Van pickup was on Thursday at lunch. After the snafu with the passenger van reservation.....we were dreading having to use smaller vehicles. But we ended up with a suburban and one passenger van. I am so so glad we got at least one, since Van 1 had a driver and there ended up being 7 in that one. We would not have fit in the Yukon with all our stuff. The folks in Van 2 barely fit and they had to take turns driving, which was rough.
To get up to the start, one van left in the mid afternoon, and the other one left after the Bremerton folks came over on the ferry. And it took them forever to get up north as there was wicked traffic. I went up on Van 1 since I took the day off. The Girl was a stowaway in the burban, since I had to get her up there anyway to hang out with my sister while I was racing. We met up downtown near the ferry and loaded up--but first had to do a little decorating....
Ragnar or bust!
We got up to my brothers house about 4pm, unloaded all our stuff and then headed out to Costco to get the many cases of water we were going to be drinking...and then to Red Robin for some burgers. Once back at the 'camp site'...we were finally successful in getting the tent set up. It only took a brain trust of 10 people to figure it out.
Finally got it!
Second van arrived after 8pm since traffic was so terrible. We took some pics, switched out everyone's stuff into the vans they'd be in for the relay, and put up the second tent.
We were all bedded down in the tents by 10:30pm or so...except for my brother, our friend Eric and Runner 1- Aaron. They stayed up drinking by the fire pit until well after midnight. So every group has to have a frat boy, right? Well that was Aaron. They seriously drank pretty much the whole bottle of Fireball (a very delicious cinnamon flavored whiskey) and since everyone was already in tents sleeping, Aaron just curled up under the van and slept there. Seriously. And he was our first runner. Let me tell you, he sweated that stuff out for sure! Our van smelled like Red Hots for a couple hours after his first leg.
Cap shots of Fireball....
We got up at super early...about 5am so we could head out by quarter to 6. Our start time was 7:30am but we had to be there 1 hour early for the safety check in and briefing. We made it there in plenty of time to goof around and take some great photos. It rained overnight...about 3am it started pouring and rained off and on all morning through Ferndale and the first 5 or so exchanges.
That bracelet-upper right-was worn by all of us.
3 times, over 200 miles. Ewwww...
With our sister ultra team- The Fast Attacks.
As mentioned, Aaron was our first runner...his leg was 6.3 miles and he was slogging through feeling pretty rough. Heh....but he sweated it out and was feeling much better by his second leg.
Huge Smile....Love it! Aaron's Leg 1 - 6.3 miles.
The way it works in this relay with a regular team of 12 is that the first 6 runners are in one van, the second 6 in the second van. We started at 7:30am and basically would follow our runner along their route and make sure they were ok and give them a big cheer/honk as we passed. Most legs, you were allowed to stop and provide support if they needed it (give them water, take a layer they don't need anymore) but there were a few that were designated as non support legs for safety reasons, such as no good place to legally park. Those legs had Ragnar water stations every 4 miles, which was nice.
The runner would take off, we'd pile into the van and follow along the route. How quickly we did this depended on how long the runner's leg was and when they expected to be at the next exchange. The last thing you wanted to do was not be there before your runner and make them wait. We'd pass the runner, honk and cheer them on, and then for most legs, we'd stop halfway, or after a big hill, and park. We'd get out and cheer them on and offer water as they passed then we'd get back in the van and speed off to the next exchange to receive them. We'd always make sure we had a fresh bottle of water for them as they came in and would take the next runners stuff as they took off on their leg. I loved my van....and we were excellent support to our runners and had so much fun together.
Aaron handing off to Juliet for Leg 2 - 6.8 miles
Aaron did well, considering how he spent the night...and boy did he smell like cinnamon! It started raining harder on Juliet for her leg...hard wet rain. She finished like a champ and then it was my turn! My first leg was my longest and I was so worried about how I'd do with how my leg had been feeling. But it turns out that taking that full week off was exactly what I needed.
My leg was a bit scary though. It was non support, so I brought my water bottle and a gu with me. The scary part was that it was on country roads that were narrow two lane, no shoulder, high speed limits, kind of roads. Roads I never in a million years would have run on on my own. We ran facing traffic and some of the intersections were manned by volunteers or police so that we didn't get run over. And I kept on getting passed by huge semi trucks...that sent up huge water sprays...it was crazy. I took it easy since it was hilly and I didn't want to go out too hard on my first leg and blow it for the other two. I shortened my stride and lowered the bounce, and ran way way slow....about an average of 11 min miles....[8.2 miles, 1:28:27; 10:47 avg pace]. Fortunately, Norman, our fourth runner (Leg 4 - 3.9 miles) was pretty fast so he made up the time I lost for us.
Handing off to Jason for Leg 5 - 5.8 miles
Jason was off on his rolling hilly leg and we sped off to meet him at this church for Exchange 5, where they were having a wedding....Hope we didn't bother them too much!
Handing off to April for Leg 6 - 6.5 miles
In all, Van 1's first 6 legs took us from the start at Peach Arch Park at the border in Blaine, through Ferndale and all the way into Bellingham, covering 37.5 miles.
First 6 legs - done! April handing off to Lucke- our Runner #7
This was the first major exchange. Major exchanges all had amenities- bathrooms, showers, sleeping facilities (gym floors), and food. And this is where the first van hands off to the second van for their first 6 legs. While we were running, they all went and got breakfast and redecorated their burban, since our beautiful decor got washed off in the rain. We met up with them at the first major exchange 6, at Bellingham High School, where I promtly ran into someone I went to high school with.
This rock is next to the freeway, visible on the way into Bellingham
This is the legendary 'rock'.....that has about a kajillion layers of paint on it. People have been painting happy birthday, welcome home, we are going to state! messages on it for decades.....This little paint job was courtesy of Team Roadkill. Nice job guys! Thanks for reading through all that! That was a long one...and only Part 1! Part 2 coming up later today....and I'll try to get them all up this week. Before I forget all the gory details! What an amazing experience...can't wait to share more!
