Ultra 5150 at the finish line
This is the third year I have participated in the Ragnar Relay Event, but the first time I have done so as an ultra team of six. I must admit, this was pretty tough. We had a runner that got sick in the heat, and because we all had to do 26+ miles already, it didn't give us much wiggle room to add miles to runners. The whole stopping for several hours and then starting long miles was much more difficult than just relentlessly moving forward, which is what we usually do for our typical ultras. Then on one of our final legs, Kristi caught her toe on a 2-inch raise in the concrete and fell right onto her right arm, possibly breaking her wrist. Beast that she is, she finished the final two miles of that before getting in the van to get it iced. And to top it all off we made a rookie mistake and left Darcy at one of the exchanges and added about another thirty minutes to our time that we really didn't need with our slower pace.
The night runs, as usual, were kind of tough, but all of us agreed that these were our favorite legs because of the milder temperatures. The heat during the day, while relatively mild at under 80, but the sun was blazing and it was pretty humid. This slowed down our time even more.
We knew we would be cutting the time limit close because we are not the fastest runners, but the injuries, the missed exchange, and the heat had us behind our finish time limit. Luckily Ragnar allowed us to leapfrog meaning that instead of us running one runner at a time, they allowed us to have two runners at a time. This meant we were doubling our miles in half the time so we could actually finish with the other runners. It was so sweet to cross that finish line as a team of six and we actually got a special ultra ribbon attached to our medal.
It was an amazing experience, and we are all so glad we took on this challenge! We are tired and ready to shower and sleep in our own beds, but we wanted to share our final thoughts with you:
Pat: his favorite part of the race was running the last leg of the race with his wife Darcy. They led the way as the whole team crossed the finish line together. He also thinks that it's probably not the smartest thing to run 21 miles at 12:30 pm--as you can probably guess, Pat was the one who got so sick and almost couldn't finish his miles
Darcy: she enjoyed the adventure with her friends and her husband and even though her last leg was uncomfortable and long, she was happy to do that last leg with her hubby. She learned not to stay on her feet when she wasn't running, because it made her actual run more painful on tired legs. She also says she'd do another Ragnar with us again even though we have left her twice now at cold, dark nighttime exchanges.
Kristi: she thinks this was the best first race she's ever had! Despite her fall, she is so happy to have accomplished so much under such difficult conditions. She ran over a marathon with no sleep and was so excited that she could do something she never thought she could accomplish.
Karrie: despite the challenge involved in completing this ultra, it was one of her most favorite experiences because she was able to do this with her friends. In addition, she was so excited that her husband Dave was able to see first hand why she loves doing these crazy races.
Dave: After driving somewhere near 1,000 miles over a 32 hour and 52 minute period, Daves final thought is, "YAWNNNN!"
Gabby: she has so many amazing emotions going on right now that it is difficult to put it all into words. She had a lot of fun, and as usual she had that beaming smile on her face for the entire journey. She is ready to do it all over again tomorrow!
As for me, I am so thankful for this experience to push my body to its limits and do it with an amazing group of people. It is remarkable that despite being in such close quarters for the last two days, there were smiles, kind words, and helpful gestures to the very end. As I've said a million times before ...I am a lucky girl!! Thank you team Ultra 5150, and a special thanks to my family for holding down the fort while I went out and played on the streets from Huntington Beach to Coranafo!
The night runs, as usual, were kind of tough, but all of us agreed that these were our favorite legs because of the milder temperatures. The heat during the day, while relatively mild at under 80, but the sun was blazing and it was pretty humid. This slowed down our time even more.
We knew we would be cutting the time limit close because we are not the fastest runners, but the injuries, the missed exchange, and the heat had us behind our finish time limit. Luckily Ragnar allowed us to leapfrog meaning that instead of us running one runner at a time, they allowed us to have two runners at a time. This meant we were doubling our miles in half the time so we could actually finish with the other runners. It was so sweet to cross that finish line as a team of six and we actually got a special ultra ribbon attached to our medal.
It was an amazing experience, and we are all so glad we took on this challenge! We are tired and ready to shower and sleep in our own beds, but we wanted to share our final thoughts with you:
Pat: his favorite part of the race was running the last leg of the race with his wife Darcy. They led the way as the whole team crossed the finish line together. He also thinks that it's probably not the smartest thing to run 21 miles at 12:30 pm--as you can probably guess, Pat was the one who got so sick and almost couldn't finish his miles
Darcy: she enjoyed the adventure with her friends and her husband and even though her last leg was uncomfortable and long, she was happy to do that last leg with her hubby. She learned not to stay on her feet when she wasn't running, because it made her actual run more painful on tired legs. She also says she'd do another Ragnar with us again even though we have left her twice now at cold, dark nighttime exchanges.
Kristi: she thinks this was the best first race she's ever had! Despite her fall, she is so happy to have accomplished so much under such difficult conditions. She ran over a marathon with no sleep and was so excited that she could do something she never thought she could accomplish.
Karrie: despite the challenge involved in completing this ultra, it was one of her most favorite experiences because she was able to do this with her friends. In addition, she was so excited that her husband Dave was able to see first hand why she loves doing these crazy races.
Dave: After driving somewhere near 1,000 miles over a 32 hour and 52 minute period, Daves final thought is, "YAWNNNN!"
Gabby: she has so many amazing emotions going on right now that it is difficult to put it all into words. She had a lot of fun, and as usual she had that beaming smile on her face for the entire journey. She is ready to do it all over again tomorrow!
As for me, I am so thankful for this experience to push my body to its limits and do it with an amazing group of people. It is remarkable that despite being in such close quarters for the last two days, there were smiles, kind words, and helpful gestures to the very end. As I've said a million times before ...I am a lucky girl!! Thank you team Ultra 5150, and a special thanks to my family for holding down the fort while I went out and played on the streets from Huntington Beach to Coranafo!
RSS Feed
