Ragnar TN, The Aftermath...

We finished.

End of post.

I am not sure what to write about it. It was tough. It was fun, it sucked, it was memorable, it was Ragnar. This year was different in that we ran 2 teams, Memphis Grit and Memphis Grind. This ensured that everyone had a running partner, which was good and bad. It was only bad because I held my partner back a lot and I felt guilty about it. It was good to have someone to run with and to be accountable with.

Other memorable happenings include a teammate getting stuck in a porta potty without TP, apparently one team got their hair did mid race, Olive Garden and Ruby Tuesday's, and lots of good conversation along with new friendships.

Leg 7 was the beast I remembered it being. An uphill battle against will. I did a lot of walking on this first leg and it really effected legs 19 and 31. Leg 7 is a never ending climbing that goes to the left and then to the right, each turn teases you that the end is near, only to turn back up the hill again. I was so glad to finish that hill. I was only slower by about 3 minutes from last time. My partner killed it and would have ran right up that sucker if he had not been waiting on me.

Leg 19 was a makeup leg for me in a way. While it was still slow, there was no walking! it was actually longer than I thought by .2 miles, but it was good. perfect nighttime weather for a run. We started at about 9:45 PM. I was happy to "run" the entire leg.

Leg 31 was the last leg, and I think everyone is just wanting to be finished by the time they hit the last leg. A 5.9 miler that had some walking in it, but overall was pretty good.

Our team finished in 34 hours and 9 minutes. Almost 200 miles covered with 12 friends, 2 vans, 2 days and 1 night of running. I am officially retiring form the Ragnar TN relay, but I had a great time and I am glad I did it a second time.

A couple of our teammates had Go Pro cameras and made a video, check it out:

Sure, Let's Do It Again! Ragnar 2015

Ragnar 2015 is happening in one week from today and the group I did it with in 2013 is doing it again! This year we have expanded and now we have 2 teams running. We have Memphis Grit and Memphis Grind! Once again I am the 7th runner on Memphis Grit. I get the same dang legs I had last year. I am the first runner from van 2. the only difference this year is that I will have a running buddy, Philip, to chug along with. This was done because some of the female runners felt weird running out at all hours of the night, so this way every runner will have a partner. I think this will help in the times when you need that encouragement and hopefully to pass the time away. We will start in Chattanooga, TN and run to Nashville, TN, 196 miles. Here are the legs I am running once again.

 

Leg 7 is a beast. I hate leg 7 if I am being honest with you, and I am. So let me tell you why I hate Leg 7. Leg 7 is a 5.3 mile "hard" leg that provides no van support and has one water stop along the way.  If you will look at the elevation chart, you will notice that the first mile is a lovely run through the park, then it changes. The next 4.3 miles of this leg are uphill. There is a total of elevation gain of 1303 feet. One other thing that makes this a tough run is the camber of the street. Not only do you feel the uphill battle, but also I remember feeling like my ankles were at a weird angle due to the slope of the road. So, my plan is to be smart on this leg and not kill myself because I will still have two other runs to complete. Last year I finished this run in 1:02, but I am not sure I see that happening this year.

Leg 19 will start at approximately midnight, maybe earlier on Thursday night at a school if I remember right. This run is hard to describe because it is at night and all you have to go on is what you can see from your headlight. I remember it being in the 20s last year when I took off. It is a 6 mile "hard" leg that again provides no van support. Last time I finished in 1:06 and I think that is doable once again.

Leg 31, my final run is a 5.9 mile "hard" run. Notice that every leg is consider a "hard" leg!!! This will definitely be the hardest run due to the lack of sleep, recovery and fuel I will have. I will be so ready to finish by the time this gets here! This leg can provide full van support, which means they can drive by and yell for us I guess, or they can drive by and tell me to start running again, either could happen. I really have no idea what to expect other than keeping that mantra 'Forward is a Pace"


All in all, this is an experience. It will most likely be my farewell Ragnar Race. I do have concerns about that stupid hill, so after the hill, it will be A-OK with me, I just have to beat that hill. I feel like I am ready for this race half the time, and the other half I feel as if I am going to die. That's normal right? Anyways, I have my list to pack and I am getting things ready. if you want to follow me while running, first thing I would say to you is Get a Life! The second thing would be to get the MapMyRun app and go MVP for the free month and friend request me.

I know it has been a minute since my last post but I will update the blog on hos Ragnar 2015 was!  Thanks for reading.

Ragnar Relay TN 2013

This weekend I ran in the Ragnar Relay, this was my first time and I had no idea of what it meant to really run Ragnar! If you are not familiar with this race, it consists of 12 people, 2 vans and 196.1 miles of running. So basically, we were in 2 vans, 6 runners a piece and we were all assigned different legs of the race with distances that ranged from 3 to 9 miles. We started at 7 AM and ran until we stopped, which ended up being 33 hours later. Oh yeah, we started in Chattanooga and ran to Nashville!!!

I was lucky enough to be runner #7, so I got to be the first runner of van 2. I figured I since I was coming off Ironman (Yes, I can work it into to any conversation), I figured I would be in great shape to run. Of course I really did not factor any recovery time into this equation, but I figured a 5.3 mile hard run, a 6.5 mile hard run and a 5.9 mile hard run would be that bad. I was really worried about my speed (which is gone), but I wanted to set the tone right for my van.

This elevation map is wrong, it seemed straight uphill!

Run #1
Like I said, it was a simple 5.3 mile run. I was starting it at around 11 AM in the morning and the temps were in the 40s. Perfect running weather. One problem though. It was straight uphill for about 3 miles or so. Very tough run. 1 hour and 2 seconds, so I was pleased with that effort, but man it killed my legs.

Run #2
It was not as bad as run one, it was longer (6.5 miles), but I started that run around 11 PM and it was in the upper 20's that night and dark! It wasn't a bad run overall and I actually felt pretty good for the most of it. It was just a cold, dark, lonely run. This run took me 1:05:56

Run #3
This was a 5.9 mile run, but it was the hardest. Factor in no sleep, not eating great and feeling queasy at the beginning, made for a long 5 miles. It had a lot of rolling hills on it which were not happening for me as far as running goes, so I walked more than I wanted to. This leg took me 1:06:52.

So overall thoughts on Ragnar:

• It was a lot of fun now that it is over!
• I got to be part of a great team with some great people. I had a lot of fun getting to know my "van-mates" and cheering them on.
• There were over 220 teams running this race!
• We did not win
• It was easy to tell the veterans of this race vs. the newbies
• Some of the van decorations were awesome
• I got zero sleep and I did not eat well enough either!  My fault on the eating
• It was nothing like I expected.
• I made some good friends

I really could go on and on about the people I was with, they were great, and that would be the key to anyone considering this race in the future, make sure you run with good people! Here are some other pictures my teammates took!

My Ragnar Team Eric, Amy, Dwight, John, Mike, Heather B, Justis, Mel, Todd, Heather L, Handley and me

Amy

Dwight, Handley and me

Eric took a selfie on his run

Dwight and Handley

Me and Eric

Mel V waiting on me to get up that hill

john, Eric, Any, Todd and Handley

Me and Todd, He had a monster hill to climb as well

We all signed the wall once we conquered!

My cheesy Olympic medal biting tradition picture