This is a recap of the first leg I ran during this past weekend’s Ragnar Relay. If you missed my overall recap of the weekend, you can find that HERE.

I was runner number 9 on our team for the DC Ragnar Relay. So my first leg of the relay was leg #9. It was 4.5 miles long as was described as “moderate.” It started in Hancock, MD and ran through local residential roads (halfway between rural and suburban) into the town of Hancock. The leg had rolling hills on winding roads, and no van support.

Around 4:30 PM Friday afternoon, Debbie handed the slap bracelet off to me (after running a leg that looked like something out of the Blue Ridge Half Marathon course profile), and I was off on my first leg of the relay!

My first leg pretty much flew by. I ran a quick pace (for me), thanks to all of the excitement of finally being out there running. This first leg actually looked very similar to the types of roads I run on at home, which means I had to be pretty careful about oncoming cars (none of the roads are closed during a Ragnar Relay).

It had some rolling hills, with two steep challenges. However, I think all three of my legs were much milder than some of the ones other runners tackled.

It also had one water station, since it was a no van support leg. The map indicated the water stop was supposed to be just before mile 3, but it was actually around 2.2 miles. The volunteer was telling everyone “one and a half miles to go!” which was not right. Not sure if he thought he was actually 3 miles into the leg or what, but either way I was grateful he was out there so that we could run! I took it one mile at a time and before I knew it I found myself at this lovely sign:

There weren’t mile markers along the course, but they always had a “one mile to go” sign towards the end of each leg. They were usually accurate within about 0.1 to 0.2 miles. After one last climb it was downhill into the exchange area, where I handed off to Chuck. It was so much fun running down into this area with everyone cheering!

I finished my first leg with a 9:06/mile average pace. After handing off the slap bracelet, I took an easy walk back to the van to cool down and did some stretching. Then we headed to the next exchange to prepare to send Barry off!

My next leg of the relay would not be until roughly 3 AM and would be my longest, at nearly 7 miles long. It was the one I was most worried about! Stay tuned to find out how it went 🙂

This past weekend Barry and I joined ten other runners in the DC Ragnar Relay. The relay was roughly 199 miles from Cumberland, MD to the National Harbor in Washington, D.C. It started on Friday morning and finished Saturday afternoon. Our team had a start time of 9:00 AM, and van 1 was up bright and early in Cumberland to get things rolling. I was a part of van 2 along with Candy, Deb, Chuck, Barry, and Bill (Deb’s husband). My dad was our faithful driver and he drove the entire weekend without ever needing a relief driver!

Our van met at Chuck’s house around 10:00 AM on Friday morning. We got all of our stuff packed into the van and most importantly decorated the van windows!

We had a 15 passenger van for the weekend, and we took out the very last row of seats so that we would have more cargo space. Everyone got their stuff loaded in and then it was time to hit the road.

We were headed to exchange 6 at a campground in Little Orleans, Maryland. Once there, we would check in and receive our stuff (bibs, t-shirts, etc.), attend a safety briefing, and then take over from van 1.

On the drive there we went by a rest area with a pretty overlook. Perfect photo op for the van 2 runners!

After about 2 hours we arrived at exchange 6. About an hour later van 1 handed off to Candy (runner #7, and our first runner from the van) who took off at full steam.

After that the game was on! Candy ran a strong leg and handed off to Deb. Both of them had really tough first legs, but they crushed it! I would tell you what Deb said about her leg and a certain Sideling Hill that she ran up, but I would probably have to change the rating on my blog to mature 🙂 You’ll have to ask her. Deb handed off to me for my first leg, and then I handed off to Chuck. After his leg, Chuck passed off to Barry, who handed off to Bill. Bill was our final runner, so at the end of his first leg he handed back off to van 1 (sometime around 9PM, I think). This sequence continued until the end of the race.

For many of the legs, we were able to drive the same route as our runner and cheer them on along the way. There were several opportunities to pull over along the side of the road and create cheering groups. Other legs were “no van support” legs, which meant the van wasn’t allowed to pull over during the runner’s leg and/or the van had to drive a separate route than the runner.

