RAGNAR

The Whole Team at the Finish

After months of training and preparing (or thinking about the need to train and prepare), the 188 mile relay race known as RAGNAR came and went. (see previous post for details on the logistics of the race). It ended up really being one of the craziest family reunions that we will likely ever attend but was an absolute blast. The whole thing went something like this:
Thursday night, we all met at Annette's house for a pre-race party. We ate more pasta than I have ever had in one sitting, went over final details, and decorated our Vans. Each team has 2 vans and since our team name was "I B Pro Fun" we decided to make Doctors to put on each one to represent Dr. Ragnar, to go with our theme. Our van was decidedly one of the coolest ones at the race and was highly photographed and praised by other participants. Isaac and I were in Van one, along with Jordan, Josh, Nathan, Andrew, and my mom and Dad. I wasn't too thrilled about sitting in a suburban for two days with a bunch of stinky teenage boys, but they kept me laughing, and I ended up enjoying the company.

We spent the night at Grandma Lamb's house and as always woke up to a feast which Grandma had so lovingly prepared. We then packed up the car and headed to Steve's to pick their family up. We weren't at all suprised to find Josh wearing hott pink booty shorts, and before long all of the boys had raided emily's underwear drawer and had found their own shorts to fashon during the run, except for Isaac who was likely wondering what he had gotten himself into.

Showing Off Their New Look

Nathan was our first runner and started at 12:45. From then on, all we did for the next twenty seven hours was run. The rest of the group in the van would cheer the runner on and meet them at different places along the way to offer water, a cool mist, or a welcomed break. We were lucky enough to see Jake and Laralee several times along the way and had fun cheering each other on.
My first run was 5.1 miles slight uphill, and Isaac's first run was a grueling 6.9 miles straight-up for the first mile, then down the steep, gravely avon pass. The view was beautiful, but was hard on Isaac's knees. Unfortunately the van got stuck in a traffic Jam, and couldn't offer any support to Isaac his whole run. Lucky for him, he wore a camel pack for water.



Both of our next runs were in the middle of the night. This was my favorite run by far as my mom rode her bike next to me and we talked and played music and looked at the stars. Isaac's night run was his hardest, 8 miles uphill with aching knees, but he pushed through the pain and did REALLY great. We were able to pull into a church parking lot around 3:30 am and sleep for 4 hours while the guys in the other van were running. Although this doesn't sound like much, it felt SOOO good, and was way more sleep than the mere 15 minutes van two got. We were completely exhausted by the time that our last runs came around, but they weren't actually as bad as we thought and it felt really good to be finished. Neither of us have ever run this far before in our lives, but we both really enjoyed the comraderie and sense of accomplishment that it gave us. Our entire team ran through the finish line together and have never been happier for a slice of pizza and a nice hot shower. We both decided that we would like to keep running and want to do a few 5ks this summer if anyone is interested...we are not fast, but hey, we sure know how to have a good time!