For the Love of running!!! and a really really good laugh!
I ran this race in Utah last summer and loved it. I loved how it pushed my body and mind, how I made new friends and great memories, how I felt when I crossed the finish line having set a goal 6 months previously to get in shape and run this race! Yep it's 188 miles of relay racing crazy fun with a bunch of great people and I couldn't wait to do it again. So when I landed a spot on a Vegas team only 4 weeks before the race I was thrilled, and panicked because I hadn't been training like I should of, okay I hadn't been training at all. But I knew I wanted to do it and luckily my teammates weren't in it to win cause I knew I wouldn't be bringing home any amazing times.
We left Thursday about 1 to heat to Mesquite. Ran into a little local trouble in Payson (just bad traffic and a stray cat :) but made it to our wonderful smoke filled but cheap hotel later that night. We had a 10am start time at Lake Mead for Friday morning and it was hot hot hot by the time we started! I wish we could of ran around the lake instead of starting almost on the beach and running directly away from it. These runs were tough, in the Vegas desert, sagebrush, cactus, dead snakes, hot black asphalt, I was way over heating on my first run. It was almost noon but it had to be done. 5.2 miles of up and down and up and down black asphalt! I did it in about 53 minutes and at that point was glad to still be alive. I wasn't sure how it was going to go with my lack of training so I was pretty proud to have survived thus far.
We crashed at a really nice resort for the first exchange, on the grass with a blanket and pillow for a few hours. Yep out in the open. There is no shame really at a Ragnar. You are tired and smelly and so is everybody else. We were back on about 10pm and my 2nd run came around 11pm. It was 5.3 of mostly residential streets in Henderson. Not too pretty but I was glad to be on well light roads, most of the time. There was about 1.5 mile stretch that was pretty creepy and a few times I could smell cigarette smoke but not see anyone. I was pretty spooked and tired and not so proud of my 57 minute time for that run. But still alive so tried to stay positive :)
We crashed at a casino/truck stop for our next exchange, did I mention no one cares? Out in the middle of nowhere, about 2am we simply fell out of the suburban onto the ground (that we thought was grass but later discovered dirt/gravel) and passed out for about 2 hours. Then back up for round number 3! My final run was beautiful, the reason why I run really. It was just after 6 am and right at sunrise. The desert sky was amazing colors of pink and purple and the cool air was just wonderful. It was peaceful and serene and I loved every 5.8 miles of it. My time came in under 52 minutes which was incredible and I finished on a high note for me. I loved it! Back into the van for more laughs and stinkiness :)
We hung out at the finish line and got our medals. I was proud to receive the Saints and Sinners medal for having run the Utah race and the Vegas race. We got a free room at the Paris and crashed, hard for 10 hours! Then back in the car to drive home the next day.
Overall I'm proud that I didn't die. I'm proud of my times-ish. Considering what I had been through the 3 months prior I was happy, thrilled, ecstatic to just be able to be out running again. It was a little piece of me I got back after having lost so much. Thanks to 5 wonderful people who helped me get through my runs and put up with me for 4 straight days in a suburban. That is saying a lot to still be friends afterwards :) Here's to the next 188 mile race (hopefully in So Cal in april actually :)
1 comment:
Congrats Jamie - that's an awesome accomplishment! Glad it went so well ;).
Post a Comment