Last Saturday I got an email from a girlfriend telling me she had some drop-outs on her Ragnar team and asked if I could fill in. I couldn't turn her down and I'm so glad I did it. Ragnar is a 200 mile relay race from Huntington Beach to Coronado Island. 6,000 runners participated. 12 runners per team. I ran three legs totaling 16 miles. I was probably the weakest runner on the team. Others ran 20+ at a much faster speed than me. It was really cool to be part of this team.We started running at 8 a.m. Friday and continued non-stop finishing at 4:20 p.m. Saturday. I tried to rest for about 45 minutes, but there was really no time to sleep. It was crazy that we could keep going like that and run under those conditions, but we did.
It was much hotter than expected, consistently in the high 80s and 90s unless it was dark. The heat was our greatest challenge. There were some huge hills we had to climb.
In the end, my legs hurt, but it is oddly motivating to know I can do so much more than I ever thought I could. I no longer have the excuse that I'm too tired to exercise. I know I can run 6 miles in the heat uphill after being awake for more than 24 hours and already running 10 miles in the last 24 hours.
I didn't pack a camera and I can't figure out how to copy photos others have shared with me other than this one. It doesn't tell the whole story, but I still wanted to share. It was insane.
