Ragnar Northwest Passage 2014: Wonder Women!

Another year, another Ragnar!

 

Going into this year's race I was extremely nervous.  After last year's fiasco with my leg I was super stressed about incurring another injury.  Thankfully the stretching I do now seems to be working and I was able to redeem myself and run a really good race. 

 

This year I was runner #1, which means I got to start us out in Blaine, Wa.  Our start time was a half hour later than last years time, which means that we had a fast group.  I really noticed the increased speed when everyone shot out of the gate and didn't let up too much during the entire 6.3 miles.  I did manage to get some "kills" (term used when passing another runner) but I also ran about 45 seconds faster, per mile, than I normally do.  Knowing my pace was too quick I decided to just keep going and see what would happen if I maintained it.  Surprisingly I didn't slow down at all and was able to finish strong, though tired.  The weather was about 67 degrees when I started, but it was full sun and felt much warmer.  I felt bad for my teammates because the temperature just kept going up as the day wore on. 

 

Van #1 representing at the starting line.

 

Every year there are some really amazing team costumes and a few that are always a favorite.  This year it wasn't so much the costume as it was the guys in them.  We started out with this team of fire fighters and pretty much hung with them throughout the entire race.  It was a friendly competition as we kept leapfrogging who would be in the lead between our vans.  They put on a nice stretching exercise for all of us at the starting line.

 

 

And we're off!

 

 

Jacki is awaiting my arrival.  Heck, I am awaiting my arrival.... I wanted to be done!

 

Lindsey posing at beautiful Birch Bay!  The PNW is a beautiful place to run.

 

Water support.

 

Jacki passing off to Lindsey.

Lindsey had the worst leg of the morning; 8 miles with no van support!  There was only one water station along they way, but thankfully she brought her belt to carry her own water.

 

Hanging out at the exchange.

Lisa flew into her exchange!  She rocked her first leg of the race.

Shannon showing why we are Wonder Women - happy, smiling, and running hard even in the heat!

Stefanie got to be the stoplight queen of the day.  Her leg took her through Bellingham and all the frustrating crosswalk lights.  As you can see when she wasn't being forced to stop she worked her tail off and finished our first leg super strong!

 

 

At some point in the race you think to yourself "Why on Earth am I doing this?" but then you see these signs and you are instantly motivated to keep going.

 

We met up with our sister van at the end of our first leg.  They were rocking some sweet blue eye shadow and red lipstick!  We so rarely see each other during the race that we cherish the moments when our paths cross.  We definitely appreciate how hard each of us work.

 

Van 2, runner #1 (really runner 7) Jill! 

She is so amazing.  I love that she smiles through it all.

 

This is how we bring our runner home!  Great job Stefanie.

 

 

Most of van 1 & 2 together briefly at the first major exchange.

 

Our team captain, Sommer, injured her ankle before she even started her first leg.  Their van was running a tad behind to make the exchange, so she jumped out of the van to get to the starting line and then pivoted to turn and somehow rolled her ankle in that pivot.  She still ran her leg but was taped up and sore the rest of the race.  Not letting an injury prevent her from running she still finished each leg strong, but her ankle is swollen today.  Bummer!

 

Kay Ann was van 2's last runner before they exchanged back to van 1.  See that fire fighter behind her?  This was our race with them most of the 27 hours we ran.  Kay Ann wasn't about to let him pass her and gained us a pretty good lead before she handed the baton off to me.

Another fun team was a group of ultra runners (6 runners instead of 12) called "The Postfontaines".  I loved their shirts!  This amazing group of runners started a hour after we did and finished the race an hour ahead of us.  I cannot imagine running roughly 30 miles each as fast as they did.  Amazing.

 

Stefanie waiting for her last leg to start.  She's got star power!

 

Shannon handing off to Stefanie.  Shannon ended her last leg with a killer hill.  Bleh!

 

Stefanie handing off to Jill and van 2 is now on their last leg of the race.  Van 1 went out and had a yummy breakfast while we waited.

 

Looky who we found near the finish line. 

This means Kay Ann is getting close and the race is nearly done.

We finished!  We all ran in together with Kay Ann and celebrated.

 

The 2014 Ragnar Northwest Passage Wonder Women! 

(minus Lindsey who had to leave early to head out on her vacation)

This was a great race overall.  I felt really good throughout and ran much faster than I ever expected.  Overall we finished in 2nd place in the women's division out of 32 other teams.  Oh, and we beat the fire fighters! 

Leg 1:  6.38 miles in 56 minutes (8:46 pace) - estimated pace was to have been 9:15
Leg 2:  4.5 miles in 38 minutes (8:25 pace) - estimated pace was to have been 9:00
Leg 2:  1.96 miles in 17 minutes (8:41 pace) - filled in the last two miles for a teammate who's IT band became too painful. 
Leg 3:  3.1 miles in 27 minutes (8:36 pace) - estimated pace was to have been 9:00

I felt great at the end and managed not to hobble around, though today I am a bit tighter than yesterday.  Overall this is the best I've felt after a Ragnar event.  Of course this year was my least hilly course so that may play into how good I feel too!

Looking forward to next year.... maybe.... ask me in a few months when I've forgotten the harder moments and I get caught up on my sleep. :-)