Ragnar: Odds, Ends, and Awesome Stuff

The Unicorn head got a lot of mileage.....and so did our 'spirit duckies'.

 This was one of the ultra teams....Risky Business. Brave souls those ones. They ran the entire race in those shirts and undies. Hilarious.

Some of my other favorites--the villians, the polygamists, the control freaks, and my favorite favorite-- the BARBS got a Ken....the Barbs + 1 whore ken. And they had barbies and a ken tied up on top of their suv. Totally awesome.

Jess tagged this van with 3 people inside it....ha!

The ladies of Van 1...and Jess and Aaron hanging out....

From our sister Ultra team, the Fast Attacks.....

Love these crazy ladies....so glad I met them.

Deception Pass - in the daylight.....

Stretching it out....

 Jess, "Always be Batman..."

Big ups to our van driver, Juliet's husband Rob --who drove the entire way 

so we didn't have to....what a guy!

Nice hardware....

Best experience ever...can't wait for next year!

Ragnar NW Passages - The Big Finish

We started this race as mere runners and ended it as Ragnarians!

The Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies finished 200 miles in 32:08:50. Not too shabby for a bunch of old folks. This part was the most stressful for me....my sister was on her way down to the finish with the Girl and they were running late....so they didn't get to see us finish. Van 2 stopped midway through Deidra's last leg to give her water since it got super hot after the fog burned off. And since getting in to the fairgrounds was full of traffic, I was worried that they wouldn't be able to park and make it to the finish in time. They ended up making it just in time and we got ready to make a tunnel for D to run through....

She came along about 3 minutes before our projected finish and we followed her across the line. My sister and girl arrived shortly after.....and missed all the fun. But that's ok....there's always next year!

Victory! 

So, we are doing this again next year, right?

Aaannnndd that's how you finish a 200 mile relay....make out with a unicorn.

Ragnar NW Passages: Recap Pt 3

Deception Pass - Source

We left off at the beginning of our 3rd and final leg. After catching a couple hours sleep on a high school gym floor, we were ready for our final set of legs. At this point of the relay, we'd traveled 134 out of 200 miles. On foot. "Overnight" hours were extended to 8am and then again to 9am because of rolling fog over Whidbey Island. Deception Pass, above, is the gateway to the island, and our Van 2 runner traveled over it at 3:45am, in fog so thick she could only see about 2-3 feet in front of her. So much for the awesome sunrise view Jess was hoping for! Oh well...maybe next year! 

 The girls getting ready to run their toughest legs - for Frank....

 The overnight leg for Van 2 was the toughest....very limited visibility 

and narrow shoulders. I'm glad they survived!

Van 2 completed Legs 19-24 and rolled into the exchange about 6am or so. We were coffee'd up (thanks again Baked Potato people!) and ready to go...despite no sleep and on/off rain.

Deidra to Aaron - Final handoff for Leg 25 - 3.1 miles

Our third set of legs took us through Oak Harbor with some very pretty farmlands and beach scenery. But still very foggy....and hilly.

Aaron to Juliet for a final time. Leg 26 - 3.1 miles

All of us had pretty short last legs...except for Norman's leg. It was only 6.4 miles but it had some of the steepest hills.

Ready, set, last run!

Last one - 4 miles for Leg 27

Still wearing our night gear....headlamps and taillights had to be worn until 8am....I finished just before, about 10 till, and they wouldn't let me pass off to Norman without it....he'd left it in the van and I finished a bit earlier than anticipated....so he had to take my very sweaty one off me...thank jebus he was wearing a hat and could wear it over that! I finished going down this rather steep hill...and watched in horror as a stream of runners started coming up the hill on the other side...I was all...'please let that be new runners, please let that be new runners....' And it was. Sorry Norman!

Aaannd he's off - Leg 28 - 6.4 miles

Norman trucked up that hill and made very good time. There was a fine misty rain but it felt warm and humid....not a bad morning to run in...but one where you start out with one layer too many and have to dump it....

Jason's last run - Leg 29 - 4.5 miles

Jason's last leg was pretty hilly as well...but we were almost there! We were done and exhausted....and really really hungry.

Final handoff to April - our speedy mcspeederson...Leg 30 - 3.5 miles

And that was it....we were racing from one exchange to the next in a pretty speedy fashion since everyone just had shorty legs. Last major exchange until the finish was Coupville High School.....a town so tiny that the middle school was also housed in the same building. This one had showers....but I skipped the line in favor of finding food. Baby wipes do wonders if you can fully strip in the bathroom, wipe down and put on clean clothes immediately. 

