I am back from the Ragnar...and after a long hot shower, a hot meal, 13 continuous hours of glorious sleep, I am finally starting to feel back to normal again.
What an amazing experience it was to run from Ventura to Dana Point with 11 people who are now my friends.
We shared something special...and by special I am talking about lack of sleep, clean restrooms, regular meals, and hot showers. But I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. That is saying alot coming from a girl like me who is not use to "roughin' it". As I mentioned before, I've never been camping nor have I ever missed a night of sleep...EVER! So you can take my word when I say that if I can do this, anyone can! And should...because it is the most fun you will ever have running that much and being in a van full of stinky people. It's not all that bad when everyone smells the same...hahaha.
Our team was called Foxes United (FU - for short)..hahaha, I did not come up with that name...just sayin'!
The team was made up of my co-workers and their friends. So I already knew some people and met some new friends. I was in Van 2 so we didn't start our day until around noon when we all packed up the van from Irvine and headed to the first major exchange point at Moorpark. Van 1 had to be in Ventura by 11am for our team's official start time so they had a much earlier start to their day than we did...so we lov'em that much more. ;)
The starting line!
So beautiful!
As soon as we got to Moorpark, we realized how green we were..as in Ragnar Rookies! Our van was naked, no decor, no van paint, we did not have matching shirts or costumes or even sweatbands. Yeah, we are such noobs! First time for everything. What we didn't have in the way of costumes we made up for with our lightning speed. Hahaha...that was what we were telling ourselves!
Fuel!
This here is Moorpark, our first van hand-off at a parking lot of a community center.
This was an exchange point somewhere in Thousand Oaks.
By the time it came around for my first leg, it was already starting to get dark. Probably around dusk. I can't remember where we were exactly but I was the first runner to have to don reflective gear. Oh joy!
This is another exchange point in Laguna Beach. Sorry I don't have more exchange point photos. I was not sleeping on the job, just caught up with all the excitement. It was literally nonstop!
This photo was taken by me very close to the finish line.
Party on the beach y'all!
The finish line at Dana Point!
The results came out today and Team FU did well for our first Ragnar. We finished 12th of 131 teams in our division and 33rd place overall out of 281 total teams. We as a team averaged about 8:30 min/miles for 200 miles!!
Most memorable moment for me (and there were many) was my 3rd and last leg of 8.8 miles along the Laguna Canyon 133 highway. Running against cars going 60+ miles/hr, seperated only by a a line of orange cones with headwind galore and some hills for good measure, in the midday 80 degree sun. Yeah, good times! I past about 10 people on that highway because I was the little engine that could. Rather I was the tortoise that just kept chugging along slow and steady. Yep, it was amazing to say the least.
I leave you with the most sweet medal ever! It's also a bottle opener. What?!? Oh yes it is.
3 comments:
Very cool! It looked like everyone was having a great time - which is really saying something aftr a couple days and 200 miles!
Congrats to your team. That is an awesome finish - especially for a first time team. Way to go.
By the way, my pictures at Exchange 35 are here . Maybe you or your team are in one? I got there around 2:45 and was there until about 4:15 or so.
Great placing for FU! Glad it was survivable and looks like a lot of fun. At that pace, I probably would have been the weakest c#ink.
Yeah, Portland and San Antonio (RnR) are the serious considerations for Fall. We're going to decide at the San Diego expo, so you'll be there to decide if you'd like to go, too. We can share rooms, and if we go with RnR, they might have more hotel deals.
Fargo in ND is where A's aunt lives, and the course is very flat... that is next May.
I did a relay back in august and it was a BLAST. I would love to do it again in ridiculous costumes. that'd be fun. :)
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