Marathon Lar: 2013 Ragnar Relay Recap

This was our "do something silly" pose at the start...

Yep, this is going to be in multiple parts, 3 to be exact...maybe more...I haven't decided. I'm mostly dragging this out so I don't write the longest blog post ever, plus I like the documentation of a 3 parter, since it is essentially 3 different races.

Since everyone but Jessey has a blog (Bethany is starting one because of Ragnar!!) I'll let their blogs do the talking for them and I'll commentate on Jessey's runs since they were super super hard and she was a major badass for completing them all without passing out on the side of the road!

Bethany
Rebecca - recap up already!
Rira
Robyn - recap up already!

START LINE!

In running order...backwards :)

We made our way up to the start line at the U.S/Canadian border early Friday morning, making time for a Starbucks pit stop of course, and got all checked in and safety briefed in no time. We started at the same time as the Oiselle team Party Like a Flockstar so it was fun to hang with them before they left us in their dust around leg 3 ;).

Van 1 Party Like a Flockstar and Six Pack With Racks!

We started at 9:30 and it was pretty awesome because when they announced our team at the start they made sure to mention Bethany and her amazing story in the Ragmag (on the Ragnar blog here too!)...tears welled up a bit in my eyes and it made me even more excited to get the party started!

It was already sunny at 9:30 so we all knew we were in for a day of hot, sweaty runs!

Bethany Boston Strong and ready to start us off!

Sarah caught this sweet shot of #sixpackrack and #partylikeaflockstar starting together!

I was running after Bethany completed the first two legs of the course and I was definitely ready to run at this point and started to get nervous about starting on my journey of 33+ miles.

RUN #1 - 12.03 MILES - 2:00:25, 10:01 PACE

Met Leana at my exchange...she ran on the #nuunsense team! (pic from her Instagram)

I started running right around 11:30 and took off on my long journey east and the south of Birch Bay. The road I ran on for the first 5 miles was pretty gross. It was clearly the main road that the oil trucks took to the refinery so a giant oil rig truck would blow past me every minute or so. The breeze it created felt nice, all the road dirt it kicked up did not!

Bethany handing off to me...man I look like a giant next to her :)

After I turned at mile 5 it was much better. The road was a gradual uphill for most of the first half and I was really really good about keeping it slow and conservative around 10:00 miles the whole time. The first exchange was around mile 8 and I felt pretty badass for running straight through it and even got a few applauses...definitely lifted my sprits for the final 4 miles.

The last 4 miles were uneventful, I chugged Nuun the whole way and ate some Honey Stinger gummies to keep fueled up. I came into the exchange shoot in almost 2 hours on the dot...exactly what I was hoping for. Legs felt good, heart rate never creeped up to high and I began my recovery immediately with a Muscle Milk and a pumpkin oatmeal protein bar. I executed this run exactly how I had hoped and began to think I might actually make it through this whole ultra relay thing (SPOILER: I DID!)

I handed off to Rebecca and she took us to the first major exchange at Bellingham High School. We caught up with Oiselle and Nuun teams there and said HI to Nuun's Megan who rocked her first half Ironman at Lake Stevens on Sunday...that girl is hardcore to the max!

I want Megan's Nuun tank!

Jessey went next and had some major hills and trail running during her 9+ miles that took us out of Bellingham and up towards Lake Padden. She told us after she was chatting with a guy running this leg as an ultra too complaining about the heat and elevation and he just said something like "fun right?...we still have a whole marathon to run after this"...Jessey had over 38 miles total and not one of those runs was flat!