A Tale of Two Ragnars (Part 1): Richmond Trail

Back in April I ran my first Ragnar Relay EVER!  It was the Ragnar Trail Relay in Richmond, VA.  I was so excited and nervous because it was also my first time camping.  Like in a tent.  I had done the cabin camping where you have an actual bed but bring everything you need, but a tent.  THAT was new.  And as an added bonus for camping at the race, there would be no going to the bathroom in the woods.

The plan was to go down on Thursday around lunchtime, then get our campsite settled and later that night I would volunteer for our team.  (Ragnar Relays require one volunteer for trail races, three for road races if you live within a certain distance of the race.)  That morning I rushed around getting everything together and ate a quick lunch and before I knew it, one of my friends and I were headed to Richmond from central Maryland.  Thankfully it was a rare moment for I-95 and traffic was a breeze.  (We actually had to wait around because we arrived EARLY!!)  My teammate and I quickly unpacked the car and while she parked the car and took the shuttle back I dragged everything down to our new home.  Since we are apart of the Moms/She Run(s) This Town running group and we had so many teams registered Ragnar graciously blocked off spaces for all of the MRTT/SRTT teams.  I threw bags in 4 different squares for the other teams in our chapters and kept bringing more luggage.

Once my friend returned, we began arranging and putting up our two large tents.  (Thankfully it was quick because apparently I'm a natural!)  Soon 5 of our teammates and our support crew (a couple of ladies brought their husbands) began to arrive and get settled in.  (Our eighth runner was arriving the next morning.)  I also took the opportunity to inflate my Lamzac lounger and it was super easy!

 I ran off to grab a quick dinner and to volunteer.  They had me on t-shirt duty.  Essentially runners handed me a ticket then I gave them a shirt.  Easy peasy.  When I got back to the camp at 10pm I was ready to spend time getting to know my teammates.  After chatting for a little while (and of course hydrating, because there was supposed to be a heat wave starting the next day) it was time to get to sleep.  Before heading in though I wanted to check the radar just to be sure it wouldn't rain in the night.  Sure enough, there was a thunderstorm headed our way for the dead of the night.  I took the opportunity to tell my teammates that the storm was coming and we brought our shoes inside the tent.  Sure enough, at about 1:30 am we started to hear booming.  And I was so terrified.  I hate thunderstorms, but to be in a tent during a thunderstorm is even more terrifying.  I started checking the radar repetitively hoping that it would be over soon.  And then to break up the radar checking, I texted my husband who was back home with a solid roof over his head and in a comfy bed.  Meanwhile I was trying to sleep in a tent in my slowly deflating lounger.

The next morning we found that we made out pretty well.  The only things that were ruined by the rain were a couple of signs we had made for our campsite.  Soon after waking up our support crew started making us eggs and bacon.  We also had some shelf stable items like oatmeal so I ended up having a nice big breakfast of bacon, eggs and oatmeal.  Soon the pre-race anxiety started to kick in.  We weren't scheduled to start until 1pm and it was starting to get hot FAST.  I was estimated to start around 3:00, right at the heat of the day so I started hydrating almost immediately.  It was really hard to stay hydrated with as much as I was sweating even despite drinking a lot of nuun as well.  I also wasn't hungry after breakfast at all.  I managed to convince myself to eat some sweet potato chips but not much else.  (This is weird for me since my stomach is basically on an alarm clock and always lets me know when it's even close to time to eat.)

Soon it was time for my first loop.  My legs went from hardest to easiest.  (All the runners on each team will end up running all three loops, just in a different order.)  I had no idea what to expect since I was the first runner to do the red (or hard) loop.

And it was hard.  Like ridiculously hard.  There were so many twists and turns that it really started to mess with my head.  All the loops started in the same area, but the red loop was actually inside most of the green loop so you could never tell if somebody was actually ahead or behind you until you saw them on the same path.

Afterwards I still wasn't hungry and to be honest I was feeling a little frustrated since my pace was terrible.  (I finished 5.4 miles in 1:23:04 with a pace of 15:25.)  Then I quickly reminded myself--it's trail so you're naturally going to be slower.  It was HOT with barely any breeze through the trees and despite being in the shade for the majority of the race, it didn't help very much.  And I also made the rookie (but unavoidable) mistakes of being dehydrated (first day of the year in the 90s) and not really eating much of anything.  I also ended up grabbing my meal ticket and meeting up with some friends to get dinner.  There were so many different food trucks that it was hard to choose!  I decided on getting a lamb gyro and fries along with a big cookie.  Once I sat down and started eating my stomach basically went "Oh!  Food!  I remember this!  Let's have more of this!"  And soon my plate was empty and I headed back to camp until my second leg.

I passed the time chatting with teammates and visiting with friends on other teams, and before I knew it the sun had set and it began to cool off (ever so slightly.)