The first time van 2 passed back off to van 1, we only had about 4 hours before we would take over again. Bill and Barry grabbed showers at a local high school that offered them as a fundraiser, and Candy and Chuck grabbed some food at the spaghetti dinner there. The rest of us chilled in the van and tried to grab some shuteye (which didn’t happen). We swung by Chick-fil-a on our way to the next major exchange to wait for van 1. We were parked right next to the exchange point, so again it was too loud to sleep. Barry was the only smart one and he went off and found somewhere quiet. Despite getting no sleep, this was a really neat exchange. It was held at a creamery. Bill got an awesome long exposure photo at this exchange:

Amazing photograph, right!? Somewhere around 1 AM van 1 handed back off to Candy and we were off to the races again. Everyone was running really strong and we had actually banked about 15 minutes or so at this point from our projected times.

All of the night legs went well. No one got lost or had any other emergencies (no skunks!). Right at the end of Barry’s leg, just before he handed off to Bill it started to rain. Bill had a tough 11 mile leg that started around 5:30 in the morning and it was chilly and rainy. We made our way to the next major exchange and after about an hour Bill came running in strong and handed off to van 1 for their final set of legs. After grabbing some food and coffee we headed to what we thought was the next major exchange (more on that in a second…) and finally settled down. Here, after being up for nearly 26 hours, I was able to grab a 20 minute nap. I was practically delirious at that point.

A few hours later we were getting updates from van 1 and waiting to switch off with them again. While trying to locate each other, we realized we were at the wrong exchange! Luckily we were only one exchange ahead, and the one we were supposed to be at was really close. We raced over to it and got Candy dropped off in time to receive the hand off from van 1. Then we went back to where we had been, which was actually where Deb would take over. We were getting closer to the end! Only 6 legs to go.

We had another rain shower during this last set of legs and hit another snafu at the exchange from Chuck to Barry. We used the wrong information (the stuff from Ragnar had the wrong estimated paces for the final legs) for Chuck’s run and missed him by 12 minutes! Luckily Barry and I found him walking up to the exchange after he had been down trying to find us in the parking area, and Barry was able to take off. It was raining pretty hard during all of that, which made it even worse. But it worked out, and before we knew it Bill was taking over from Barry to run it into the finish!

Then it was time to head over to the National Harbor to meet up with van 1 and to wait for Bill. We had decided to run into the finish together, as a team. As I mentioned at the beginning of this very long post (if you can remember that far back) my Dad drove our van all weekend. He was awesome and it took a huge burden off of us, because we never had to worry about who was driving. He never even needed a break in over 31 hours of dragging us all over Maryland, Virginia, and DC.

We got down to National Harbor with just enough time to meet up with Van 1 and wait for Bill. The rain had stopped at this point, which was nice.

Shortly thereafter, he came barreling down the path and we joined in for a final sprint to the finish line.

As soon as we crossed the finish line we got a group picture. Funny story: A Ragnar lady asked if she could grab a team photo for their Instagram page, so our team was the only one to be featured as a group at the finish line! How cool.

They had free beer at the finish line, and each van got a Little Ceaser’s pizza. I was definitely ready to partake in that after everything! Bill and Deb’s son Joseph and his new wife Julie (whom I met at the 3.2 for 32 last year through Deb) happened to be working the pizza booth, so we got to see them.

Once we all had our fill of the finish line festivities, we piled back into van 2 and headed back to Chuck’s house. Our team ended up completing the relay in 30:59:14, for a 9:16/mile average. Ragnar had us projected to finish in a little over 32 hours, but we pulled it off in under 31!

