Ragnar Trails Carolinas Part 2

My second leg was the Red Loop.



I was nervous about this one because everyone was saying that they had fallen during this loop, and I would be doing it in the dark. I ate an Uncrustable at 6 and at 7 I headed over to Base Camp to wait for my turn.



It was just starting to get dark when I left the Barn to make my way to the Red Loop.





It was pretty hot, and I was a little nauseous, probably from being so hot for so long. The Red and Yellow Loops start together and after close to a mile, they separate.





It was full on dark now, and I was carrying a hat I had picked up for about a mile. I dropped it with a volunteer and continued on my way. There were tons of bridges and lots of roots, and I basically kept my head down and tried to maintain a decent pace. I pretty much failed there. My pace was almost 3 minutes slower than when I ran Green Loop.



It was a special kind of dark. At almost exactly mile 5, I tripped over a huge root and went down hard. Really hard. Ouch! I used my hands to break my fall, and was lucky that I didn't get hurt! I brushed off as best as I could but now I was run shy and mostly walked. My foot was also starting to ache and I was stressing about Yellow Loop in the morning.



Best.sign.ever.
I texted my team and made it to the finish. My teammate's wife kindly got me some ice and the two of them helped me get my dinner and sat with me while I ate.

After dinner it was time to try and get some sleep. We figured that my final leg would start somewhere around 5:30 am so I wanted to sleep for 4 or 5 hours before I had to get ready. This is where my only bad experience happened. Our neighboring campers were not at all considerate. They had roped off their own site, but sat in ours. They set up their chairs right next to my tent and talked all.night.long. I heard all about their feelings on beer, Nascar, and their balls. Seriously. Quiet time is between 12 and 6 am but when I got up at 4:30 they were still at it. They were horrible. My 5 hours of sleep became 3.5 hours of disjointed sleep. Thanks neighbors.



Back to Base Camp, in the dark, again!



I hit the trail in the dark, very carefully, but knew it wouldn't be dark the whole time. I was looking forward to the "Creepy House" I was hearing about and hoping it would be light out when I got there.



It wasn't. It was almost maybe kind of light out, but I still had my headlamp on.



This loop was 5.6 miles and had many bridges and obstacles! It was tons of fun but I was still worried about falling in the dark so I was going super slow. I knew I was on track according to the pace chart Ragnar had for us, but I was still stressed. I wanted us to finish on time, without having to double up.



Woohoo one mile to go! It was getting hot and I was ready to be done.



The Red and Yellow Loop join up at about this point and all run the last mile together. I was not looking forward to that hill just after the quarter mile warning at all.





REI was at the quarter mile mark again so of course I got another pic.



Almost done. One giant hill and a jog to the Barn and I'm done!



Now comes the hard part. I'm done with all 3 legs but since I'm Runner 1, my 7 teammates still had to run. And so we wait. I finished around 7:30 am and our final runner came in around 5:30 PM. In the meantime, we all packed up the campsite a little at a time and at one point the hubs drove me to Starbucks for an iced tea.



Before long, we all went to the Barn to wait for Kelly to finish, so we could run her in and get our bling!



Kelly finished like a rock star and our adventure was over.



We celebrated a little....



Collected our bling....



We are Ragnarians! What an amazing weekend! When can I do it again?

Ragnar Trail Carolinas Recap, Part 1

What a weekend! I am still recovering, but I wanted to start my blog about it before some of the details start to slip away! I hoped to post every day that I was there, but the wifi was not great and my posts would not go through!



Thursday afternoon, my friend Kelly came to pick me up for Ragnar SC. We were allowed to begin setup at 4 PM and we had one more team member to pick up. We somehow managed to cram all of our stuff into her little car and drive to Fort Mill.



We arrived a little early, but the peeps at Anne Springs Close Greenway were kind enough to let us hang at the Dog Park area until 4. We were among the first to arrive at Camp and secure an amazing spot. The 3 of us were able to get us fairly well set up, until some more of our team arrived later that evening.



We had 3 tents, 2 canopies, and 2 hammocks! We were very comfy, although not as comfy as others! Some of the campsites were very swanky! Only 4 of us stayed there the first night, everyone else either set up camp and went home, or arrived early on Friday morning. The 4 of us who stayed got to check out the Base Camp area of Ragnar.



It was quite a setup! They had S'mores, tables with Giant Jenga on them, a roaring campfire, and of course the merch tent. We all scored finisher shirts and then hit the campfire.







Back to camp afterwards, and off to bed. I had my tent all to myself which was nice, it had tons of room for all of my stuff and I could spread out as much as I wanted.

Friday morning I slept until about 7, and then got ready for my first leg.



