Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage- Part 2

You can catch up on part 1 of our Ragnar adventure HERE

What Ragnar looks like at night!

It also looks a little like this!

So our van was getting ready to start running again and it was 12:30am.  We were wandering around in the crowded parking lot at the high school and pretty soon Matt was handed the bracelet and off he went.  At this point I needed to get a few team shirts swapped around- long story short 5 of our shirts were not finished before we left Tacoma so 2 of my AMAZING friends volunteered to drive to Bremerton and get them, then drive them to Burlington Friday night and drop them off for our team.  Thank you thank you thank you Tiana and Bill, you are THE BEST.  Seriously.  You guys rock.  So we got the last 5 shirts to the correct team members and headed off to catch up to Matt and give him some water. 

Matt I think?

Jill found me while we were chatting with van 1!

I must have been resting for the next couple of exchanges- I really don't remember too much and there aren't many pictures.  I do remember that when we passed Paul his tail light was not blinking so we pulled over right away and jogged to meet him and fix it so we didn't get penalized and he didn't get run over.  Apparently it had fallen on the ground and broke apart and stopped working so we gave him a new one and then he was all blinky and safe so we hopped back in the van.  Paul finished his 7.7 mile run in the middle of the night and passed off to Amy.

Paul ready for his run

I believe this is Steve!

Staying hydrated!

Amy had a short leg and was done quickly then it was Steve's turn.  Then Steve passed off to Will who was lucky enough to run over Deception Pass!  It was very early morning (around 4 or 4:30am) so it was getting a bit lighter and there was some fog but it was beautiful.  We stopped to take some photos, and as we drove over the bridge I was actually a bit relieved it wasn't me- I am a little afraid of heights and that pathway was narrow!! 

Deception Pass- so beautiful!!

I had slowly been getting myself geared up for my run- I think I even changed my entire outfit in the front seat of the van.  It was still kind of dark out so probably nobody saw me but I didn't want to go change in a honey bucket in the dark!!  So my second run was 8.9 miles of rolling hills, with the first 5 being non support -meaning the van cannot stop and offer me water or anything.  I was wearing all of my fancy reflective gear and had been up for nearly 24 hours straight at that point.  Good thing adrenaline exists- that is what kept me going for sure! 

I was carrying my handheld water bottle and I adjusted the headlamp so that it felt pretty tight on my head when I jumped up and down.  It would have been helpful to do a test run with one before the race- last year I had a horrible headache so I carried a flashlight on my night run because putting something around my head sounded terrible.  I was pretty content snuggling with Amy in her leopard print snuggie when they announced our team was heading into the exchange but I reluctantly stepped into the chute and then I was off and running when Will slapped the bracelet onto my wrist.

Approximately 2 minutes later the headlamp started slipping down my face and nothing I did made it stick.  Jill and her team drove past me and she yelled out the window at me which was cool!  This is how it went- step, step, step, push up on headlamp, step, step, step, push up on headlamp.  I was losing my mind.  I stopped 3 times to tighten the headlamp, and since I was carrying my water it was literally a complete stop so I could use both hands.  The second time, as an added bonus, the tail light also popped off and fell on the ground in a bunch of pieces.  Swell. 

At 6:04am I finally grabbed my phone out of my pocket and decided to send an SOS text.  Except I can't text and run apparently so I just phoned Will and asked him to please give me my purple headband at the very first possible chance- I was at mile 2.25 at that point and they could not stop until 5 miles but that was better than nothing.  I thought about little else while I was running other than that stupid headlamp and how I really wanted to throw it into the trees.  Then all of a sudden I saw our van up ahead and I knew relief was near!  As I approached it was like my pit crew was there- I threw the headband on and put the headlamp over the top while Amy added glide to my underarm area (I had some chaffing from my previous run) and then I was off again. 

Amy gliding my arm while I fix my headlamp!

"this better work"

Now that is team mate love!!  Thanks guys!

It worked though, and that headlamp did not budge for my final 4 miles!  The van stopped for me a couple of miles later and I tossed them my water bottle and told them to meet me at the exchange.  I think we were all so so tired that I just wanted to be done so we could all go rest.  I did my best to pick up my pace and finish strong but those hills were never ending and my legs were spent.  After I came into the exchange Will just laughed at me and said he needed a picture -gee thanks babe!  I was quite the sight- but it was just after 7am and we were officially on break again for a few hours.  I ran 8.9 "very hard" miles in an hour and thirty minutes- not my goal pace but considering I probably lost several minutes on the headlamp issue I will take it. 

Done!!!

Oh yes, I earned all of that hottness lol!!  What a mess I was!

We drove to the next exchange, parked the van in the first spot we came to and then we all proceeded to pass out for the next 2 hours.  Will went to use the bathroom and clean up a bit and he asked if anyone wanted to go with him.  Apparently Steve said he would like to -but it just sounded "so far away" LOL.  I remember nothing- I fell asleep in about 2 seconds in the front seat of the van and woke up an hour and a half later because I needed to use the bathroom.  I got out and started wandering around the parking lot and suddenly Jill was there again!  I told her I was so tired I felt drunk.  I seriously felt like I was sooo drunk it was strange. 

The exchange area

Mr. Speedy chilling out in the grass

Steve and Paul relaxing a bit

Eventually the whole van was up and about, eating some breakfast and cleaning up.  There were real bathrooms and a hot breakfast available at the High School so I went in and did the Shower Pill thing again, this time just putting my next running outfit on- I wasn't sure I would have the energy to change again later!  The sun was out finally so it felt good to be outside, and we just waited around for van 1 to arrive so we could finish the race off!

Do you want to run a relay race?  It will be fun!