Ragnar Cape Cod 2012

This blog is titled "Running A Ragnar" 

and I never blogged about how our actual race went. 

 I am THE WORST.  So here it goes!

For those of you just tuning in: Marissa and I managed to organize a 24 person over-night running relay called a Ragnar Relay More about that here.  The race consisted of 12 people and 2 vans running 176 miles overnight from Plymouth MA to Provincetown at the end of the Cape and it looked a little like this:

Team Caped Cod Fish featuring Turbo Todd the Cod

Thanks again to all of our sponsors 

Jill and I took the longest legs of the race:

9 miler, 9 miler, and a 6 miler.  24 miles in one race!

Thanks for the shirt design Frank!

Some of the competition

Hand off: And I am off for 9 miles of fun

Some of our van mates getting ready to run

Thatch is quite excited for this race!

Pepto Bismal- an essential for any over night running relay 

Waiting for Angelo at exchange 9

Coming in quick- the paces of the boys in the van 

put my pace to shame

Another hand off
Another gorgeous view

Turbo Todd isn't fairing the 176 mile journey too well

Stretch it out Van 2s

Beautiful Cape Cod

Doug coming in for the exchange 

All geared up for my second 9 mile run- this time at night.  

Head lamp, tail light, and reflective vest... CHECK!  

Other team names are quite creative: 

 Lady Jagas... awesome

Oh Frank...

Hey Jay

We even picked up Olive along the way! 

At the finish line 24 miles later

Medals/bottle openers

Chowder

And beer!

Thankfully Chris let us stay at his house in Welfleet 

so we had time to play on the beach, sleep, eat and drink.  

Just what we needed.

Olive loved the beach

Liz loved the food

And plenty of bacon for all!

Overall the race was GREAT!  I was really nervous about my 24 mile leg.  In April I ran my half marathon and shortly after became pretty burnt out from running.   By the time Ragnar came along I felt pretty undertrained.  The year before I felt over trained with shin splints- comparing the two ... undertraining was the way to go! 

My first 9 mile run went by quick and easy.  The change of scenery and cool weather was just what I needed.  After my run I slipped into some compression socks and slipper, and slipped a few advil down the hatch.  My second 9 mile run went pretty smooth as well, I made a friend during my run and we spent 5 miles chatting about ragnar work and life- really helped to pass the time.  He even offered to share his gatorade with me- after asking if I had any tums on me (who has room in the pockets to carry around tums on a 9 miler)? 

 By the time the third leg came around... moral in the van was low.... REAL LOW.  The thought of getting out to run with NO SLEEP was deadfull for all 6 of us.  I headed out for my 6 mile run feeling miserable.  My legs were sore, my shoulder aching from napping in the car, and I virtually hobbled the last 3 miles.  

At that moment, I questioned the torture I had just put myself through.  Months of planning and stress.. 24 miles on virtually no sleep and no shower.... Maybe I just needed some food and sleep and to reassess the situation.  

I crawled into my tent, took a nap, took a shower, headed to the beach and ate some food. At this point I decided yes, Ragnar was a blast and almost everyone agreed.  The key is Ragnar is that its only as much fun as you make it.  Some vans even popped champagne ( van 2 lushs ) and threw back a few beers- all while cramped in a Ford Explorer.

Will I run another Ragnar in the near future... not this year!  Lake Placid is just a little too far for this runner.

 Good luck to the Caped Cod fishes running the Adirondack Ragnar and I can't wait to see your Docks and Dacks medals!