What The Hill?

Flights are confirmed. Hotel is booked. Vacation days are submitted.

Ragnar Wasatch Back is official. 

All I can keep thinking is....what in the good Lord's name am I doing?!

It all started in 2012 when I serendipitously met a bunch of crazy fools who called themselves the "Saints and Sinners". They were a Ragnar team that established in 2008. I hopped onto the team as a rookie for Ragnar Key West a few years ago (recap of that experience here) and have been running with them ever since.

It just so happened that in 2009, a year after we established the Saints and Sinners team, that Ragnar came out with a new "double medal" concept: run 2 races, get a special medal. They called it the "Saints and Sinners" medal, and it required running Ragnar Wasatch Back and Ragnar Las Vegas in the same year.

Wasatch Back runs through the mountains from Logan to Park City Utah, while Las Vegas runs through the Red Rock Canyon.

If you flip the medal upside down, it says Sinners. I know, so cool right?! 

Obviously, our Saints and Sinners team had to make this double medal a bucket list item. 

Our fearless captain decided 2014 was gonna be our year....so here I am!

All the logistics are finally coming together. I have 3 weeks until I get on a plane to Utah.

Now all I have to worry about is...you know... the race itself. 

If you hadn't remembered, I live in the flattest state in the country. 

Yes, it's even flatter than Kansas. Google it, y'all.

Besides being altitude-challenged, I'm also recovering from a torn tibial tendon that left me sidelined from January through May.

But hey, who needs conditioning for the mountains of Utah?! That'll be a piece of cake!

Yeah OK Mary, maybe a piece of cake made of titanium alloy. 
 

My first leg has a little over 1,200 feet of elevation gain. Put into perspective: the Clearwater Causeway is only 80 feet high. I'm essentially running the equivalent of 15 straight bridge inclines over 7.4 miles along a dusty gravel mountain road.

 

This leg even has it's own nickname -- "What the hill?" 

A leg with it's own nickname. How nice. I am so lucky.  

And that's only my first run of 3.  But let's be real. The scariest part of this leg is not the elevation. It's that I have to run across cattle guards. Does anyone realize how klutzy I am?! I can barely even walk across grated street vents without twisting my ankle! I am sooooo done.

What's funny (OK it's actually not that funny for anyone except for me) is that my legs are literally some of the easiest on the team. I got the injured runner's special! Thanks y'all!

Over 196.4 miles, there is 15,896 ft of elevation gain and 13,769 ft of elevation loss.

That's 29,665 ft total change.

From a team that trains at sea level.  

Hey, at least we'll be super cheap dates at the finish line! 

2 beers + 7,000 ft elevation = :) :) :) :) :) :)

If anyone needs me the next few weeks, I'll be out in Clearwater doing bridge repeats until I collapse into the Gulf of Mexico. 

No, really. Call it. I need one.

Run, Drive, Sleep? Repeat --Part 2 of my Ragnar Relay FL Keys Adventure

Continued from Part 1.....

 We got to the next exchange around 10pm. After I ate, changed, and got myself situated, I leaned the van chair back and finally snuggled in for a 2 hour nap. Some teammates sprawled out on the van seats, others took sleeping bags and found a nice grassy area. 

We got the call that Van 1 was about an hour out around 1:30 AM. I fired up the Keurig and started getting myself prepared for my 9.9 miles through Islamorada.

Van 1 handed off at 2:44 AM, and just like that, I was gone on my second leg! 

I started out great with negative splits going from 8:23 to 8:11 to 8:06, all the way down to 7:55 in mile 4.

It was super dark and kind of scary, but wow the stars were beautiful. 

I was going along fine, then I started to get REALLY HOT. 

Like, marathon-training-in-the-dead-of-summer hot. 
I felt like I could hardly breathe in some spots. Isn't this supposed to be January?!

I had brought my little amphipod water bottle with me solely for washing down a Gu, never imagining I would use the majority of that water pouring it down my head and neck as I ran those last few miles. 

As my pace started to slowly creep up again (8:22, 8:40, 9:08-WTF?!) I started getting so angry at myself. Why had I not hydrated more in the van? Why didn't I train harder? Why am I being such a wuss? I live in Florida, I should be able to handle a little bit of heat! There are people depending on me! Move your feet dangit!!

I saw my team somewhere around that 9:08 mile and they graciously gave me a cold bottle of water to pour on my head. The next few miles were much easier thanks to that, even though they apparently got yelled at by a local for being loud. Thanks y'all :)  
 

I handed off to Bob at 4:07 AM with an average pace of around 8:20 and 14 total baptisms! While the pace wasn't exactly where I'd hoped, the baptisms made up for it. 

Leg 2...check!

