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Ragnar Del Sol - RunOther


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Tempe, Arizona
United States
Ragnar
Total Time = 00m
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

First RAGNAR for me so triple checked all my food, gear, changes of clothes etc and then hit the road. I was runner 9 which made me runner 3 in van 2, meaning no 5:30am start for us! Got to sleep in a little and then met up with the rest of my team at 9am in Tempe. We loaded up and hit the road for Tonapah for the first major exchange.
Event warmup:

what warmup?
Run
  • 00m
  • 21.6 miles
  •  min/mile
Comments:

Leg one- 13.5 miles I was really looking forward to this leg since there was so much hype about it being the longest individual leg for RAGNAR (not counting the ultra peeps). Before heading out my teammates and I heard that one thing people do in RAGNAR is track "kills" which are the number of people you pass. I thought heck, this is a good opportunity to rack some kills up. My plan was to go out at HM pace and see how it went, knowing there was enough time between runs for me that I could recover. Run was fairly flat for the first 8.5 miles but we had a brisk headwind the entire way, costing me some pace. The final 3.5 miles were up a hill, nothing extreme but long enough to make it a grind into the finish. According to my TGT I came in right around 1:34, or roughly a 7:02 pace. Also managed to rack up 24 kills on this long section.

Run 2- 4.7 miles, almost pancake flat, approximately 1am. Most fun run of the event for me. Something about being dead tired in the pitch black of the night and hunting red blinkies off in the distance. The run was pretty euphoric as we were still out in the middle of nowhere (Anthem heading into Desert Hills, AZ) and there were very few cars on the road. As I headed out we had to run up the road and then catch a trail over to the next road, the trail was more of a break in the cattle fence. I managed to run past it but slinked my way back and found the opening. Hit the dark two lane road and started looking for red blinking lights to chase down. Weather was pretty decent if not a touch cool but I was feeling great, legs were alive and we were moving. 4.7 miles later, 28 minutes and change and 6 kills I reached the exchange. Unfortunately, my van got lost on the way and I found myself waiting for about 10 minutes before they arrived. No big deal, we were out to have fun more than anything.

Run 3 - 3.1 miles, downhill, middle of the day. I was really looking forward to this run because I knew it would be fast. Wasn't sure how much the legs would have in them from running so hard the day and night before but I felt I could at least run something in the high 17s. The weather was absolutely perfect and I knew the only thing that could throw a kink in my plan was the two major road crossings and what would most likely be time waiting for lights to turn. I prayed that I'd catch a spot of luck and green lights but my luck just wasn't there. Took the exchange and started gobbling up road as fast as my legs would allow. At one point I noticed I was running low 5 minute miles and thought about backing off but decided it's the last leg of RAGNAR man, use it all up, explode if you have to. Hit the first major road crossing and sure enough, light was red. Thankfully there was someone else waiting that had already popped the crosswalk button so I wasn't standing too long, maybe 20 seconds, before we got the light and I was back off. About a mile down the road I rounded the corner to see three people standing at the next major road crossing waiting for the light. Sweet, should be green by the time I get there! Longest light ever it turns out. We waited for the green, then the green arrow, then finally we got the light after waiting for at least 30 to 45 seconds, maybe a touch longer. Hammered it the last .5 mile in, looked at my watch and saw 18:04 (IIRC). Lights cost me a low 17 if not high 16. Still, wicked fun bringing it home.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing
Post race
Warm down:

After dropping off our last runner we headed to the finish line to wait. Had a couple beers with the other club teams we had out there and inhaled some pizza.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Nothing, I think I did the best I could out there. Overall I'm pretty happy with how I did and my average pace.

21.6 miles total with an overall average pace of 6:36.




Last updated: 2013-02-28 12:00 AM
Running
00:00:00 | 21.6 miles |  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance:
Course: 202 miles from Wickenburg, AZ to Tempe Town Lake, AZ.
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]

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2013-02-28 12:10 PM

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Expert
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Scottsdale, AZ
Subject: Ragnar Del Sol


2013-02-28 12:54 PM
in reply to: #4640579

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Champion
10018
50005000
, Minnesota
Bronze member
Subject: RE: Ragnar Del Sol
Nice running!  Ragnar is an awesome experience.  It's nice to have the longest run out of the way first, although a long night run can be really great too.  
2013-03-01 8:52 PM
in reply to: #4640579

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Extreme Veteran
481
100100100100252525
Subject: RE: Ragnar Del Sol
Smoking!
2013-03-03 11:29 AM
in reply to: #4640579

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Extreme Veteran
487
100100100100252525
Spokane, WA
Subject: RE: Ragnar Del Sol
Wow! Fast!I'm doing my first Ragnar (Northwest Passage) in July. Sounds like fun!
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