My adventure started a little early. Thursday night I went to pick up the rental van, assuming this would be a quick and easy transaction as I had reserved said van several months in advance. After almost 2 hours of shuttling and waiting, I arrived at the counter to discover that "we have no more mini vans". WHAT?!?! To top it off, the rental car agent just stood there looking at me when I asked him how this could happen and what could they do for me. He didn't blink, didn't answer, just stood there. I finally asked him if he even cared that they had left me high and dry. His response? "I don't like to argue so I'm just going to stand here until you are done." Wow...let me tell you, I will never rent from them again...period. For the record, I was being extremely polite considering how frustrated I was.
So, I fired off a call to fellow RAGNAR teammate to discuss options while taking the shuttle back to the airport. Upon arriving at the airport, I went to every single car counter to see if they had anything to offer us. This was the complete antithesis of the experience a few minutes earlier - all of the agents, from different companies, were working together to see if they could find me anything. Finally they found one, 12 passenger van that was available! Thank goodness - we may be in a boat but a boat is always preferable to the tin can :)
This was almost 4 hours later and I was behind the wheel of the van, waiting in line to leave the rental car lot, when my cell phone rings. On the other end? Brant, the guy from AZ on the team. Apparently he had missed his flight and was going to have to catch one in the morning. He had it all worked out - catch an early flight, jump on Amtrak to Bellingham and arrive there just in time to run his first set of legs. Okay, not the curve ball I needed right then but seemed like a solid plan and the only option at this point. He said he would call when he landed - should be around the time we would be kicking off the relay from Blaine. At this point, it's 9:30pm and I still have grocery shopping, van packing and my personal crap packing to do, so I agreed and headed off to finish up my tasks in hopes of getting a few hours of sleep!
Friday morning I arrived at the LVB without incident and it was shaping up to be a nice day - a little overcast so maybe, just maybe we would avoid the predicted 80+ degree weather! Bryan and I loaded up the van with the coolers and our stuff. As I was early, we "decorated" the van while waiting for Matt. Now, keep in mind that I knew Matt and Bryan, but they hadn't met each other and none of us had met Rod, Robert or Brant. It was going to be a collection of virtual strangers bonding for 36+ hours! :)
The drive up to Blaine went by very quickly although I must admit that driving a 12 passenger van is a bit of an experience in and of itself. I have driven some large vehicles before, even towed trailers, and this was a bit unnerving at times on the interstate. :) Or maybe it was just the road construction! We arrived at the start line right on time, picked up our race packet and shirts and headed back to the van to start getting ready. Rod and Robert were both meeting us here and they both found us within minutes! Easy, peasy! Okay, now it feels like everything is falling into place.
The van next to our was themed with Reno 911! It was hilarious! They had great costumes, a dummy strapped to the front of their van and a "sexy" driver to boot. We took some pictures - it was great. I have to admit, I wouldn't have wanted to run in those polyester shirts and shorts!
Bryan kicked us off hula style - complete with hula dance when our team was announced. We all cheered him off and then jumped in the van to meet him at the first "exchange" to cheer him on. At this point, I hadn't heard from Brant and I was getting a little nervous. I called him while the guys grabbed some coffee. I'm sure y'all have guessed it by now - he was still in AZ and "it wasn't looking good" for him to show up at all. Okay, now to figure out how to do this thing with 5 people instead of 6! We were officially the Ultra+ team! :) We changed everyone around so that we could divide up the shortest leg between us. Now we were all running over 30 miles (at the low end)!
Bryan was running strong and kicking some tail so we let him cruise through the first exchange without any indication that he was going to be running 7 legs instead of only 6. We thought it would be better to let him finish his first 1/2 marathon in peace! :D We headed off to the exchange point where Rod would take over running - his extra leg.
Rod blazed through his 8.2 miles and handed off to Robert for his 1st extra leg (he somehow drew the short straw and was assigned 2 shorter legs). We had actually caught up with another ultra team that had started out an hour before us - of course, we had just had 2 of our fastest runners on the course!
