This weekend I completed my first Ragnar Relay- a running event where a team of twelve runners covers a distance of around 200 miles by running non-stop, overnight relay style. I did the Madison to Chicago Ragnar but there are races all over the country (and a few new trail events, too!).
This is the way it works: you rent two huge vans and split your team into two groups of six. You cycle through the same running orders three times so you cover the 200 miles in 36 different chunks. The shortest leg was around 2.5 miles and the longest was 11- mine were 6.6, 3.9 and 5.5 miles. You go through the night (the vans can take turns driving ahead while the other van's runners are doing their legs) but for the most part you're either running, driving, navigating or cheering for your friends.
A bunch of my friends did it last year and raved about how much fun it was but I’m not going to lie- I was a little skeptical. Running three legs over the course of about 36 hours, sleeping in a van, and no showering? I figured it would have it’s moments but I’d spend a lot of the time being cranky and tired.
No joke, people- this event is AWESOME. Yes, you’re tired and you smell bad (and your legs hurt like they never have before if you didn’t train…) but it’s such an amazing experience- you feel like such a team and it’s seriously kind of insane how accomplished you feel after covering so much ground.
Below are some pictures from the event- definitely something I'll do again!
Photos: My van after we all finished running// vans lined up in WI near the lake at 6 am// trail on the IL/WI border// Jen and I piloting/co-piloting the van// our insane octopus of cell phone chargers
Awesome! You're crazy. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteThat was Amy by the way :)
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