Ragnar Relay Great River - RunOther

My "Ragnar pace" is 9:45. I usually come close to this, one way or another, for all Ragnars. I compared my actual times with the spreadsheet (with difficulty factored in) and I only lost about 3 minutes overall, so I am not looking at the :30/mile pace gap. I am very satisfied that I pulled my weight. I realize I could put my pace at 10:00 miles and it would be fun to always be running ahead, but I think I wouldn't push myself as hard.

First run - 5.91 miles - 1:04:00

I did this run for my very first Ragnar in 2009 and I am kind of embarrassed to see now that I ran it faster that year. Oh well... The middle segment is a HUGE hill, like not only couldn't I run it but it was barely walkable. So I started out really good for almost 2 miles (right at (9:45), mile 3 was VERY slow (14ish pace), mile 4 was about a 12ish pace finishing the mountain and talking for a few seconds with the team, then mile 5 and almost 6 were great again. I felt quite strong after cresting the hill and my last .91 were at a 9:26 pace (very flat). The dust on the gravel didn't bother me, but it was definitely sucking my pace. Based on form and how I felt, I'd guess it was sucking about :20/mile from my speed. The last bit was a run across the grass and I said "Hey, I didn't know I signed up for cross-country Ragnar!" Honestly, that was one tough but fun leg. I was VERY dirty at the end, with more than half being in gravel (no mention of gravel in my 2009 rr)

Run 2 - 5:07 miles - 49:00

I always look forward to the night run, hoping to get back a few seconds. I pushed this maybe a little too hard, it was difficult. In town (Ellsworth) the temp was GREAT, but it was a bit on the too cool side in the country. I could see my breath. I did succumb to a totally unnecessary walk break or two, but I also passed a few people. Not my favorite night run, but I was happy to make up a little time. I did get a fantastic downhill and not big ups.

3rd run - 5.07 miles - 51:08

Definitely my best 3rd Ragnar run ever. It was in full sun, but I didn't have the fatigue to the extent I have in all other Ragnars. Even the ones where I had much easier assignments, I was beat on the 3rd leg. I did manage a few naps here and there, plus also ate better I think, plus just being a more experienced runner with a good long stretch of base training this past year. Anyway, there was one good climb partway through that I walked and then just tried to push it the rest of the way. I was SO SO SO GLAD to be done!

Overall I am really happy with how I did. There were a few parts where I wish I had walked less, but it's a long race and it's easy to lose focus - could have been a lot worse. I am also happy with how I managed my attitude on the lack of sleep. I really had "fun" the whole time.

I am ambivalent about whether I would captain again. It really didn't bother me and I learned how I would do it differently. I wouldn't buy any food for the van and I would get buy-in on the drink options before getting anything. My van brought a lot of duplicate items that we could have saved on if we'd communicated better. We definitely don't need to print a Race Bible, it's ALL in the Ragmag. What a waste of paper!

This is a pretty well run Ragnar. There are mistakes in the materials here and there, and I wished I'd known about the gravel. Even if it was just the day before, I would have brought different shoes!

The major bummer is no normal post-race food at the finish. It's hard for Van 2 because we have to rush so much to get to the finish line, so we AND our last runner, could really use bottles of water, bananas, etc, normal post race items. We were given pizza and beer, all other beverages were already sold out. In the future, if I'm in Van 2, I would pack a special bag of snacks and drinks to bring to the finish line with something for each runner to enjoy. I am super fine with the pizza and beer, but not everyone can tolerate that (certainly not our runner with Celiac!), and even so it's really limited.