Rangar Del Sol 2011- Bittersweet happiness!
March 7, 2011
I don't know where to start with this post. This would have been my fourth Ragnar Del Sol. For those of you unfamiliar, it is a 202 mile relay through Arizona with 12 people on your team. This year, we decided to just hook up with another van of 6 people that we didn't know, so that we would only have to worry about coordinating things for our van. Great decision!
As some of you know from prior blogs and tweets, I got injured in early December, 10 days before running Tucson Marathon. I couldn't enter the race. I had a lumbar disc bulge that was pinching nerves, which in turn weakened some muscles in my right leg. That resulted in other muscles in my right leg overcompensating and getting injured. Long story short, I was only allowed to swim since then. Three weeks ago I got cleared to start biking and two weeks ago I got cleared to start running 2 miles at a time. The reason that I share this is that (if you haven't figured it out already) I couldn't run all three legs of Ragnar. Needless to say, I was super bummed. But, I decided to partake in Ragnar anyway and cheer all my teammates on (best decision ever!).
I'm going to share with you the names of all my teammates and how they came to be part of the team. I'm doing so because I think it shows you how social networking, genuinely nice people and runners/triathletes are pretty special and cool. So, here we go:
Amanda: My girlfriend of several years. We have run two prior Ragnars together. I won't go into detail, since her story is pretty much told in other blogs.
Billy: My college friends Travis and Jen got married. Billy is Jen's little brother. We became friends several years ago and are semi-regular running partners (when we're both healthy!). Billy is an awesome person and also edits and creates most of our race videos.
Christian: Amanda and I met Christian last year through Ragnars website, when we needed a last minute runner replacement. We invited, he accepted, the rest is history. We have kept in touch with Christian ever since Ragnar 2010 and plan on doing many more races with him. He's become more than a race buddy, but a good friend too. Oh yeah, and he plans on doing every single Ragnar Relay race in the country this year!! Plus, he is doing a few more non Ragnar branded relays. I think something like 22 relays this year. Nutty! Check out his site at The Relay Runner.
Richard and Darren: Both are from the DC area. Christian met them at a Ragnar event in 2010 where Richard was a runner and Darren the driver. He insisted that both join us, since they are so much fun. No arguments here.
Justin: Christian's buddy from California and all around bad-ass drummer for the band Augustana. Little did I know until we were half way into the race, when we had been talking about his band for half an hour that I finally asked him what his band's name was. When he told me it was Augustana, I couldn't believe it. Amanda and I had seen them open for Counting Crows and Maroon 5. Billy has two of their CDs. By the way, he's a kick-ass runner too!
MaryKate: She and I started tweeting on Twitter a few years ago, since we both lived in Scottsdale (at the time) and were both runners. We had never met in person, but I thought I would give her a shout when we needed to fill another spot and she jumped at the chance. She's a grad student in California and a great runner that rounded out our team perfectly.
Ok, now on to the race report.
I have to say it was a bittersweet beginning to the day for me the morning of the race. The night before MaryKate, Amanda, Billy, Christian, Justin and I all had dinner together and got ready for the race the next morning. The morning of, I'm happy for everyone and feeling the energy of race day, but a little bummed that I can't race. Then, I hear that the other van may need a runner, so of course I volunteer, even though I was not ready to run. Come to find out, they found another person at the last minute to fill their last spot. We finished decorating the van and Darren drove us to Wickenburg.
Christian led us out of the chute and put is in a good position from the get go. I think he was third or fourth into the exchange chute. MaryKate was next and ran a solid leg. I was getting pumped at how good our team was this year. I so badly wanted to be part of the team, but realized I would do more damage to myself and the team if I took over 3 legs. I decided I would run with Billy for 4 miles of his over 7 mile leg. I have to say, it was pretty fun to go out there and run with your teammate. I guess you normally would never have an opportunity like that, because nobody would want to waste their energy knowing they had to run 3 of their own legs themselves. I peeled off after four miles and let Billy finish his leg. I felt good, having gone out and run with the team.
After I ran, I loosened up a bit and felt a lot more relaxed. Even though I didn't officially run a leg, it just felt good to get out and run on the course. Justin, Amanda and Rich all rocked their legs and we handed off to our other van. We pulled into the next exchange after grabbing a bite to eat. Four of us did some yoga and had Muscle Milk, while the others grabbed some shut-eye in the van.
