Ragnar Relay DC - Last Legs and the Finish

A shower, nap, and a change of clothes worked wonders.  I woke up on Saturday morning excited and ready to run.  Unfortunately, my left IT band didn't feel the same way.

Everyone seemed in better spirits than the night before as we headed to Chevy Chase to meet van 1.  We snapped a quick van photo before Amy took off to run her final leg.

Photo courtesy of EmGusk

Almost everyone's last legs were relatively short, so we didn't have much time between transitions.  We did manage to get some quality stretching in as we waited for our runners.  Below is a new IT band stretch Bill showed me.

Photo c/o EmGusk

Sally's last leg was by far the longest and involved a massive hill, so we found a good spot to pull over and cheer her on at the top of the hill.  We were all exhausted and a little loopy, so it's entirely possible some strange things happened with the safety flags...

Another quality photo courtesy of Miss EmGusk

After a short wait we saw Sally cresting the hill looking like a CHAMP with her fiancé at her side.  Guys, this is what love and support looks like.

Yep, this photo is EmGusk's as well

After a few more runners it was time for my last leg.  I thought it would be a fast, flat almost 4 miles, but was surprised to see rolling hills.  At least I had some nice views of the Potomac.  What you can't see is the intense heat and humidity - it was an abnormally warm day for late fall!

After I transitioned to Bill we headed to National Harbor to finish the race.  The parking situation was such a mess that he ended up beating us there!  Luckily, they had a staging area for us to meet up at so we could cross the finish line as a team.  We all made sure to wear our team shirts.

Finishing as a team, courtesy of EmGusk

Once we finished, it was time for some team photos and much-deserved pizza and beer.

With our medals! Photo courtesy of EmGusk

After we finished eating and drinking we went our separate ways - it looked like a storm was rolling in and we were all ready to go home, shower, and sleep.

I had a great time running Ragnar Relay DC with team Your Pace or Mine? and would definitely do it again!

Ragnar Relay DC - Nighttime Legs

Miss the first legs?  Click here.

After some "real" food, a shower, and a quick nap everyone felt much better and ready to take on their night legs.  It was an incredibly dark night, which made taking photos pretty much impossible.

The nighttime transitions were a lot of fun - the volunteers got really in to things blasting upbeat music and having plenty of fun glow accessories around.  It was a real treat to see my friend Mike working at one of the nighttime transitions.  We got to catch up while my team waited for our runner to come in.

Soon enough it was time for my night leg.  It started out on a quiet country road, which I really enjoyed because I could look up and see the stars.  I thought I would be in for a nice run until about a mile in when I turned on to a road that quickly headed in to thick woods, turned in to dirt, and headed up a mountain.

The next 7 or so miles were pretty terrifying.  There were multi-mile stretches where I did not see another runner or van and ran in pitch black silence (the trees blocked the moon and stars from view).  Then, suddenly, clusters of vans would drive up, kicking up dirt and forcing me off the narrow road in to a ditch.  It was creepy at best and incredibly unsafe at worst.

Luckily, the last mile of my leg was on another country road.  I was happy to see the stars again and to have a shoulder, and sometimes a sidewalk, to run on.  I finished up far faster than I said I would (I ran a few 8:17 miles!) and got to the transition before our next runner was ready.  That gave me an opportunity to cool down before jumping in the van.

After our van finished our night legs we had another opportunity to head back to the hotel, shower, and sleep for a few hours before starting our third legs.  At this point I'd covered almost 19 miles and my left IT band was really bothering me.  I was ready for a nice, hot shower and a soft, fluffy bed.

Ragnar Relay DC - First Legs

Last weekend I ran Ragnar Relay DC.  It was exhausting, a little scary at times, and a lot of fun.

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.

The last half mile of my leg went by Fort Frederick.

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.