12 teammates. 2 Vans. 27 hours. 36 legs. 176 miles. 2 hours of Sleep. Zero Showers. 368 Registered Teams.
Ragnar Relay was a blast!
Team Run, Beaches, Run kicked some serious running butt over the past two days.
I was in Van 1, Runner 5 which took off from Miles Standish Park in Carver, MA at 10 am Friday morning. One thing about most of Massachusetts that I must mention, is there are many hills. Looking at the course maps, you knew that hills were coming, but whoa!
Our team was hauling! We “calculated” expected exchange times based on all of our previous 10K times which Ragnar uses to set us up for start times. By my first leg, we were a few minutes ahead of time, and at 1:15pm I took off. I had the shortest legs of all, totaling 9.6 miles in total. When you are in a Van of all experienced runners, no one wanted the short run. I volunteered and Although I loved knowing that after a mile or two I was over halfway through, I don’t really warm up and get into my stride until about two miles and by then, my legs were almost over.
Here I am coming into the exchange at the end of my first leg: 3.4 miles in 32:10 (by my Garmin - my Garmin also said it was only 3.3 miles – therefore I averaged 9:45 min/miles)
Van 1 finished around 3pm, but we had to go stage cars so people had cars closer to the end of the race. We were able to quickly grab pizza and enjoy some cupcakes I bought when we went looking for coffee at one point, but due to traffic we had to be back on the road by 6 pm to make it to the exchange around 7pm for our next set. After 6:45pm, everyone must wear their safety gear. Below is a pic from Exchange 12, were we switched with Van 2.
By this point, we were all about 30 min ahead of our schedule. And we kept it up. At 11:15 pm I took off for my 2nd leg. This one was only 3.1 miles; 5k which I can do in my sleep. This leg was along a bike path with woods all next to me and all I kept thinking was how I was going to be attacked by an animal. Thanksfully I must have been bright enough to keep them away because I made it. Again, I averaged 9:45 min/mile coming in at 30:15ish.
Our #6 runner kicked it into high gear and finished his 7 mile run averaging at an 8 min/mile pace (which he thought he was a 9:30 pace) so we had to wake up Van 2 a little early. We made it to our sleeping area around 1:30ish, I would say I was asleep by 2 am. 4am we were woken up by Van 2 as they were hauling and we had to be at the exchange around 5ish.
Leg 3 started at 7:20 am for me. After making my van get me my coffee, I was all ready to get going. It was still cool out, but sunny. Again, I had a 3.1 mile run. This was also on a bike path, but it was a beautiful run with great scenery in Eastham, MA. The worst part about this leg, was the bike path had EVERY TENTH OF A MILE MARKED! It was a constant reminder of how far you have left. Luckily, I like numbers and just counted down from 31. This time I averaged 9:44 min/mile (atleast I am consistent!) and came in at 30:11ish.
We finished up around 8:30 am and headed out in search of breakfast as well as continued on to Provincetown for the finish line. Van 2 meet us around noon and we all ran in together to gross the finish line around 12:45pm. All in all, 26 hours to complete 176 miles.
Sounds fun! I would love to do Ragnar someday. Some of my friends and I are already starting to talk about next year (Ragnar Madison, WI to Chicago, IL is the second weekend in June).
This sounds like such a cool thing to do!!!