Ragnar Relay - Las Vegas 2010

What a great race!  What a great bunch of people to run with! I had a blast! I am pretty sore though on Sunday as I write this and the DOMS is setting in more as the day continues. 30 some odd hours of running in a van with  5 other people and a driver leads to some great times and stories.

Our team was made up of runners from Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Nevada and back east somewhere. People were flying in and driving in at different times.  Each person had a different connection to someone on the team.  We were all strangers and yet all friends sharing a common bond. Running in the crazy Las Vegas Ragnar.

Here are the highlights and there are a lot of them since it's a 30'ish hour race.

• 4am wakeup to meet others in my van, who were late because of a flat. Started at 7:30am instead of 7:15.
• Green and blue hair is a must on an Ragnar run.

• Leg 1 was 7.6 miles uphill and then downhill. Felt good until the last mile when my hamstring got tight. My hamstring actually started acting up the Tuesday before the race at track and I stopped immediately at track because I didn't want anything to get in the way of Ragnar and my medals.
• Haylee does cartwheels coming into her exchange. She also did cartwheels during my leg but considering I was running, I didn't get a picture.

• Made up the 15 minutes from starting late.
• Saw guys dancing on the top of their van.  Didn't think they were straight.

• Exchange 12 was awesome. We got there early and got a cabana, went swimming, ate pasta and applied our new RAGNAR tattoo's. Saw someone with Ragnar shaved into their head...next year all the guys in our van have to do that.

• Leg 2 was 4.2 miles in the dark, well it was supposed to be 4.1 miles but I stayed on a path when I should have been on the street.  It didn't feel right and I turned back, brining along the 3 runners that followed the lost sheep.  I'm sure many other runners would do the same thing as me that night. 
• Parked next to our dancing friends and got in a little dancing myself (I was tempted to go on top and dance too but I danced on the ground)

• Run 3 was 5.5 miles downhill.  I passed 21 people and sprinted in at the end trying to hold back a guy. He was actually running with me and pushing me...it was so awesome to finish up strong.
• Run 4...wait, what do you mean run 4?  Van 2 lost a runner after her first leg, they absorbed the 2nd leg of the person and asked pretty please, with pickle juice, if we'd run a leg. It made the most sense for us to run their first leg and keep our van moving rather than stop and start again. . The problem was their 1st leg was 10 miles, which was a brutal leg with 6 miles uphill and 4 straight downhill.  Van 2 was  already struggling and couldn't run an additional 10 miles. We decided to handle it as a team and split it up.  Our runner 6 ran through his exchange for 3 miles, Steve ran another 3.5 to the top of the hill and I got to fly down the hill for another 3.8 miles. It was truly downhill, and I truly pounded it with an 6:40 avg pace and my quads truly feel it now. I was called a cheater by someone who saw me start running at the top of the hill. They probably thought I was too wimpy to run the uphill portion on the leg. More on this on another post.

Dain, Cally, Me, Steve, Sue, Haylee and our awesome driver, Brett

• Cally showed us his shooter move during the course when he put his hands down his pants and shot the runner he just passed adding to his road kill count.  On my leg 3 when I was passing someone he yelled out that I had to do the move.  I turned, while running shot at the person I just passed (roadkill #6) and kept running.  He's doing his signature pose for us alongside his brother Dain.

• Steve and his wife Sue brought 3 cans of Pringles and trail mix, which I ate way too much of.

• Haylee (cartwheel master) and her husband Brett.  Brett was awesome driving us around and driving to get the tire fixed and then driving us to get pizza which we never got. Who would think that in Vegas on a Friday night pizza closes at 10pm and we were 1/2 hour late?  We all went to bed (or attempted to sleep) hungry that night.

• I wanted to run Vegas to get the Saints and Sinners medal for running both Utah and Vegas. I learned that I would get the Deuces Wild medal also since I had run Del Sol and Vegas. That meant 3 medals!

• I didn't get to run through the finish line at Red Rock Casino with our team because I had a plane to catch (which ended up being late). Our estimated finish was 3pm but they actually finished closer to 6pm and I had to catch the shuttle at 5pm.  Sorry guys...I wish I could have been there.

This was a great Ragnar and I'm so proud of the team in van 2 for covering the run and running their hard legs.  I had so much fun and loved all my van mates. Thanks for a great time.