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| Before starting the Ragnar Trail Relay, Hill Country |
After training for 10 months - first to get my weight down for safe consistent workouts, then to increase distance, decrease pace, and get used to trails rather than road! Whew! Our team was ready! We eventually called ourselves R.I.O.T. - Running Is Our Therapy. We lost a couple of awesome teammates along the way due to injury and pregnancy but they were replaced by wonderful women. We had those with about an 8:30min/mile 10K road pace to 14:20min/mile pace. I had an 11 min/mile 10K road pace which was the goal for me. Having said that, pace changes up on trail and in different weather.
The weather felt we needed an extra challenge so it added rain, a lot of rain at the second half. At least the lightning stayed away.
In a Ragnar Trail Relay 8 team members run. There are 3 different loops to run - a 3, 5, and 7.7 miles with varied terrain. One team member runs at a time and each team member will eventually get to run each loop. The whole race took us 28 hours.
It started in partial sunlight on Friday the 23rd at 11 am. I ran the second leg about noon, 5 miles, hard and varied terrain, in partial clouds, in 1:12:00. I ran the ninth leg about 9 pm, 3 miles, easy, in the dark, in 41:36, and the 17th leg about 6:30 am, Saturday, 7.7 miles, hard, half in the dark and pouring rain, and brief fog, second half in light sprinkles and cloudy, all in 1 inch to ankle deep water, with the last two miles quite muddy and slouchy, in 1:58:25. Then I stood in the cold because our tents were flooded, and our camping gear soaked while the team finished up.
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| Cherri, as cute as ever! |
Neal and our friend, Carter, were serious champs trying to get our van unstuck from the muddy parking lot, eventually having 3 men help get them out, while we ladies gathered around the bonfire trying to stay warm.
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| View from our campsite |
In the end we joined our last runner crossing the very muddy and slippery finish line, received our medals, and took team pictures for fun. It was a blast and then I knew I would do it again if the opportunity presented itself. But I was more than happy to get out of there and get a hot shower and dry clothes on, eat a good meal, and sleep in a real bed in a nearby hotel.
Next Neal and I headed to Frederickberg, TX for church and to see the town, returning the next day. We were so grateful to Oma and Opa for caring for Sophie and Rhys from Thursday to Monday while we had our adventure.
When results were posted later, we found out that we actually came in 1st, yep, FIRST! for our division: Submasters (not ultra runners)/All women. This is mostly because we refused to quit. Half of the teams that registered for the race either did not show or did not complete the race, largely due to the weather, I believe. I would just like to say that training hard and putting up with uncomfortable circumstances pays off!
Spent the next two days airing out camping gear, washing the car, and doing laundry, and basically trying to rid our stuff of the horrible mildew smell--still worth it!
