Today’s Wednesday word is: Humble.

This link up is hosted by Debbie over at DebRuns. Be sure to click the button above to see who else is linking up today and to join in!

When you hear the word humble, I think it’s easy to immediately think it means thinking very little of yourself, almost in a demeaning way. As if you should denounce your accomplishments and successes, and shove them under the rug. But I don’t think that’s right.

Being humble means being conscientious – helping a friend or stranger out. Having an outward focus makes it easier to pursue happiness, because happiness comes easiest when you’re not actually actively pursing it. Good things come to those who wait, and humility fosters patience. A humble person knows that the high points in life will come, and they’re grateful when they do.

Being humble isn’t completely about philanthropy, though. It also means knowing yourself – your strengths and weaknesses, your limits, and your morals. One of the most humbling things I have done is run a marathon – a race that will certainly bear your strengths and weaknesses.

Training for and running a marathon requires a lot of focus on yourself. But at the same time, you learn a lot of lessons in humility during both the training process and the race itself. During training you learn patience, you learn about making mistakes, you learn to make sacrifices. Then on race day, at some point, you’ll feel like the distance is greater than your ability to conquer it. But then you remember to be grateful for your health and your ability to be out there. You dig deeper, find another gear, and push through, along with everyone around you fighting the same battle.

Some say we runners are self-centered. But I say running has taught me more lessons in being humble than most other things in my life.

What does being humble mean to you?

When I last left off with my series of Ragnar recaps, Tammie and I had finished our final leg of the relay. It was kind of surreal knowing that it was all over, just like that. There were definitely times while out on the trails where I just wanted to be done. But then when I actually was, I was almost bummed. Running is funny that way.

The first thing I did when we finished was hose off and head back to my campsite. All I wanted in that moment was clean, dry clothes. It’s the simple things. Naturally, it poured again right after I changed into my dry clothes. But what else could I expect, with the way the weekend had gone? We started getting some packing done, and then I headed down to the pavilion area with Erin (runner 4 on our team, and one of my carpool buddies). Friday’s dinner was included as part of our Ragnar weekend, but Saturday’s lunch was not. I was starving, though, and I really wanted a hot meal and the turkey burger was delicious… until I got to a part of it that was pink on the inside – then I stopped eating.

Erin and I met up with the rest of our teammates, who had also meandered down to the Village/transition area. Our final group of runners was out on their last loop – the 6.7 mile red loop. And wouldn’t you know it – then the sun came out! Go figure.

Our team planned to meet our final runners on the other side of the bridge and run across the bridge and finish line all together. Since we buddied up with the Western Loudon group the whole way, we had a big group waiting!

It wasn’t long before they came around the corner. We all met up, and all 16 of us ran across the bridge. There was a lot of pink, and several green sparkly skirts and green hair flowers – standard MRTT uniform!

And just like that it was all over, for us all! Our team captains collected our medals and handed them out. In keeping with the trail/camping theme, the medals double as a multiuse tool. They are also not TSA approved.

After that it was time for pictures with the official Ragnar photographer. We got one with the Ashburn and MRTT teams together – only fitting after running together the whole weekend! Then each team got individual pictures as well.

And then it was time to load up and head home. I can’t say we were sad to leave! It’s not that I didn’t have fun that weekend, because I did in some ways. We had a great group, and we partnered with an equally great group. The scenery was gorgeous (when I actually chanced it and took my eyes off of the trail). The weather conditions, while uncontrollable, could have been better. Had they been more ideal, it would have made for a completely different experience.

Imagine running on new trails, maybe getting a bit muddy, and then relaxing with your teammates in a circle of camp chairs. Instead we were soaking wet and muddy, exhausted and sometimes cranky, and often huddled in our tents in an attempt to escape the weather. Will I go back to Big Bear Lake campground again? Nope. That being said, would I do another Ragnar Trail relay? Absolutely! In fact, they recently announced that they will be holding a trail event next spring at a state park in Richmond – in the central part of Virginia. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get to go on another trail adventure with my Ragnar teammates and newfound friends.

When was the last time you experienced the wrath sense of humor of Mother Nature?
Have you ever run a Ragnar relay, or similar event?

P.S. Having now run a Ragnar Road and Ragnar Trail relay, I am planning to do some sort of comparison post at some point. Let me know if you have any questions you want answered!

First off, I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend, and a happy and safe Fourth of July!

This is a recap of my final leg from the Ragnar Trail Appalachians relay in West Virginia. If you missed my recap of leg 2, click HERE.

Leg 3: Green loop, 3.5 miles, 8:45 AM Saturday morning, nicknamed “Maple Flat”

After finishing my second leg at Ragnar Trail Appalachians, I made my way back to our team area. They were in the midst of a discussion about getting approval to double up so that our team could finish before the cut off time (either 4 or 6 PM, not sure on that). Gayle, our fearless team leader, expertly negotiated our team permission to double up. This would save us time, but they way Ragnar told us to double up, it still didn’t have us finishing until 3 PM or later. We didn’t want to stay that long! So Melissa, our team volunteer and fellow MRTT’er, went back to talk to them again. This time we got permission to triple up and get us all out of there by 1:30 to 2 PM.

