My latest Ragnar adventure was completely different from my previous experience. 1) we had vans- big vans where we could stretch out and lay down, 2) I was with Ragnar employees and 3) we had hotel rooms instead of sleeping bags on pavement. It was a great whirlwind trip.
I arrived on thurs, picked up the 15 passenger van and promptly got lost. Ended up driving through the Vegas strip. Finally found my way out of town and headed to the Lowes Hotel in Lake Las Vegas. Met 2 of my teammates, who I was also sharing a room with, Trish and Ang. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow at 11pm. We met our team in the lobby at 4:20 and headed to the start, in the Valley of Fire. My van was: trish and ang (they are friends), Kevin (marketing dir at Ragnar), Bruce (safety and Ragnar course creator extraordinaire), his friend Garit and me. The park we started in was beautiful - the rock formations are very cool, very red and everywhere.
We started our 195 mile journey at 7am. I ran legs 4, 16 and 28. My first leg was 6.5 miles. I'm apparently not very adept at reading elevation charts b/c I didn't think I had to climb a lot but boy did I! Uphill for over 2 miles and I'm not talking about Park Slope inclines. This was a big climb. I had some relief with some flats and downhill but then another climb came. I had to stop and walk b/c I felt like my heart was about to pound out of my chest! I finished in 50mins. When I finished my leg I was bent over panting and trying to figure out why i was dying and then one of my teammates clued me in that we are at an elevation of 2500 which is significant for me coming from sealevel about 12 hrs prior. I forgave myself for dying on the uphills.
After our 6th leg, we met up with van 2 at exchange 6. Their van was 6 guys; 6 very funny guys. After our first leg of the race, we had time to go back to the hotel and rest. We ate and swam in the pool. Then, at 5ish, we were off to start our 2nd leg of the relay. Most of us had short, easy runs. Mine was 3.1 miles at 6:45pm and I did it in 21:40. I was flying and felt great. I slowed down at mile 2.4ish when the bike trail turned to sand and I had to jump down a 2 ft ledge. Kinda ruined my stride. I was psyched though for my time and how I felt.
After this leg we went to a hotel and got to sleep for about 2.5 hrs. I also got a lesson on how people from Utah speak and experienced my first Jack in the Box restaurant outing (although I didn't eat anything and use the term "restaurant" loosely).
Our 3rd leg began at 2:30ish. I had a 7mile trail run. It was incredible. A little rough on the feet b/c of the big rocks and uneven road but being out there alone in the desert with a near full moon was beautiful. I flew through my 7 miles and finished in 53:45.
At the end of our 3rd set of runs we got pancakes and I was a happy, happy camper! The finish line was at the Red Rock hotel. We lounged by the pool, got some food and drank some beer.
I'm now falling asleep on my red eye back to nyc. The trip was totally worth the tiredness and sore legs that are coming. I'm hooked on these races and can't wait to do another one!
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