Ragnar Relay NW Passage: Odds, Ends and Van 2

I had to do a final post with some of my favorite random pictures. Also included here is a little peak into what Van 2 experienced along the way. After two years in a row in Van 1, I think I really want to be in Van 2 next year to experience a different part of the course. 

Our friend Holly, from the Wear Blue team and I at the start.

Photo credit: @deidracanfly

I love this shot.

Photo credit: @deidracanfly 

Deception Pass - on the way home.

  Bad JuJu and I.D.10.T 

Photo credit: Maniac

Honey Badger tagging some vans, Duckie style.

Photo credit: Lucke

 Found these 'tags' on the van when I was cleaning it....

 Rag Swag - Two Medals.

Honey Badger don't care....She is one tough Duckie!

Photo credit: Lucke

Beast, Lucke and Honey Badger: "Are they here yet?"

Photo credit: Lucke

Woot! I made it. 

Photo credit: Maniac

 Fury - running 'like a Ross'. 

Photo credit: Maniac

Big smile - despite the big road bite out of her hand.

 Early on....can't wait to till next year!

Ragnar Relay NW Passage: The Big Finish

We did it. No big deal.

Photo credit: Lucke

Once we saw Van 2 off for their final set of legs, we were ready for breakfast in a big way. They sell pancakes and eggs at the last major exchange so we headed over to eat since we were pretty famished. Food wasn't too bad.....meaning it was edible. The eggs looked funny and even though we were told they were 'real', @deidracanfly was convinced they were military eggs. Apparently they use real eggs, but they are already broken out of the shells and put in big bags so they end up tasting different/weird. Ahhh the flavor of food cooked for the masses; always delicious.

After eating, we decided to make our way to the finish. We were headed to the car when we saw this guy:

I didn't know it at the time, but his team was called "Holidays Ragnar Style".

So I guess he was cupid?

They won the 'Farout Fashion' Award, as voted on by 

teams along the course. Source.

But back to us.....after fighting over who's new boyfriend that guy was, we drove down to the Fairgrounds at Langley. It didn't take long and once we were there, we realized that we had a few hours to kill. Usually by that point in the relay, everyone is pretty tired and just wants it to be over already. We all did our own thing once we got there....there was some van napping, some eating, some finish line watching and more shopping for Rag Swag. The earlier fog burned off and it got hot again....but Van 2 was pushing through and making pretty good time, despite the heat and the fact that we were a little off on our time calculations. 

 Wear Blue Team! They were FAST and totally kicked butt on their first
Ragnar. They started an hour after us and finished a couple hours before us.....Speedy McSpeedersons.

Before too long, we got word that Lucke was out - running the very last leg. Van 2 arrived, parked and we all met up at the finish so we could run him in. We were getting ready but thought we had another 10 minutes or so....and then all of sudden he was there! So we made our little tunnel for him to run through and then we all ran together to the finish. What an amazing 32 hours with a great group of people I am proud to call friends, my fellow runners and best of all, my Duckies. 

Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies - sporting some serious bling.

Ragnar Relay NW Passage: Recap Pt. 3

We left off at Oak Harbor HS where Van 1 bedded down for a few hours of sleep rest. I found a good spot near the wall (read: next to a plug)  in one of the gyms so I tried to get some rest but I couldn't sleep. I ended up watching a few episodes of The West Wing on my iPad so I guess that was enough 'rest'. I was also a bit worried about one our runners in Van 2 who took a bad spill during her night leg. She bit it hard and the road took some big bites out of her, but she rallied after some first aid and was back on the road to finish off her killer 8.7 miler. Like a Boss.

Lost Lucke - Runner 12 - brought it in and handed off to

 #meanjess for Van 1's final round of legs. 

#meanjess ran her 3.1 miles and then it was my turn again. My final leg was still during 'nighttime hours' so I had to wear the required gear. I am defnitely getting a new vest for next year. The one I have moves around too much while running and it's annoying to have to constantly adjust anything while you are running.

