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.

Weekly Update: 10/21/13 to 10/27/13

I have been telling myself that I am going to take it easy for a couple of weeks and I think I have been a very good listener! I have just been feeling like I kind of need a break and I want to be well rested and refreshed before I start training for the LA Marathon in a few weeks. I also have Ragnar Las Vegas coming up in less than two weeks. I don't have very many miles (11.7 Miles to be exact) so my legs are manageable. I have the Surfer's Point Half Marathon the week following Ragnar Las Vegas so I did not want to over-commit and end up injured for over doing it.

Here is how my week turned out:

Monday: REST

Tuesday:  REST

Wednesday: 7 Miles@ 9:01 pace on the treadmill. It was one of those days that I had to drag myself to the gym! I am trying to keep my other half on track for the half marathon we are running in a few weeks so he kind of motivates me to show up.

Thursday: REST

Friday: 7.5 Miles @9:21 pace with my other half. The weather was perfect! It was 55 degrees, overcast and drizzly. I kept thinking to myself that this weather would be perfect for a marathon. I actually wore a long sleeved shirt for the first time in forever. I was feeling kind of blah the first 4 miles and finally started feeling it the last 3.5 miles.

Saturday: REST

Sunday: 11 Miles @9:33 pace with my other half. I think he is ready for the half marathon. He actually says a few word to me when we run now. He is always so serious and hardly ever says anything to me except "I  have to pee!"

TOTAL MILES: 25.5

My plan is get back into some 8:XX pace miles this week. I have been enjoying the easy paced miles these past couple of weeks because sometimes it just feels good to take it easy and give your body a break.

So how was your week? Have you added any races to your calendar?

I have been thinking about it. I really want to run a race on my birthday!

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!