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?

This is a recap of my first leg of the Ragnar Trail Appalachians relay. If you missed the events that led to our arrival in the mud hole that was Big Bear Lake campground in Bruceton Mills, WV, click HERE.

Leg 1: Red loop, 6.7 miles, 4:30 PM Friday afternoon, nicknamed “Mother of Crack”

Has running through the woods ever made you feel like a gnome? This trail might. This loop is one of our favorites of the entire series and it has it all. The trail snakes through waist high ferns, twists through moss covered boulders, runs alongside and crosses a crystal clear stream, and crosses through a dark creepy swamp. Wow, what more could you ask for! This trail has short sections that are VERY technical and the safest way to get through them is to walk. Most of this trail is single-track but there are some sections of double-track.

Above is the description from the fine folks at Ragnar for the loop I ran first during our trail relay. It was both the longest and toughest loop, and in many ways I was glad to get it out of the way. My team partnered with the Western Loudon MRTT team, and my running buddy for the weekend was Tammie. We definitely had a lot of time to get to know one another during this first loop! Running is one of the best ways to get to know someone, in my opinion.

As runner 6, I saw five of my teammates head out and come back from their first legs of the relay. Each one came back a bit muddier than the last, and I was excited to take my turn. Tammie and I watched the board, waiting for our team numbers to appear so we could enter the transition area, as a torrential downpour slowly dissipated.

When team members were 2/10th from the transition area they ran across a mat that made them show up on the screen. Then the next runner would enter the transition area and get a slap bracelet with the color of the loop they would be running. When their runner came in, they would transfer the bib to the next runner.

When Tammie and I saw Ashburn MRTT and Western Loudon MRTT come up on the screen, we entered the transition area and waited to begin our Ragnar adventure. I was so excited! Carrie and Mariah (Tammie’s daughter) came cruising in, handed their bibs off to us, and off we went!

Right away Tammie and I found ourselves in the woods, surrounded by ferns. It was gorgeous, and it was so green. The trail wasn’t too bad and I was loving being out there running on some new trails in the woods. I think it may have been sprinkling lightly, too. The trail had a mix of small rocks and a few large boulders that we would scramble over, and often have to jump off.

When I was getting ready for my first leg, I kept feeling like I was forgetting something but couldn’t figure out what. Shortly after Tammie and I took off into the woods, I remembered what it was – fuel! Not something I would normally need on a 6-ish mile run, but I knew we would be out there for at least 90 minutes. Tammie was kind enough to share some of her shot blocks, and saved the day for me!

It didn’t take long for us to start encountering some pretty crazy mud. Some of it wouldn’t be deep at all, while other sections would go up to my knees! You never knew what you were going to step into or what rocks were going to be hidden in the mud. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for me to go flying on a short, downhill section. Tammie would soon learn not to panic when I fell, as tripping/falling on trails is already common for me even when it’s not super muddy.

About two miles in, we ran through several sections with rock faces that had us jumping off of large rocks into deep mud holes.

Shortly after this picture was taken Tammie and I were running along when, with a shot of panic, I realized my camera was no longer in my pack! Tammie waited while I back tracked to the spot from my last picture. I had to look around a bit and then amazingly, I reached my hand down in one of the deep mud puddles and found the darn camera! At least four runners had come by while I was looking. Not only was I incredibly lucky to find the thing, I was lucky no one had landed on it when jumping into the mud puddle where it was.

I could not believe I found it but what a relief! For the rest of the weekend my camera stayed in the zipper pocket of my hydration pack between uses. From there, Tammie and I continued on, encountering more and more mud. I fell some more, becoming extremely dirty in the process, but never hurting myself. When I wasn’t falling I was often sliding all over the place. Even Montvale earlier this year, with its pouring rain, wasn’t this bad.

We ran through a swamp where I got stuck up to my knee and literally had to pull my leg out with my hands. I also lost my shoe in the process! It was what I call shoe-sucking mud, and there was a lot of it the rest of the weekend.

Around mile 4 we encountered a long, one mile hill that was very steep towards the end. We also encountered a guy who was supposed to be running the 4.6 mile yellow loop, but had somehow found himself on the red loop with 5.7 miles on his Garmin. He stayed with us until the top of the hill and we told him he should just keep going since there was only 1.5 miles left on our loop to get back to the transition area. Unbelievably, he decided to turn back around and try and find the yellow trail again. I thought he was crazy!

After our big climb, we ran onto a shared trail that both the yellow and red loops used on the way back to Ragnar Village and the transition area. I managed to fall one final time on this sloppy trail, landing on my back and sliding down the hill on my back. What a mess!

