I had no intention of doing this race until a few weeks ago. I joined the Winona Running Club facebook page and got a message from a girl named Kyla, asking if I wanted to join their team, as they needed a sub because someone dropped out that had already paid. Score for me! He had already paid the fee, so all I had to pay was the $10 transfer fee. (It's $1,200 a team otherwise, so $100 a person). Of course I can't back down from a challenge, so I said yes and had no idea what I was getting into really.
We had a meeting last week where I met everyone for the first time. 11 strangers. I knew right away I liked these people, and wasn't going to mind spending 48 sleepeless hours with these people running day and night and when not running in a cramped van.
Here's a picture of Scott and Chris, the 2 men from my Van, trying on their panties of choice.
There are 2 vans of 6 people each. I absolutely adored everyone in my van. Each person is assigned a runner number, and I was runner #2. We all went to the Levee at 7:00 am for safety check and to get our packets/shirts etc. It was our first exposure to the runners and teams that we would see for much of the next 48 hours.
Here are the WHORs... Women Hooked On Running.
Ragnar 911... hilarious group! They had little sherriff symbol temporary tattoos made up, and they handed out "Citations" for certain stuff... my citation is below...
Below is me getting my citation from them......
Anywho, Scott was our first runner. He headed out, we all hopped in van 1, and headed to exchange 2. I was runner 2. I got ready for the exchange, and did my run when Scott met me at the exchange. I'm used to running at 4am, so it was weird to be running in the daytime. My first run was at 9:04am.It was 6.2 medium miles. It was toasty out! It was from Fountain City up the highway in WI. I got 5 "kills" which is Ragnar talk for how many people you pass or "roadkill" on the way. Despite it being very warm and me being out of my normal element, it felt great. I think the greatest part of Ragnar is knowing that you'll have 5 smiling and cheering faces for you at the exchange point, and another runner waiting for you for the hand off.
We went through the rest of our runners, and when our last runner Pam was done, we met with our van #2. Our van was done for awhile while van 2 had to take their turns running, so we took advantage of the time to take a make shift shower from a hose at the exchange station and find some food.
The "boys" from my van taking a shower at the major exchange between van 1 and van 2
After lunch, we headed to the exchange point where we'd meet up with van 2 again when they were all done running. It was a camping area where a lot of people had their blankets and pillows out and were trying to take naps, they had first aid set up, free s'mores tent, and of course music and stuff like that. We walked around a bit, there was no way any of us could sleep. We were all so excited and hopped up and ready to go. Scott started to get ready for leg 2 - and of course, had another fashionable outfit to display.
My second leg was the first of the night legs. Any run that started after 7:30pm had to have night time gear, meaning a head light, butt light, and a reflective vest. My leg started at 7:33. I knew going into this leg it was a "hard 8.3", with one bitch of a hill in it.
Holy Balls! That was one mother f'ing hill. It was awesome though. My van leap frogged and met me about every mile to cheer me on, and I peddled up and down that mother. I ended with an average pace of 11:01 for that 8.3 mile leg which I'm super pleased with. And of course I had 5 smiley faces at the end to meet!
At the end of this leg for our van, we were at a junior high at about 1am that had free WARM open showers, hot chocolate, and a gym floor. It was GLORIOUS. I showered naked with all the other ladies and didn't even care. It felt so amazing. I filled my belly with warm, free hot chocolate, and laid down on the gym floor with my ear plugs. I got 1 hour of sleep before Chris woke me up and said it was time to hit the road again!
one of the night time exchanges
My leg 3 started at 5:10 am and was from Hudson to Bayport. It was an easy 3.9. When the 5 of us were walking to my exchange I almost toppled into the stream by the sidewalk I was so exhausted and couldn't even stand up straight. Great I thought, this should make for an interesting run. But as soon as I saw Scott and had that bracelet and hit the road and heard my crew cheering for me out the window of the van, I was good to go again!
Being van 1 definitely had its perks. We were done about 8 or 9am. Then van 2 had to finish running to the finish line where we met them. Meanwhile we were at the major exchange showering again, and then we went to Perkins and ate an amaaaaazing warm delicious breakfast! YUM.
We went downtown MPLS and walked to the finish area and waited for our other van full of people to show up. Our last runner, runner #12, would be running to the finish and then we would all run in as a team together the last little ways. She runs 7 minute miles and the last leg was only 4 miles, so she should have been in under 45 minutes or so. after about an hour, we were all getting worried. Our team captain told the MPLS police our runner was missing, and one of our runners borrowed someones bike to ride down the course to look for her. She was no where. We were all pretty much starting to freak out, because she was in the middle of downtown MPLS with no cell phone and no ID and had no idea where she was. Thankfully she came around the corner. Whew! We all joined her running and crossed the finish line together.
Team Victorious Secret!!
We ended up finishing with an average pace of 9:01. # 131 out of 280. Only 1 person on our team had ever done a Ragnar before. Not bad!!!!!!
It was the absolute best time of my life. Better than my first marathon even. I can NOT WAIT to do it again. The group of people I met are just amazing and I have met some really amazing new lifelong friends!
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