Team: Fear not the end will come!
Place: 34 of 162 men's teams 15 of 72 in the men's open division
Total time: 26:51:05 an overall improvement over last years time taking into account the course was 7 miles longer this year.
WOW! What an amazing time!
Let me start off by saying that this years Ragnar experience was so much better than last year. Last year was fun but I was so ill prepared. I really didn't do a good job last year of eating, resting and staying hydrated. This year I made it a point to be super hydrated and make sure to eat enough calories and try to get at least some shut eye. I feel like I did as good a job as I could have considering I ran pretty hard 3 times within 24 hours. I was tired by the end, but I wasn't completely destroyed like last year. Best of all I was able to hang out with some great company and have a million laughs, see some very beautiful country and do what I love to do most.
I signed up for runner 6 this year because I swore I would never be runner 11 again.....and I won't. Van 1 has it so much easier than Van 2. I don't know if anyone would agree with that comment but both of us in Van 1 this year that did Van 2 last year were in complete agreement that Van 1 is much easier. We got a longer rest after our second leg so we could actually get some sleep and then we finish up on some relatively easy final legs and we are done, showered and ready to go while Van 2 is struggling to climb up a cliff.
My first leg started at 5:45 in the afternnon. The first mile and a half of this run starts off with an uphill climb on a cruddy dirt road. Not the best running surface in the world, but going uphill above 6,000 feet I wasn't going very fast so it wasn't much of a problem. After reaching the top of the hill the next 3 miles of this leg are very steep down hill on the same crummy road. The loss in elevation over this section is about 1,200 feet. Ya, it's steep and treacherous! My splits for these miles were all in the 6:30 range and it was all I could do to stay upright. I had a couple of scary moments down the hill when my ankle started to roll, but luckily I was able to catch myself. It was a three mile run where I stared at the ground the entire way looking for safe landings.
From 4.5 miles to the end the road flatens out and turns to pavement. It felt great to be back on solid ground again but it was hot. There was absolutely no shade for the rest of the run and I was roasting like a toated cheeser. Not long after hitting the pavement there were some people on the side of the road with water bottles and they offered to spray me. They even started speaking to me in Italian and called me by name. Confused, I hollered to find out who they were. It turns out they were the Gardiniers from my mission in Italy 20 years ago. I assume they were part of a team but that was the only time I saw them for the rest of the race....pretty cool! Great to see you guys and great to get a nice cool misting!
I stuggled a bit with these last few miles to the finish but was able to maintain a respectable pace in the 7:30 range. I didn't want to go all out in my first leg of the race because I knew what was coming in my next leg. I felt a little beat up at the end of this leg due to the steep downhill but the fatigue factor hadn't really set in so I was good.
After chatting with the guys from Van 2 for a few minutes we headed up to Snow Basin. On the way up I sucked down a Muscle Milk for recovery. When we got there I ate the first half of my pasta salad with chicken. Meg made this great pasta salad for me and it was absolutely delicious. I also chowed on a piece of whole wheat bread for the Old Grist Mill in Logan, good stuff! Then I layed in the van and tried to get some rest. I don't know that I slept much but it was pretty restful. | 