is that it was a predecessor to KMart and WalMart. We walked out of there with some pretty awesome gear - neon knit hats and headbands with fascinators for all of the girls.
After our shopping trip we headed to transition 6 to go through a safety gear check and safety lecture and wait for van 1's last runner, Brian, to arrive. Soon enough we saw Brian and it was time for our first runner, Amy, to take off!
Photo courtesy of the ever-fabulous EmGusk
It was a beautiful, sunny day and we were excited to cheer our, and other teams', runners on. As our runners wound their way through the course we were able to pull over at random spots and cheer them on. A few more of our runners took their turns, then it was my turn to start my first leg. 8 of the 9.5 miles of my leg were on trails, which were beautiful but quiet.
After I finished, we had one more runner go before handing things off to Van 1!
Bill transitioning to Van 1 - courtesy of EmGusk
Shortly after Bill finished, we saw something truly inspiring - a veteran who had lost his leg finishing up his first leg of the race, which was well over 7 miles. Everyone at the transition cheered him in to finish. It was a truly touching moment and, unsurprisingly, all the girls on our tear were moved to tears.
After taking a few minutes to socialize with our teammates in Van 1, we headed to the hotel to shower, nap, and get something to eat before our night legs started.
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