The Sweat Sisters: April 2015

A couple of months ago, a friend from my first job out of college (a long time ago) posted something on Facebook about needing a couple more runners to fill her team for Ragnar SoCal. It immediately got my attention and I started thinking about making it happen. A couple of days later after some travel option researching, I committed to the team. And I am so glad I did. The only person on the team who I knew prior to race weekend was my friend, Jessica. But the beautiful thing about a Ragnar is that if you don't know your teammates before race weekend, you come out of it with a bunch of new friends. I can definitely say that is true of this Ragnar weekend.

Thursday evening, I flew into Orange County and was picked up by my new friend, Amy. Then we went to the start line party to meet up with some of the other girls and get the team checked in. From there, Jessica and I headed back to her house to get our relay bags packed and finish getting prepped for our runs. I was in van 2 for this relay, and was Runner 7. This means I was the first one out of our van for each set of legs that our van was responsible for. If you haven't run a relay before, that is, in my opinion, the most stressful position of all of them. It is important to keep track of the other van so you are prepared for the transition and don't leave a runner stranded wondering where their team is. And it's tough to know when to eat without really having a solid handle on where the other van is and how soon you will be starting your run.

We'll fast forward to my first leg of the race. We barely made it to Exchange 6, through the safety briefing, and to the exchange chute. We were still listening to the safety briefing when the other van told us that runner 6 was about a mile out. I still didn't have a bib, and wasn't all that close to the chute. But we made it and I even had a few spare moments to soak in the craziness of that exchange.

My first leg was 12.1 miles, and I think I can say that it was my toughest leg I've ever run at any Ragnar. Even harder than the back side of Guardsman Pass in Utah. It felt so hot to me, and I'm pretty sure I was a little dehydrated during this first run. I am used to running at 6am in Utah, when it is still between 30-40 degrees Fahrenheit, and I'm pretty sure the climate in California kicked my butt. The first few miles weren't that bad, except that my calves were on fire, and I didn't think they were ever going to loosen up. Then I hit a little bit of downhill for miles 3-5 and it got a little better. At that point in my run, the route went from a surface street onto a canal trail, which was really pretty for the first little while. Then it just got hard. There were pedestrian bridges every quarter mile or so, and the up and downhills - although they were short - were killers. I was getting hungry, and I thought I would never see the "One Mile to Go" sign. And I never did. I came up a little hill onto a bridge, and heard people yelling and a volunteer said "Just around the corner! Just a little further!" I couldn't believe that I had made it and was almost done. My reward (besides the fact that I was done running for a few hours) was a sweet trucker hat. And a short time later, the sunset you see below. It was gorgeous!

We all made it through our first set of legs, and then we were in search of food before going on to our next major exchange to meet up with Van 1 and take back over for the night shift. I will admit that I was more concerned about getting some sleep before our next legs than finding a restaurant and eating, but sometimes at a relay you just gotta go with the majority. We ended up eating at this little bar called The Surfin' Cowboy in Capistrano Beach. It was pretty good, but I will admit that the choices were limited for a group of runners who were planning on being up all night and abusing our bodies in other ways besides eating deep fried food and drinking beer.

After dinner, we headed for Exchange 18 in Oceanside to start our second set of legs. My next run was 3.6 miles through inland Oceanside, and I just have to say... the area I was running in was a Grade A Dump. The sidewalks were obstructed by overgrown trees and bushes all along the route, trash littered the sidewalks, and it just wasn't a very pleasant looking place. Translation: This was not an area where I would have run alone at night under normal circumstances. After my 12 mile run, this 3.6 mile leg seemed short and pleasant. I finished around 1am, and then was actually able to get a little bit of sleep in the Suburban afterwards so that I would be alert and awake to drive us from Exchange 24 to 30 where we would try to get some real sleep.

All done with my second leg and pretty happy about it!

Unfortunately, we didn't end up with any other pictures during our night runs. I guess we were tired and not feeling very photogenic. After all of our second legs, we made the drive to the La Jolla Gliderport for some sleep. The sun was already starting to come up, which made for some beautiful views to look at while falling asleep.

And waking up to the same view a couple of hours later wasn't too shabby either. Except for the rocks poking me in the back and in my hips. That part made waking up and starting to move again kind of rough.

But don't we look rested in our Ragnar truckers? Ha!

And here I go out for my final leg of the relay, a whopping 7.1 miles.

But with a view like this, it wasn't really all that bad.

I finished that 7 mile leg still feeling like I had energy in my legs, so that was a great feeling. My only complaint about it was all the stop lights that I had to wait at in the last 4 miles of that leg. Truth be told, that was a complaint that I had about this whole course. So. Many. Stop Lights. All that stopping and standing around so many times during a run starts to hurt. And most runners I know like to get in a groove and just bust out the miles. But that wasn't possible on this course. I was so happy to see this sign - not only was it the "One mile to go" for that leg, but the one mile to go marker of my 23 total miles for this race.

Once I finished my last run, I got to just enjoy the last 5 miles and spend some time cheering for my teammates. The sun was out, everyone was in good spirits, and the finish line was drawing near. Below is Maky, me, Andrea, and Cyndi relaxing for a few minutes at Exchange 35 where Jessica was coming in from her final leg, and Maky was heading out for her last run.

Finally, here are a few pictures from the finish. All in all, I had a wonderful time at this race, and am happy to say that I have some new friends in California. :)