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This past weekend I was invited by a friend to join her team in the Ragnar Relay.  If you don’t know what that is you can learn more by clicking that link but the basic idea is this:  Two vans per team 6 people per van and 188 miles.  The first van runs one after the other then the next van takes over and continues.  This leap-frog style continues until you reach the end of 188 miles.  It was a blast for sure and it would be easy to write a whole book on the experience but I will just keep it to the legs that I ran.

I was runner 11 so there was a lot waiting but after a few hours I finally got my shot.  I got to the exchange as I saw my runner(Nate) comming in.  We made a smooth transition and I was off.  This run is one of the tougher ones on the course but I was able to grit my teeth and hammer it out.  My team met me at mile 2 and gave me some water then they continued on to meet me at the exchange.  I managed to keep it close to a 9 minute mile the whole way and as I crested the top I turned it on.  I flew down the hill at a crazy pace and made the exchange to the next runner(Emily).  Details from Garmin

My next leg didn’t start until about 4:00am.  I got to the gate as I saw Nate comming.  This transition wasn’t as smooth as the first but we pulled it off.  I started to go and thought I was killing as I passed about 5 people in the first few hundred yards.  But alas I was not the best man(or woman) on the course.  I ended up getting passed by three people(one of them a high school xc girl).  Apparently it is not uncommon to have people flying by you at this time because it is a staggered start and this is when the super fast teams catch up.  My team stopped and supported me a couple of times and I pulled this leg off with a good time.  Details from Garmin

My final leg was a brutal downhill section that went from the top of Guardsman pass to the Deer Valley parking lot(-2,100 feet).  Kudos to Nate and Spence who had the two hardest legs leading up to this in a total downpour.  Nate came into the transition and it was super smooth.  I started with a short ascent then when I reached the top I was able to speed up.  It was a dirt road at first and as when it turned into pavement I was able to really turn it on.  I kept looking down at my watch and I was keeping it under 6 for a long time.  My feet were literally on fire.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if I looked down to see smoke coming out of my shoes.  My team supported me a few times with water and gu.  A couple of hills slowed me down a little but I was still on course for my fastest run of all time.  One last big hill then downhill to the finish.  I crossed the line and made the hand off to Emily for the final leg.  Details from Garmin

We met Emily close to the end and ran through the finish line with her(the other van had already gone home).  We finished with an overall time of 31 hours 5 minutes.  This race was super cool and I would definately do it again.  There is much more to tell about the other runners, logistics, weather and trying to sleep, but you will have to wait for the book.  ;-)  Props to my team, The Running Ojections(Emily, Nate, Spencer, Amber, Kamie, Mike, Tim, Liz, Aisha, Greg and Dave).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 9:13 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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