Ragnar Relay! Many of you probably never heard of this event before! You have to be a little crazy to do a run like this in order to survive! Ragnar relay is an over night relay. You have the choice of forming a group of 6-12 runners and each runner runs 3 legs! It is basically a 2day, 1night run, starting from Huntington Beach and finish at Coronado Island, totalling 203.5 miles in 2 vans! Each runner will pass off a snap Bracelet to each runner during each exchange!
Here is a little story of how I got myself into this crazy adventure! My friend Mandy Wisham and I decided that, since both of our boys were in preschool for 3 hours every tuesdays and thursdays we would start running and stop window shopping on those days! lol....We starting running at the end of January and one day in February Mandy told me that we are doing this run called Ragnar Relay! Apparently running 4-5miles each time on tuesdays and thursdays, led Mandy to believe that we were capable to do it, and had told our Team Captain that we wanted to do this run before she even asked if I wanted to! I was hesitant to joining since we haven't had much time to train. But, Mandy use to be in cross country at her High School so I knew she would be fine! But both Yvette(Team captain in Van 2) and Chris(Yvette's husband) were so encouraging that I will do great! We continued to train pushing our little ones in my double stroller! Next thing I knew we were running 5-8miles each time we went on a run! If someone told me last year that I would be running 8miles this year I would have told them they were crazy! I am definitely very proud of what we have accomplished in such a short time! We trained hard and it all paid off! Which then leads us to the big day of RAGNAR!
On the morning of Friday April 20th, 2012, we began our journey to join thousands of people on a crazy adventure that will be talked about for the next Ragnar 364 days from now! We had a team of 12 members, but in this blog I will only be talking about 6 members that were in Van #2! These members are Aimee Dawson, Yvette Patterson, Chris Patterson, Amie Follett, Me, and Mandy Wisham!
Our team officially started at 5:15 am for Van #1. Luckily we were in Van #2 so our day was not as early as Van 1. We started off our morning by meeting at our Team Captains house in Rancho Cucamonga for 6:30am.
Picture above of Our Van filled with our stuff(sleeping bags, Pillows, outfit changes, food and water!)
We headed out to Yorba Linda-Santa Anna River Trail, to check in our safety Gear and to get our bib numbers! Once we had done our check in we helped our first runner get ready for our first exchange with Van #1. Nerves were building with all of us! Filled with excitement to get out there and kick Ragnar's butt!
Our Team number was 190!
Our Team Name was The Runger Games!
Exchange #6
(Runner 6 meets up with Runner 7)
This is another picture of Exchange #6!
Aimee getting ready for her Bracelet exchange from our teammate from
Van #1!
Before we headed out to support Aimee on her run,
we Decorated our SUV a little!
Thanks Little Amie for buying the Markers and for the idea!
Runger Games!
Too bad there wasn't a picture of the Hunger Games Symbol that I drew on the back!
Got some help from little Amie!
Never read the books or seen the movie of Hunger Games, but
apparently there are Districts, which is where we came up with the idea!
Which worked out since we had 12 members on our Team!
We took this picture while Aimee was on her run! Sorry Aimee!
Left to right: Amie, me, Chris, Yvette and Mandy
Before our runs, while we were still nice and clean!
Here is a picture of our first runner #7 Aimee coming in from Exchange 6 Yorba Linda-Santa Anna River Trail to Corona. She did an 8.8mile run! She did an awesome job! She is ready to pass off our Snap Bracelet to our next runner Yvette runner #8!
This has got to be one of my Favorite Pictures from Ragnar!
Go Yvette! I love how the cross gaurd helped her cross the street!
Yvette passing off her Snap Bracelet off to her Husband Chris!
She rocked her 3.9mile run even though her calf/foot cramped on her in the begining!!
Great Job Yvette!
Chris Returning from his 4.9mile run! He went very, very Fast!
Getting ready to pass off his bracelet to runner #10 little Amie!
Amie getting ready for Chris!
Go Little Amie! She did a 5.8mile! Great job!
Here I am a little after Amie passed the Bracelet off to me!
During Amie's run it was maybe 95degrees!
Once it was my turn it was 100degrees out!
I had great Van support from my team members! The picture above is a picture of Chris putting a hand full of ice in the back of my shirt for the second time on my run! They gave me a refill on water and cheered me on! I had about 2 miles to go from this location! There was another team who had squirt guns who also sprayed me a few times also! I was very grateful to get support from them and other vans! There was such high volumes of camaraderie between our group and other teams, we all respected each other and supported one another during this race! It really teaches you the meaning of team work!
This is a picture of me passing off the bracelet to Mandy runner 12!
