Race Recap: DC Ragnar 2016

I am not even sure where to start. Seriously. I am sure this post will be long-winded, but also, I am sure I will accidently leave something out. I will only share a handful of photos, but do know, there was so much photographic & video evidence from this fun, fun weekend (Boomerang, anyone?!).

This past weekend was pretty darn amazing & I feel so lucky to have spent it with 11 other fantastic, badass, beastmode mother runners. Sure, there were low points—mostly when the running got tough—but the rest of it made up 10 fold for those crappy moments. The amnesia has already set in for some, with a few members of Mom’s Night Out {our team name, created by the wonderful Whitney} already planning their next Ragnar adventure. It’ll take me a little longer, but knowing my love of this sport & these girls, I will likely happily oblige.

For those who don’t know, a Ragnar is a relay-type event with any number of runners {generally 6-12} completing the distance. For the road type, which is what we completed, it covers 200-ish miles. Ultra teams with six runners will complete the relay with all members in a single van. Teams like ours, with 12 runners, will have two vans with six folks per van. Sometimes though, life happens & you lose a member to injury or work; & in those cases, you are just down a member with the rest of the team picking up the slack. Our team showed up & meant business—with everyone completing their planned distance {some a little more than they intended, thanks to getting lost…. more on that later}! Our mantra was like childbirth, you just HAD to do it & the job would be completed with the passing of the baton, a slap bracelet in our case; much like labor isn’t complete until the child is fully birthed.

I can’t recall how long ago the idea came to fruition, but Stephanie, our team captain was the originator of this grand plan. All of the team members are, or have been in the past, affiliated with the local Fit4Mom franchise—either via Stroller Strides or Body Back. Look this business up if you’re looking to get in shape as a new or experience momma!! The actual running experience amongst the group ranged a bit, but generally speaking, all members of the group were pretty darn fit. Since I had completed the Colonial 200 Relay last year, I naturally fell into the co-captain position. Stephanie would lead the way with Van 1, & I would, with Van 2. For a team with only one member having completing such a race, these girls did AMAZING. Such pros out there—appearing to have done this hundreds of times!

Our adventure began on Thursday morning, with a yummy send-off brunch provided by a local restaurant, Toast. If you are in the Norfolk area, do yourself a favor & go try their kale salad & toast varieties—YUM!! At noon, our 2 rental vans {12-passenger—the ONLY way to do this sort of adventure in style & comfort!!} departed with Cumberland, MD as our destination. Upon arrival to our B&B, we were greeted by our host, Gayle {oh the stories we could tell you about that place!}. After decorating the vans, we headed to the pre-race party to get all of our goodies & watch the safety briefing—doing this the night before prevents you from having to arrive an hour early on race morning. Score! Bedtime came just before 10pm, mostly since van 1 had a 3:30am wake up time.

Our team’s journey began at 5am sharp, on Friday morning. Van 1 set out to complete their first set of legs, with Sandy leading the way through a tough & pitch black 4.9 mile run. Following her was Emily, our cancer-kicking momma. The 3^rd leg, denoted as the toughest one on the course, was ran by our graceful ballerina Allie, who defeated the almost 1,250 feet elevation gain like it was nothing—or so I heard, since I was devouring a yummy B&B breakfast at that time. Next came Whitney, one of the funniest & most resourceful chicks around; followed by Erin, our fearless Fit4Mom Norfolk owner. Last in van 1 was Stephanie—the kindest gal you’ve ever met, but could make a sailor blush with some of her vocabulary!

Just before 11am, van 1 passed the torch to van 2, & we went to work! First up was hippy-loving momma Courtney who crushed her almost 8-mile run. She slapped the bracelet on Kendra’s wrist that proceeded to climb straight up, & then go straight down a mountain—super impressive woman right there! Next up was Ashley who accomplished a down-to-the-wire “kill” at the end of her 4.5 mile leg. Katie, our fresh-from-Hawaii momma {who graciously “laid” us with the beautiful flowers you see in some of the pics}, ran almost 9 miles like the graceful flower that she is! Super Mom #11, Lauren, crushed a quick five miles before passing the slap bracelet to yours truly.

My first leg was 7.4 miles—which almost was delayed since I went to the exchange bib-less. What am I, an amateur?! Geez. We had our own mini-relay trying to get my bib on before Lauren reached us. Teamwork! The debacle caused me a bit of stress (ha!) & even caused me to forget to start my watch at the handoff. No worries though, I remembered about 0.1 miles into the leg. I had studied the elevation map & knew there would be a steady climb from around mile 4 to 5.25—what I wasn’t expecting was all of the other intense elevation changes prior to that point. Ouch! We are such a flat-land team, & boy oh boy, those hills were INTENSE! Despite a few walk breaks, my time for this leg was just under 62 minutes. I earned a single “kill”, which in Ragnar-language, just means you passed someone along the course.

