Ragnar Relay Ultra - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

So this past weekend, I ran the Ragnar Relay DC race, a 200-mile relay race from Cumberland, MD to Washington DC. I’m no stranger to relay races; this was my 7^th over the past two years.  

Our team was featured in the Ragnar Magazine

Usually these races are run with two vans and twelve people. Van 1 runs the first set of legs, then Van 2 takes over and Van 1 gets a break for about 6-7 hours. Then the process repeats two more times. Each person runs three legs, each leg 5-6 miles, for a total of 15-18 miles per person. The entire race takes about 30 hours (it took us 30hrs, 44 mins, 21secs).

I love the Ragnar Relays. They’re well-organized, safe, and fun. Think: hard-running meets block-party. Ragnars are about running under non-normal (and often, non-optimal) circumstances: an unfamiliar location, without much sleep, without good food, regardless of the weather, and maybe in some crazy costume.

It’s about working together as a team in a sport that is known for its individualization.

The race this past weekend was different than others because we ran it as an Ultra – only six people instead of twelve. That meant we had double the miles (I personally ended up with 30), and no down time while the other van was running. We were the other van.

If you want a little taste of the silliness, here you go:

I’m doing this postmortem of the race in case any future Ragnar Ultra teams want to learn from our experience, and because I’m sure I’ll end up doing something this stupid again. That’s how I roll. So here it is, Ultra Team Fast Girls Have Good Times: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

The Good

1. All of our personalities meshed together well. When we first were getting our team together months ago we knew we wanted two things: 1) All women and 2) All drama-free people. If you’re going to be trapped in a 6x10ft moving box with five other people for 30 hours, make sure it’s with people who click. Having just one person who is cranky or whiney can make 30 hours feel like 30 days. Not so for us – everybody in our van was fabulous.

Our van

2. We went with a 15-passenger van rather than a minivan. Even up to as late as the day before the race we were undecided on this matter. Cost vs. Space. We decided to go for comfort and the ability to sleep/stretch out over saving money. It was a great decision.

3. We took the back seat out of the 15-passenger van (note: we had someone’s house in DC, where we could leave it). In a 15-passenger, the back seat comes all the way up to the door which leaves very little room, and basically making the back area useless. Moving this seat gave us a 6x5 space in the back for food, suitcases and all our massive amounts of stuff.

4. Two words: electric cooler. It was an absolute miracle. Plugged into the lighter and kept stuff awesome cold without having to mess with ice.

5. We packed our own food. And we actually thought about what we would want to eat ahead of time, instead of the usual mad dash through a grocery store a couple hours before the race started. And it’s a good thing too, there was neither place nor time to stop at a restaurant for real food.

 Our packed eats included: pasta salad, quinoa & feta cheese salad, PB&J sandwiches, hummus, apples, bananas, peanut butter, wheat thins, cheese sticks, Lara/clif bars, brownies, and orange slices.  I never want to run another Ragnar without orange slices. They were perfect after a long run

6. We had one person pay for everything, then just split the cost. Simple, efficient, effective.

The running spreadsheet

7. We decided to each run 3 long runs each rather than 6 shorter runs. This gave us more down time between legs (10-12 hours). We also brought our spreadsheet with us. I thought we wouldn’t look at it much, but we were studying that stupid thing all the time. It was great to be able to see all the running details on one piece of paper. Especially when it was 3am and we couldn’t remember who was running next.

8. As always, we brought large ziplock bags and stuffed our sweaty running clothes in them immediately upon finishing each leg. That kept the smell in the van bearable.

The Bad (things we couldn’t control)

1. The weather.  The heat index for both Friday and Saturday was in the 90s. It was brutal hot, especially for the first weekend in October.  It made everything more painful. Especially those 200 miles.

2. No driver. We lost our scheduled driver the day before the race due to an emergency. This ended up being both a bad and good thing. A driver (especially who could navigate for him/herself and is familiar with Ragnar) would’ve been welcome addition, but I think the particular one we had scheduled would not have fit well with our team vibe. So I think that worked out for the best.

3. The DC craziness. The government shutdowns forced rerouting of a lot of the legs in DC. It was a hassle, and ended up changing everybody’s mileage at the last minute.

4. Almost all of us were battling some injury or residual illness. Just made something already hard, that much more difficult.

The Ugly (things I could’ve controlled)

1. My overall lack of training for this race. I was doing so terribly after my first legs, I started to make a joke about it: If only I had known this race was coming. I could’ve trained for it!!!

Of course I had known it was coming for at least six months. But I just didn’t make time for training the way I should have. It was summer, it was hot, I had a ton of writing I needed to do, I have four kids who were home, I had a lot of trips, I was bored with running and needed a break, I had over-trained for my spring races and needed a break.

