Ragnar Relay!

 201.5 Miles.  12 People.  2 Vans. 
All under one team name: GOLDBOND 

All have a common desire for pain and sweat.

   We got a group of people together from my Virginia ward, plus my dad, and ran from Cumberland, MD to the National Harbor in DC.  It was painfully fun!

(On the right: My hot and sexy Hubby) :)

My Mom and Amy came to watch Bridger, and dad was able to run with us.

   The first day, some vans were registering up to 101 degrees F.  It was soooo hot!  Actually, one of our runners collapsed and was taken in an ambulance because of heat exhaustion.  It was a blessing that her husband was volunteering at that particular exchange so he was able to follow her to the hospital.  She was fine after they put an IV through her and got her re-hydrated.  Devin ran in the heat of the day and said it was the hardest run he's ever done.  I was lucky to be the last runner for our van so my first run wasn't until 7pm and I missed the hottest parts of the day.

   Devin ran 19.8 miles, I ran 22.5 miles.  It was a hard race!  Next time we will be more prepared.  Next time we will train more!  A couple years back Devin and I ran the Utah Wasatch Back.  Maybe my memory of its difficulty has been dimmed by time, but this one seemed so much harder!  Devin and I only ran about 14 miles in the Wasatch back.  With the heat and added miles, this one was brutal!

    Hard, yes.  But so worth it!  You get 6 people in a van, running amuck, and no sleep, yeah, its a crazy fun time. 

    It was really fun to see cousin Tanner at the race too! It is cool to have a famous cousin, who started this running frenzy that is now all across the nation.

   I felt bad not to get my dad in our van, it would have been fun to watch him run and have him with us.  They told us he was the MVP of Van 1.  His first leg was seven miles with a big hill and he killed it!  They figured he ran under 9 min/miles.  Way to go dad!

    The Ragnar is a two day race.  Each runner runs three separate legs.  The first van started at 7:45am Friday, we ran through the night, and finished Saturday evening.
    It wasn't exactly without incident.  Emily got a cool ambulance ride and Sarah got to be followed by a creepy man during her run so we called 911.  But all in all, it was good.

Here's the team!  (I'm running my last leg here)

   About half way through the race most of us were wondering why we ever wanted to do something like this.  But it only took one day until Devin started talking about next year.  It is kind of addictive.

   WHAHOO!! I finally reached the FINISH LINE!  Here we are coming across the finish line with the team, (sort of).  This is when we all started tuning in on all our sore muscles.  My feet, quads, back, and shoulders all very sore at this point.  Devin's calves are as hard as tennis balls. It took nearly a week to recover. 

   Here's the whole team!  I had just finished my last run, my face is cherry red, and it was really hard to stop and smile for a picture.  I was sooo glad to be done running.  I did get a massage at the finish line.  I felt bad for the lady giving it to me because I was so nasty, sweaty.  But it was way nice to get a free massage and work out just a few of my many knots in my back.

   Whahoo!  We will be back again!!