The night runs were next. I always love the night run. It's something different to run that late at night with headlamps on. It's kind of surreal, especially with all the other runners and vans doing the same thing with you in the middle of the night. We started getting giddy from lack of sleep. For some reason, we kept the same radio station on the entire race, which happened to play Enrique Iglesias, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Ke$ha at least once an hour. Well, these became our theme songs. Let me just say, "and I need a vacation tonight!!". Our van also bore the brunt of our inside joke by having "E'scuse Me" (in the Enrique accent) embroidered on the hood.
The night runs were just awesome. Everybody rocked their legs that night. Our van was on fire with lights all over the inside, a sabre, pink flamingo and palm tree on top w/ jungle vines garnering the entrance to the sliding door. Yes, we were the tacky tourists, hence the obnoxious outfits. By the way, MaryKate suggests Walgreen's as an excellent source for cheesy Arizona tees. The rest of us went the Goodwill route and found plenty of tropical print garb.
After the night runs, we all went back to our place and grabbed showers and about an hour of sleep before heading out for our last legs. Last year, we were in van #2. Because of the unfortunate death of a runner ahead of us last year, Amanda was the only person in our van that ran all 3 legs. The rest of us had to skip our second legs, due to part of the course being blocked off. Because of this (and because I was feeling good), Amanda graciously let me run her last leg for her. I was so pumped up to run (even though my fitness is only about 70% right now). She had a 4.2 mile leg that was a slight downhill for the first two miles and flat for the rest. I felt great. It was cool, overcast and fast. I "killed" (passed) 20 runners on the leg and ran at around a 7:15 min/mile pace, which I was so happy with, given my current fitness. That really meant a lot to me for her to give her last leg to me. It made me feel like I was truly a part of this amazing team.
Before my last leg During my last leg
After our last legs, we met our other van at the finish line, took pictures and our van headed to Zipp's for some much deserved beers and burgers. The rest of the night consisted of beers, laughter, hot tub and sleep. Even though I didn't officially run this year, this Ragnar was just special. I loved our team. Everybody clicked. We finished the fastest that I've ever done in a Ragnar race, placing 50th out of over 350 entrants at a time just under 28 hours.
That's what this sport of running is all about, having fun. Relays are special, in that you get to share that with a team, rather than just be an individual runner out there. We all talked about doing other races again with eachother in the future. I know people say that after some experiences, but I can guarantee you that this team will all race again. It was an amazing race that allowed me to grow stronger bonds with people that I already knew and create new friendships with others. Cheers to Amanda, Darren, Richard, Christian, Justin and MaryKate! Thank you for being a part of a truly special weekend. Here's to many more cool experiences to come!
(from left: Justin, Billy, MaryKate, Christin, Amanda) (Justin, Billy, MaryKate, Christian, Me)
Race report:
This year's Ragnar Relay Del Sol was great. They added extra safety precautions, by providing orange flags for teammates to hold up when crossing roads. Even though some legs (or parts of legs) were not allowed to be van supported, they did an excellent job providing one or two aid stations for runners along these routes. Plus, I think limiting van support in dangerous areas was a great way to prevent accidents. It was a bit of a crowded race this year and that showed mostly in the exchange areas. I know planning a race like this has to be a logistic nightmare, but the exchange areas have to improve. There have to be fewer exchances with narrow and limited driving space and parking. At one exchange, the toilets were probably half a mile from the furthest parking spot. I know it's tough, but they need to improve on this. As usual, the start line was great fun. No problems there. This year they ended the race it the Tempe Arts Center, which was an improvement from Tempe Marketplace, but the beer area was so separted from the finish line grounds, that it didn't even feel like it was part of Ragnar. I think I had the most fun when it was at a park with the beer garden in the finish line area with bands too. The medal was top notch again this year. Great quality and cool design. My only suggestion is to mix it up next year. I've done four Del Sol's in a row and all the medals are very similar.
I've since been cleared for full time training. I'm ready to race again and everything has gone great in the week since Ragnar. I'm ready to get back out there. It looks like I'll be doing Marquee Triathlon (Tempe, AZ) and Las Palomas Triathlon (Puerto Penasco, MX) in April, then Rio Salado Triathlon (Tempe, AZ) in May.
All in all: Fantastic race, fantastic race organization, amazing team and superb time. Yes I'd do it again. In fact, I'll do it every year. I'm thinking about maybe doing Ragnar New England this year and we've talked about doing Ragnar Florida Keys as an Ultra team (ouch!). Hope you enjoyed my blog. Please leave any comments you'd like.
