2018 Ragnar NWP 101

Class, please be seated and pay attention.

Today is your introduction to a Ragnar Relay, specifically the 2018 Northwest Passage. You'll be seeing a few posts about this topic coming up, so we are going to cover the simple basics of what it is, how it is supposed to go, and how it really went. And I'll have maps and photos to spice it up and help you follow along since this could very well be new territory for you!

The overall course map. 200ish miles. 12 runners each running 3 times. Non stop Friday through Saturday.

The whole thing began months ago with the formation of a team. Up until very recently we had a full 12 person team. Damn you, Marco. Whoever the F Marco is, he bailed and left his happy ass in Las Vegas, leaving Van 1 down a runner.  Fortunately Van 2 stayed full with all 6 people. Having been in both vans for this relay, I can tell you van 2 is a lot harder ... and making up an entire missing runner would have been brutal!

NACHOS!!

Fast-forward now to last week. Time to pack! I'm not one to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty awesome and packing for a Ragnar relay. They key is to minimize and organize. I got out a tall table, my organized excel list, a Sharpie and zip lock bags and went to town getting Shawn and I ready to go. We all run 3 times. So that means 3 outfits. I pack each outfit in its own labeled zip-lock bag. The label helps because in a hurry you want to just be able to look down and see that "Oh, this is my night leg, I had special clothes for the different temps and this says run 2. This is the one I need!" And after you finish running you can put your dirty clothes back in that bag. If it wasn't labeled do you really want to risk reopening that and smelling that smell? Or worse, being in a tired daze and putting on those sweaty used underwear again?? By the time my packing is done our clothes are set in order of usage, safety gear has it's small bag and toiletries in their own. And all of this fits into one duffel bag. I wear flip-flops and bring two sets of running shoes. Those go in their own draw string backpack which hardly takes any room. Remember, we have 6 people living in one vehicle ... minimize and organize!! *By the time we completed our relay and returned home our bags were still as organized when we left!* This concludes my horn tooting.

The rest of our team flew into Washington from Las Vegas and San Diego, but being one state south we just drove up. Our car was parked by the Seattle airport where we met up with the mini-van and continued north to Bellingham, picking up our 6th van member on the way. In Snohomish we had lunch at Sound To Summit Brewing, and it was pretty tasty. I mean I only had nachos, but they were good, can't complain! From there it was straight on to Bellingham where we would stay for the  night and begin the race.

After checking into our hotel we made a Target run for way too much food. This isn't particular to this relay. Every single one I have done has had way too much food that doesn't get eaten. Finally we were on our way to the Bellingham High School to check in and do our safety briefing, sparing us from doing it on race day when everything is crazy. Mostly I just wanted to do my Ragnar souvenir shopping. I bought so much I got a free tote! Then dinner for both vans at Boston's. So dang good!! I'd recommend it if you are in the area!

Upon returning to our hotel everyone went to rest up for the race while Shawn and I got artsy and craftsy and did some mild van decorating. We never did get it what I would call decorated, but we tried. Around 11:30pm I was finally in bed, waking up on my own at 5:45am. Seriously? I got to sleep in but no, I woke up. I heard people talking outside and saw our Van 1 runners still at the hotel. So much for trying for an earlier start time. Oh well. Our van went to breakfast at Home Skillet, and if I didn't have pre-race nerves it would have been totally awesome! If you are scared of clowns... maybe stay away. Or don't go to the bathroom. You've been warned.

Finally we were back at the high school, ready to get started! Here is our officially Van 2 photo all fresh and clean before the sweat fest began.

Don't worry, I'm gonna make it quicker now that the race has started! 

It felt like we were behind schedule before we even started... and that proved to be correct the longer we were running. Fortunately, however, we had Heather to get us started. I saw a Lion King van in the parking lot which was what prompted me to start calling her our team gazelle. Look at her go!

Heather always started us off and would hand off to me. I'm glad she is fast, to help make up for my ass that seemed to be as slow as possible. Those get their own posts later!

So we finished our first round of running and went to get some dinner at the La Conner Brewery. Shawn and Jayme went on their second date of the day there. This time I was able to monitor and minimize the hanky panky!

This is where it gets real. That easy running, dining, hanging out stuff was done and it was time to "sleep". From 11pm to 2:30am I was outside La Conner High School listening to runners coming in for the major exchange, numbers being called out as runners approached, teammates cheering, van doors opening and closing, an old man passing gas... and watching a kitten approach my face... all while trying to stay warm and snuggle with Shawn to share body heat. I never slept. And part of the reason is our other team never came and never came and I was to anxious and cold to sleep. They were at least an hour behind an already very late expected arrival time. Dammit.

It was a relief when van 1 arrived and we could send Heather on her way. Being a gazelle, we didn't have to wait long until I was running again. And my night run, instead of being in the dead of pitch black night, actually allowed me to have a sunrise. You'll read that later! I can say that I was completely alone. We were so far behind and in danger of not completing the race that I had no runners around me except for a couple of times. This was not good.

I can't even explain wtf happened or why. I can tell you that every person is supposed to run 3 times all in the same order, one runner at a time. I can tell you that this did not happen. I can tell you if it did happen we wouldn't have finished the race before the cut off. Things got all screwy and basically by the time our van finished running our second legs we had time to hit Starbucks, accidentally enter a military zone and then get to our next major exchange before we were running again.

When Heather handed off to me I would be going out with no sleep and no food in me. Running on fumes is all I was doing, and it was ridiculously hot on top of it. Days later, I am finally starting to feel like my body is slowly getting back to happy after all of this. My Garmin had me in at 19.53 miles. I did that with NO sleep since Friday at 5:45am, and with very minimal food consumption - not for lack of trying to eat. I don't know how I pulled it off!

Our van managed to get it all done and greet Rachael at the finish line in Langley where we all got to cross through the big Ragnar arch together. That felt pretty awesome! One runner in Van 1 was injured, 1 never showed up for the race. One runner in Van 2 tweaked a knee in the final leg. One runner in Van 2 (betcha can't guess who) dealt with a Meniere's attack during her first run. But dang it, the hot mess of a team that we were, we finished that bad boy! Good job, Indecisive Running Mofos!

We had some free post-race Papa John's pizza that wasn't even good, but at the time it was delicious. And then it was time for that long ass wait to get on the ferry back to the mainland. The time actually went by pretty fast I thought. In Seattle, after a fast drive, I was so happy to wash my hair two times and shave my legs. We were up pretty early in the morning, eagerly back on the road for a 6 hour drive to get home and pass out! 

Ah man, I LOVE IT!!!

Now that you've gotten the overall idea of this thing... are you in for next year??