Last week this time I had just finished running the Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage 2009. It was loads of fun.
The Ragnar Relay is a relay race where 12 runners take 3 legs each and cover approximately 200 miles. In the northwest, they run between Blaine and Langely, WA, covering the coast and cross Deception Pass. (If you want more specifics, see the website linked in the first paragraph.)
Our team was composed of acquaintances of the team captain, Cara Heiner. I know her from church. Others have raced with her before, and others knew her from previous places she has lived. From her, there were a couple of people who were brought in by others to round out the 12.
Our van was van #2, meaning runners 7-12. I only knew one other runner in the van, Mike Peffer, who also attends church with Cara. Mike and I are pretty good acquaintances, so I had the reassurance of not being totally alone. I needn’t have worried. Upon meeting at Fred Meyer in Bellingham, it was pretty clear that we had a good crew. The only person missing was Tony, runner 7. This was a bit of a concern since we were running on a tight schedule to meet van #1 for the first exchange between runners 6 and 7. It turns out nobody in our van knew Tony, though we were told that he would meet us there. (He was an acquaintance of Travis, the lone male in van #1). He wasn’t there, so we decided to head out. Sure enough, just as we were turning out of the parking lot, we received a call that he was waiting for us. We picked him up and made it just in time.
In our van were Francys, the only girl, and Rob, her husband, myself, Mike, Tony, and Brent.
I was runner 11, meaning I took legs 11, 23, and 35.
The first leg was fairly straightforward. I didn’t have too many problems with, though the heat was higher than I’m used to running in. It was about 6 1/2 miles, through relatively flat land. My pace was a litle faster than I had anticipated, 9 min/mile. I finished listening to Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell during this run too. Interesting book. I’ll have to write up a review for it later.
After the first legs were done, van #1 and van #2 met at a high school, where the Red Cross was providing a spaghetti dinner for contributions. I contributed and ate the spaghetti. In retrospect, I wish I had only contributed. The spaghetti was fine while eating it, but afterwards both Mike and I had issues with our stomachs. I thought for sure I was going to lose it the next morning.
After dinner, we headed over to our first host house. They were nice couple who lent us their living room floor. Unfortunately two events conspired against us from geting any rest. First was that the floor was too hard. I should have brought a mat or something to put under the sleeping bag. The second was that van #1 finished their segment much faster than they had anticipated. We just got to rest for an hour and a half, and then we were off again.
The second leg was at night. My run started at 2:02 AM. Once again I finished at a faster pace than I anticipated, roughly the same 9 min/mile, perhaps a hair faster, so I finished about 3:05. The run was just shy of 7 miles, and had quite a few hills, though the net gain was only about 100 feet or so. Still, running at night at 60 degrees was much more bearable.
The coolest factor was the lightning. I was running along a tree-lined road, and over the tree tops in front of me (the road wound quite a bit) lightning would flash and light up the area, followed shortly by thunder. Unfortunately it never did precipitate. I would have been wonderful. I wish I had a camera.
This run was accompanied by various artists on the iPod. I think I enjoyed the set of Jesus & Mary Chain that played about 2/3 through the run best.
Rob finished his run right after mine and we exchanged with van #1 again, at about 4:00am or so. We then rushed to host house #2. This house provided a camper that slept 8, so there was plenty of room. I actually fell asleep for 2.5-3 hours, and it felt wonderful. Coupled with a quick shower, I felt brand new. Unfortunately it was here that I was feeling nauseous from something, presumably the spaghetti. I forced myself to eat a banana, figuring that if everything did come up, I would feel better, and if it didn’t, I’d need something for energy for the last run. Rob’s driving to meet van #1 at the last exchange didn’t help matters either. We were easily doing 80mph on the freeway to make it to the exchange point on time. 
Thankfully at the exchange a little air and some walking around cleared up my nausea.
The last exchange was lots of fun, as we could tell the race was closing down. Van #1 was very celebratory as they finished their runs and just had to wait on us.
As each runner finished, you could see their elation at being finished cross their faces. As Tony aptly put it: “Guess what? I’m done!” Mike was perhaps the most formidable. He continued to suffer the stomach ailment but again put in a scorching pace. I think he averaged about 7 min/mile during all his legs. Once he was done though, he too was elated. #7, #8 down. I was #11. Sigh. I had to wait quite a while.
Francys ran next. While she was running, Rob’s tendonitis started to flare up. Really, it had been with him the entire race, but he had been using Tony’s massage tools and ice to keep it in check, but now it really started to bother him. Looking at his final leg, with its steep hills, he wasn’t going to make it. So he and I swapped. Now I was runner 12. I had the honor of finishing the race for our team, but I also had to wait the longest until I was done. 
.
Brent ran after Francys, and then Rob ran. He made it through, though you could tell he was in a lot of pain. It turned out that this was Rob’s first race. Quite a race to attempt for your first.
As I waited for Rob, the relief at having my time arrive was poignant. I was optimistic about my time, and I was looking forward to the run, as I had selected a Book of Love playlist, and I really like Book of Love. I had run 9 min/mile so far, so I thought I actually might try to push myself and see if I could better that pace.
Ha! No such luck. The hills conspired against me. The heat conspired against me. And my own fatigue really set in after I made it to the final climb of the biggest hill. I wouldn’t qualify it as anguish, but it was perhaps the hardest physical endeavor I’ve made in the last 2-3 years. I’m no spring chicken, but I’m not geriatric yet, so this was something of an eye opener.
I finally made it to the finish line, with my team escorting me across the last 100 yards or so. The conversation was something like this:
“You’re almost there, just a little further.”
“Where? Where do I go?”
“See that group of people?”
“Yeah.”
“Go there.”
Upon arriving at the congregation, a new set of directions.
“Okay, now just go to the next corner and turn right.”
“WHAT!?! I thought that was the end.”
“No, but you’re SOOO close.”
At the corner, I turned right.
“Okay, just through those pillars.”
“And THAT’S the finish line?”
“Yeah.”
“Finally!”
I’m sure they thought I was the biggest whiner.
Once through, there was jubilation galore. Unfortunately I was so exhausted I couldn’t partake immediately. I had to walk around and drink a gallon of water (not a huge exhaggeration) to cool down. Even the medal they hung around my neck seemed the weight of the rock of Sisyphus. I had to hand it to a teammate until I was recovered enough to wear it.
20 minutes, 2 slices of pizza and a couple cans of Dr. Pepper later, I was my old self. Perhaps not quite ready to run another leg, but definitely willing to participate in the celebration.
The most common question fielded on the way home was “Are you going to run it next year?” I then asked for a 2 week moratorium on the answer. Two weeks have almost passed. The answer would have to be “Yes.”
Many thanks to Cara, Francys, Rob, Tony, Mike, Brent, Laura, Heather, Travis, Stacey, and Tara for making this year very memorable. Viva la Ragnar!
(I’ll post some pictures later. I just wanted to get this out before my memory became too fuzzy.)