I was runner 1 and my first leg was the Green Leg. I was a little nervous since I rarely run trails. Lots of the Greenway is made up of wide gravel road but one of our team members said Ragnar likes to use the more...trail-y.... kind of paths. Oh my heck.



While I'm waiting I run into my friend Nicole, who was in my starting group! It was nice to see a friendly face, if only for 5 minutes! We were given our slap bracelet and soon we were off!



The bracelet reminds you what loop you are on. This is more important on red and yellow loops, since they start and end together, but they give you a bracelet for all 3 anyway. You also have your bib on a waist band, and you pass that sweaty sucker to each other all weekend.
Anyway....
The trail was crazy from start to finish. It was full of roots and hilly, but beautiful. I was quickly left behind and never saw another person the whole 3.2 miles.







We ran past the dog park, and just after I got to the last mile warning sign, I ran into this little guy. Ok, he was kind of a big guy.



He just chilled there, so I ran around him, and continued on my way. Just after I joined the other 2 loops towards the finish (they all merged just before the quarter mile warning) we ran past someone from REI offering free photos. Yes please! All of the fasties were blowing right past it, but I stopped!



They printed them out for you, how cool is that?

After running up a ridiculous hill (that we had to run up during all 3 loops) I came out into the clearing and could hear the announcer at the finish. Awesome! It was humid and I was worn out.



I handed the bib off to Heather, gave my slap bracelet to the staff, and met up with my team. After changing into my pajama pants and tee, we went back to the Base Camp to wait for Heather and make a free keychain!





Thanks REI!

I can see that this is going to be a long long post, so I am going to end it here. I will write about Leg 2 and 3 tomorrow.

Have you ever run Ragnar? Trail, Road, both?

Wordless Wednesday

Packing For Ragnar Trail SC

Omg y'all, Thursday night begins our Ragnar Trail adventure! I meant to be all packed up today, in time to write this blog, but life got in the way. I did start, though, so here is what I've packed so far.



A little background on the race, for those who have never done one. A regular Ragnar race involves 12 runners in 2 vans, running 200 miles point to point. Ragnar Trail involves camping, staying in one spot, and doing 3 loops around the trails of a park. Every runner does the same 3 loops, toralling 16.5 miles. The order of the loops change, though.



Does this make sense?
Anyway, 3 legs=3 outfits, of course. If you follow me on Instagram, I've been posting them throughout the day.







It's going to be hot and humid, so hopefully I don't die.

There are also some other important things already put aside. Like campsite decor. I cut out 100 snails. 100.



It only took 2 days of sitting on the couch and watching TV. Such a huge sacrifice!



Camping gear. I plan to bring my 2 big, fat, plush sleeping bags as well. To use as a cushion! I'm too old to sleep on the ground! We have a blow up mattress, but it's a queen, and that's too big! I also have a canopy to bring so that we have a little shade.



Food! Every camping trip needs granola and Boom Chicka Pop, but I also have oatmeal, rice cakes, and cashews. They feed us on Friday night, and there are food trucks as well.

I still have so much to pack tomorrow before I coach GOTR, but thanks to that handy dandy list, I know that I won't forget anything.

Have you ever run a Ragnar Race?

Training Update, Ragnar Edition

It seems so strange not to be training for Marine Corps, but I have Ragnar Trail this weekend, and a couple of half marathons coming up, so I am focusing on that!
I'm trying to vary my workouts, and add in some strength, which Class Pass Live should help out with!



Monday I was pretty lazy, I did 15 minutes of yoga and then just did some housework.

Tuesday was a track workout day. I had 3 miles planned, but I was feeling good so I did 4!



Wednesday I tried out Class Pass Live for the first time, using the heart monitor. For real, y'all, I am in some bad shape, cardio wise. I need to work on that for sure!
Anyway, in the morning I did a kickboxing class and in the evening I tried Barre. It was just over an hour total.



Thursday I ran at home, but I was really feeling those classes I took the day before. I was on the struggle bus for all 3 miles.



On Friday I walked a couple miles with my friend Ali and then I was just lazy all day. Well, that isn't really true. I had water duty for Saturday's run so I went and got the water jugs, and ran a few errands. So, i was moderately lazy.



Saturday was the long run. Toni (from my pace group) is still easing back in, so we ran 6 and walked 2.5, and then she kindly helped me fetch the water jugs and return them back to the store. After that, I sat on the couch all.day.long. and watched Clemson beat Syracuse.







Sunday I started off with a Core workout on Class Pass Live. I made top 3! I am still trying to hit 1000 points in one class, but I came really close! Afterwards, the hubs and I played mini golf.





Not a bad week overall! I hope to try some new classes on Class Pass Live this week. Possibly some strength workouts. Be on the lookout for way too many pics from Ragnar Trail Carolinas starting Thursday or Friday.