Back in the van I went, and continued navigating duties. Bob and Emily were up next, and they both had fairly long legs. With as dark and as hot as it was, I knew they'd need support.

Rachel rounded out our night runs with a beautiful sunrise over a bridge in Marathon, Florida. 

With the exception of some not-so-beautiful moments. But I will let her tell more about that. 

Glenn finished off our 2nd leg at 8:50 AM Saturday morning. We had about a 5 hour break, so we grabbed some breakfast at a local cuban place and headed to our final major exchange. 

We power napped, "showered" with baby wipes, and changed up for our 3rd and final leg.

  

Ragnar sleeping area? Or refugee camp?

 

Pic stolen from Rachel -- us rocking out the lululemon ruffle skirts! 

I knew my final leg would be tough. I knew it would be hot. But I never anticipated it being SO tough and SO hot. After 26 hours with only 3 hours of sleep and no real meal schedule to speak of, I was a mess and running solely on adrenaline. 

Clint handed off to me at 1:29 pm. I had 4.1 miles to go, and I was finished!

My splits were acceptable for that amount of heat - 7:42 (went out too fast), 8:15, 8:20, 7:58.

Except for that 4.1 was actually 4.4, so when my Garmin went off at mile 4 and I looked up and didn't see the exchange yet, in my head I was yelling  
WTF CAN'T THIS THING BE OVER ALREADY.  
And I'm pretty sure it was showing on my face when I came across the final exchange. Because people kind of looked frightened. 

But at 2:03 PM, I was finished.

 2 1/2 hours total running time, 18.9 miles, and 26 total "baptisms" -- I just Clowney'd my first Ragnar!

I cheered on the rest of our team through their final legs and was getting excited to be so close to Key West.

After Glenn took off on his last leg to finish, we all drove to the end and anxiously awaited his arrival so we could all run across the finish line together.

The finish line! It's so glorious!


I took a  Blair-Witch-Project type video as we crossed the finish.

 Official Time: 

197 miles 

29 hours, 37 minutes, 37 seconds

After a much needed shower, we all headed down to the dock for a well deserved champagne toast at sunset.

A HUGE thanks to all the volunteers along the way and to all of the local residents that put up with our hootin and hollerin at all hours of the day and night. 

 Also thanks to Matt for being the best captain ever, the entire team in Van 2 for trusting me to navigate through the darkness of the everglades, and to Glenn for responding to my email inquiry about joining the team in the first place. Thanks to Octavian for being brave and letting Rachel and I teach you how to use the foam roller for the first time (we may or may not upload that priceless footage to youtube!).
Many thanks to Bob for helping Prateek take out the back seat of the van and agreeing to stash it at your house so we had more space for all of our gear.
And of course special thanks to Emily for broadening my horizons on giant rat invasions and to Rachel for bringing back my southern accent, even if it was only for a few days.

I can't lie, I am still kind of on the Ragnar hangover/high and keep having flashbacks of all the good times we had. As crazy and daunting and mentally and physically challenging as it may have been, for some reason I'd love to do another one.

(Did you hear that? It was Prateek begging me to get a grip on life and stop acting like a lunatic!)

 I'm not certain what my next race will be, but I know for sure that it will be sooner rather than later. I have already been bitten by the race bug and it's only 10 days into the new year.

Run, Drive, Sleep? Repeat---Part 1 of my Ragnar Relay FL Keys Adventure

I'm not certain that any of us rookies knew exactly what we were getting into.

Sure, we'd watched the youtube videos of years past and studied our individual legs. We had prepared our night gear, stocked the cooler with water and gatorade, and made sure we had ziploc bags to stuff our sweaty clothes into after each leg. We even brought a Keurig for a late night pick-me-up.

However, until I actually ran a cumulative of 19 miles over a 24 hour time frame with no more than 3 hours of sleep and a real meal, I had no idea what might happen. 

Thursday Prateek (AKA "Coach") picked up the van, we picked up a few of our other team members, and headed south towards Miami. After swinging by the Ft Lauderdale airport to grab Rachel (Running Backwards in High Heels) we made it to our hotel for the night. 

Our captain, Matt, is one of those super-organized people that has his own laminator (not kidding) and makes sure all the T's are crossed -- from checklists to pretty maps printed in color to a 3 ring binder with tabs and a table of contents with all information needed for the weekend, he made sure we had it all.

I tried my darnedest to get a good night's sleep that night, knowing it would be the last time I'd get an actual bed for the next 2 days.

Of course I tossed and turned all night, with fleeting thoughts of everything from pure excitement to going over the distances in my head to OMG I FORGOT MY COMPRESSION SOCKS!!

The next morning after a big breakfast and a Publix run for ice, pretzels, and gatorade, we finally made it to the starting line. 