I ran Leg 2 in honor of CW3 Frank Buoniconti,

12/12/2011

WB - R2R

We all had final legs that were on the short side....which means moving between exchanges happened at a pretty rapid pace. Crazy Lady ran her 2.4 miles in a jiffy and then it was Rob's turn. At this point, we were on Whidbey Island and it was a really beautiful combination of farmland and beach scenery - often at the same time. I.D.10.T handed off to Bad Juju after his killer 8.1 miles. So almost everyone had short legs. All except Rob. He had the killer hill from last year, which we actually dubbed 'Norman's Hill' because he was the Beast who had to run it. At least it wasn't hot anymore....because hot damn he had some killer hills. But he ran them like a champ and made us all proud. 

Love these two. If I had a husband, I would 

totally make him do Ragnar with me.

Right before the above handoff, we were driving to the exchange and came across a house whose yard was filled with plastic fake animals. There was an alligator, a pig, some deer, and a bunch of other random animals. And this horse. 

I was waiting for someone with a shotgun to come out & yell at us.
But we are stealthy inappropriate picture takers. 

Bad Juju ran her final 4.5 miles all speedy like and before we knew it, we were off to Coupville HS, the final major exchange to wait for Obama Money to finish her last baby leg of 2.4 miles (which she totally deserved after running heavy miles the day before - nearly 19). 

Final Van 1 to Van 2 Handoff - Obama Money to Honey Badger.

161/196 Miles - DONE!

Happy faces - because we are finished! Nice work Van 1. Up Next - the Big Finish!

Ragnar Relay NW Passage: Recap Pt. 2

We left off after the first major van exchange at Bellingham HS. We were starving - like eat a dirty child starving. So we ended up at the same place we went last year after finishing our first round - Bob's Burgers and Brew. It didn't hit the spot like it did last year though. It's entirely possible it was because I was too smart not to eat a bacon burger last year....that was a bad bad meal choice; it was in a lump at the bottom of my throat for my entire first leg. After grubbing down, we headed directly down to the next major exchange - Burlington HS. We had a couple hours to rest, stretch, and shower if we needed to. Break time was over before long though and it was time for Round 2.

#meanjess ready for her 4.5 miles. 

I was starting to get my 'pre-race' nerves...it was weird sitting the first round out; it made me all the more ready once it was finally my turn. I was also not feeling great since it was approximately a zillion degrees out and the aforementioned burger was not digesting well. But I was still ready to bust it out on fresh legs.

First hand-off picture - and we are twinsies! 

Leg 1 - 3.8 miles.

Photo credit: I.D.10.T

I didn't really pay attention to the route that this leg was on. Turns out, I was running right past where I went to college. I didn't even realize it until all of a sudden, I was right next to it and thinking...'hmmm this looks familiar'. It was a bit hilly, a LOT sunny and pretty warm but I still made good time. 

More handoff pictures!! Sending Crazy Lady off on her 6.7 miler.
Photo credit: I.D.10.T

Leg 1 - I ran for SSG Nathan Wyrick

KIA 10/10/2011 OEF

WB - R2R

Despite the ginormous farm country mosquitos, this was my favorite set of Legs. We were just starting to get a little loopy but still firmly in 'runner's high' territory. This is when the fun starts people. After Crazy Lady got us all the way to La Conner, it was I.D.10.T's turn. The exchange was at this really cute little church. It was beautiful, but all of a sudden the sun set and the temps dropped about 15 degrees just like that. 

Nice little 4.1 miles through farm country at dusk....

he only ate a couple bugs. Gulp.

The exchange where Rob handed off to Bad JuJu was another great little country place - this time a roadside produce stand. There was also ice cream cones - which was a hot seller with this large group of hot, sweaty runners. 

Pickles are an excellent re-hydrating option if you are wondering. 

