The Ragnar Relay

As the Ragnar Relay motto says...Run, Eat, Sleep (or not), Repeat. That what I did with twelve other amazing women this past weekend as we participated in the Ragnar Relay. For an explanation of what the race is all about see my previous post HERE.

We had such a great time that we are already talking about next year. We made some great memories and new friends and it was an experience I'll never forget. I never believed people who told me that running in a race is different then just running for exercise. The adrenaline and the excitement was really contagious and I ran faster than I have ever run before. Another fun aspect was that my Dad and little brother Jeff made a special trip down to cheer me on. Thank you SO much for coming all that way and for your cheers, confidence and encouragement. I'll admit...I was REALLY I started to get really nervous when I knew that there was only runner left ahead of me. I started to doubt my preparation and wondered if I had made the right decision. For one thing I was worried about pushing myself so hard when I am 16 weeks pregnant and I also wanted so bad to be successful and not let my team down. But right when I was standing in the gate preparing to go my dad said, "Just pace yourself and remember to run your race" and I did just that. My longest leg was seven miles and I'd only ever run 6 during my training. But I knew I was prepared physically and I had Bud give me a blessing before we left. I know that all of these things helped me to be successful and have a positive experience.

I am most grateful that we were all safe as we ran. Sadly there was a runner who was hit and is in critical condition. I don't know all of the details only that the driver was not impaired or at fault. We are all praying that he will pull through but it doesn't look very good right now. Unfortunately this caused them to close down the race for almost 7 hours. Four people in my van were unable to run our second leg of the race because we were rerouted to a later exchange point and were asked to continue from there. It was a bummer because my Dad had trained and planned to run with me during that leg and he was not able to, it was a disappointing to not have been able to do the full race and most sad of all it was tragic that this had to happen after they took even more precautions than they have in previous races to insure the safety of the participants. I imagine more drastic precautions will be taken in the future but regardless this race is dangerous and it is so important to follow every rule. However having said that it was a huge success and a positive experience for everyone on our team. I learned that I can accomplish anything I want to if I really train hard and prepare myself and I hope this will carry over into other aspects of my life. So until next year...way to go team gForce!!

Our home for two days

Check out those decorations (thanks for the vinyl team name Shelley!)

back: Lisa, Teresa, Stacey & Carlotta
front: Fressia, Dana & me

Me with our handsome van driver

Teresa, Carlotta & Dana at exchange one. Check out the bathroom facilities in the background. There were about 15 at each stop.

Stacey, Lisa & Fressia

Dad and Jeff caught up to us at van exchange #1

Fressia passing me the relay bracelet as I take off on my first leg of the race.

My first leg of the race, 7 miles!

Dana, me, Carlotta, Fressia & Teressa towards the end of the race