My second leg (the yellow, moderately difficult leg) began around 1am.  This one was almost as hard as my first leg thanks to the darkness.  Since this race is completely contained within a state park, the race organizers weren't as strict about night gear as the road races.  But that didn't stop me from wearing a headlamp, shoe lights and noxgear vest.  (I hadn't gotten a chance to try out any of it since I bought it.)

The beginning of this loop was so cool.  They essentially had lit up the trees towards the beginning of all the loops (but far enough out that others wouldn't have seen it) using laser lights.  So all the trees around you looked something like this...

(image source)

Such a pretty (and magic looking) start to the race!

The shoe lights died at about the halfway point, which was a little irritating since this leg was only posted as 5.7 miles (but my Garmin read it as 6.)  I essentially used them to see obstacles, so once those lights went out I went a little slower.  This route had a lot more roots and rocks compared to my first loop so I was super nervous about falling.  There were a few nice downhills too which was nice because the first loop didn't have very many.  Fortunately this one didn't have very many twists and turns like the first one.  I finished this one in 1:32:09 with a pace of 15:20 so slightly better than my first loop's pace.

After this loop I stayed up a little while longer, had a quick snack and then headed to bed.  Thankfully I got a few hours of sleep and woke up feeling refreshed.  (For the most part, since again the lounger deflated a little bit despite reinflating.)

The next morning we had one last breakfast and this time the guys made scrapple, eggs and bacon.  I passed on the scrapple and had bacon, eggs and stirred some peanut butter into some cinnamon spice oatmeal.  (I highly recommend doing this because it was delicious!)  I was ready to be done.  I was so tired of being hot and sweaty and still dehydrated despite drinking water and nuun almost constantly.  While waiting in line for the bathroom I heard the announcer call our team number and after using the bathroom I tracked down our team captain and told her that they called our name.  This could only mean one thing:  They were going to let us double up so we could finish sooner.  Sure enough, the race organizers told us to double up on our last legs so I would have a friend on the last leg.

I was so happy when my last leg started just before 11am.  I was ready to be done with running.  (And being out in the heat, of course.)  The green leg was naturally the easiest.  And since I was done caring about my time, I took the time to take a few more pictures.  This leg started out similar to the red leg so the beginning looked very familiar.

Obligatory selfie with one of Ragnar's Totem poles.

And of course I had to take a selfie with the one mile left sign (although admittedly it was a bit awkward since it was so low to the ground.)

The last loop was certainly the easiest--lots of downhills, and some roots and rocks but nowhere near as many as other loops.  There were also some flat parts as well (yay!)  It was really interesting seeing the red loop runners as I went, but knowing in advance that I was going the easier route around all of them really helped.  The difficulty was also reflected in my finishing time--this loop was about 4.25 miles and I finished it in 1:04:04 with a pace of 15:05.  

Afterwards I was so happy and ready to eat all the things.  I ended up settling on a lemongrass chicken banh mi sandwich and a spring roll from the Hungry Turtle food truck.  

I love Vietnamese food, and this was amazing.  So refreshing and just filling enough that I didn't feel gross.  And I got super excited when one of my teammates offered up her extra beer ticket.  Because I definitely took advantage and got myself a beer.  And it also tasted amazing.  (There are actually studies saying beer after a race can help with recovery.)  It also didn't hurt that it was the first cold drink I had in my system since we arrived at the park.

At this point all I had to worry about was to pack up everything and for our final teammates to finish.  Once they let us know they were close, we waited a few yards from the finish line so we could all cross together.  Shortly thereafter the captain got our medals which in past years have been known to not be TSA friendly because of a saw blade on one side.  This year they released a TSA friendly version that was based around a spork.

We also had to do a shoefie with our medals showing how all of us did this amazing thing together.

One of the reasons to do the shoefie is that when all the medals are connected they say something on the back.

It was a little bittersweet because it was basically like the end of camp.  We had so much fun together, most of us came to the team as strangers but we left as friends.  And it would be difficult for all of us to get together again since we were from all over Maryland and one of the teammates was from New York.

By the time we crossed the finish line together, everything was packed up and ready to be put into our cars so we could head home.   We were out of the park by 4:30 and back home about three hours later.  I was so ready for a shower, dinner and then fall asleep.

Overall, I really enjoyed doing the trail Ragnar.  Basically the very next day I was trying to figure out how soon I could do my next one.  I loved that we all had a common shared space where we could spread out, and we could discuss each loop after we did them and let other teammates know if there was anything weird about it.  (Like how the red loop had a lot of twists and turns and messed with my head.)  I also liked that Ragnar brought in a variety of food trucks and provided a meal that first night of the race.  (They didn't provide food Thursday night.)  I would definitely recommend this race and am already considering running it again next year.