Whatever. All of those excuses may be legitimate, but still didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t prepared for this race the way I needed to be. It was downright painful. Mentally and physically.

So there you have it: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in my first ever Ragnar Ultra experience. As you can see, the good far outweighed the bad and the ugly.  We had an absolutely fantastic time, except for maybe all the running.

I can’t think of another group of women I’d rather do something so stupid with.

I Declare Shenanigans!

I’m off again on a mini-adventure. Another 200-mile RagnarRelay race – this one from Madison, Wisconsin to Chicago. I’ve never been to Chicago. I always love to go new places. (Especially when the East Coast is about to get pelted by Tropical Storm Andrea. That’s my cue to head to the mid-west).

My portion of that 195.4 miles is going to be about 22 miles. I haven't run in nearly two weeks, so this should be pretty interesting.

Ragnar Relays are always crazy. 12 people, 2 vans, 36 hours. It's kind of marathon-meets-block-party. I’ve run five now:

September 2011 (Washington DC) – Team Does this Tutu Make Me Look Fast? (AKA – “I don’t know any of these women. How did I end up doing this again?”)

Do you mean fast or FAST...

January 2012 (Miami to Key West) – Team Zombies Are Everywhere.com (AKA – “It’s awesome to have a corporate sponsor even when it’s the undead.”)

We don't look like zombies yet, but give us 36 hours...

September 2012 (Washington DC) – Team Honey Badger Don’t Care (AKA – “Actually, little known fact: Honey Badgers DO care.”)

Van Stranger Danger

November 2012 (Las Vegas) – Team World’s Dumbest Road Trip (AKA – “Staying awake for 48 hours then going clubbing is probably not a good idea.”)

Don't even ask...

January 2013 (Miami to KW) – Team Cobra Kai (AKA – “Nope,  sorry. THIS was the world’s dumbest road trip.”)

Troublemakers unite.

This weekend I’m on Team Where’d the Cheese Go?.   To be honest, even after hearing that Ween song I still don’t quite get it. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is I’m required to wear a yellow tank top, knee socks, aviator sunglasses and A FAKE MUSTACHE  for the team pictures.

That’s enough for me to know I’m going to have a good time.  Plus my partners in crime S and M (S&M – hahahaha) will be there.  As always, shenanigans will ensure. Thus my poem for today:

I declare shenanigans.

I declare adventures.

I declare laughing until you have to hold your belly because it hurts so much.

I declare dancing when you’re happy.

And dancing when you’re sad.

I declare 40 is just a number, no better or worse than 25 or 35 or 85 - because each has its unique treasures and problems.

I declare crushing on cute guys.

I declare chasing trouble.

I declare not accepting limits just because someone says they’re so.
.

I declare I will enjoy and appreciate what today offers and not worry so much about tomorrow.

But mostly…

I declare shenanigans!

Countdown to the Marathon - T Minus 10 Weeks

Another week of training for the Disney Marathon coming up on January 13, 2013. My training log for T Minus 10 weeks (Oct 31- Nov 6):

Miles ran:  23 (3.5mi, 3.5mi, 16mi)

Miles scheduled:24

Cross training: Pilates x 1

Total miles run since training began: 267

Audiobook: Still reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Okay, this book is obviously not great to listen to while running since it is taking me so long to get through it. I don't really have any desire to listen to it during a run -- it just doesn't draw me in.  I'm not sure if it's because it's fiction (all the other audiobooks I've read have been nonfiction -- most having to do with running), or if it is just too descriptive - not my normal type. Either way I won't be trying a book like this again.

General Notes:Got in a big ol' long run this week on Monday. Felt good to do some hefty miles. I'm going to try to keep upping my long runs by two miles every other week, then back to 15 miles on the weeks in between.

I also did a crazy race this weekend called the "Anything is Possible" 5k. It started in the middle of the night, just before Daylight Savings Time ended. So I actually started the race at 1:50am and ended at 1:17am -- earlier than I began. Was a cute race. More importantly, I ran at a 8:30 min/mile average for all three miles -- great speed work. I want to try to incorporate more speed in my runs -- at least once a week. I think they make me mentally tougher.

