My first post-Ragnar Relay Great River Facebook status update went something like this; “My face hurts. It’s either from smiling for approximately 26 hours straight (likely), or from being smashed into my pillow during my 12-hour recovery sleep, afterwards (more likely).”
That sums up my first experience with a 195-mile relay race quite exactly.
It was great fun, due to the enthusiastic, motivated, and sensible “Loo Lovers” team that I ran with, and the scenic and challenging course that the Ragnar folks put together. Fun also because we did quite well, finishing in 26 hours: an 8-minute mile average pace!
And, it made for mondo exhaustion. I ran a 6.9, a 3.6, and a 4.5 mile leg, at an 8-8:40 minute mile pace, with no sleep in there, but with plenty of fluid, salt and carb snacking, and frequent hopping in and out of the van to help our other runners. Evidently my 12-hour post-race sleep wasn’t enough recuperation: 2 days later, I’m feeling the sleepiness that I felt on Saturday afternoon.
I want to continue sending Bill healing thoughts. His injury, a week before the trip, gave me the opportunity to do this relay. Subbing –and also getting a new 10k PR– has never been so fun!
I’m definitely going to do this again. I must remember to bring a squeezy bike bottle, next time, as the Nalgene didn’t cut it when a teammate tried to get me water, mid-run. All of our other planning (which was extensive, on the part of the group planners) was tops.
I took paltry few photos: view them here.
Sandi, our captain, took quite a few good ones, of the Van 1 peeps.
Helen's Loom 