I finished my first leg a 5.5mile!
Mandy coming in from Corona to Lake Elsinore passing off to our van #1!
She completed a 4.6miles! She unfortunately was not allowed to have Van support like the first 5 of us did! We made the exectutive decision to check on her anyways and she was out of water and so were all the other runners around her!! We didn't get to stop but I put my head out the window and we drove by slowly to hand off some water to her! by then it was over 100degrees out! I was extremely proud of her for achieving such a tremendous run! and to not have any van support like we all did! I paced her in her last 5min of her run to encourage her and support her as I know she would have done for me too!
Our Van has now officially completed our first leg! We did it! 1 down 2 more to go! Boy was it a tough one! It definitely challenged us all, in many ways and the heat did not help at all! I know Mandy and I did not want it to rain, but after we ran in that hot heat, we wished it did! We then headed to our next exchange 18 to have our lunch/dinner and to set up our tent so we could get some rest before our 2nd legs!
Our Camp site!..............................................................................................................................................................................................
Camping on a Golf Course in Escondido!
Once we set up camp, Little Amie and I headed to the message table and got a message! It felt so amazing! The best $10 I ever spent! Amie's ankle was bugging her so she got it stretched out! We then ate and got some rest! Well at least the rest of my team did! I couldn't sleep at all! After our first leg it started to smell some in our Van! So, being able to sleep outside in some clean clothes felt and smelt way better! I had feared that after our 3rd leg we would smell like a dead hooker! lol.....
I am enjoying a sandwich and some chips! Everyone else is sleeping!
We almost look like a bunch of bums making a big mess!
Mandy and I decided to jump Amie while she was sleeping/Resting!
Me trying to jump in my sleeping Bag! lol...
Aimee getting comfy!
This is my 2nd favorite picture from Ragnar!
Mandy and I were talking and I looked over and busted up laughing because I had thought Aimee was sleeping with one of her boots on under her sleeping bag! When one has not slept in over 14hrs you find yourself laughing at the little things! Mandy and I were once again laughing quietly to ourselves! We seem to be amused by a lot of things!
Our View of the Golf course!
I know Mandy and I have a few favorite quotes from Ragnar! They all came from one person in our Van! His name is Chris! If you haven't noticed before he is the only man on our team! He had some great things to say! One was what he said about the golf course, he said "this might be the nicest Golf Course I've ever slept on!" It was so funny in the moment! Mandy and I couldn't stop laughing! Another one he said was "if your dancing you didn't run hard enough!" and another favorite is "if your cold during your run, run FASTER!"
My team members started to wake up but one of our Runners, little Amie woke up not feeling very good at all! She said she had a Migraine and felt nauseous, her body was aching and as mentioned before her left ankle was hurting her! I believe she may have been dehydrated and thought maybe she should drink more water and to try and eat something! But nothing seemed to work! The only other solution for her in this case was to go home and sleep it off! Her husband came and picked her up at one of our exchanges! We hoped that she would get through it and would be able to finish with us but unfortunately "Ragnar got the best of her!"(Amie posted that on her FB page). We told her there is always next year and to not feel discouraged! It was a rough day for all of us!
The Night Run! Oh boy were we excited for our night runs! After the agonizing run through the heat that left one of our runners unable to finish her last 2 legs, We were in Heaven! It definitely made our runs fun, quick and cool! And one of the best parts is you get to wear the very fashionable reflective gear! Need I say more!
Our night runs:
Aimee-3.7 Escondido-old hwy 395
Yvette-4.0 Escondido-San Marcos
Chris-3.8 San Marcos- San marcos
Me- 2 san marcos-san marcos (Amie's leg)+ 3.9-Carlsbad
Mandy- 4.7 Carlsbad-Carlsbad
Aimee!
That's right! Aimee and I are doing the tootsie roll!
Yes, Chris we are dancing but that doesn't mean we didn't run hard enough!
We killed it! Just loosening up for our next run!
Little Amie and I
Van #2!
Our team of 6!
with the flash on
The picture above is me finishing my night run! I was so happy, I could have gone longer if I had to! Since little Amie went home, our team needed to make up her miles! Luckily her night run was just 2miles! I took her 2miles on top of my 3.9 which made my run a 5.9mile run! Running at night is so peaceful! It is a little quiet which makes it a little scary, but just as long as you don't think about someone attacking you, you will be fine! And with the Van support from your team you feel safe! But I think I heard Chris say this, "just run like someone is chasing you!" I did run like someone was chasing me! I did run with someone half way through Amie's 2mile and my 3.9mi! Most of our night runs had NO VAN support but we did something called LeapFrog! That is when your runner is out running and you can pass your runner up and park and have your runner pass you up and continue doing this until they are close to the exchange! We are smelling more and more nasty!