Overall it was an epic weekend, as so many told me it would be. We had a lot of fun, but I was also more tired than I have ever been in my life. Once we got home, we grabbed showers, ate dinner, and then watched the Virginia Tech game. Barry stayed up until halftime, but my Dad and I watched the whole thing (in the end we lost, boo). We were both really struggling, but managed to stay up until 11:00 PM to finish the game. All in all, I was up from 7:00 AM Friday to 11:00 PM Saturday with only a 20 minute nap thrown in. The 11.5 hours I slept on Saturday night were much needed 🙂

If you have run a relay, how exhausted were you at the end?
If you haven’t run a relay before, would you do one after reading this?

P.S. I’m going to do separate recaps for each of the legs I ran during the relay. Ragnar overload.
P.P.S. Barry’s 30th birthday was yesterday. Everyone wish him a Happy Birthday!! 🙂

Only six more weeks to go!! Holy moly. This week of training included the DC Ragnar Relay on Friday and Saturday. Luckily, my total mileage for Ragnar actually matched my planned mileage on my training plan for Friday and Saturday. So initially the only tweaking I planned was to forgo my 9 mile tempo run on Thursday (11 miles total with the warm up and cool down) and just do an 11 mile easy run, since I would be running my Ragnar legs at a quicker pace. However, things ended up needing to be tweaked more than that…. more on that in a second.

Monday- 5 mile easy run on the treadmill. I squeezed this run in between a full day of work and a 3 hour drive to Farmville (for work). These Monday easy runs never actually feel easy, since they are the day after my long run. After Sunday’s sixteen miler, my legs were definitely tired, but stretching after this run felt oh so good.

Tuesday- 4 x 1.5 miles with 800m recovery. 10 miles total with the warm up and cool down.

This run was done back on the High Bridge Trail Sate Park, and was my second strength workout of training. It went pretty well and intervals continue to be my favorite.

I was really pushed to squeeze this run in after work and before sundown. It actually started to get dark on my third interval, so I ended up running a bit fast during #3 and #4 because I was scared. I guess when you are truly scared it overrides any tiredness you may be feeling in your body 🙂

Goal: 15:12; Splits: 15:13 / 14:52 / 14:50 / 14:34 (running scared!)

Wednesday- Rest day. Drove back from Farmville.

Thursday- 6 mile easy run. I had a 9 mile tempo run (11 miles total), but with Ragnar relay that weekend I decided to change it to an 11 mile easy run. But then I woke up Thursday morning with a very stuffy nose, persistent headache, and ear infection-type pain. So I decided to down grade my run to 6 miles.

It drives me nuts to not follow my training plan, and to be lower on my weekly mileage than I was supposed to be. But I think it was the right call since I really wasn’t feeling well and was about to spend over 24 hours in a van running overnight. Up to this point training has gone well and I’ve been able to follow my training plan to a T. It would be unrealistic to expect everything to go perfect, so I guess this was one of my speed bumps along the way.

Friday- The first day of Ragnar! I’m going to do full recaps of each of my three Ragnar runs. My only run on Friday was a 4.5 mile run on rolling hills through rural Maryland. It was the ninth leg of the relay, and ended up being my fastest paced leg of the three I ran. The Hansons Method definitely went out the window Friday through Saturday.

Saturday- My first run on Saturday was at 3 in the morning and was roughly 6.7 miles through Maryland farmland. I was terrified to run through the pitch black by myself, but I got it done. Our team motto unofficially became “pull your balls out of your back pocket” and that’s what I did. Although I have to admit I was convinced the Children of the Corn were going to pop out and get me for about 75% of this run.

My second run on Saturday was in the early afternoon and was a quick 2.2 miles. It was hillier than I expected and my right lower leg had really started to bother me at this point. It was also raining during this run, but it was fun to run in the rain. I ran through an area of Alexandria and on the Custis Trail.

Sunday- 5 mile run on the W&OD Trail. On Saturday night we stayed up to watch the Virginia Tech game (which ended up not being worth it, boo) until 11 PM. That means I stayed up from 7:00 AM Friday until 11:00 PM on Saturday with only a 20 minute cat nap thrown in. So naturally I was very tired.