Salty goodness - which went well with the ice cream cone Crazy Lady is eating...

For this leg, Bad JuJu decided the Leroy needed to get some exercise too. So she brought him along. Unfortunately, he wasn't a very good running partner. He made the rookie mistake of wearing jeans to run in and lost them about a mile in....So Leroy was banished back to the van to think about what he did and Bad JuJu finished up her 8.1 miles like a champ.

We quickly realized that Leroy was better as a mascot - 

once he lost his pants, it was all over. 

By the time Juju was done, it was dark and Obama Money had to run her last 5.6 miles of the day. This brought us all the way to La Connor HS for the final major exchange over to Van 2 for the night shift. There was supposed to be food for sale here, but it was gone by the time we got there....so no dinner for us. We decided to head straight to the next major exchange (Oak Harbor HS) to get some sleep so we could be ready for our final legs early in the morning. 

Ragnar Relay NW Passage: Recap Pt. 1

 

Me and Leroy. He was one of our 'mascots'. 

Photo credit: Bad JuJu

#Meanjess kicked it off for us running 6.3 miles through Blaine. It was early but already starting to get warm....which in WA means it's gonna be a hot one. Our hottest parts of the day tend to be between 4-6pm - so if it's hot early it pretty much means you are gonna melt later. I mentioned that I gave up my first leg of 6.8 miles. Miss Deidra, AKA Obama Money graciously ran those extra miles for me like a boss. So of course, Leroy had to come out of the van to cheer her on.

Go Obama Money Go!
Photo credit: Bad Juju

One thing I did not do this year was get very many pictures. I am not sure why....I just never really brought out my camera and ended up taking most shots with my phone. And I've stolen quite a few from my teammates so I'll try to credit as much as possible. That means this lovely recap will not feature awesome hand off photos for every leg my Van did. So disappointing, I know. 

Continuing the story, we chugged along all morning. Everyone was in great spirits and even though it was getting warmer by the minute, we were making good time. Obama Money handed off to Crazy Lady, who ran her 8.2 miles through Ferndale. This was my leg last year and I didn't miss it; it is a toughy. Crazy Lady handed off to I.D.10.T. and he was off for his first leg (3.9 miles) officially running his very first Ragnar. Rob was our awesome van driver last year and he returned this year as a runner on the team. He did us proud and ran his legs like a champ. Rob handed off to his lovely wife, Bad JuJu, our Team Quackptain for 5.8 miles. That leg brought us from Ferndale all the way into Bellingham. 

Waiting with some water for Bad Juju to pass by.....
Photo Credit: Bad JuJu

After the handoff  to Obama Money for Leg 6, she was off for another 6.5 miles. Girlfriend ran nearly a half marathon during the first round..and it was getting hot. Since her leg took her right by my sister's house, we decided to stop there as our mid-leg cheer stop. We tried to make at least one or two of these for each runner's leg so they got water and felt the love. 

 @deidracanfly's cheering section
Photo credit: #meanjess

It was getting so hot that I texted my sister and asked her to put out her sprinkler so D could run through it...but I forgot that the runners were going to be on the opposite side of the street. So it didn't work out quite as planned....but the breeze sent a nice little spray across the street. 

Once she passed us here, it was only a mile or so to the next exchange - which was the first major exchange - so we hopped in the van and headed over to meet her. We also got our first chance to meet up with Van 2 so they told us all about going back to hotel to swim and the bum fight they witnessed since we last saw them. Never a dull moment at Ragnar. Once we officially passed off to Van 2, we were starved and ready to grub. But first, we had to pay a visit to the Merchandise tent to blow some $$...I was bummed they didn't have the jacket I was planning to buy, but I found a couple cute tops so all was not lost. Once we all were sufficiently swagged up, we headed off to find food and then to the next major exchange - Burlington HS and Van 2 set off for their first round, Leg's 7-12.