Leaving today to run the Ragnar Relay in Las Vegas -- 200 miles with a group of 12 friends. Team "Worlds Dumbest Road Trip" (follow the craziness on Twitter: #RagnarLV).  Not sure exactly how many miles I'll get in this weekend. Should be 15-20. Plus all the dancing.  :-)

Countdown to the Marathon - T Minus 16 Weeks

Training at T Minus 16 weeks (Sept 19-25)

Another week of training for the Disney Marathon coming up on January 13, 2013. My training log for T Minus 16 weeks (Sept 19-25):

Miles ran:  21.9 (4.5mi, 6.8mi, 4.4.mi, 6.2mi)

Miles scheduled: 25

Cross training: Does talking trash in a van while on a Ragnar Relay count? No? Then nothing.

My weight:  X-1 (same as last week, 1 lbs lost overall since training began)

Total miles run since training began: 144.34

Running song o’ the week:  Fake ID by Big & Rich. I’m not a huge country fan, but I love this song. And how can you not love a group that has an album named Hillbilly Jedi? (although this particular song is from the Footloose reboot soundtrack.)

Audiobook: Still Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Marathon Greatness by Scott Jurek.  Didn’t get much listening done this past week because I needed music while on the unfamiliar Ragnar trails. (My full report of that race will be post in a couple of days)

General Notes: So last week I realized that we were not going to be able to take our family vacation to Disney the week around the marathon, as originally planned. Logistically, it just won’t work out for our eldest daughter to get off school. O homeschooling, how I miss thee….

I considered dropping out of the marathon altogether, but decided (with encouragement from the fam) to stay in and just make it a short weekend trip with my hubby. (Um, Mom… can you clear your calendar for January 12-13??)

That settled, it may be time to get down to some true training….

Run, Drive, Sleep? Repeat.

Last year right about this time I headed up to Washington DC to run 200 miles with 11 other women I had never met. It was my first Ragnar Relay – one of the twelve-person relay races held all over the country.  My team’s name was “Does this Tutu Make me Look Fast?” And yes, we ran in tutus for the entire race.

(Just FYI, I am 5'9, standing in the middle of the back row -- so the girls to the right of me? At least 6'2. And they ran like the wind.  Like Kenyans floating in the wind. Team Tutu came in third place -- so evidently the tutus did make look fast --  and won the prize for best running costumes.)

Since then I've run other Ragnars. And I'm running four more in the next 12 months. I keep trying to talk my husband into running a Ragnar race with me. I explain it in as accurate and appealing terms as possible: 36 hours cramped in vans amid 11 other sweaty runners, with little sleep, and crappy food; running for long miles in often dark, unfamiliar places, usually alone, where you might get lost.

Shockingly, I haven’t been able to talk him into it yet. Words like juvenile, stupid, asinine, not orphaning our children, get thrown around. Whatever. I don’t listen. It’s obviously just the jealousy talking.

Ragnar recognizes its own ridiculous nature in its slogan: Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.

Ahh… Full-On Stupid. That about sums it up.

This weekend I run the DC Ragnar race again. This time with team “Honey Badger Don’t Care”. The race starts in Cumberland, MD and goes through the Appalachian Mountains (cue: dueling banjo) and ends in downtown Washington DC. This time I'm racing mostly with people I know, rather than strangers. But the no sleep, crappy food, and running in the dark will still be the same, I'm sure.

I can’t wait. A full update will come next week. But you can follow my thoughts on the absurd brilliance of it all *live* on twitter: @janiecrouch

Beware of Running Zombies... in tutus?

Tomorrow I head to South Florida for a 200-mile relay race. It’s part of the Ragnar Relay series – a company which holds these type races all over the country. I am part of a 12-person team, with one of my best girlfriends, Meg, an old high-school buddy, Vinnie, and ten other people I have never met . We are running from Miami to Key West – each person running 3 legs of 5-10 miles.

This is my second Ragnar Relay. My first was in September of last year, an all-women’s team called, “Does this Tutu Make Me Look Fast?”  Evidently it did, because we took third place. For the Key West race though, I have moved to the other end of the spectrum – from Tutus to Zombies. My team this weekend is “ZombiesAreEverywhere.com” (yeah, corporate sponsor… so what? We sold out to the man… er, dead person.)



 Team Tutu in DC after 200 miles...

   

Team Zombie after 200 miles?



I love the Ragnar races. They force you to run under circumstances you would rarely choose: in the middle of the night, along unfamiliar paths, with a bunch of strangers, while you are undernourished and overtired. It’s different and exciting and hard.  And I love it. As a matter of fact, just a few days ago I posted on Twitter my best memory of 2011 was “Running 7 miles down an unfamiliar road by myself in the fog & rain at 3 o'clock in the morning - in a tutu.”

Ragnar is kind of “Hard Running Meets Block Party.”  And it’s great because everyone there is as crazy as you. So I’m excited about this adventure to start off 2012. Also, did I mention Key West? Don’t worry, I’ll have a mojito for each of you.