Robert cruised on in after 4.4 and I was off for my first set of legs - 11.1. By this time is was heating up and sunblock and liquids were high on the agenda. I was the weak link on the team - I am still trying to recover from my deep bone bruise injury on my right shin. I knew that I could gut through my original legs however I was honestly concerned about picking up the extra leg - even though it was relatively short. My first "leg" went well - I was under my predicted pace despite the heat. The second "leg" was a bit more of a gut check. It went through town, so I lost about 6-7 minutes waiting at stop lights. I supposed the rest felt good - but it did nothing for my pacing nor overall time. I came in only a few minutes behind and just over 30 seconds per mile over my predicted. I blame the stop lights! :D
Rod was off on his first set of legs - his shortest for the entire race - 7.5. He had a killer hill and some serious heat! It is also an interesting mental challenge as the other runners coming out of the middle exchange are fresh and gunning for it at this point! Rod passed off the snap bracelet to Matt and his first set of legs. Matt tore up his 9.3! We were at exchange 10 and everyone had already completed at least one leg! Phew!
Robert was off for his 13.8 at 6:30pm! It was starting to look like it might cool off a bit for the evening/night runs. The rest of us hopped in the van and headed off to meet Robert at his mid-point. Well, that was the plan until we missed a turn and got "lost"! Fortuitous for the hungry set of runners in the van, we figured it out right next to a local sub shop. We all grabbed a quick sub and headed back to see catch up with Robert. He was looking strong after killing a pretty good hill when we passed him a mile before the middle exchange.
As Robert shouted "Hill? What hill?" cruising through the exchange, one of the official race people was telling us that thunderstorms were expected. They said we could mark our spot and time and pull over if we wanted. I think this might give you all a true sense of our team spirit - none of us wanted to stop even if it was raining! :)
Robert finished his 1/2 marathon+ in great time and Bryan was off to tackle this 3 legs! It ended up that Bryan and I picked up our extra leg back-to-back with our regular sets. We actually ran all 6 legs of Van 1's second set of legs. (For those non-running relay people - that means the 2 of us ran what is normally divided up over 6 people!) Bryan nailed his 10.9 and I was off for my 1/2 marathon!
It was HUMID! Holy cow, I thought a night 1/2 might be better because it wouldn't be as hot. Boy was I wrong! I was on pace through my first 4.1 but I was seriously hot. I was carrying Gatorade but I really needed both it and water. The guys stopped about a mile into my 2nd leg to give me a quick drink of water. I was still feeling fairly good coming through after the next 3.2, but needed the guys to plan to meet me 3 miles into the 5.8 to rehydrate. If you haven't run in the middle of the night, then it's hard to explain why it is so difficult. There is a real mental challenge to it - you have to play mind games to keep yourself going - especially over unfamiliar terrain. I finished up in about 15 minutes behind my predicted time but still felt good about it. At this point I was 24.2 miles into my personal mileage on a shin that probably shouldn't have had more than a 5K on it!
Rod took off on the longest set of legs for then entire race - 16.5. Bryan, Robert and I grabbed a spaghetti dinner while Matt tried to get a little sleep. Sleep is a very rare commodity in an event like this - even when you aren't trying to run it with 5 people! The dinner hit the spot - I was flagging and it gave me a much needed boost! Robert took over driving so Bryan could also try to catch some ZZs.
We took off to meet Rod at the mid-point. He was looking great as we passed him. I don't think we had made it more than a mile when the sky just opened up and started dumping rain. We pulled over so we could double-check with Rod to make sure he didn't want a rain jacket or something. He just waved us on. He handed us his water bottle to refill at the halfway point, still looking strong and cruising along. We stopped to give him his bottle back and motored to the next exchange point.