Ragnar Relay NW Passage: The Start

Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies - Reporting for Duty!

We had a 7am start this year, half hour earlier than last year. Beautiful Pacific NW summer morning....clear skies, nice sunrise and put all that against a backdrop of crazy runners and you have an absolutely perfect day. We were required to be there an hour ahead of our start time in order to check in and have our 'Safety Briefing'. Ragnar requires everyone in the van have a reflective safety vest and each van must have two headlamps and two blinking tail lights. They actually verify this when you check in and get your van packet, in addition to going over all the safety rules for the entire relay. 

Van 1: I.D.10.T, Bad JuJu, Crazy Lady, Obama Money,

#meanjess, Moi, and The Durfster, AKA van driver extraordinaire, 

AKA 'plus one' of #meanjess
Photo Credit: Bad JuJu

Van 2 could have slept in since they weren't required to be anywhere until their check-in and safety briefing at the first major exchange. But they were nice enough to get up and head over to the start to see us off and get some group pics.

Ran into a fierce Viking....think he belongs to the #fastattacks, 

but it's possible they just found him on the side of the road. 

Once we handled our business, we got some great shots, cheered on other teams starting and just hung out until it was our wave start. #meanjess kicked things off this as illustrious Runner 1. She had big shoes to fill (*cough*aaron*) but didn't let us down. 

200 miles? No problem - we got this. 

Ragnar Relay NW Passage: Prefunking...AKA Getting to the Start.

Van 1 - Canada Border Bound! They let me drive. 

Good news: we made it!
Photo credit: @deidracanfly

Our caravan of madness headed north mid-afternoon Thursday. This year, the team opted for hotel rooms instead of camping out at Casa Wright. My brother and his wife would have totally hosted us again....but after last year, we all decided that sleeping in an actual bed was better for us old folk than sleeping on the ground the night before a 30+hour relay. Good call team. 

Pre-relay carbo-loading done right. Pizza FTW!

Photo credit: Honey Badger

Van 2 made much better time this year; they are mostly our South Sound (Bremerton) folks so they had a ferry ride added to the trip. Which, added to the mad traffic they got stuck in on the way up last year meant we didn't get a team dinner. Really glad we got to this year. Once we were sufficiently loaded up, we called it a night. Well, most of us did.

Everyone was in the same hotel except Norman and I....

so they had a team toast. With Fireball of course; 

it is the official team beverage after all.

Photo credit: Maniac

Next up - the start - so stay tuned for more Duckie shenanigans. 

Ragnar NW Passages - It's Happening People

 The rock above I-5 Northbound heading into Bellingham. 

Courtesy of a Team Roadkill Cafe.

One of my favorite pics from last year's race....

Leg 7 Trail....

Deception Pass

The Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies have stayed the same for the most part. One of our compadres had to drop out but his replacement was our van driver from last year, Juliet's awesome husband Rob. We are officially 3 days out! Our start time is early again this year - 7am. And I am giving up one of my legs - the longest one since I am not quite in that kind of shape yet. I am runner 2 this year (was 3 last year) and will be doing two legs - first is 3.0 miles and the second is 3.8. Totally doable. In the meantime, if you want to read about last year....take a gander. 

Part 1 Recap

Part 2 Recap 

Part 3 Recap

The Big Finish 

Odds, Ends and Awesome Stuff

The Ragnar Relay That Wasn't....

In less than 24 hours, my awesome girls will be running 200 miles through the desert. I am still heartbroken that I won't be there running with them....Team Make Me A Sammich is a kick ass team of 6 ladies that are running in somewhat crazy conditions in Las Vegas. It starts at 8500 feet up at a Mt - where it's supposed to be in the 30's in the early morning when they start. Oh and there will be high wind warnings early that morning as well.