Torrey Pines
After we all finished our night runs we headed over to our last exchange at Torrey Pines! We were able to get some sleep! Chris, Yvette and Aimee stayed in the tent, while Mandy and I stayed in the car! We probably only slept for about 2 hours! The picture above is what it looked like at 5am in the morning! This is our last legs for the 5 of us!
Our last legs were:
Aimee from La Jolla had a 7.1mi run +2=9.1mi
Yvette from Pacific Beach had a 7.8mi run
Chris San Diego Harbor had a 11.1mi run
Me from National city had a 4.9mi run + 1.7=6.6mi
Mandy from Imperial Beach had a 6.4 mi run +2=8.4mi
Since we still needed to make up little Amie's run last leg of 5.7mi. Mandy took 2mi, Aimee took 2, and I took the last 1.7miles of her run on top of my 4.9mi. This last leg had pushed me out of my comfort zone! Mainly because I got lost for a good 3miles along with 5 other runners! It was a scenic route but we ran into a few bums who looked a tad crazy! But once back on route and reconnecting with my Van by Aimee meeting up with me I got a banana and some new water and some words of encouragement, I was able to push the lost and discouraged me to the side and finished strong. But of course with our great team captain who was already in pain, Yvette paced me on my last 2miles! Her finding the strength to pace me amazes me! She definitely made me push myself more then I ever thought I could!
The thrill once you see your last runner making her way through the tunnel and to have her son run with her to the finish line along with all 11 of her teammates makes all the challenges worth the crazy adventure that we all got to share on this journey together! Being able to cross that finish line knowing that you were able to accomplish it is a great feeling! Although little Amie went home she made it out the next day to cheer us on and ran with us through the finish line also with her son! Our team has such a great support system I couldn't have asked for a better team!
I wanted to give a special shot out to Aimee Dawson for letting us use your SUV for our Van! Sorry if the smell never came out of your suv! And I wanted to THank Yvette for putting our team together, along with meetings and food! Thanks to Chris for his words of wisdom and encouragement! Thanks to little Amie for giving her best! You'll get Ragnar next year! And of course to the fool who got me in this mess to begin with, Mandy! lol....thanks for believing in me and pushing me to my limits! I couldn't have done it without you!
I look forward to next years Ragnar! Yes, I said Next years Ragnar!
5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD DO RAGNAR
1. You get Free Beer at the end of the Race
2. you get to challenge yourself
3. you get to wear cool reflective gear
4. you get to meet fun crazy people
5. you get to camp at a Golf course
I know we will improve and beat our time! Our time was 34hours and 9 min! Our overall pace was 10:04! Until we meet again Ragnar!
Mandy and her son Jonah and the rest of Runger Games getting ready to cross the finish line!
Finish line!
Our Group picture!
Will post a better copy later!
Here are few Van's we saw during the race!
Plungers were on top of their van holding the pool toys
On the other side it said stop looking at my butt!
If there was one thing I hated the most about Ragnar is that I got car sick a few times! There were a few moments where I thought I was going to throw up but didn't thankfully! I tried the motion sickness bands and they worked until I lost them after my night run! I did however find them after we headed home! And one more thing I would change would be my potty mouth! There were a few times I said some bad words! This is what happens when kids are not around and I get no sleep! So I apologize to my team if it bothered you!
We all hung out after we finished and Got our Free box of Dominos pizza. I did not go for my free beer! Wish I was more up to it! We checked out the Ragnar shop then we all headed back to the Van and got organized and headed our seperate ways! I got a ride with Little Amie since I wasn't feeling my best, still feeling a bit Nauseaus. I was glad that I fell asleep right away in the car. Stopped at a fast food joint and headed home!
When we pulled up to my drive way I saw a sign on the door! Michael and my boys made for me!!
Although Michael thinks I am crazy for doing Ragnar he was extremely Proud of my accomplishment! When I walked inside the house it was spotless! This included laundry done, dishes done and put away and yard work done!
HE is so amazing! I love my husband!
Our shirt and Medal!
Lucas and I
My little Champ!
I am so very proud of my Team! We all pushed as hard as we could! Next year Ragnar won't know what hit it! I can't wait for next years Ragnar! But before it does I will be training hard and getting ready for my next 2 runs before then! Next up SBSD MUD Run and after that my first time marathon, LA Marathon!
Love yourself and be proud to what you can do! Believe in yourself and succeed! There is only one person who can get in your way to reach your goals and that is yourself! Just some words that I wanted to share and that I have learned!
See you next year Ragnar!