The next set of legs ran from about 6pm Friday night until 6am Saturday morning—covering just about 75 miles. There were headlamps to guide the way {pretty crappy light source though in some of the very dark forest-type areas}, as well as taillights & reflective vests. While van 2 waited for van 1 to finish their nighttime runs, I rested in a field at a creamery with tons of other runners—this was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. My 2^nd leg was a bit delayed thanks to confusing signs, combined with my fellow blonde van-mate getting lost for about 30 minutes—we love you girl! At 4:45am, I set off for my scariest run ever, where I ran 9.7 miles through the pitch black country of Maryland; it was a nice 64 degrees out. Almost 90 minutes later, I reached the exchange point; “okay, 2 legs down, 1 leg to go”, is what I told myself.

Van 1 took over for their final set of legs, while van 2 headed to a hotel close by for showers & 2 hours of rest.

My final turn to run came at 2pm on Saturday afternoon. It was hot, over 80 degrees, & the sun was blazing. I grabbed my 8oz. mini water bottle & set out to conquer the streets of DC {Ragnar advertised water stops—but only ended up having two stops during this 11.9-mile leg to fill up my small water bottle; I became dehydrated. Naturally.}. What I didn’t realize prior to the relay was just how hard this journey would be. Leading up to the race, I had grandiose ideas that this relay would be a training run & that I could complete it semi-easily. Ha, silly girl! What I had not accounted for was the HILLS. And the distance—running 29 miles in under 24 hours isn’t a regular thing for me. During my first leg, I had about 2 miles of nearly straight downhill. Much like Boston Marathoners, my quads ached & were so tight when the hills came, after having completed those downhill miles. My calves weren’t too happy with me either. I kept with our mantra of this being like childbirth—with the only option being to get to the finish line!

Despite, or in spite of getting lost for a good amount of time, I reached the finish line 2 hours + 26 minutes later. It was probably the slowest 12.45 miles that I have ever run, but I didn’t care. I learned so much more about myself & my perseverance during that time, with the race clock being merely just numbers. Sure I wanted to quit {more than once!}, heck, I had even asked a guy at one of the water stops if he had the same thoughts—to which he replied “heck yeah”; but he too pushed on past his personal limits & completed the mission.

DC Ragnar weekend has left me with so many memories & stories—all thanks to the WONDERFUL team that I was a part of! I can honestly say I have a new respect for the relay distance, ultra runners {since I ran just over 29 miles!!}, & sleep….yeah, that wonderful thing called, sleep. That said, yep, I guess I would absolutely do it again!

For anyone who cares, “Mom’s Night Out” completed the 200+ miles in 35 hours, 27 minutes, 8 seconds—for an average pace of 10:17 per mile. Not too shabby girls!!

Of course, so many people to thank—especially my hubby who took care of our twins & all of the volunteers who helped this race run so smoothly. THANK YOU!!

In closing, I will leave you with 10 Tip for Running a Ragnar Relay {DO IT!!}:

1. Rent a 12-passenger van & pack more than you think you need—this includes lots of food {like solid, meal-type foods} & a few “downtime” outfits for in between legs.
2. Make sure your team-mates, especially your van-mates, are fun & positive people for which you could spend 36 long hours.
3. Check out the leg maps, especially the elevation; but don’t stress too much over the actual directions—the paths were well marked in my opinion.
4. Make sure you carry your phone on the run—I would have been “up a creek without a paddle” if I didn’t have my phone flashlight to light the way on my overnight leg.
5. Try to train on hills if you live in a pancake-flat place like myself; but honestly, there was no preparation that could have prepared us for the hilly Ragnar DC.
6. Don’t worry about time. This adventure is meant to build bonds, enhance friendships, & make memories!!
7. Be organized. As the relay veteran, one of my jobs was to create binders for each van with all of the essentials needed {i.e. predicted & actual timeline charts to track our progress, emergency contact numbers list, copies of the leg maps, etc.}.
8. Befriend other teams. You will be racing a good amount of time by the same people, if they are at your relative pace. Ainsley’s Angels was by far my favorite team—their positivity & kindness radiated! Especially the hilarious momma-bird, an amazing rider-pusher Joe, & the 12-year-old boy who competed on their 6-person Ultra team!
9. Bring candy & take lots of pics. Combining these two actions, while all hopped up on sugar, can be quite fun too! But bring some Vitamin C too—this type of adventure can wreak havoc on your immune system. Unfortunately I speak from experience—I’ve been sick since I got back.
10. Plan your day after Ragnar to be a lazy-lay-around-all-day-and-eat-bad-food-kind-of-day. You can thank me later.

Thanks for reading!

Up Next For The Running Blonde: Heart of Ghent 10K this weekend!