As some of you know from prior blogs and tweets, I got injured in early December, 10 days before running Tucson Marathon. I couldn't enter the race. I had a lumbar disc bulge that was pinching nerves, which in turn weakened some muscles in my right leg. That resulted in other muscles in my right leg overcompensating and getting injured. Long story short, I was only allowed to swim since then. Three weeks ago I got cleared to start biking and two weeks ago I got cleared to start running 2 miles at a time. The reason that I share this is that (if you haven't figured it out already) I couldn't run all three legs of Ragnar. Needless to say, I was super bummed. But, I decided to partake in Ragnar anyway and cheer all my teammates on (best decision ever!).
I'm going to share with you the names of all my teammates and how they came to be part of the team. I'm doing so because I think it shows you how social networking, genuinely nice people and runners/triathletes are pretty special and cool. So, here we go:
Amanda: My girlfriend of several years. We have run two prior Ragnars together. I won't go into detail, since her story is pretty much told in other blogs.
Billy: My college friends Travis and Jen got married. Billy is Jen's little brother. We became friends several years ago and are semi-regular running partners (when we're both healthy!). Billy is an awesome person and also edits and creates most of our race videos.
Christian: Amanda and I met Christian last year through Ragnars website, when we needed a last minute runner replacement. We invited, he accepted, the rest is history. We have kept in touch with Christian ever since Ragnar 2010 and plan on doing many more races with him. He's become more than a race buddy, but a good friend too. Oh yeah, and he plans on doing every single Ragnar Relay race in the country this year!! Plus, he is doing a few more non Ragnar branded relays. I think something like 22 relays this year. Nutty! Check out his site at The Relay Runner.
Richard and Darren: Both are from the DC area. Christian met them at a Ragnar event in 2010 where Richard was a runner and Darren the driver. He insisted that both join us, since they are so much fun. No arguments here.
Justin: Christian's buddy from California and all around bad-ass drummer for the band Augustana. Little did I know until we were half way into the race, when we had been talking about his band for half an hour that I finally asked him what his band's name was. When he told me it was Augustana, I couldn't believe it. Amanda and I had seen them open for Counting Crows and Maroon 5. Billy has two of their CDs. By the way, he's a kick-ass runner too!
MaryKate: She and I started tweeting on Twitter a few years ago, since we both lived in Scottsdale (at the time) and were both runners. We had never met in person, but I thought I would give her a shout when we needed to fill another spot and she jumped at the chance. She's a grad student in California and a great runner that rounded out our team perfectly.
Ok, now on to the race report.
I have to say it was a bittersweet beginning to the day for me the morning of the race. The night before MaryKate, Amanda, Billy, Christian, Justin and I all had dinner together and got ready for the race the next morning. The morning of, I'm happy for everyone and feeling the energy of race day, but a little bummed that I can't race. Then, I hear that the other van may need a runner, so of course I volunteer, even though I was not ready to run. Come to find out, they found another person at the last minute to fill their last spot. We finished decorating the van and Darren drove us to Wickenburg.
Christian led us out of the chute and put is in a good position from the get go. I think he was third or fourth into the exchange chute. MaryKate was next and ran a solid leg. I was getting pumped at how good our team was this year. I so badly wanted to be part of the team, but realized I would do more damage to myself and the team if I took over 3 legs. I decided I would run with Billy for 4 miles of his over 7 mile leg. I have to say, it was pretty fun to go out there and run with your teammate. I guess you normally would never have an opportunity like that, because nobody would want to waste their energy knowing they had to run 3 of their own legs themselves. I peeled off after four miles and let Billy finish his leg. I felt good, having gone out and run with the team.
After I ran, I loosened up a bit and felt a lot more relaxed. Even though I didn't officially run a leg, it just felt good to get out and run on the course. Justin, Amanda and Rich all rocked their legs and we handed off to our other van. We pulled into the next exchange after grabbing a bite to eat. Four of us did some yoga and had Muscle Milk, while the others grabbed some shut-eye in the van.
