It was so much more fun than last year, I think for a variety of reasons:
- first and foremost, knowing what to expect
- having a dedicated driver (thanks Maggie and Ryan!) and someone who handled all the communication between vehicles
- that all of our runners without exception did more than they knew they were capable of, everyone was so positive and pumped, myself included (last year I struggled to complete my final leg)
- that no one got hurt
- our fund-raising which paid for gas money and some food (we're raffling off the ~$150 heart rate monitoring sports watch received for registering early)
- using an SUV and a mini-van instead of rental vans saved another ton of money, though space was a little more cramped, it was not a problem at all
In our vehicle there were six runners (Jamie, Casey, myself, Lori, Dave, and Kendra) and a driver (the aforementioned Maggie). Jamie had some tough legs to run, but stayed composed and made it through with flying colors. Casey had to deal with blisters and a super-tough last leg: 8.9 miles, with the last 3.5 in a long, tortuous uphill. That would have stopped many a lesser runner, but she didn't stop to walk and powered through it, walking all gimpy after it all. Lori just ran serenely and confidently every time, setting personal bests like nothing could slow her down. Dave was awesome, despite getting the least amount of sleep, he ran fast and solidly every time, also setting PR's and powering through a tough, 5-mile uphill final leg even with sore legs and fatigue. He also kept us all going with his fun, motivational energy. Kendra put in solid, fast runs every time. Finishing off the legs for us (team vehicle #1) she said more than once to not expect her to be fast, but she too found a way to put down a major effort and power up hills. And Maggie's support as a driver, comm person and "safety officer" was invaluable. Sporting crutches due to a recent injury, she also put in an immense effort with all the distance that had to be traveled out of the vehicle.
My first leg was a 7-miler on a straight, slight downslope in scrub desert southwest of Wickenburg. I probably ate a powerbar too close beforehand because my stomach was constantly cramping. Every time I tried to speed up it would hit me harder. I'd hoped to do like an 8.25 (minutes/mile) pace here but there was just no way. I had to accept the fact that most of the runners were passing me and I only passed one (a guy whose costume was like the short-shorts police officer from Reno 911! and whose sashaying speed-walk out of the exchange had everyone laughing). I finished in just under an hour, which is about my usual training pace now, so it wasn't too bad.
I wanted to do some pace running last year, inspired by the work that Joe P. put in to help everyone, and hoping that it would warm up muscles sore from a big initial effort. Rule changes meant that I could only pace at night, so it had to be for runner 2's 2nd leg, which was Casey. No doubt she would have been fine without it, but hopefully it helped. This was a 4.7-mile run through Sun City West late at night, cold again. I'm not sure of the time, but it felt like a 9.5 pace to me, and I was reminded of how incredible it feels to hold back a little, like tremendous reserves of speed and strength are just waiting for you. We made a number of turns as the course followed a series of darkened streets out there on the far edge of Phoenix.
And then we hit the exchange chute and it was time for me to continue through my 6.3 mile leg. I sped up, but not by too much, a little bit of fatigue setting in I guess, telling me not to burn out. There was a challenging trail section that started out with cobblestones and that really did not feel good. Then it plunged down into a wash with a steep descent, and I actually fell but threw out a hand and stopped from tumbling. Luckily the section was short and it was back to a mix of sidewalk and pavement. Quite a few runners were passing me again, so clearly the runner 3's in the other teams were fitter on average. I would not be counting "kills" this year. There was a hill that had me feeling worn-down; I actually stopped to walk for maybe a minute at the top (looking around to make sure nobody in the team would see). This was probably around the half-way point; this run seemed to drag on longer than my first leg. Finally the glow of the exchange presented itself in the dark and it was over in minutes.
I grabbed maybe 90 minutes of sleep that night and then we were back at it. My quads were as stiff and sore at this point as they have ever been, but a 7.7 mile leg awaited me. The saving grace was that it was almost entirely a steep downhill, so I just had to put Mr. Newton in the drivers seat and deal with the pain. I'd had some Tylenol after the night's run, Ibuprofen in the morning, rehydrated with a meal, Gatorade, water, EmergenC, applied this gel stuff called BioFreeze, stretched out, but nothing had really helped.
The leg started with an uphill and I was achingly slow out of the gate. Many runners passed me by the crest of the hill; I figured all I was good for in this leg was maybe a 10.0 pace. But I started to get into a rhythm as the downhill started and found that a medium-pace was sustainable. I passed a couple of the guys who had passed me earlier. It was 7 miles of continuous downhill coming out of Fountain Hills, losing 100 feet every mile, fun to run despite the pain in the background and the traffic whizzing close by (we were running against traffic on a narrow shoulder). There were two water stations but it was a cool, overcast morning so I kept at it. The "1-mile-to-go" sign appeared sooner than expected and I ran the last quarter mile really fast. Then quickly found that my quads were so tight that I couldn't walk evenly... which persisted for about another 24 hours!
So that was my Ragnar del Sol 2011, running close to a full marathon in three parts, and being able to stick to my estimated 8.5 average pace (I didn't accurately time the last two runs, but it was close). It was also a great relief that the knee I'd banged up a month earlier had no issues.
Our other team van with six runners and a driver did great as well. We met up and finished together, including Maggie on her crutches, Casey hobbling and me all stiff-legged.
There's so much more to be said about the experience--all positive--I encourage everyone who is a runner (and especially beginning runners who can do at least a 10K) to find or form a Ragnar relay team and try it for themselves!
