Ragnar Northwest Passage Reflections

Thanks Locals!

So back in January, a friend posted that they had an opening on their team for Ragnar Northwest Passage. I hadn't ever really considered it, but having challenged myself with a marathon last year I thought that Ragnar - a 200 mile, 12 person overnight relay, might be the next challenge to face. It sounded like a great idea back then.

Rocking GoodR sunglasses with Julie

In the meantime, I had two marathons planned. Right before the first one I did something to my knee which threw my hip out of whack. The marathon didn't go as planned, and the second one became a half marathon. I recovered but the lost training time took its toll. I felt good heading into summer but had lost some speed. We also lost a teammate to injury and my sister in law Candice stepped in.

Raphil the rebel rockstar

Taira, Carrie, Jenn, Candice, Nicki

Fast forward to July - the panic started to set in and the reality of what I was going to do... over 24 hours in a van with virtual strangers running a total of 21 miles on no sleep - started to give me some serious doubts. Ever the control freak it was hard for me to know that someone else was in charge and that I really didn't know what to do or expect, other than what I'd heard from friends and family.

Bellingham Bay, first Leg

The night before, Jenn and I went to pick up the van with Raphil only to find out that the minivan had been recalled and that the only large passenger vehicle they had was a Kia Sorrento. For the Ragnar uninitiated, each team of 12 has two vans with 6 (often sweaty, stinky and tired) people (and their luggage and a cooler) each. A Kia Sorrento wasn't going to cut it for our team. Thankfully another teammate had a Sequoia and graciously allowed us to use it. With transportation solved I headed home to finish packing.

Ready to take on my first Ragnar

Setting the alarm for 3:30am was painful. I picked Candice up and we headed to our teammates' house. We loaded the car, and with good luck messages on our donated coffee (Thanks Locals in Lakewood!) we headed up to Peace Arch Park to meet our other teammates. Spirits were high, laughs were abundant and the drive went quickly.

Van decorated

We got to Peace Arch Park right about 7am with our team's start time scheduled for 7:15am. We met up with Van 1 (we're Van 2), got some selfies and cheered them off at the start. The way Ragnar works, Van 1 (and their 6 athletes) run their legs and then meet us at the next major exchange. We loaded back up and drove to Bellingham. We enjoyed a breakfast out, chatting with other Ragnar teams and then went to the grocery store to stock up on snacks and ice. We headed to Bellingham High School which is where our team would take over.  We did some shopping in the Ragnar tent (SO MUCH GOOD STUFF), watched the prerequisite safety video and got our shirts and bibs. I met up with Julie from my Run the Year Group, rocked our new GoodR sunglasses and we hung out waiting for our team to arrive. I also ran into some Girls on the Run folks (and was repping my SoleMates shirt). I was Runner 7, the first for our van so the nerves started to kick in. They texted that they were on their way and about 2:15 pm (already up for about 11 hours) I shouted and cheered for Joe as he came into the exchange, slapped the bracelet on my wrist and took off. It was hot - in the eighties and combined with nerves, I took off fairly quickly. In Ragnar, one gets "kills" for passing other runners along the route. Unfortunately, there hadn't really been anyone for me to catch as I was alone in the start corral for a bit. I ran through the streets of Bellingham and down to the bay. I knew I was going to be running along the Bay Trail but didn't realize that it was going to entail running on what felt like a bridge. A major panic attack set in and I couldn't breathe but knew that if I could get it under control, I'd be okay. This leg was only supposed to be about 4 miles so I just tried to keep my eyes ahead and not have anyone call 911. Raphil's sweet wife, Deedra was waiting and cheering on the final hill and I cruised (at least in my head) up to hand off to Candice (our Runner 8). Candice had just run a wicked Half Marathon the Sunday before and my heart sank when we rounded the first turn in the van and saw her first steep hill. The legs are deemed easy, moderate, hard or very hard based on elevation and length and I could tell that this one was going to be no fun for her - especially combined with the heat. I also know that she is one who perseveres and that she'd get through it no matter what.

