Ragnar Relay del Sol - RunOther

I wasn't overly excited about the race until we got to Wickenburg and saw the starting line with all of the vans and runners. I wished I had been the first runner because I was ready to get started. However, I was runner number 5 so I still had several hours to go before it was my turn. We helped Kim into her tree costume for the finish and found a great spot for her to dump it right after the start. I couldn't believe how many people ran in their costumes. Some of them looked rather uncomfortable too (the Lego costume). When it was my turn I almost wasn't ready. I was thinking I should get ready while we were stopped supporting Wendell but I figured there would be plenty of time at the exchange so I didn't worry about it. When we finally got to the exchange I hit the restroom ( as was my custom) then I went back to change my shoes, get my bib, put my watch and heartrate monitor on. I started walking out to the exchange and then realized that I wanted to take a gel. By the time I got all of that done Wendell was coming around the bend on the road. I got into position. He gave me the bracelet and I was off. There was a guy on a blue Ragnar shirt that passed me in the first half mile. I wanted to run my own race and not have it dictated my people passing me. When signing up I put down that I could run 9 min miles and this guy was running about 8:05 to 8:10. I kept telling myself "Let him go!" and "Run your own race!" Unfortunately I wasn't listening to myself. I didn't necessarily want to pass him but I didn't want him to get away either so I just stayed with him. At a few points it seemed as if he'd speed up and I'd tell myself to let him go. At one point he got about 200 yes from me and I figured that was it but then a little while later I'd find myself right behind him again. Around mile 5 or so he really seemed to be slowing. It was either that or my legs just liked the pace because I ever so slowly passed him. I was probably only a few feet ahead him when I heard another runner coming up from behind. It turned out to be a woman ( so yes I got "chick"ed ) and she was trucking along at about a 7:45 pace. I decided to try to chase her but I couldn't hold it for long so I backed off. By the time we were coming up to the exchange I was about 20 yards behind her but one of the volunteers with a bullhorn said "Don't let him pass you!" I was thinking what is this guy talking about. I'm not even gaining on her. I saw her look back but I don't think she even sped up at all. I passed off the bracelet to Sourin and I was done.
We went out to eat at Olive Garden and the tired/sleepy feeling started to set in. We tried to sleep in the van for about 1.5hrs but it was only a shallow sleep. Soon it was time to go back out on the course. It was night by now. When Wendell started getting ready for his leg, I started getting excited again.
He handed me the bracelet and I was off. My intention this time was to give it my all. I didn't want to necessarily sprint at the end unless there was someone I could possibly catch but I wanted a good strong pace. Since I had a 8:20 pace for the first leg I wanted a 8:15 leg for this one. Soon after I started I saw two tailights a ways up in front of me. I figured that I would set my sights on them. Most of the two miles it took for me to catch them was flat or downhill. As I was catching up to them there were two other runners that they were catching up to. Within about 5 min I had passed 4 people. Soon after that I spotted another taillight and set my sights on them. I ended up passing 8 people and was passed by 1 who just flew by me at probably 30-45 min/mi pace faster than I was. I knew I couldn't keep up so I let him go. Just over 4 miles in I was all by myself so I thought I'd have some fun so I got my cell phone out and texted Kim and Sourin a voice recording of me doing a coyote howl. I put in the text of the measage "Coyotes scare me" then I told them where I was on the course since it was a "No Van Support" leg I figured they'd like to know how I was doing. Soon after that I saw a van pulled over to the side talking to a runner. I heard what I thought was kim's voice say that this was a no support leg. It turns out that they also got visited by a race official since they were talking to a runner. They were wondering if they were going to get a penalty for it when they got what they thought was a text from the race officials. It turned out to be my text. I finished in 59min which would've beat my goal for a 10k. I finished feeling tired and my quads were really sore but my right quad/hip was either sore or inflamed and it is giving me a bit of a limp.
I got about 3 hours of light sleep during the night. Not much but I felt alot better in the morning. I was either cold or I felt grimy and smelly. My stomach has been doing pretty well but at this point the rest of my digestive track was in open revolt and I had to spend a good amount of time in the port-a-potty on couple of occassions. My hip was still a bit sore/inflamed so I took an ibuprofen. That seemed to help along with getting up and moving again.
Once the van started up again, I felt right back in it. It was a beautiful morning and perfect for running. My last leg didn't come until late morning. We kept seeing runner after runner that we thought was Wendell coming over the slight rise before the exchange before we finally saw him for real. I was totally pumped. I had alot of energy and I since this was my shortest and last leg I knew that I had no reason to hold back.
When Wendell passed off to me I was a couple hundred yards behind a guy. I put a target on his back but didn't expend too much extra energy to catch him because we were on an incline and it was still early. I slowly worked my way up to him and passed him after about 3/4mi. Soon after I passed him, I heard someone behind me. I looked back wondering if he was picking it up in order to catch me but, as it turned out, it wasn't him at all. It was a woman with a good strong pace. I thought for sure she was going to pass me so I figured that I'd let her and then try to tail her for a while but I started not letting myself slow down too much on the up hills. As the race progressed, I realized that she was catching up to me but not as quickly as I had thought so I decided that I wouldn't let her pass me. I kept up a strong pace up and down the hills but now I was running scared. I'd look back about every half mile to gauge how close she was and if she was trying to make a move. Every time I got water from my team, I'd ask them how far back she was. Her distance behind me varied a bit but never enough for me to think that she wasn't a threat. The very end of this leg had a 90deg right turn into the McDowell Mtn State Park. The transition was just a half mile in on this road. As we made this turn she was probably as close as she ever had been to me. After the turn I started to run to the left side of the road but then realized that they wanted us on the right. She didn't make that mistake and stayed to the right. It was either that veer or she actually did pick up her pace or both because now she was right behind me and there was a rise going into the exchange. I really didn't want her to pass me in the very end after I'd held her off for so long but I was really tired and the uphill didn't help. I got the exchange, handed off and she came in right behind me. It was awesome! She pushed me so hard.

I was running with a lot of emotion on all three of my legs. I try to run my own races but this time I felt like I was always trying a faster pace than the person in front of me in order to catch them. It felt great but I was concerned that I was pushing myself too hard and then be totally depleated for next leg. This never happened but it was one side of the constant war that was going on in my head. But in the end, I have to say, it felt good to pass people. :)

A little stretching, gatorage and water. I tried to get out every time we stopped for Sourin. Not only to cheer him on but to stretch my legs a bit.


I was mentally concerned about going out too hard on a leg because I might not be fresh enough for my next leg. This was mostly overblown because I had enough time between legs that I was able to recover significantly.


Ragnar is ALOT more fun than I expected it to be. I didn't really know my team going into the race so I was keeping my expectations low but everyone got along great and we had alot of fun. It is one thing to have people cheering for you at the start and finish line, It is a completely different experience to have people following you cheering during the race while they are part of the race as well. It was a whole new way to experience a race and it was FUN.