The night runs were next. I always love the night run. It's something different to run that late at night with headlamps on. It's kind of surreal, especially with all the other runners and vans doing the same thing with you in the middle of the night. We started getting giddy from lack of sleep. For some reason, we kept the same radio station on the entire race, which happened to play Enrique Iglesias, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Ke$ha at least once an hour. Well, these became our theme songs. Let me just say, "and I need a vacation tonight!!". Our van also bore the brunt of our inside joke by having "E'scuse Me" (in the Enrique accent) embroidered on the hood.
The night runs were just awesome. Everybody rocked their legs that night. Our van was on fire with lights all over the inside, a sabre, pink flamingo and palm tree on top w/ jungle vines garnering the entrance to the sliding door. Yes, we were the tacky tourists, hence the obnoxious outfits. By the way, MaryKate suggests Walgreen's as an excellent source for cheesy Arizona tees. The rest of us went the Goodwill route and found plenty of tropical print garb.
After the night runs, we all went back to our place and grabbed showers and about an hour of sleep before heading out for our last legs. Last year, we were in van #2. Because of the unfortunate death of a runner ahead of us last year, Amanda was the only person in our van that ran all 3 legs. The rest of us had to skip our second legs, due to part of the course being blocked off. Because of this (and because I was feeling good), Amanda graciously let me run her last leg for her. I was so pumped up to run (even though my fitness is only about 70% right now). She had a 4.2 mile leg that was a slight downhill for the first two miles and flat for the rest. I felt great. It was cool, overcast and fast. I "killed" (passed) 20 runners on the leg and ran at around a 7:15 min/mile pace, which I was so happy with, given my current fitness. That really meant a lot to me for her to give her last leg to me. It made me feel like I was truly a part of this amazing team.
Before my last leg During my last leg
After our last legs, we met our other van at the finish line, took pictures and our van headed to Zipp's for some much deserved beers and burgers. The rest of the night consisted of beers, laughter, hot tub and sleep. Even though I didn't officially run this year, this Ragnar was just special. I loved our team. Everybody clicked. We finished the fastest that I've ever done in a Ragnar race, placing 50th out of over 350 entrants at a time just under 28 hours.
That's what this sport of running is all about, having fun. Relays are special, in that you get to share that with a team, rather than just be an individual runner out there. We all talked about doing other races again with eachother in the future. I know people say that after some experiences, but I can guarantee you that this team will all race again. It was an amazing race that allowed me to grow stronger bonds with people that I already knew and create new friendships with others. Cheers to Amanda, Darren, Richard, Christian, Justin and MaryKate! Thank you for being a part of a truly special weekend. Here's to many more cool experiences to come!
(from left: Justin, Billy, MaryKate, Christin, Amanda) (Justin, Billy, MaryKate, Christian, Me)
Race report:
This year's Ragnar Relay Del Sol was great. They added extra safety precautions, by providing orange flags for teammates to hold up when crossing roads. Even though some legs (or parts of legs) were not allowed to be van supported, they did an excellent job providing one or two aid stations for runners along these routes. Plus, I think limiting van support in dangerous areas was a great way to prevent accidents. It was a bit of a crowded race this year and that showed mostly in the exchange areas. I know planning a race like this has to be a logistic nightmare, but the exchange areas have to improve. There have to be fewer exchances with narrow and limited driving space and parking. At one exchange, the toilets were probably half a mile from the furthest parking spot. I know it's tough, but they need to improve on this. As usual, the start line was great fun. No problems there. This year they ended the race it the Tempe Arts Center, which was an improvement from Tempe Marketplace, but the beer area was so separted from the finish line grounds, that it didn't even feel like it was part of Ragnar. I think I had the most fun when it was at a park with the beer garden in the finish line area with bands too. The medal was top notch again this year. Great quality and cool design. My only suggestion is to mix it up next year. I've done four Del Sol's in a row and all the medals are very similar.
I've since been cleared for full time training. I'm ready to race again and everything has gone great in the week since Ragnar. I'm ready to get back out there. It looks like I'll be doing Marquee Triathlon (Tempe, AZ) and Las Palomas Triathlon (Puerto Penasco, MX) in April, then Rio Salado Triathlon (Tempe, AZ) in May.
All in all: Fantastic race, fantastic race organization, amazing team and superb time. Yes I'd do it again. In fact, I'll do it every year. I'm thinking about maybe doing Ragnar New England this year and we've talked about doing Ragnar Florida Keys as an Ultra team (ouch!). Hope you enjoyed my blog. Please leave any comments you'd like.
Posted by Jess Lawrence. Posted In : Running
