Ragnar Las Vegas: 11/8/13-11/9/13

This past weekend I ran Ragnar Las Vegas with some pretty amazing people. Our team was sponsored by Nuun and Pro Compression and I owe them a huge thank you for everything! THANK YOU!!!

 

Our team consisted of 11 women and 1 dude in a sparkly skirt!

Me, Hyla, Zoe, Vanessa, Nicole, Caroline, Kelsey, Jenny, Sara, Matt, Brianne and Brennan

I was in Van #1: Me, Caroline, Zoe, Kelsey, Vanessa and Nicole. I could not have asked for a better group of girls to spend 24 plus hours in a van with! I loved all of the them!

Our teammates in Van #2:  Sara, Brianne, Jenny, Matt, Brennan and Hyla. I stole this picture from Hyla's blog.

I wish we could have spent more time with Van #2 but both vans are kind of on opposite schedules during a relay. While one van is running their hearts out, the other van is pretty much recovering, eating and sleeping.  We were able to meet up with a few of them the night before the relay started so I am glad that I was able to meet and get to know a few of them.

Caroline and I caught a plane to Las Vegas on Thursday night and we spent the night in this pyramid with Kelsey and Vanessa! I think I drove Caroline nuts with my snoring but she was just too nice to tell me. I think Kelsey may have won the snoring contest though!

Source

The Luxor sky beam was visible from every place we drove that van on the relay course. It was pretty amazing!

Our fearless leader, Zoe, picked us up from our hotel at 9:30 am on Friday morning. The van was packed with lots of snacks, water, and Nuun of course. Thank you Zoe! We headed to the Start to pick up our bibs, attend the safety training, and decorated our van while we waited for our start time.

The 187 mile relay starts at Mt. Charleston, Nevada at an 8600 elevation level and ends in Henderson, Nevada at Lake Las Vegas. There was snow on the ground when we arrived at the Start but for some reason I wasn't even cold. As you can see, I am the only one in the picture without a jacket.

Our team started at 12:30pm and we thought we were going to be the last ones to finish since we started so late and the course and the exchanges seemed kind of empty when we were present.

Our team was just a very fun and energetic group to be around! They were so positive and encouraging to our team mates and to the other runners out there on the course. They really gave me a burst of energy and the motivation to get out there and run my best! 

I was Runner 3 and a ran a total of 11.47 miles. Here is a little break down on each of my legs: 

Leg 3: My first leg was my favorite and it started about 2:15 pm on Friday afternoon. It was all downhill on SR-195. It was so super quiet that it felt weird but it was peaceful. Our van drove by cheering me on and I knew they were coming when ever I heard that cowbell! I felt so free running on that open road. I was the only runner out there on the road until Mile 4 when I chicked a dude but gave him a high five and encouraged him to stay with it! It was my only leg without traffic signals and it was pretty amazing. It was so amazing that I may have ran my fastest 5.5 miles ever.

Leg 3 Stats: Distance: 5.5 Miles, Avg. Pace 7:18 and Kills=2

Leg 15: My second leg was my night run and it started about 10:20 pm on Friday night. I always get nervous on my night run because I am so afraid of getting lost. I hit one really long traffic signal on this leg. The Ragnar staff made me wait for the signal so I was not able to run through it even though there were no cars coming (BOO!). I did not stop my Garmin at the signals so my average pace includes the stops. All of the turns were clearly marked so I was happy that I did not get lost.

Leg 15 Stats: Distance: 2.13 Miles, Avg. Pace 8:34 and Kills:3

Leg 27: My last leg started at 7:40 am on Saturday morning in 48 degree temps. It was perfect weather and I was ready to be done since I had not slept very much. My quads were a little sore so I was planning on taking my last leg easy if my quads were not going to allow me to run pain free. This leg was supposed to be an even 4 miles but ended up being a little short due to a slight change to the course. I caught so many long traffic signals but the good thing is that my quads were not hurting while I was running and I was able to finish strong. My average pace was around 7:30-7:40 while I was in motion.

Leg 27 Stats: Distance: 3.84 Miles, Avg. Pace 8:42 and Kills=5

It felt great to be finished but I just didn't want it to be over. I was still on a runner's high from all of the positive vibes from the ladies in Van #1 so we agreed that we would do it again sometime in the near future.

Once Van #1 was finished, we drove straight to the Finish Line to wait for Van#2 to finish things up. 

