Ragnar

I survived! Last Friday and Saturday I ran the Ragnar Relay from Huntington Beach to Coronado Island. Me and my 11 teammates that is. Below is my half of the team, outside the lovely Howard Johnson where we spent Thursday night. I only knew Eliza, my sister-in-law, but I couldn't have asked for better teammates. They were so nice and fun. And fast runners to make up for me and my slowness!

I had three legs of this 200 mile journey:

Leg 1: 5.4 miles. It started at 11 a.m. It was miserable and by far my worst leg. I was not prepared for the sunny and HOT race, which was in a wash and concrete pretty much the whole way. I didn't bring water, because I know I can run for that long without water. Big mistake. There was one water station half way through, but it wasn't enough. About 3/4 of the way through, I saw another jogger. I wasn't sure she was with our race, but I saw she was carrying a water bottle. I was desperate enough to ask her if I could have a sip of her water. She said, sure, and as she handed it to me, she said, it's not water, though, it's cooler. Cooler, I thought? Like Kool-aid? No, came the answer as it hit the back of my throat, like wine cooler. That is the second time I accidentally drank alcohol. The first time was on my mission, but that is a story for another time. This is me finishing the brutal first leg:





Leg 2: 2.7 miles. Started about 10:30 p.m. This leg was a-MAZE-ing. It was cool outside, and I had a short run. I was pleased with my mile time for this leg.

Leg 3: 5.7 miles. I started running about 9:30 a.m. This was such a pretty run, through a little town and along the coast. We were running through the town on the sidewalk next to these cafes with people eating breakfast. In front of me was a shirtless male playboy bunny, a Baywatch girl wearing only a red racing swimsuit, and then I followed dressed like a ninja turtle. We got quite a few comments from the people we passed. This leg was much better than the first, but I was still slower than I would have liked. The finish line:

Eliza and I at the end with our cool medals:

Jacob and his mom came to the finish line and drove us home, which was fun. I was lucky all my legs were at decent times of the day. Overall, it was pretty cool, and I think I would even do it again...if I keep running. A lot.