The team name was Team Cowbell.
I cannot say enough about how well organized our team captain, John, was with the entire event. I'm a totally disorganized person and to have put something like that together would have overwhelmed me majorly. But John is a pro and even if he says he isn't he surely must fake it because there was no lack in communication fro the beginning to the end (and beyond). And another of our fabulous teammates is just as organized and provided the team with a fabulous spreadsheet of pacing info before hand AND the entire time we were all running. Seriously impressed by these guys!
So, first things first. You know me. I like to get everything out and ready before the race and since this was an overnight thing I had to have a bag packed. I was seriously a big bundle of stress the night before trying to make sure I had everything.
I will also say that I had a bit of giddy nervousness the night before. Excited about the race, nervous about the race. Excited about meeting my team mates but nervous wondering if they would like me, think I was weird or what!?
I was up early the day of the race because I had to see at least one kid off to school before we hit the road to Chattanooga (actually Jasper, TN). Since I was in van 2 I didn't have to meet the team until this first major exchange where van 1 would hand off to van 2.
Hubby and I got there pretty early but I'd always rather be early than late. We walked around, used the potty (they were fresh and clean!!) and let Peanut kick his football a while. We also browsed the Ragnar tent to see what goodies I might want to pick up after the race. After walking around a bit more and more vans started rolling in. We were standing at my car when I heard, "Hey Kimberly!" Ahhh yay! It was John and the rest of my van 2 team mates! The meeting with everyone went well. We had a few minutes to load everyone up, potty and then take our night reflective gear and lights to check in, go to a safety briefing and snap a few pre-race pics. We were also able to chat it up with van 1 as we waited on runner 6 to hand off to John.
John did a fine job killing his first leg which was a doozy with a killer hill to start.
While we were waiting and cheering John on his leg we got ourselves inked up Ragnar style.
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I'm not entirely ashamed that I didn't wash it off until Tuesday after the race. haha [/caption]Next up was Carolyn, then Randall, John (E), Kelley and then myself bringing up the rear. I tried to get as many pics of everyone as I could. Between the hours of 4pm and 8am we had to sport of lovely reflective gear and headlaps/butt lights. This was quite fun with running (or not)! Below is a pic of the rest of us running one of our legs. I'm the one in the dark. That was the handoff from my leg (12) back to van 1.
I was runner 12 which meant I had legs 12, 24 and 36.
My first leg (12) was 7.9 miles with an elevation loss of 1250 ft and a gain of 374 ft, net elevation change -876. I was not at all worried about this leg as I have done a half marathon totally downhill before. I knew my legs would be trashed before starting the flat portion. My coach wanted me to stick to my comfortable pace for this leg (9:30mm) however that was quite a feat since it was downhill. My overall pace ended up being 8:41mm. I ran this leg in just under 1 hour 9 minutes. I saw the most amazing sunset coming down the "hill" and only had one kill! I decided to count my one kill and not even care that one guy passed me because the one hill I had was a girl in a tutu. ;) As far as the rest of this run... well, it was fine until the sunset and it got dark. By that point my van had to make it to the exchange so I was alone. The roadway I was running on was rather narrow until I got into the little town, which was scary because I wasn't familiar at all with where I was going and only hoped the course was as well marked as I had seen other legs being marked (it was). Soon I saw the exchange ahead and could hear my team cheering for me. I handed off to Richie in van 1 and made my way to my team mates. We were ready for food and rest before we had to be at the next exchange and ready to run again.
And food I did have!
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mmm chicken burrito get in my belly![/caption]I admit that I was kinda nervous about the choice of Mexican during a run/race because I hadn't informed my team mates that I held a prestigious award with my running club (Most Likely to Wander out of the Woods Missing an arm warmer/sock) for my "issues." But I played it safe with my choice and skipped the beans and immediately took my Imodium before my next leg.