We walked around the finish area and ate some pizza and visited Megan at the Nuun booth. Zoe and I picked up our extra medals for running Ragnar Las Vegas and one other Ragnar race in 2013. I ran Ragnar So Cal in April, 2013 so this was an added bonus for me!

Results: Team Nuun/Pro Compression did great! We finished 60th out of 339 team in the Mixed Open Division.

I have one more thing to share with you before I end this post:NUUN and PRO COMPRESSION have so generously offered some great discounts for you:
 
NUUN

Code: ragnarvegas
Good for: 20% order
Expires: 12/31/13 

PRO COMPRESSION

Code: nuunpc
Good for: 40% off + free shipping
Expires: 12/31/13

Ragnar Las Vegas: Meet the Ladies of Van#1

When Caroline first asked me to run Ragnar Las Vegas I was really excited! It is really not that difficult to get me excited when it comes to anything that has to do with running! I was a little nervous about joining the team since all of the Runners in Van#1, except for me, are 2012 Hood to Coast Runners and Nuun Ambassadors. I am a avid Watermelon and Fruit Punch Nuun drinker and a fan of Pro Compression so I was not concerned about running on a team that was sponsored by products that I do not truly love. I was more concerned about how I would fit in with the team and how they would accept me.

I am pretty easy going and I am not high maintenance at all so I figured that I would just be myself and let everything else just fall into place. I am so glad that I accepted Caroline's invitation because Ragnar Las Vegas turned out to be one of the most incredible experiences ever. All of the girls were so sweet and I never felt out of place for one single minute. There was a lot of HTC 2012 flash backs going on in the van but I really understood it all after seeing what a great group of ladies I was surrounded by.

The positive vibe and team spirit in Van#1 was incredible! All of the cow belling, cheering on other runners, and supporting our own runners while they were out running their legs was just unbelievable. Each one of the girls brought something special to this team that just made it all come together. Caroline already did a great job of describing the team in this post but I would also like to add my two cents and share a little about her too.

Nicole (Runner 1): This lady just had a baby four months ago and looks like a super model! I know that it was tough for her to be away from her son to come and run this relay with us. She killed her first leg of 7 hilly and hard miles with an average pace of 7:50! It must be the watermelon Nuun! Nicole is such a positive person and never stopped encouraging all of us when the fatigue was starting to set in due to lack of sleep. She was my go to person when I wanted to complain about my quads being on fire. She never wanted to inconvenience anyone and was always willing to help in any way that she could. I kept bumping into her the entire time so I think she wanted to punch me in my face a few times! 

Kelsey (Runner 2): This lady is special. She was the youngest runner on the team and there were lots of moments when we would talk about movies or songs on the radio and Kelsey could not relate to them because they were before her time. I think we were all in disbelief that she had never seen the movie "Dirty Dancing." I love Kelsey's determination and positive attitude about running. The smile on her face while she is running is absolutely priceless. When my runs got tough I thought about her big smile that came to greet me since I was Runner 3 and she handed off to me. I swear I am going to take a trip to Tennessee just to visit her so she can show me around her hometown.

Caroline (Runner 4): This lady is a true friend. I knew from the first time that I met her that she was someone special. It is no secret that her stomach does not always agree with running but she gets out there and does it anyway! I truly admire her determination to keep running in spite of the not so pretty things that she has to deal with. She is coming back from an injury and ran her legs with 110% effort. Caroline is also a very devoted mother to her two sons. She called her boys to see them off to school and to say goodnight every day and always asked me if I had done the same. She even checked in with the tooth fairy to make sure that he was doing his job properly! Caroline was our photographer and she has some serious dance moves. Maybe she will share one of her dancing videos that I so willingly took of her!

Zoe (Runner 5): She was our fearless leader and van driver. The girl can seriously drive a van and knows how to get from one exchange to another without a problem. She took such good care of all of us and never once complained of being tired. She ran her legs like a boss and was always smiling and keeping the team motivated. She ran a ton of miles and I know she had to be exhausted. Instead of complaining, she was out making friends and supporting other runners while dominating her legs. 