Then the green trail joined up with red and yellow. This final section was especially muddy since every runner ran on it every single loop. Tammie and I did our best, and before we knew it we were running across the bridge and back into the transition area! The 6.7 mile loop took us right around two hours to complete. Whew.

Lucky for me they had an area for runners to hose off after each run. The water was icy cold, but that didn’t matter. There were showers, too, with hot water and everything, but I never took advantage of those. What was the point?

Once I made it back to our campsite, I changed into my next set of running clothes and waited until it was my turn again. I grabbed some dinner, provided by Ragnar, with Tammie (penne pasta with veggies and a roll). Then I went shopping and bought a Ragnar Trail glass tumbler and a fridge magnet. Fridge magnets are becoming a race tradition for me…

I hung out with a few of my teammates by the bonfire and watched parts of a documentary about people attempting to run all 14 of the 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado within 60 hours.

I also walked over to the nearby transition area and watched Gayle and her buddy hand off to Debbie and her buddy. This was about the time my second leg had originally been slated to take place, and I wished I were the one heading out to get my night run done. We were already several hours behind due to torrential downpours and deteriorating trail conditions, on top of it also now being dark.

From there I headed back to camp to try and grab some sleep before my next leg, which was expected to take place around 3 AM….

Have you ever gone off course in a race?
Do you like running with a buddy/group or alone?
When was the last time you can remember being extremely muddy/dirty? Probably not since the Spartan Race… and before that not since childhood!

So last weekend was the much anticipated Ragnar Trail Appalachians, one of the trail versions of Ragnar Relay, in West Virginia. They use the hashtag innerWILD. There were torrential downpours, extreme amounts of mud, and gorgeous scenery. It was real, it was fun, it wasn’t necessarily real fun, but we certainly found our inner wild.

My Ragnar weekend began Thursday evening after work, when I frantically packed all of my stuff.  I had a hectic work week and uncharacteristically left packing until the last minute. It was stressful, but luckily I ended up having everything I needed.

I headed up to Debbie’s house Thursday night. She invited me to stay with her, since we would be carpooling with teammates Carrie and Erin the next morning. As it turns out, neither one of us are serial killers, so we both survived the night 😉 (Debbie may or may not have had family members who were worried about that) The next morning Carrie and Erin arrived and we loaded up Carrie’s van. It’s crazy how much stuff we needed for just one night. But you have to take into account the stormy forecast and the fact that we’d each be running three times.

Off to West Virginia we went! The drive to Big Bear Lake campground was about three hours and the trip went smoothly.

The weather was nice as we made our way towards West “by God” but the skies darkened as we got closer.

Sure enough, the rain started to fall just as we arrived at the campground. I didn’t take it as a omen, but I should have. We were greeted at the campground entrance by an older gentleman who reminded me a lot of people in my neck of the woods. He was much too busy wishing his equally old friend a happy birthday to check us in. When he finished with his conversation he said to us “okay, three people?” We told him no, there were four. He grabbed a campground pass and wrote three on it, and handed it to Carrie saying “three it is!” and sent us on our way. Oh well, we tried!

It was another couple of miles back to the Ragnar village and camping area, where we found our fellow MRTT (Moms Run This Town) teams. Our other Ashburn MRTT teammates, Gayle, Angela, Rachel, Lupe, and our team volunteer Melisa, had traveled and set up on Thursday afternoon. They also had to brave a nasty storm that came through on Thursday night. Thanks to them our campsite and tents were already set up. All we had to do was unload!

We set up in the first of many rain storms. Once we got everything unloaded Carrie took her van down to the parking area and caught a shuttle back up. I shared a tent with her and Erin, and we quickly found that our tent had leaked the night before due to the heavy rain and wind. We did our best not to add to the wet and mud, but it was difficult!

Our campsite was very muddy and only deteriorated as the weekend went on. Little did I know I was as dry and mud-free as I was going to be all weekend!

Despite the rain and mud, it felt good to get unpacked and settled. I enjoyed meeting the rest of my teammates – they were all awesome! Debbie did a great post introducing our whole team HERE.

In total I think there were four MRTT teams and one Dads Run This Town team, and we were all right in a row. It was neat to hang out and talk with so many different people.

The four of us arrived around 11:30 AM, which was our team’s start time. Ragnar had moved everyone’s start times up by an hour in anticipation of the weather forecast. Since Debbie was runner 2, she had to be ready to run shortly after our arrival. She came back from her run muddy and happy and that got me excited for my turn, as runner 6.

My first loop was the red loop, a 6.7 mile trail nicknamed “Mother of Crack.” If only I knew what was to come…..

Have you ever gone tent camping in stormy weather?
Who else has run a trail relay?

P.S. Today Barry and I are celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. Time flies! All I can say is “and I thought I loved you then.”