A Captain's Lament

I've done 6 road relays so far. I LOVE them. Each relay results in new friendships, stories of silliness happening during moments of extreme exhaustion, tagging of vehicles, lack of sleep, starvation... so many stories! I wonder if I can come up with the epic story from each relay. Let's see:

• Ragnar SoCal 2014 -- definitely Tara jumping out at a stop light to tag the van in front of us!
  
  
  
• Ragnar NW Passage 2017 -- hahahaha so many things thanks to the rum at the finish line party. I was a complete stranger to this team, and ended up having the most fun ever! And can you really beat meeting strangers that you can talk with about Friends for hours and never get bored?!?
  
  
  
• Ragnar NW Passage 2018 -- the shit show relay. I enjoyed the moment when I was dying on my third run after we had NO break between our second and third round of running. All sun. No shade. All uphill. Almost 8 miles of it. And then there came the muscular shirtless dude. I had no shame in stopping to photograph the view and then sending it to my teammates waiting for me. 
  
  
  
• Hood to Coast 2018 -- stalking a team of older women that I then met at the finish line. And meeting so many awesome teammates that I will continue to race with. It was allll epic! Oh and we became famous on top of Mount Hood when we were interviewed for the Portland news!
  
  
  
• Ragnar NW Passage 2019 -- we locked the freaking keys in the van!! Lesson learned.
  
  
  
• Hood to Coast 2019 -- Hello? Is it me you're looking for? I will never hear that song again and not think of Lady Storm Squad.
  

For 2020 I was/am soooo excited. It is lined up to be the greatest summer of relays. Road AND Trail. We are freaking team number 1 for the very first Ragnar Oregon trail race! NUMBER ONE! Liz and I have done so much crafty brainstorming for our campsite. Yeah, we will actually have to camp! Like in a tent! On the ground! No comfy beds with private bathrooms and TVs. No way to charge our phones. Legit camping. Nine of us (8 runners and our volunteer) all living in a 17x17 square foot space. My running room is fully stocked with our camp supplies and decorations. I bought trail shoes that I've broken in. I have my outfits sort of lined up. The teammates.... freaking awesome. I am soooo looking forward to running with this group of people. I have raced with all of them before, some of them multiple times. This is THE dream team! 

And then the road relay. Another awesome collection of friends that have almost all raced together before. Family, friends, running family. This is slated to be so dang fun! My face already hurts thinking about how much laughter there will be in these vans. Hotels have been booked for months. Vans have been reserved. The running order has been made since 2019. I am so looking forward to van life and our van having a designated driver that will be sure to NOT lose our keys this time, and won't have to bother with running. I want to party with these people at the finish area. I'm ready to keep tabs on The Colonel. This HAS to happen.

So much planning, so much excitement, so much work done behind the scenes to get everything ready... and now it might not even happen. If you look at the official Ragnar Relay website and click on the Covid link you see a sad story of all the races that have been cancelled. Will the world clean up by my-July or early August? I don't even dare speculate. I've stopped letting myself be excited. I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that Liz and I might have a whole extra year to work on our craft projects. Two races, 14 runner friends I'd run with. So much fun waiting.... and every day I obsessively check to see that status of our races and if they will be cancelled.

IT SUCKS!!

I just want to race with my friends!!! I'll keep being optimistic... I'll try super hard. However, if they do make the announcement to cancel one or both be prepared to see this girl with tears going down her face! And then be prepared in 2021 when we go BIG or go home!! These two teams are legit awesome already, and I cannot wait to race with each and every one of you!