Geared up and ready... at 2am

Still smiling at sunrise

Our next runners rocked their legs despite the heat and made it to the next major exchange about 7:30pm. We headed to teammate Jenn's house and had burgers, showers and about 15 minutes of sleep before heading out again at 11pm. We gassed up after an errant sleeping bag leaped out of the cargo bin on top of the car. We got to LaConner and I got to catch up with Jake, a high school friend of my daughter's. It was about 2:15am when I started out on my second leg. The weather was awesome and there is something wondrous about running at night. Armed with my safety vest, headlamp and blinky lights I set out to conquer my 10.5 miles. My team scouted ahead and realized there was a bridge - we considered a couple of options but my desire to be able to do all of my legs kept me from jumping in the van and riding over it. Instead Raphil ran it with me - the darkness helped as I couldn't tell how high we were. My back started hurting about mile 7 but I knew I'd get it finished one way or another. I finished my leg at the Swinomish Casino and lamented that I couldn't go play five dollars. It was a little after 4am when I finished and dawn was starting to break which made it absolutely beautiful for Candice and Raphil's next legs. (There was also something pretty awesome about having 22,000 steps by 5am.) Raphil handed off to Nicki and she cruised through her leg. We swung by Starbucks (thank you mobile ordering) and then it was on to Jenn who had the Reebok leg which is considered the most difficult. Holy hill! She was a superstar and had the leg that goes over Deception Pass which would have been a HELL NO for me. She handed off to Carrie and went to the next major exchange at Oak Harbor High School. It was starting to warm by that time (about 8:30am) and we knew our final legs were going to be hot. Van 1 was pretty wiped out and all of us were concerned about making the 8pm cutoff.

Heading down to Ebey State Park

One mile seems so far

We contacted Race Command and they advised combining a couple of legs for Van 1 and then seeing where we were timewise. Our van went to the next major exchange at Coupeville High School. We changed into our last kit, ate some lunch and rested for a bit. It was here that I melted down a bit. The exhaustion set in and I called my folks - it was a good thing they didn't answer because it would have fully been a 'Mommy/Daddy come get me' moment. Candice and I talked and we knew that this leg would be more mental than anything else - yes we were physically tired but it was our brains telling us that we didn't need a medal/didn't need to finish/didn't have to run that we'd have to overcome. With combining a leg, Van 1 took about an hour off of their time so I set out for my final leg at 1:40 pm. I had just over 6 miles to get through... "just" a 10k. My last leg was the most beautiful and I stopped to take some pictures. I didn't want to have this experience and not be able to share it. I ran down to Ebey and then hit Hill Rd. which wasn't downhill... like, at all... I chugged up a solid half of it before needing to walk. There were some scary blind curves and then it was back on the hot highway. I felt slow but okay as I went through Fort Casey. I finally saw the one mile left sign and whether it was the anxiety, exhaustion, heat or combination of all it, I had a case of the fall aparts. I started wheezing and couldn't pull it together. I texted the team that I was walking and that I'd get there but that it wasn't going well. I was seeing some stars, felt WAY overheated and couldn't regulate my body temp. I called Kristi and she talked me down a bit as I walked and tried to get it under control. I looked up and saw Raphil chugging towards me with an ice water and an inhaler. He jogged beside me the last bit and for the umpteenth time, I thanked God for such a great team of encouragers. I handed off to Candice (after stopping my Garmin which read 6.5 miles) and she headed out. Her leg had some unsupported pieces so we went to the first spot we could cheer for her and made sure we had water. The sun was FULLY out and we were all struggling. We heard back from race command and were advised to combine Nicki and Raphil's next legs - the thinking behind that is that the team still does the same distance but having teammates run concurrently saves some time. It ended up being good that they were together because the steep hills took their toll on Nicki's achilles. Once again our team rallied and we rolled it out, stuck a compression sleeve on it and gave her the cool towel to bring her body temp down. They handed off to Jenn who dealt with hills and sunscreen in her eyes before handing off to Carrie our final runner of the event. We supported her as she ran to the Langley fairgrounds where we estimated we'd finish about 7:30pm. We met up with the Van 1 folks and ran across the finish line together - 36 hrs and 15 minutes after we'd finished. A team photo, hugs, and a couple of slices of pizza later and we were back in the car driving around because the ferry line was over 2 hours long.

The whole (tired) but AWESOME "No Sleep 'Til Langley" Team

The drive back to Smokey Point was surreal - not only because we were all a bit rummy but because it was on the same roads we'd been covering 12 hours earlier. We got back to Carrie's - cleaned out the car and Candice and I loaded up Sergio to head home. I dropped her off, and got home just before midnight. I chugged some Zquil and crashed into bed - a mere 44hrs after my adventure had started. I got about 8 hours sleep before the dogs woke me up and needed let out.

Earned it!

In the day or two after the event I thought for sure there was a possibility that I'd do a Ragnar again. With a couple more days passed, I'm not so sure. Physically I felt better than I thought I would. The heat took a toll on my times (as did lack of sleep) but the body help up well. It was the disruption to my sleep and eating that has taken longer to get back on track and am not so sure is good for me. We'll see. It was an amazing experience and I fully enjoyed the people I got to meet, watching teams work together and seeing how the whole event came about. I challenged myself, and met the challenges in ways I hadn't thought possible. In the end I covered a little over 21miles and at a better pace than I ran the marathon a few months ago which means I'm healing. I was awake for over 44 hours (I don't recommend that.) I lost 6 pounds, and then found 3 of them the next day. I learned a lot about myself and made memories to last forever. I'm grateful to Jenn for putting the team together and to have shared the journey with Candice. I am a Ragnarian!

On to the next adventure.