My run was supposed to be 10 miles long, but my right lower leg was hurting me even more, so I cut it short. I think I could have pushed through the tiredness, soreness, and stiffness from Ragnar, but not the pain in my leg. I have an easy 7 miler scheduled for today, but I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing yet.

**edited to add: Here’s a picture of the snake I nearly stepped on while running on the W&OD Trail. That’s two snakes in two consecutive weekends, people!

Total Miles: 39.4 (yes, I’m counting it to the tenths of a mile, because I was supposed to run 49 mile this week)

So this Ragnar thing is this weekend. In fact, our team’s van 1 starts at 9:00 AM this morning. Barry and I are in Van 2 (along with my dad, who is driving, Deb and her husband, and two others). Deb is actually runner 8 and I’m runner 9 so she will be handing off the slap bracelet to me throughout the weekend. Fitting, since she tricked roped me in to joining her Ragnar team earlier this spring!

We will be running approximately 200 miles as a 12 person team from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC. As I mentioned, our team is starting at 9:00 AM this morning (Friday) and we are projected to finish around 5:00 PM on Saturday afternoon. My van (van 2) takes over around 2:00 PM this afternoon.

Every runner will be running 3 legs. As runner 9, I have legs 9, 21, and 33. My legs should be around 4:30 PM this afternoon, 3:00 AM tonight (!!!), and 1:45 PM tomorrow afternoon. My total mileage will be somewhere around 14 miles total. I ended up with one of the more mild set of legs, which is good since I am in the midst of marathon training. I’ve got that cumulative fatigue and all that going on. Barry is runner 11, and he has a tougher set of legs. But he’s a tough guy, so I know he’s going to rock it!

My biggest fears for this weekend are getting lost, getting kidnapped during my 6.7 mile night leg through rural Maryland, or worse getting sprayed by a skunk. Clearly I’ve got my priorities in order 🙂 But everyone talks about how much fun Ragnar relays are, so I’m expecting the weekend to be pretty epic. Let’s just hope I’m not found somewhere curled in the fetal position on the ground overnight Friday night, because a strange shadow scared me.

Have you ever done an overnight relay?
Are you afraid of the dark?

This past weekend I was in Virginia Beach for my friend’s baby shower. Sticking to a marathon training plan while traveling is never easy. But I was faced with an especially challenging problem on Sunday. I had a 16 mile long run on my training schedule, and I was staring down a 6 hour drive home from the beach that day. Initially I thought my options were to either run and then drive home, or drive home and run. And I didn’t like either of those options. But then I realized Farmville was roughly the halfway point, and I could run at the High Bridge Trail State Park. Let me back up a minute, though.

I arrived in Virginia Beach on Friday. Saturday morning I was up bright and early to run 8 miserable miles in the suffocating humidity. Then my friend and I headed over to the hostess’ house to help set up for the baby shower for my other friend (she’s due October 10!). The party was a lot of fun, and she got so many cute baby clothes. Then we headed back to my friend’s house (where I was staying) to watch the Virginia Tech football game, which started at 8 PM. The game was awesome and we pulled out a big win over Ohio State! But it was 1 AM before I got to bed, and I had been going since 6 AM that morning.

I slept terrible Saturday night and woke up every hour. When 5:30 AM rolled around it was time to get up and hit the road to make the 3.5 hour drive to Farmville. I had planned to arrive in Farmville around 9:30 AM so that I could get my long run done before it got too hot. I was so tired during the drive and was wondering how on Earth I was going to run 16 miles. But once I finally got there it was time to rock and roll, and the only way to get a long run done is to get going. So that’s what I did.

I was pretty lucky weather-wise for this run. It was in the low-70’s at the start and had only crept into the low-80’s by the time I finished. The humidity was only around 60% and there was a slight breeze every now and then. The sky was mostly overcast, too, which helped. I decided to run in the direction of the High Bridge first, which was about 4.5 miles from my starting point. I figured I would do a 10 mile out and back in one direction and then a 6 mile out and back in the other direction. The miles ticked away and before I knew it I was at the High Bridge.