We drove to the next exchange and from what I can remember we weren't allowed to be too early or we'd be penalized. We hung out in a parking lot nearby and tried to catch a little rest. I'm not sure I actually slept but I did close my eyes, wrap my blanket over my head and attempted to catch a few zzz's. The middle of the night legs were next. They were the ones that made me most nervous. Everyone did well! It had gotten cold but I was prepped and ready to go by the tie my 2:30am run rolled around. As soon as Kelley handed off to me I was off. Again I was told by my coach to stick to my comfortable pace (9:30mm) but 1. I was cold and 2. It was dark and lonely especially after I passed the only few people out there that started with me and my van wasn't really allowed to make much noise or really leap frog me given that we were in a little bit of a residential area. There were a few homes from what I could see but by the sounds I heard (BIG barking dogs, anyone!?) I knew there were more than what was visible.
I basically just kept my eyes on the road and ran. I didn't have my music for this leg so I could hear the barking of dogs. i was glad this leg was only 3.6 miles because I didn't want to be out there alone in the dark for long. I remember the one last time my van yelled, "Go Kim!" out the window that the girl just a few feet in front of me seemed a bit unhappy to be out there. She muttered a "yeah yeah" and I passed her. I was excited for one final kill on that leg. I told myself to just keep running as I got closer to the turn off. Once I made the right turn headed towards the next big exchange things got really dark and all I could see was my breath in front of me. I wanted to really push myself hard to finish but in the end the girl I killed got me back! lol Turns out she was on a team with some friends from home.
I ended up finishing 3.48 miles in 30:14 for leg 24 again around that same 8:41 pace. I was proud to have ran fast but hoped I hadn't worn myself out too much for my final leg of the day.
We finished at a high school gym where we were able to shower and catch some sleep on the gym floor. The shower was nice but I never was able to get totally warm so sleep on the gym floor wasn't much. Between my chattering teeth and the constant slamming doors I think I might have napped for a solid hour before we had to be up around 6am.
Once the group was back up Saturday morning we headed for grub and coffee before heading to the last major exchange to finish up our Ragnar Relay experience.We were able to get a group shot with everyone except the one runner still on the course.
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Team Cowbell[/caption]I honestly didn't remember posing for this picture when I saw it posted on FB. I must not have had all my coffee by that point.
Exchange of the lovely orange Ragnar slap bracelet (aka baton) was made and once again van 2 and John were on the way to finish up Ragnar!
The rest of the day was spent cheering on all the runners in van 2. Everyone ran so well and FAST! I was so proud of our van. We had a blast all day ringing the cowbells! So many of the legs were ran in such beautiful areas I had never been to or seen before. I'd love to go back that way and take in all the scenery again!
The closer my final leg (36) got the more nervous I was. It had gotten a bit warm outside and I was extremely worried about all the turns on my leg. It wasn't a very long run, 5.9 miles that I had told myself all along was actually 5.6. There were a total of l7-19 turns. I was running well and had a couple of early kills. The course was mostly flat with a slight incline midway through. The most annoying thing was the stoplights I had to wait for in order to cross the road. I think when I looked back at my Garmin I lost a total of 4-6 minutes just waiting to cross streets! That is crazy for running but insane during a "race." One guy caught up with me towards the end and we both ended up missing one of the turns. This added about a quarter mile to the race for us. All along I was thinking it was 5.6 miles I was running so imagine my surprise when my Garmin read 6.1. eek. I was giving myself high fives for being a Ragnar Over Achiever and adding a half mile to the run. Turns out it wasn't the case but I still kind of felt bad for making my team wait longer while I had made the mistake of missing a turn. Thankfully all was well and I was on track to the finish in no time. It was a lot of fun running through down town Nashville though it was crowded!
As I rounded the last turn and saw my team mates I was so excited! I had ran a Ragnar relay! Carolyn and Kelley were the first ones I saw because Carolyn had my "Got Cowbell?" shirt ready for me to just slip on. Thank you for that! We all ran in together with our families. I had already warned them that I might be a blubbering mess at the end but turns out I was far too excited (and tired probably) to do any crying at the finish!
By the looks of the picture it appears the finish is up a slight hill. I don't recall that if it was. I was so excited to finish this race with such an amazing group of people! We hung out, got medals and took more pics before grabbing brews and pizza (best post race treat ever!).
The overall experience was great. I'll have some final thoughts on it and more pics to share soon. I know it's long and I thank you for sticking with me to the end. It's taken me a week to recap this far and while I would love to break it up leg by leg I'm sure you'll be thankful I didn't! One thing I will say before my next post is that this whole thing was the most fun I have experienced in running so far and I cannot wait to do it again!
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