Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage -Part 1

After a little slumber party on Thursday night, complete with thunder and lightning and pouring rain of course, van 2 was ready to head up to Bellingham to begin our Ragnar adventure!  Amy had come up from the Portland area and Matt had flown in from Utah so they stayed the night at our house and Paul headed over from Gig Harbor and by 8am we were ready to hit the road.  I had done a bit of decorating the night before but luckily not too much- most of it washed off in the rain. 

We soon discovered one of the unique things about our van- the window wipers didn't work!!  So we drove for 3 hours on the freeway in the pouring rain without them- no big deal!  Just a quick note about the van- I spent countless hours trying to find one to rent without success so I ended up "renting" one from a friend of a friend who owns a daycare.  The passenger window doesn't roll down, there was about 1.5 boxes worth of cheerios inside when we got it (yes, we cleaned it first), the battery died once (while I was running!)- but otherwise it was perfect!  And it was WAY better than not having a van.

Van 1 at the starting line!  Jody, Cory, Sarah, Pauline, Dawn and Mary Beth. 

Van 2 in Bellingham!  Steve, Will, Matt, Paul, Amy, me.

We made it to Bellingham in record time and met up with our final runner Steve who lived about 20 minutes away.  Our team was complete so we attended our safety meeting and headed back to our van for a bit.  The rain had finally quit and I was hopeful that it was done so we (I) decorated the van again- there were several other teams doing the same thing.  Including NuuNKOTB- they were parked right by us and they gave us samples and tattoos from Nuun in exchange for some of our chalk markers!  Sweet deal!

Our super groovy van

Happy Days!  Get it?  It will be fun.

Finally we got word that runner 6 was out and it would soon be time for van 2 to get our feet moving.  Van 1 had started at 8am in Blaine and they arrived into Bellingham around 2pm or so, and just like that Matt was off and running!  He was super speedy too- "there is just so much AIR here" and finished his 6.5 miles in no time.  Next up was Paul, then Steve, then Amy, then Will and finally ME!!  Runner 12 was a position for a very patient person that can run pretty far. 

It's official- van 2 is running!!

Steve rocking his leg!

Amy's turn! 

It was tricky to make sure I kept my body fueled to run at 6pm- especially since I would be running 10.8 miles!!  I ate a cliff bar around 4:30 and also a banana at some point.  I was planning to carry my own water and just get a refill if needed from the van but Matt convinced me that they would stop and support me since I was running so far and I finally agreed.  Not carrying something for 11 miles sounded pretty good.  Will came into the exchange and off I went- even listening to some music which I never did last year.  And just as promised our van stopped every 2 miles and handed me water and took my empty Gu packets and cheered me on.  They were THE BEST!  It made those miles fly by knowing that in just 2 more miles they would be there, and then just 2 more miles- it was awesome!!!

There I go!

At the 8 mile mark I told them I was fine until the finish -they didn't need to stop again.  I caught up to this guy wearing Luna sandals and chatted with him a bit.  Then all of a sudden there it was- the sign "one mile to go" and I was on a mission to finish, knowing that my van was eager to take a break once I arrived. 

Sarah looks really excited for my arrival!  Her expression cracks me up.

That was pure joy -ready to pass off that sweaty bracelet!

Sarah was waiting for me at the exchange and I passed her the bracelet and I was done!  10.8 miles in just under an hour and forty minutes- my average pace was 9:13 which was pretty good considering I stopped to drink water 4 times and got held up at a few lights.  I also found out that the battery on the van had been dead after I started running and they quickly got a jump from another van and I never even knew the difference! 

I survived!

After I collected myself our van headed to get some form of real food which ended up being a sandwich from Quizno's since most of the van was tired.  I was not one of them since I had just run so far- I was amped up still!  But food didn't sound good to me so I was perfectly fine with that choice!  Then we drove straight to La Conner High School which was the next major exchange and had the chance to clean up and get some rest. 

My priority was taking a "shower" with the shower pill since I was feeling really gross and sweaty.  Those wipes are amazing- I felt 100% better afterwards so I ate my sandwich and then Will and I decided to take a nap in the gym.  Worst nap ever by the way, I did not sleep a wink.  There were people talking, slamming doors every 10 seconds and blowing up/deflating air beds the entire 2 1/2 hours we laid there.  But we laid there and rested anyways until we got word that van 1 would be finishing up around 12:30am. 

Faking it.  There was no real sleep.

What the heck?  We parked next to this "toilet"- oh Honey Bucket where are you???

I texted Matt who was sleeping out in the van and gave him a heads up so he could be prepared to start his second run.  We packed up our beds and headed out into the night to get ready for the next part of our adventure!!