We took some spare time to decorate the vans, take some photos, and pass along individual good juju to the "baton" that we'd all be slapping on our wrist 3 different times throughout the relay.

  

Van 2 is ready to go! 

Since we were the "saints" van, complete with angel halo and wings, we called our kills "baptisms". 

 (A "kill" is when you pass someone. You make tally marks on the van as bragging rights!) 

 Side note - on the way down to Miami, Emily asks if we had heard of the giant rats that had recently invaded the Keys. Come to find out, these things are completely real. They are called Gambien Pouched Rats. We nicknamed them R.O.U.S.'s. (Rodents of Unusual Size).

Watch this video if you're confused, and it will probably make you more confused. Or make you want to watch The Princess Bride.

So of course we paid tribute to the R.O.U.S.'s on our van.

We bid farewell to Van 1 after the start and made our way to the first major exchange to pick up our bibs and go through the safety briefing (basically, wear your night gear at night and you'll be alright).

 
 From left: Glenn, Rachel, Bob, Emily, Octavian, Me


I was runner 7 - AKA runner 1 from our van. 

Sure, send a newbie out first. Why not. 

I took off for my first leg at 1:59pm on Friday.

It was hot, but I still had fresh legs and good energy. Even after all those stupid traffic lights in which I was forced to stop, I still ended up with an average pace of about 7:50. Without those stoplights I could have killed it!

I handed off to Bob around 2:32 pm. First leg, check!

 

The nice thing about going first is that the rest of the time your van is running their legs, you can relax and cheer on your teammates. 
And shatter your iphone glass into a million pieces. 
But mostly cheer on your teammates.

Our van got the first turn at night running. Octavian (Doc Oc) and Glenn both had legs on pitch black middle-of-nowhere roads. It got to the point where our GPS stopped recognizing where we were, and we had to put in geographic coordinates instead of an actual address.

We were so happy to see Doc Oc and Glenn come through the exchanges, free of casualties from R.O.U.S.'s, alligators, or other indigenous species in South Florida.

After Glenn finished his leg about 7:45pm, we had approximately 6 hours before Van 1 finished their second leg. This was the time to drive to the next exchange, eat something, change, sleep, or do anything else that may be necessary before our second part of the journey began.


.......Continued at Part 2

No Sleep, No Shower, No Problems

I was just notified that it is T minus 7 days until I leave for Miami to start the 199 mile race to Key West known as Ragnar Relay. 

To say I'm a little freaked out is an understatement, but it's all starting to come together and the excitement is also starting to kick in.

Since I'm sure you're all dying to know what the timing of everyone's legs are in each van, I have attached the following chart for your reference: 

I am officially runner #7 in Van #2. My total mileage is the most out of the van at 18.2 (however my teammate Glenn has 18 total so my bragging rights are only by .2 miles!) 

The Relay starts at noon on Friday with Van 1 and their 6 runners in Key Biscayne.

My first leg (leg 7)  is a nice 4.2 miles along "scenic" 127th Ave in Miami.

According to calculations I should be starting this leg around 3:00 PM on Friday afternoon.

Try not to be jealous of these amazing views along my route.

My second leg (leg 19) is my "fun" leg (remember - fun is a relative term!)

Not only is this leg the longest leg of van 2 and the second longest of the whole relay at 9.9 miles, it is also anticipated to begin at roughly 3 AM. 

Yep, 3 o'clock on Saturday morning.

This would be a typical daytime view of part of my route. I am looking forward to hopefully seeing this same water glistening under the moon and the stars instead.  

 

 My third and final leg (leg 31) is a nice 4.1 miles through Sugarloaf Key. 

 

I should be starting around 1:00 pm on Saturday afternoon.

Don't mind if I do!

Our down time for relaxing/sleeping/eating/taking a shower with baby wipes will be at Exchange 18 between approximately 9pm and 2:30 AM as well as at Exchange 30 between 9AM and 12:30 PM. 

Exchange 18 is located at Coral Shores High School and Exchange 30 at Sugarloaf Elementary, and rumor has it that they are both opening their gyms so people can catch some Z's on yoga mats or sleeping bags or whatever we decide is worthy for a bed.

 (This of course does not include any sleeping that may take place in the van itself!)

We should be wrapping up the relay in Key West around 4:00 on Saturday afternoon -- just in time for happy hour! 

Now the daunting task of a to-do list begins.

Reflective vest? Head lamp? Decorations for the van? First Aid Kit? Sleeping bag? New cute Lululemon running skirt? Food? Water?

So much to do and so little time! 

Also -- I've got the devil tail covered, but anyone got any ideas on how to put angel wings onto a van?!