I have talked about this trail, and have run on it, several times in the past. The trail is an old rail bed that is made up of crushed limestone. The trail’s namesake, the High Bridge, is 2,400 feet long (nearly half a mile!) and 125 feet above the Appomattox River. It is also the longest recreational bridge in Virginia and among the longest in the country. I really enjoy running across the bridge, although it makes me a bit dizzy to look down while I do so. Here’s what the bridge looks like from a birds eye view:

Once I crossed the bridge I was at 5 miles, my intended turn around point. But then I decided to run a bit further before heading back to my starting point. The High Bridge Half Marathon and 5K had been the day before, and the mile markers were spray painted on the trail. I just so happened to have started my run at the race start line, so each of the mile markers matched up with my distance. Why not turn this into a personal half marathon?

However, when I arrived at the turnaround point I was still feeling good and decided to carry on to mile 7. I was really amazed that I still felt so fresh. The cooler weather definitely helped, but I don’t know where the energy was coming from. A greasy slice of pizza, baby shower cake, and 4 hours of sleep are not exactly the recommended way to prepare for a long run. When I got to mile 7 I could have gone on to 8 and just made the run a true out and back. But I decided I’d rather turn around. I was 2 miles past the High Bridge and I hadn’t seen anyone, which felt a bit creepy.

On my way back I stopped at a porta john just before arriving back at the bridge (right at mile 9). As I was answering nature’s call, a bee started dive bombing me. He was trapped in the porta john with me! Let me tell you: Nothing will make you pee faster than being trapped in a small enclosure with a stinging insect. I was back on the trail in less than 30 seconds and on my way back across the bridge.

I hit a bit of a low point from miles 10 through 14. But I just tried to focus on the mile I was in, and breaking it down into half mile increments when needed. Slowly but surely the miles ticked off, and I found myself back at my car with just two miles left to go. I should also mention I was right on my long run pace. I had been struggling the past few weeks to hit the pace (I kept running too slow or falling off pace by the end of the run), so it felt great to finally do what I was supposed to be doing.

I decided to listen to some music for the last 2 miles, so I got my iPod hooked up and headed out in the other direction for the final two miles. Just after mile 15, I was running along thinking about how I was on the last mile and I stepped right on a snake! It was just a small green garden-type snake, but it reared its head up and startled me. It turns out I still have pretty good reflexes even after 2.5 hours of running. I totally would have taken a picture of the snake, but there is no crouching down at mile 15. So here’s another one of the trail:

Finally I hit mile 16 and I was done! My joints were a bit achy and my muscles were sore and tired, but I felt great. It felt like such an accomplishment after all of the traveling and minimal amount of sleep from the weekend. After I stretched and changed into a dry set of clothes (and used a Shower Pill athletic body wipe for the first time!) I headed over to a gas station. All I had been thinking about during the last hour of my run was a blue slushie. So I got myself one of those and a chicken sandwich. I didn’t take a picture because I’m pretty sure y’all know what a blue slushie and a sandwich look like.

Once fed, it was time to hit the road. I had about 3 hours left to go. Surprisingly I never felt sleepy on the rest of the drive. I guess it helps to break up a long drive with a run. Next time I’ll probably just keep it between 3 and 6 miles, though. 🙂

This was the best long run I’ve had so far during training. It seemed like everything just kind of came together, which is pretty neat since it happened at the end of a 54 mile week. With the lack of sleep and all of the driving I keep wondering if I’ve reached the point where training is as hard as it’s going to get. I have two more 16 mile long runs, and they come at the end of 56 and 57 mile weeks. So hopefully it will be very similar to this week. Maybe I really can do this Hansons Marathon Method thing.

If you were in my situation, which option would you have picked: run then drive, drive then run, or run in the middle of the drive?
Do you prefer exploring new trails, or do you gravitate towards the old and familiar?

P.S. Funny story – I’m back in Farmville right now. I had to drive here on Monday evening for work and I’m here through this afternoon. I actually did last night’s strength workout (4 x 1.5 miles) over on the good old High Bridge Trail .