The days will be warm. Much warmer, perhaps even as high as the 70's. And then back down to cold at night. And since it's an ultra, the first 4 legs are run by only 2 people. And they lose about 4000 feet of elevation in those 4 legs. I was supposed to be Runner #1 originally. Roughly 3 half marathons in 36 hours. Ha. Can you imagine? What in the world was I thinking? My super speedy friend April is running that one. And she is going to rock it.

Stretch it out girl! I love how not flexible our friend 

Aaron is on the right....hehe

April graciously offered to dedicate her first legs to me and Wear Blue. So I've got a soldier all lined up for her....More on that soon!

So to the ladies of Team Make Me A Sammich - Honey Badger, #meanjess, and Flygirl - run your hearts out. Have fun. And enjoy every second. I'll be cheering you on from here!

So....I Might be Crazy...

Scratch that. I am crazy. The day after finishing a 200 mile relay and I join a team for Ragnar Las Vegas....and not just any team, either. An ultra team. Gulp.

Seriously. What am I thinking?

As my super speed teammate April said, "I don't know whether to vomit or jump up and down...or vomit."....Pretty much fits my frame of mind. As if a regular relay isn't challenge enough...let's do an ULTRA....And to make it extra challenging, I'll be doing one of the harder legs. Over 30+ hours, I'll run 3 half marathons. NBD....Ha!

Ultras are run with 6 people instead of 12. We are an all ladies team of badass runners - 4 of us from the NW Passages team - Deidra, Jess, Me and April, along with D's friend Lourdes and her sister Bernadette, who I believe both live in CA. The funniest part is that D is the one who got asked by Lourdes and coerced all of us to join. And she was the one who had the hardest legs at NWP and she may have said, more than once at the finish, "That sucked so bad. I 'm never doing this again. Ever." One day later...she's recruiting us to run LV with her. Love it. That is exactly the kind of crazy I need in my life!

For an ultra, you can choose to run 6 legs over the relay (instead of 3) and change runners at each exchange as if you are a regular team. But that it way too much warming up/cooling down for these old bones. So we are doing what most ultra teams do and run two legs at a time.

Not quite 200 miles...but close enough!

This one will be different in a number of ways, besides the obvious half-the-size-team part. First, it's in Vegas...and typical weather there in November is pretty much our summer here in the pacific northwest--but desert summer. Lourdes did it last year and said it was hot. So there's that. Second big difference is the elevation. There were plenty of hills on the NW Passages course for sure, but it didn't start at a high elevation and go downhill for a lot of it. 

From the event description online: 

 Source

"This year’s Ragnar Relay Las Vegas course is even more scenic and runner friendly than ever.  Teams start at the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort on Mt. Charleston and run down from 8500 feet into the valley below, taking in the views and conquering the challenging terrain."

8500 feet of elevation loss. Doh. But....there are 'luxury exchanges'...where we can 'lounge around by the pool'....except we won't have much time to do that, being an ultra and all...But still way cooler than high school gyms, for sure!

Source

"As teams make their way through the night and into the early morning, you will encounter an oasis before you as you run above Lake Mead."

 Not a bad view....Source

 

"Running through Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, you may catch a view of jack rabbits and exotic cacti as you make your way to the finish at Lake Las Vegas.  The finish line party will be held at this spectacular resort where you are welcome to stay the weekend and make a vacation out of your 200 mile adventure."

 Source

So to recap...It's 6 runners instead of 12; there is over 8500 feet in elevation loss; it's in the freaking desert so it's going to be H-O-T; I run 3 half marathons over the course of a 30+ hours; and oh did I mention that this is only 3 months away?

I am seriously crazy, since I have no idea both how I am actually going to afford this (way more $$ than NWP, with airfare, hotels, etc) and if I will be able to run that much in that short amount of time. So as I am switching my focus to training for my first full marathon in October, one month before this crazyness starts, I will also be incorporating some two-a-days into the equation...and then really go crazy after PDX to get totally ready. This is going to be so awesome!

Team: Make Me a Sammich is a go! Game on bitches!