The RAGNAR race was incredible, but it was really tough for me. None of our team is used to running on hills and it really was hard for a lot of people.
It was a 207 mile race from Cumberland MD to Washington DC, broken into 36 segments of varying lengths. Shortest leg was 1.8 miles, longest was 12.9. Average leg length was probably 6 miles or so. There were 12 people on our team and we each ran 3 legs. The way the race was structured, it accomodated having runners of very different capabilities on the team. There were a few people who only ran around 13 miles total. There were 3 people who ran over 20 miles, with the rest of the team in between. H had the longest, with his 3 legs totalling 30 miles.
We were split into 2 vans. Runners 1-6 started out in Van 1 at 7:15 am on Friday. We were in Van 2 and got to sleep in. Van 1 was estimated to complete Leg 6 at around noon based on the distances of the legs and each of the runners’ paces. So we met them at the first major exchange point where our Runner 7 then took off. Our van then drove to the next minor exchange point and we waited with Runner 8 until Runner 7 arrived. After the exchange, we then drove on to the next minor exchange point, and so on until Runner 12 (H) completed his leg. At that point, all team members had completed their first leg of the race and Van 1 started back up again with their first runner now running Leg 13. We met them at the second major exchange point after Leg 18 and so on. In theory, while the other van was running their 6 legs, we could move to the next major exchange point and get something to eat and try to get a little sleep. In theory, anyway.
I was Runner 11 and originally scheduled to run 24.9 miles. RAGNAR did a late change to the route and the exchanges and my first leg got shortened quite a bit to where I was only scheduled to run 20.1 miles. My first leg was just over 5 miles and it was on a gravel rail trail along a river. Not too hilly and very scenic. I ended up running at dusk and I only saw 3 other runners the entire leg, so it was little creepy running at that hour in such a secluded area. We had one member of our team in our van who was really nervous about running at night alone, so I offered to pace her on her second leg which was at 1:00 am. It was a good thing to pace her at night - she is a pretty slow runner and had a leg with major hills so she needed the encouragement and with her slow pace it was a very easy run for me. My second official leg was at around 5:30 am, so I had a few hours break between her leg and my next one. My second official leg was 9.1 miles with some real hills, but it was through some beautiful countryside. I ran through the sunrise and it was just gorgeous so the time passed quickly. My final leg ended up being at around 5:30 pm on Saturday and was in Washington DC. It was along the river and I had some nice views of the Washington monument and the Capitol across the river. Throughout the entire race, my biggest fear was getting lost (I am very navigationally challenged!) and that happened on this last leg. There was one point where the trail split and it wasn’t marked. I chose the wrong path! I ended up backtracking and adding 1.1 miles to my leg. I panicked a bit when I realized I was lost but it wasn’t too bad to get myself back on the trail - thank goodness for GPS, Find My Friends, and good map routes on the RAGNAR app!
My mileage ended up being 26.1 miles total, which really annoyed me when I realized it afterwards because I would have run another .1 miles at the end of one of my legs just to have completed the equivalent of a full marathon!
We got very little sleep. I don’t do well without sleep. The hills were hard, and it was hot. So overall a pretty tough event. I’m glad I did it - it was a lot of fun at times and I really enjoyed my teammates who I got to know a lot better. We raised $18K for Back on My Feet and that was much appreciated. We got lots of supportive FB posts and texts from the members while we were running telling us how much they appreciated what we were doing.
But the race was really hard on me. I think I got dehydrated in spite of trying to make sure I was getting enough water and it was hard to eat right - mostly because somebody in the van was always within a couple hours of running again so that made it tough to get a real meal. My quads were killing me, thanks to the hills, and I developed some painful stomach issues that I’m still battling. I don’t mean to sound so negative - I did really well, I was the 2nd fastest overall pace on the team with the 2nd highest mileage.
The rest of the team is excitedly talking about doing another race next year but at this point I’m not sure I’ll go for it. I’m glad I did it this year but it really seemed to be too hard on my body. Much worse than what I feel after running a full marathon. But I suppose that this may end up being like childbirth and after awhile I’ll forget all the pain and just remember the fun parts.
Sorry for the very long post, but there’s my detailed RAGNAR report!
Happy Birthday @abasket !