Vanessa (Runner 6): I have been a long time reader of Vanessa's blog so I pretty much know everything about her that she has shared. She is one of the most genuine and kindest people that you will ever meet. She is such a selfless person and always puts everyone else's best interest before her own. Vanessa was the one to remember to bring water bottles to the exchange when our runners were coming in. She was the one offering to get coffee or snacks for us so that we would not have to walk to get it ourselves. She was the one offering to fill up all of our water bottles in the van. She was so confident even though 2 of her 3 legs had some issues. Her first leg ended up being longer than expected due to a road closure and her second leg was the toughest of all the legs. She earned some major respect from Van#1 for running 10 serious uphill miles..alone... in the middle of the pitch black of the night... with no van support. The girl is speedy and is a running beast but oh so humble all at the same time. 

I miss all of these ladies already! I have so much more to say so I will do a second post to share more about my contribution to the team.

Three Reasons Why November is Going to be Really Exciting!

1. I feel like I am kind of pushing it here in terms of races but how do you pass up a great opportunity to run with a friend on a team that is sponsored by two great companies (Nuun and Pro Compression?) I will answer that for you...YOU DON'T! My friend Caroline asked me if I would be interested in running Ragnar Las Vegas with her and I didn't have to think twice about it! The only problem is that we will be flying out of town on my wedding anniversary so I kind of had to ask for permission! My other half gave me his blessing and the rest is history! So on November 7th, I will be leaving on a plane to Las Vegas with Caroline since we are practically neighbors! We will be in Van #1 together so I am excited about that too. I am also excited to meet some other ladies who I know from their blogs but have never met in person. I guess I will be overdosing on Watermelon Nuun and losing sleep in Sin City in just a few weeks!

2. About a week after Ragnar Las Vegas, on November 17th, I will be running the Surfer's Point Half Marathon with my other half. This will be "our first half marathon" as a team. It will be his first and #14 for me. I am really excited about it. I love running in Ventura and I am excited to see him take on this challenge. As of now we have no goals for this race. He doesn't care about time and just wants to finish the race and take it all in. 

3. I will start training for the LA Marathon the week of the Surfer's Point Marathon. I will be using this half marathon as my first long run of my training. I think I am going to use the LA Marathon as a trial run for a BQ to see how close I can come to a qualifying time of 3:45! Just the thought of it makes me nervous but I think it will give me a good idea of where I stand and what my chances of a BQ race in May might be. I can never be confident enough when it comes to the marathon because it is such a humbling experience.

Anything exciting happening for you in November? Please Share!

10/13/13: The Long Beach Marathon (Take Two)

Where should I start? I am finally over the "what if's" had this race gone better than it did. I know I ran a strong race and that I am capable of more than I sometimes want to give myself credit for. This marathon included the strongest 21 miles that I have ever ran in a marathon. Everything seemed to be aligning including the weather. It was cooler than I thought it would be so I think that may be a reason why I felt so great those first 21 miles of the race!

 

I only slept four hours because I was so nervous. Marathons will always make me nervous no matter how many I run make but this time I was super nervous. I laid out all of my race stuff the night before so I would be ready to go when my alarm went off at 4:15am. I had such a low bib number so lots of runners kept asking me if I was an elite runner! Too funny....if only they knew how non-elite I really am!!

My friend who lost her husband came with us to the race to support me. I was excited that I was able to get her out of the house and we had a good time. We laughed like the old times before her husband took his life so it was nice to see her smile again. We had dinner together and she was so grateful that I invited her to come along since her house really depresses her at times with all of memories it holds of her late husband. She has kind of lost her running mojo lately so I was excited when she signed up for a half marathon at the Expo. Progress is a big thing for her right now! I decided to dedicate my fourth marathon to her husband because he was always so supportive and encouraged me to reach for my dreams.

The Race:
The race was delayed by almost a half hour due to safety clearance or something like that but safety first, right? I was a little bummed because I was hoping to finish without having to spend too much time in the sun. That did not happen but it was still cool enough to run a decent race.

I started right with the four hour pacer and spotted Nicole and her brother Joe, who was running his first marathon, and wished them good luck. I kept thinking that if the weather stays cool I just might be able to run this course in under 4 hours. I was off and running and I don't think I ever ran with the 4 hour group or saw them on the course again. I can usually tell by the first three miles of a marathon how my race is going to turn out. I was feeling great the first three miles and just kind of went with it but reminded myself to be smart.

Mile 1: 8:32

Mile 2:8:22

Mile 3:8:20

I did not want my Garmin to distract me from my race by staring at it the entire time because that makes me feel very nervous! I continued to run by how I felt, occasionally glancing at my watch to make sure that I was not going too fast. 

