Gaining more than you lose

Hit an easy 22.7 on the bike with a friend. Quads were still sore from Saturday but it helped to stretch them out a little, though they were tired on the hills. Getting pumped for the Vegas Ragnar this weekend!

Ragnar Relay Las Vegas! Day One...

Stayed in Mesquite last night, since we were in Van 2, we were able to get some breakfast, do some food shopping and head out to exchange 6 for our first runs. I was runner 7, so I would be starting our van off. My first leg was 6.2 mile starting from Callville Bay (Lake Mead). It was about half uphill (600 feet or so) with a gradual downhill the second half (300 ft). I felt fairly strong, but it was warm, so I was happy when my van drove by and tossed me my water bottle (it was a non-support leg, so they couldn't stop to support me). That helped a lot as I was able to keep my head a little cooler and keep going. Finished off the leg in 52 minutes. We continued on supporting our other runners until our final runner finished his first leg at Lake Las Vegas Lowes Hotel. Then we headed to Henderson for some food and a little rest. The Cheesecake Factory was practically across the street from the next exchange, where I had an amazing Salmon, pasta, spinach and mushroom dish. Too bad our other van was way ahead of schedule, and I'd end up running way sooner than I had planned!

Second leg (leg 19) started a little after 10pm - according to our schedule I wasn't supposed to have to start until midnight. So, with a gut full of food, I started out on my 5.9 mile uphill jaunt. We were actually happy to get an earlier start, because then it meant that we wouldn't have to be running quite so late into the night. This run went well, all uphill (750 ft), though not as steep as the last run. It wasn't extremely well marked, so I had to yell at a few people when they made wrong turns (luckily I ended up being right!). Other than the nasty burps from dinner, I made it through that one pretty well at 53 minutes. The next runner had a downhill run to Las Vegas Boulevard (way south of Vegas), and then the next three runners were straight shots south down the boulevard. We then headed west where the last runner (my older brother, younger brother was running too), headed off the road onto a "dirt road" which looked more like a washed out creek bed, full of jutting rocks and boulders. This would have made a tricky enough run in the day, and here they were running it in the middle of the night. The "trail" was also about 100 yards off the road, so you had to park your van and then cross the desert to wait by the trail and hope you don't miss your runner. I heard more people cursing that trail while I was waiting!! Made it to Goodsprings at about 4am, then off to the next exchange to try and sleep.

Ragnar Relay Las Vegas!! Day Two...

After passing the baton in Goodsprings, we made our way to the next major exchange where I would be running in a few hours. It was in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of rocky desert soil to sleep in. I managed to snag about two hours of sleep in the van, strewn across two captains chairs. The sun came up and we got word at about 7:30 that they'd be here in an hour an a half. I figured I'd better get up and loosen up a bit. I walked around a little and thought I should eat a little something, so I grabbed a bagel and went to stand in line at the "Honey Buckets". Well, as I chomped my bagel, a piece of it seemed to get lodged in my throat, and I couldn't get it down. I could breath, it wasn't blocking that - its what I usually refer to as "Mashed potato choking", because it seems to happen with those a lot. Usually after a minute or two, the offending piece of food slides its way down. This time it wasn't, and I was starting to not feel so good. I ran over to the van and grabbed the first drink I could see, Gatorade - and tried to chug some to get it down. Immediately I get a gag reflex, because its so blocked. Everywhere I turn is a sleeping bag or a group people talking. I finally found an empty piece of ground where I began dry heaving. I didn't throw up (I hate throwing up!) but my body sure wanted that out of there! Any Gatorade I would try and drink, my body would send it right back out. I'm sure it looked and sounded awful to anyone around, but I really was just trying to get that thing out. Finally a little piece came out and that seemed allow the rest of it to go down. I was a little worried for a bit, because I had the longest leg of the race coming up, and didn't want to have to put that on anybody else on my team-they had their own last legs to do! Luckily the disaster had been averted - I was able to drink some fluids and use the honey buckets, so I was ready to roll. I sat in the van to stay warm until the other van showed up, meaning that the runner was probably within a mile of the exchange. I headed on up, got the exchange and started my 10.1 mile "Ragnar Leg". The first couple of miles were typical, had a few cramps, was tired, not feeling great, but once I got warmed up, I eased into a good pace and just worked my way up the hill. This one was a 6.5 mile 1300 foot climb, followed by a 3.5 1200 decent once you summit. I passed a lot of people walking really early on, even one guy seemed to be walking back to the exchange within the first half mile. I kept truckin', our van had big pirate flags on the back of it, so I could always see where my van was waiting for me up ahead, which was nice. The first time I passed the van, my brother said "Hey, watch out, you're about to get passed by a guy in a Speedo". Well great, I thought, just what I want to have to follow! Sure enough, a couple a minutes later he comes past me. I gave him a hard time about his speedo, and told him he better speed up, cuz I didn't want to have to follow that the whole time! He told me I wouldn't want to be around at the finish then, because he was going to wedgie himself as he finished! Well, despite my comment, and the view, I wasn't about to let this guy just fly by, so I kept the same pace as him, with him a little ahead for a couple of miles, when the hill started getting steep, and he couldn't keep it up. A mile and a half from the top, he broke into a walk and I motored on past. I sumitted feeling really good, happy that I'd gotten the hard part behind me, now I just had fairly steep 3.5 down. At least I could just let my legs follow along! I started off really fast, and actually had to pull myself back a little, because I still had 3 miles to go. I kept a decent pace going down, got passed by this little lady from a van we'd made friends with, and she just flew past. She weighed about a buck five, so that probably helped her float on down. A few minutes later, I hear an "On your right" and who else would it be, but butt cheeks himself, catching up to me on the downhill. Again, I kept pace with him, and as we come within sight of the exchange, still a good 3/4 mile away, he decides its time to show them cheeks off. Of course I gave him some crap, then I caught up to him and passed him - I did thank him for giving me some motivation to run faster!! I sprinted about the last quarter mile, getting down to a 5:12 pace, and handing off strong, jogging another half block just to slow myself down!

The rest of the runs took us through Red Rock, and we ended at the Red Rock hotel and casino, where we had a couple of rooms. It was nice to walk straight from the race to our rooms and to the pool and hot tub! It was also funny to see half the people at the hotel later that night hobbling around. It was a lot of fun, with some desolately beautful scenery, though it doesn't quite stack up to the Wasatch Back (although having less people sure was nice!).  We were certainly not in it to win it, and finished with a 31 hour time.

I had a great time and usually walk away from these Ragnars feeling a little inspired. You get to know people you didn't know before, you get to see them (and yourself) push themselves to do things they didn't know they could do.