Last February, I ran the Del Sol Ragnar, completely under trained but desperately needing a runcation with my rag family. We had such a great time and immediately signed up for the trail race that would give us the coveted double medal: the Phoenix.
Several months later, race day rolled around. I had improved my training but then took off 2 months because of morning sickness. I eased back into running and was satisfied with the challenge. But after running a half marathon two weeks prior, had significant pain in my left foot. I saw a doc who confirmed it was tendonitis, probably due to running pregnant and the relaxin that caused my bones to soften and the tendons to work harder to keep it all together. But since it wasn't broken and he agree that continuing to run wouldn't make it any worse, I packed my bags.
I flew down to Phoenix to meet my Ragnar family. Due to miscommunication and scheduling, our suggested team of 8 was only a team of 6. But they are good friends and solid runners so we tackled it anyway. On thursday, one of the guys arrived early and set up our camp. Thankfully, because as camp got more crowded, the teams were located further and further from the starting line. We found a sports bar for dinner as we devoured food and chatted. Then we spent the night at a hotel to make sure we slept well before the race. With a late starting time, we got to sleep well and eat breakfast before driving back to camp. There was some shuffling as we got the rest of the gear dropped of and finished setting up but the weather was beautiful and we were off to a great start.
Without the full team of 8, we decided to forgo the regular schedule of running assignments and make it up as suited us the best. Likely, everyone would need to take 4 legs instead of three but we wanted to be sure everyone got to run all three of the designated trails. I took a green lap first, an "easy" 4.1 loop through gorgeous scenery. Solomon shoes was there with a huge tent and truckload of shoes that they loaned to runners for them to try out on the trail. Those shoes made a huge difference to me, I didn't even feel the tendonitis until my third leg, when I switched back to a road shoe instead of their more protective and support trail shoes. We enjoyed the dinner Ragnar offered with our registration (pasta and salad) and spent lots of time lounging around. I love them trail runs because you get to spend so much time with your team at camp. I took the yellow loop just before midnight. Many people argued it was more difficult than red. It was shorter but more technical (not so fun in the dark) and 4.9 miles long. After that leg, I had to sleep several hours which was definitely a struggle. We had two tents--one for sleeping and one for gear/changing. So we were warm enough to sleep but my hips were killing me from the run and sleeping on the ground (I'm such an old lady).
I took my third leg around 6 am, feeling rested enough but between the pressure of the baby on my pelvis and the strain in my foot from switching back to road shoes, I confess I shied away from the red. The green and red trails began and ended together, so I took the green loop again, running 4.1 instead of 6.5 miles. The rest of my team rocked it, most of them running four legs. One teammate was running this as her first Ragnar and was not as prepared as she hoped so the two of us had to beg out of our fourth legs. Which means two of my friends took a fifth leg! (crazy!) seriously, my heroes. I don't think my team would have let me run a fourth leg away, with my obviously pregnant belly leading the way.
A food truck had camped out through the night with us, offering wood fire oven baked pizzas. It was beyond delicious and our team visited multiple times. We visited the gear tent and drooled over the jackets and new line of shorts and tanks. Two friends and I decided we couldn't resist and wanted to buy the new Ragnar jacket but unfortunately wasn't available in my size. (always remember to shop early) I think our whole team snuck in a visit to the medic tent to get ice, only one for actually injury as one run rewarded him a fall and road rash. They are always friendly and so helpful.
And finally our last runner finished his fifth leg for a total of 27 miles in two days. We ran in with him and celebrated. We collected our medals and took team pictures.
We took our time packing and breaking down camp. Our total time was impressive, especially being short two runners, but we took our time to miss the initial rush on the shuttles as we cleaned up camp and retrieved our cars. A few teammates drifted away, leaving just four of us that headed into town. Our hotel wasn't ready yet so we got slurpees and then settled into the sports car next to our hotel. It turned out to having amazing food so we had dinner there as well. Another friend from AZ, who had been able to get work off to join the race, met us at the hotel to hang out and catch up as we showered and refreshed. Then we meandered through dinner and slept well in our comfy hotel.
Sunday morning, we woke up a little more stiff and sore than before. We got to the airport and went in search of the amazing cookies we spontaneous bought there in February. We had to try three terminals but it was totally worth it. We bought a surplus of cookies and conducted a very scientific study of which cookie was best.
And then flew home, showered again and slept half the day. :)
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