Welcome to Camp Ragnar: Napa Edition

I've been struggling with this post all week. Let's be honest...you don't care to hear the hour by hour account of the race and I don't know what value that would add anyway. I do feel like there some important things you learn about yourself and your team when you're tied to these people for several days in van travel and hotel stays. Here's the basic premise of the Ragnar Relay:

• 200(ish) miles are assigned as a race course in any number of locations around the country.
• Get a team of 12 (or 6 if you're superstars!) to commit to running anywhere from 13-23 total miles in a 24 hour period.
• Each team member is assigned 3 legs of the race to run meeting their total distance.
• We live out of a van and run continuously across said 200(ish) miles until we reach the final destination and finish line.
• There is very little sleep. There is a lot of sweat. Despite best efforts to baby wipe bathe and contain sweaty clothes in ziploc bags, the van will smell like a locker room by the end. 
• Have more fun than you ever thought possible while running and either become best friends or hate your van by the end of 36 hours. 

After completing 10 of these relays, I've recently dubbed these experiences "Camp Ragnar". (I've also come to realize what an incredible integral experience camp was to my upbringing so apparently I equate everything to camp.) But, seriously! You have no choice but to love and trust your teammates instantly. They are your people for the next 36 hours. They become your driver, your navigator, your cheerleaders, your aid station, your mom, and your therapists for the duration of the race and if you're lucky enough to make plans afterwards (like touring 4 wineries in a day), that will continue for another couple of days. Your teammates will pep you up before a long leg, bandage your wounds if you take a digger on the night run (I've done this twice!), ring the cowbell and wave the crosswalk flags in your honor every chance they get to support you along the leg, and will talk you off the ledge when you've gone on too little sleep and too many animal crackers. I've had horrific Ragnar experiences and I've had incredible Ragnar experiences. Each of these has had far less to do with how well I trained and more to do with who I was sitting next to.

In April 2014, I was blessed through the powers of the internet and a timely break up to have found a group of California runners that would take on two Minnesota girls willing to travel to SoCal to join their team. It turns out this group was exactly what I needed to turn running in to a vacation on a regular basis and we were fully equipped with plenty of mom/cheerleader/driver/therapists to rotate in and out as schedules varied and demands of home competed with our race schedule. With a core group from this team, I've completed four of these races and each time I'm in awe of the closeness of our team and how wide the arms that welcome new team members are. The MN contingency has continued to grow over the past year and a half and we now are about half of the team regardless of location. Together we've taken on SoCal, Napa, and Vegas so far and next fall we're scheduled to take on Hawaii. The adventure continues!

During each race, you can't help but learn some important things about yourself. It's always interesting to me what I come away with because it is very much a reflection of where I'm at in life. Even races I've run only months apart will reveal completely different attitudes, strengths, or "areas of growth" as my HR brain likes to refer the less pleasant lessons that arise.

I came in to this race with much less training than I intended when I signed up. I had surgery on my foot last winter and the road to recovery has been LONG. I wasn't even cleared to run until May and by that point, it had been almost a year since my injury and any sort of regular training plan. May to October should have been plenty of time but coming back from injury is frustrating. I went from competing in a half Ironman triathlon last summer to running walk/run intervals this summer. I made excuses. I skipped runs. By September, I was reliably running the 3 miles around the lake 3 days per week but the first week of October I moved to Colorado. Running at altitude is a whole new game! Over the 2 weeks that I was in Colorado before the race I did several hikes but only 1 run...of 2.6 miles....in which I wanted to cut my lungs out for most of it! Call me dramatic but when I got back within view of my car and my music cut out, I called it a sign from above that I was done! I got one run in while in San Francisco and walked MANY miles. I called it good for Ragnar training. You do actually DO need to taper for this race!

For Napa I was slotted as the first runner - I was excited to be #1!! Who wouldn't be!? I'm the only one that got to start with the crowd and my run would set the tone for at least the first few legs. (I kinda love responsibility.) My leg was set for 2.7 miles and rated "Easy". I knew I had this. I took off

a little quick, felt a spasm in my back that would annoy me the rest of the race, and kept a steady pace. I wasn't passed but I didn't pass anyone. I was pretty sure I was at the back of the pack but since it was 630am in California, the sun wasn't up and looking back didn't do me much good. I was doing fine until I hit the not so easy part of the easy leg...one big hill for the last .7 miles. I ended my first leg frustrated with my pace and fairly convinced I was screwed for the remainder of the race. Luckily, I had my cheerleaders who said I was totally middle of the pack and OMG, the view! The sun was just starting to tease us with the first pink tones. We sped over to the next exchange point to watch the sunrise and meet our next runner.
Lesson: It's 2.7 miles out of 200...no one cares about your extra 2 minutes!

My second run did not require the sexy headlamp and safety vest but was near dusk so temps were cooler and I was pretty well set for success. My nutrition plan had been on point and I had had a little down time between runs. I had my pre-workout and energy shot and was set up for 4.9 miles of pretty even terrain. I took off for my run and immediately came to a red light. Literally. I pushed the button
and waited while any momentum or adrenaline I had left my body. I took off from the light and quickly passed 2 people. These are lovingly referred to as "kills" in the Ragnar world. I was keeping a good distance behind one guy so I marked him as my pace horse. Every time he passed someone, I silently repeated the number of kills I was on until I passed that next person. Around the half way mark I was considering walking however, I saw my van up ahead with crosswalk flags waving...I was screwed. I had to keep running! I turned a corner and caught up to my pace horse. I stayed right behind him until I had no choice but to pass him. My momentum soared and my mojo was back! I saw my team and shouted that I was at 11 kills! Now, I am NOT a fast runner (10 minute miles) at this point so I know I am on the newbie/injured/sandbagger leg but I don't care. The fact is they're walking and I'm currently entering mile 4....this is the furthest I've run since last November in this same race series in Vegas. This is freaking exciting!! I finished my 4.9 miles just under the 10 minute pace I had promised my team and with a total of 15 kills. I WAS ON TOP OF THE WORLD!! In fact, I probably brought it up more times than necessary over the next several hours.
Lesson: Don't sell yourself short. Just because you haven't done it doesn't mean you can't. 

My third run was pretty uneventful. Amazing that I say this since I had another 12 kills and hit exactly on pace. I ran the whole 3.1 miles without pain or tightness which is actually pretty novel. The third leg is almost always painful regardless of how long it is or how you've trained. You haven't had more than a couple of hours sleep and it was probably on a gym floor or in the back seat of the van. Nothing is comfortable! So in that, my third run was pretty spectacular. Plus, I was DONE!
Lesson: Expectation often dictates our reality. Don't give up until it's finished.

Our team came in to finish only 20 minutes off of our originally planned finish. This is INCREDIBLE especially when you factor in that some runs took longer than expected, we went to the wrong exchange leaving our runner stranded at one point, and we had some inexperienced Ragnarians (yes, that's a thing!). Coming in even remotely close to planned time is a victory all in itself. I rarely check the race results when they come out the following day. Our team was never in it to win it but simply to experience it together. This has been the best race yet and I could not be more proud of everything that each team member put in to running their race.
Lesson: The best moment is the one you're in right now.