That meant that as soon as the runners Tammie and I had just handed off to after our second leg came in, we would be headed back out along with four other teammates. Granted our current runners were out on the red loop, so we did get almost 2 hours rest before heading back out onto the Green Loop.

You will leave the Ragnar Village on a winding and gently rolling single-track trail. This trail sometimes gets rocky, so watch your footing, but don’t forget to look up and enjoy the views. Single track turns into double track for the rest of the loop.  After mile 2, you will cross a small creek and start the slow climb back up to the Ragnar Village. When you start hearing the music know that you are close, this is where all three trails merge and return to the Ragnar Village.

I am glad our final leg was the shortest one, because my legs were very tired at this point. I was also extremely tired from not sleeping at all, and my head felt like it was disconnected from the rest of my body.

It was really fun running as a group of six, though. I bounced around and ran with everyone, and we even had opportunities for selfies!

We ran up a little creek area that I’m not sure was actually a creek before all of the downpours we had throughout the weekend (3-4 in total). But either way, it was pretty!

Some people had said they felt the yellow loop was easiest, but I found the green loop to be the most runnable. Had it not been for the mud and sloppy trail conditions I think we could have flown through this trail, even with the final mile and a half being a gradual uphill.

I had a great time talking with everyone, and before I knew it we passed the ‘one mile to go’ sign for my final time. I was running with Julie, who still had the red loop left after this one, along with Rachel. That must have been so tough for them!

Back up the sloppy shared trail we went – which at this point had completely deteriorated to some kind of swamp. It smelled like one, too!

Finally the bridge came into view and the six of us ran over it together and back into the transition area.

That bridge was slick and covered in mud, and I thought it was really freaky to run over. But for four of us, it was our last ‘official’ trip over the bridge. Thus concluded my Ragnar relay, but our team wasn’t quite done yet. I’ve got one final recap coming up to wrap up our Ragnar weekend and our team’s finish.

Who is racing this weekend?

Since today is Wednesday, it is time to link up with Debbie for her Wednesday Word linkup. Today’s word is Independent. Click the button below to join in and see who else is linking up today!

Running, especially trail running, gives me independence. When I strike out in the woods alone, I enjoy the solitude amidst the nature.

Sometimes it can be a bit freaky to run alone. That’s why I was so glad that our Ragnar trail relay team linked up with another team so we each would have buddies to run with the entire time, but especially for our night legs. I prefer not to be too independent when running in the woods at night 😉 Here’s a recap of my second leg of Ragnar Trail Appalachians. If you missed my recap of leg 1, click HERE.

Leg 2: Yellow loop, 4.6 miles, 5:25 AM Saturday morning, nicknamed “Big Pine”

When we left off, I had gone back to our campsite around 11:30 PM to try and get some sleep. It looked like I wouldn’t be running again until at least 3 AM. As these things go (for me) with Ragnar, I didn’t sleep a wink. I actually set a new record, and stayed up for 42 hours straight this time. I don’t recommend it.

As it turns out, Tammie and I barely had to face a night run. The trail conditions were already not great (understatement of the year) and that combined with the dark put our team several hours behind. It was only dark for the first mile of our second leg, and then the sun came up. At 5:30, a little before sunrise on Saturday morning, we found ourselves in the transition area again (me with zero sleep) as Carrie and Mariah came running in. We headed out for the yellow loop, which Ragnar describes as follows:

This single-track loop is a classic Appalachian wooded trail where you will encounter some fantastic views. Near mile 2, you will come to a large grove of towering pine trees, the namesake of this trail. Enjoy the soft cushion of pine needles. You will encounter a steep drop as you hug a contour line for half-a-mile before climbing back up for another run through the pine. The trail then rollercoasters along the edge of the 600’ escarpment of the Briery Mountains. Enjoy the view through the trees.

Once again, we faced extremely muddy and slick conditions. After falling so much during our first loop my main goal was not to fall.

As I mentioned, it was only dark for the first mile or two of our run. But even in the dark it wasn’t difficult to follow the trail, as the markers had little flashing lights on them.

The sunrise had perfect timing, Just as daylight crept in, we found ourselves in a large pine grove – the namesake of this trail. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I did a terrible job of capturing it.

We ran up a steep hill coming out of the pine grove area, but looking at the elevation profile I’m not sure exactly how far into our run we were. Maybe around mile 3.5?

As we left the pine area we ran along a cliff/ridgeline area that had a great overlook view. Had our run been dark the whole way we would have completely missed this view.

From there we roller coastered our way back to the shared trail that would take us over the bridge and to the transition area. I came very close to falling, but managed to stay on my feet this time!

The trail shared by all three loops was even messier than the last time we had been on it, on Friday evening.

The yellow loop was my favorite and I thought it was the most beautiful of the three trails. Tammie and I arrived back in the transition area around 7:00 AM. We hit the hose area again to rinse off and then headed back to camp.

Upon arrival, we found out that our team captain, Gayle, was working on getting permission for our team to double up, or possibly triple up. The way things were going our team would not finish until 5:00 PM or later. We had originally been slated to finish by 10 AM or so, and no one wanted to stay that long. We had all had enough of the rain, mud, and being perpetually wet and muddy. I inhaled two hard boiled eggs that Debbie brought for me (I was starving) while I waited to see what the decision would be…

What does being independent mean to you?
How are you celebrating Independence Day this weekend?