Matt was "fresh" off of a 90 minute nap and ready to tackle his second set of legs - 6.9. I swapped places with him and laid down to try to get a few minutes of sleep myself before my last set of legs. While I was sleeping, Matt handed off to Robert for his 9.9 miles over Deception Pass. Apparently this was absolutely gorgeous! I'm sorry I missed it however I think the sleep was probably more necessary! :)
The sun rose during Robert's run and Bryan took off in a full blaze of light! Oh boy, the 80+ weather was on it's way EARLY! Bryan pushed through his 10.9 in great time and handed it off to Matt for a quick 2.8 (his extra leg). Meanwhile the guys grabbed some Starbucks to refuel on caffeine. Robert was getting ready for this second extra leg - 2.9.
Once we collected Matt at the exchange, we headed to a Safeway so I could grab a Dr. Pepper for my post 12 mile run celebration and Matt could grab some coffee to refuel as well. I decided to go with compression sleeves on both of my legs for this set. I was feeling tired, obviously, but just off in general. I had taken some Advil to help with the shin pain but it just wasn't doing anything this time. I had been really careful to ice my shin after every set and tried to do everything I could to combat the injury as much as possible. I know Bryan knew I was hurting but I was determined to do my part and gut it out. After all, all of us were tired and hurting by then.
I took the torch from Robert and started off on my first set of 4 5Ks. That was the way I had broken it down mentally to keep myself moving. I felt really good, all things considered, through the first 3 miles. I was keeping the pace I wanted to, the run-walk strategy was working for me and I was feeling like I could do it. Then, I hit 1.5 miles of pretty much steady climbing - not steep mind you, just steady. That pretty much did it for the running. I just couldn't even force myself to run more than a few steps because it hurt so badly. The guys came back to check on me (I had just over a mile left) and Bryan told me he was putting on his running shoes and taking my last leg for me. My initial reaction was to refuse - there was no reason why he should be picking up my slack after already having to pick up an extra leg. After arguing with myself (and okay, I'll admit it, a few tears), I finally conceded about 1/2 mile from the exchange that I had better just pack it in. It would be better for the team and for me as well.
Bryan met me in full pirate gear a few 100 yards from the exchange point. He was trying to make me feel better about the decision to let him take over. I knew it was the right thing to do and I'm so appreciative to have such an awesome friend. How many people do you know that would volunteer to run 5.5 miles for you, never mind that he had already completed 35? Thanks, Bry - I owe you! (I later discovered that he had a couple of beers and chips & salsa while I was running - yikes!)
Bryan powered through the next 5.5 and handed off to Rod for his final set of legs. Rod was in his own backyard at this point - Whidby Island. He, once again, ran an impressive 12.6 miles to finish up his day. Matt took over from him in a full heat. All of the final legs were HOT! We were going through water and Gatorade like mad.
Matt did fantastic on his final 11.1 miles. Bryan, Rod and I grabbed a burger and fries before cheering Robert off to finish out the race. I have to tell you, that might have been the best burger ever! :) Seriously, when you are that tired and have expended that many calories, everything tastes like heaven. We took Matt back to grab one as well after he finished up his leg.
We followed Robert along his set of legs. It was brutally hot AND both of this legs were rated as "Hard". He did awesome! He came flying up to the meeting place and we had to slow him down. We all hobbled across the finish line together! They handed us our medals, took our picture and we headed to the beer garden for a celebratory drink. In reality, Matt and Bryan had a drink and the rest of us just tried to keep our heads off the table.
My hat goes off to my incredible teammates. You guys are amazing! I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to do this crazy event with.
Rod - you are a machine, seriously! You cranked out those 45 miles like it was a walk in the park.
Robert - you went from being a little nervous about biting off 25 miles to killing 40 miles! Awesome job!
Bryan - now you can do that ultra with Col! 40 miles was nothing! ;)
Matt - as always you came through with flying colors. 30 miles of running - check!
We started out as strangers and ended up as friends. We met a lot of cool people along the way! The other teams were amazing - we were all out there supporting each other. It was so much fun! I'm ready for next year...anyone else? (Let's make sure we have 6 runners this time!)
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