Van 1 is DONE! 158/200 miles.

And with that, Van 2 was off for the last 6 legs and 41 miles. We got cleaned up and then headed out in search of breakfast. We didn't get a real dinner the night before, just van food and the midnight baked potato.....so we were ready to grub big time. Stopped at the first diner/restaurant we saw and it turned out to be the longest meal ever. There were two other teams already there, along with the entire town of Coupville...all being served by two waitresses, a bus girl and a cook. It took forever....literally. We were there for nearly 2 hours and it took us about only 10 of that to actually eat. 

We finally got out of there....and headed straight down to the finish in Langley, WA at the Island County Fairgrounds. So exciting to finish this thing and move on to important stuff. Like rehydrating. 

Even unicorns like Fireball....way to start and  

end the race for us Aaron! Such a team player.

Aaannnnd that's it for Part 3....The finish and my favorite random moments to come! Stay tuned....

Ragnar NW Passages: Recap Pt 2

Nice scenery....Source.

When we left off, Van 1 ended our first set of 'legs' at Bellingham High School in the early afternoon. This was also the first exchange selling merchandise. So we promptly went and dropped some $$$ getting geared up.

The Ragnar merch 'store'....which was nearly knocked over with a
huge gust of wind right after we finished buying our stuff.

We passed off to Van 2 and got a little break. After traversing our first 6 legs, we were hungry and set off in search of a hot meal.....at Bob's Burgers in downtown Bellingham, where the waitress was kind enough to hook me up with a bag of ice to sit on. After refueling, we decided to head straight down to the next major exchange, Burlington High School, about half hour away. We got down there, cleaned up a bit and took some short naps, while waiting for Van 2 to finish their legs. 

 Zzzzzzzz.......

They made it it down there by dinnertime and it was time for Leg 2. Deidra finished the first double digit leg (rated as very hard) like the champ she is. NBD.....

 Aannd here she is.....

Passed off to Aaron and there he goes....Leg 13- 6 miles.

This was the beginning of our 'night leg'....but it didn't actually get dark until my turn....Ragnar nighttime rules require everyone outside the van to wear safety gear...so pretty much after Aaron's leg, we all had to don the required shiny stuff.

Handoff 1 - Aaron to Juliet for Leg 14 - 5.7 miles

The first two legs of this set were pretty light. And Juliet got to run on some trails and she made some awesome 'kills'....

 Dusk set in right before it was my turn for Leg 15. This one was a little shorty through Burlington and by the time I was done, it was very dark.

Handoff for Leg 15 - 3.5 miles. Slap me baby!

 

The exchange where I handed off to Norman....

Norman is off - Leg 16 - 3 miles

Here's where it started to get scary. Most of these roads through the night in Burlington were on two lane, no shoulder roads, much like our first jaunt through Ferndale. At night, that posed an additional issue-- visibility. Not just for the drivers on the road, but for the runners. We were running against traffic unless directed otherwise, which meant that you were running with headlights in your eyes. So you do what they teach you in drivers ed-- look down at the white lines on the road to stay on it. Pretty dicey for Jason and April, our last runners that night.

Hand off a go! Jason was off for Leg 17 - 5 miles

Annndd, she's done! April closed out leg 18 at 5.5 miles.

By this time, it was after 11pm and we were starved! But of course, nothing but bars, casinos or fast food was open at that time....we stopped and tried a couple places to no avail and just decided to head to the next major exchange and hope there was food there. This was a bit farther away....all the way across Deception Pass to Oak Harbor high school. We got there and boo ya! There were baked potatoes for sale. Best one I've ever had....although why they had chili as a topping was beyond me. We erred on the side of caution on that one, but others did not, unfortunately.....

As soon as we settled into the very quiet gym...someone
laid down not one but two very loud farts....which at that time
of night was hi-larious!

We spent the night 'sleeping' on a very hard gym floor...which all told, was about 2 hours of sleep. I don't think I actually fell asleep either....it was more of a doze. But whatever it was was short lived....we were up and getting ready for the final leg by 5am. 

Final legs - Game On!!

Stay tuned for part 3 to come, hopefully tomorrow.

Ragnar NW Passages: Recap Pt 1

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. 

Leg 3 - 8.2 Miles

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!