Mile 4: 8:27

Mile 5: 8:27 (GU)

Mile 6: 8:22

Mile 7: 8:26

Mile 8: 8:21

Before I knew it I was closing in on the 3:45 pacer but I just kept a safe distance. I was not feeling confident enough to run a 3:45 on this particular course. It was at this point in the race that I was thinking that I would continue at this pace and hang on until it started to get tough. Things continued to go well and by the way I did end up wearing my hydration belt like I said I wouldn't. I didn't use my handheld water bottle because I forgot the little clips to my iFitness belt that holds my bib on and I needed it to carry my phone and GU's. I was just too nervous to rely on the water on the course even though there was plenty of it.

Mile 9: 8:26

Mile 10: 8:26 (GU)

Mile 11: 8:25

Mile 12: 8:31

Mile 13: 8:26

I was still feeling pretty good at the half way point and it was at this point that I decided that maybe I could meet my most optimistic goal of all which was to PR! I also knew that the most difficult miles of the course were coming up soon and I was going to see my pace drop significantly.

Mile 14: 8:26

Mile 15: 8:33 (Gu)

Mile 16: 8:26

Miles 17-20 are the toughest miles of the course for me. The course takes you into Cal State Long Beach and it is nothing but hills in there! It was pretty tough so I slowed it down on the uphill and tried to gain some time back when the course flattened out. I did much better this year and I didn't die or hit the wall!

Mile 17: 8:27

Mile 18: 8:56

Mile 19:8:25

Mile 20:8:50(GU)

Around Mile 19ish my race took a different turn. I ran through some water on the course with what felt like sand and I almost slipped and over extended my right leg and felt a pain in the back of my leg. Little by little the pain became worse to the point where I had to slow down considerably. I stopped and stretched it out around Mile 22 per the instructions of Monica who happened to run past me as I was hobbling along in pain. By Mile 23 I could not run for long at all without it hurting or tightening up so it was a run/walk effort from Mile 23-25 but I did not give up! 

Mile 21: 8:42

Mile 22: 9:26

Mile 23: 10:04 (GU)

Mile 24: 10:26

Mile 25: 10:17

It was at this point that I knew that my race was headed in another direction. I wasn't sure what was the best thing to do. I thought about quitting or just walking to the Finish but I just could not let myself do it. I completely fell apart at this point because I was not sure what was going on with my leg and what might happen if I kept on going. At Mile 25, I saw my friend Meg who I have known for a while through the blog world! She came up to me and we started talking and she ran with me for about a mile. I felt better just seeing a familiar face and I was able to brave through it and make it to the Finish. THANK YOU MEG! YOU SAVED ME!

Mile 26: 9:31

.48=8:48 (I guess I did not do very well running the tangents either!)

Goals:

My goals for this race were to beat my 2011 course time of 4:05:35 (CHECK.). I actually beat my course time by 13 minutes and 20 seconds! My second and more optimistic goal was to finish the race in under 4 hours (CHECK.) This was not a PR for me but this is just one of those courses that will probably never get me a PR or a BQ! It just doesn't love me!

I finished Marathon #4 in 3:52:15 and finally earned my Beach Cities Challenge medal! Sarah was handing out the BCC medals and it was nice to see her out there volunteering. I can remember when I thought that I would never be able to run a sub-four marathon so I have convinced myself that 3:52 is a decent time for me considering that it did do lots of walking! I told Long Beach that I would be back to get revenge and my sub-four finish and I know I ran a much stronger race than I did two years ago. No excuses for a bad race so I will just suck this one up and pay attention to where I am running in the future and accept the fact that not every race is going to be a perfect one and realize that CACA HAPPENS!

This makes race #12 of my quest to run 13 races in 2013 and my second best marathon time. I have been taking it easy because I was hurting everywhere and I am also hoping that my hamstring pain is just a temporary thing that rest will take care of. I am not ready to use the dreaded "I" word yet! I am hoping to get a run in at the end of the week if I am able. Until then, I will be doing lots of icing and this....

  

 Next up...Ragnar Las Vegas, sponsored by Nuun and Pro Compression, with my friend Caroline and 10 other ladies that I cannot wait to meet!

4/19-4/20/13: Ragnar So Cal Relay (Runner's High)

What a non-stop crazy, exciting and fun experience I had over a 31-hour period! I had a blast and I am already looking forward to doing it again. We were not in it to win it and just wanted to have fun. We met at 4:30am on Friday morning at a location which was 10 minutes from my house which was great for me. We loaded up our bags, took a few pictures in our team shirts, decorated our vans a little bit and then headed out to the start in Huntington Beach. 

 

Our vans were overstocked stocked with lots of water, Nuun, snacks, pillows, sleeping bags and everything you can possibly imagine. 

Our driver (Van 2) is an IT Director so he had the whole techy setup going on in our van. We had no problems with charging our phones and he brought a laptop, an iPad, Wifi connection walkie talkies, and all that techy stuff. He also suggested that we use the app "Find My Friends" to track all of our runners so we could see their location at all times. This app was very useful and gave us a good idea as to when our runners would be coming into the exchanges and it was great for safety reasons too.

I was Runner 10 in Van 2 and the oldest member on the team. I earned the name "Grandma" and that is pretty much what they called me the entire time. The youngest runners on our team were 17 years old. They are fast and tackled some of the hilliest legs with 6:XX minute miles. There were times when these two almost beat the van to the exchange! 

Our team started at 7:00am and we all met at the start to see our first runner off. This sweet girl drove down from Arizona the night before to join our team since we had a runner who was injured and could not run for us. She was awesome!

My first leg started in Corona around noon when it was 85+ degree and seriously horrible! It was my hardest leg, not only I was nervous about getting lost but I ran out of water around mile 4 of a 5.7 mile distance. I kept the pace easy because I didn’t want to die out there but I think I was dying anyway. I met lots of nice people out there so I had some company to suffer with! Thank God I wore my Garmin because there were no mile markers out there with the exception of the "One Mile to Go" signs. I needed to know how much longer I would be suffering for. My average pace for this leg was 9:23.

 

My second leg was 2.2 miles  in San Marcos and I ran it around 1:00am in the darkness. Thank God it was flat and easy. It was 50 degrees and I got it done pretty quickly considering that I was dead tired and knew that sleep was not going to happen anytime soon. I ran into my friend Danica, who ran an Ultra with Team Sparkle, and we ran part of this leg together. I am glad that I ran into her because talking with her kept me awake for the first mile. I was really worried about getting lost at night but if you follow all of the flashing lights and headlamps from the other runners then it is pretty impossible to get lost. My average pace for this leg was 7:57.

My final leg was around 12:00pm in San Diego the next day. It was my best run of all. It was 4.1 miles, downhill at the start and flat all the way to the finish. I passed lots of runners on this leg and was out there by myself praying that I wasn't alone because I missed a turn! It was 75 degrees but there was a nice ocean breeze for most of the way. Although I was having a blast, I was glad to be finished due to lack of sleep and feeling hungry. My average pace for this leg was 8:17.

I did not experience a smelly van because our team reserved a really nice two bedroom villa at Exchange 18. We stayed at the Lawrence Welk Resort in San Diego which slept six and had everything we needed. We were able to eat dinner, shower and rest for a while we waited for Van 1 to complete their second legs. Once they were done we traded off so they were able to shower and rest as well. We even had time to return to the hotel after our second legs and shower again. I have never been so happy to see a shower and this was probably one of the most refreshing showers that I have ever taken in my whole life! It was also nice to use a "normal toilet" versus a porta potty!

Most of us were first timers so we learned a lot and we will be ready for our next relay. We had some great volunteers and our drivers were awesome too!  They never complained of being tired and did their best to get us to the exchanges on time.

Our drivers definitely gave us some serious lessons on how to drive vans and how to make the most creative illegal u-turns! We learned all about van tagging and our driver was pretty into it. He was tagging moving vans and even returned some items that were left on our van in much worse condition then we received them in!

 

Someone even tagged our van to laugh at me "Grandma."

We laughed a lot and the energy in our van was great! I did not sleep at all but I did catch some of our runners in the act! 
 
Our team captain finished off the last leg around 2:00pm and crossed the finish as a team which was pretty exciting. 

Then we headed home to have our team dinner at BJ's. It was nice to eat something other than pizza, pretzel chips, Pringles, granola bars and peanut butter!

The team had such a great time that they are already talking about doing it again next year or even Ragnar Las Vegas in November.  

Our team placed 89th out out of 371 Open Mixed Teams with a time of 31 hours and 7 minutes. Not too bad for some first timers!