So Cal Ragnar

These pictures are in no particular order.  But the only way I can talk about this is from going from beginning to end.  So back in October after I had finished my Half, I had a friend from work ask me if I was interested in doing the So Cal Ragnar with some of her family.  Of course I didn't want to pass up that opportunity, so here you have it...I did it!  And, I am SOOO GLAD I DID IT!

I only knew one person on the team, but I got to know my van real fast!  hahha, Spending a good part of 32 hours with them in a van will make you fast friends.  I met the rest my van they night before when we went out to dinner.

We had to be up at 3:45 am Friday April 19th so we could be to the start line to check in and do an orientation by 4:30 am. I didn't sleep very well and was actually up at 3 and just layed there until my alarm went off.  I think that night I got maybe 2 hours of sleep.  We got there did our orientation and ate a little oatmeal and bananas they provided for us (it was pretty good).  Before we knew it, it was time for our first runner to start her first leg.  I couldn't believe we were ready to begin.  Our start time was set for 5:30 AM.

Jessica, who was the friend that invited me was our first runner.  She lined up at the start line and she was off.  The race started on the Beach up in Huntington, so it was a little chilly that morning with the ocean breeze, and it was of course still dark.

From there we went and found our next exchange where Matt took off, and then we repeated that through, Josh, Ashley, me and then Brian!  It was fun at each exchange there were a million Port a potties, and Vans and cars that were all decorated...It was sooo fun to see what each team came up with.  We would see a lot of the same people at each exchange and became friends with a lot of them.

At each of the BIG exchanges where our runners would finish and the next van would start there were always big parties...Music, free food, sponsors handing out things.  Even at the exchange in the middle of the night there was a big party.  The funnest part was, is you would wait for your team member at each exchange and there would be someone about 200 yards from the exchange that would relay what the number was of the runner coming in so the next runner could be standing there waiting.  So whenever we would hear our number 151 it was so exciting and of course we would all cheer.   It was really funny and sad at the same time when would see a runner come in and their team wasn't there.

I didn't have as long of distances on my runs as a lot of my team did, but I had A LOT of big hills to run up and then back down and then back up.  I ended up doing a total of 13 miles in less than 24 hours.  My first run was at about 9 AM and I did about 2.6 miles...it was all up hill except the last 1/2 mile.  My second run was at 8 PM and was 5.8 miles.  It was dark and I had to wear a headlight. I was a little nervous about this run, but it wasn't as bad as I thought.  There was one point there was a dog in the back of a truck that ran past and it barked at me and scared. the. crap. out of me.  I think I jumped 6 feet in the air.  This run was 4 miles down hill and then 2 miles on flat ground.  Pretty easy run!  My last run was at 6:30 the next morning and was 4.6 miles.  This run was pretty steep uphill as well.  At one point, I swear I was running in place.  This run was done after I had been up for 2 days already.  I. WAS. EXHAUSTED.  The best part of this run though was the fact that it ended on the beach and I was able to walk down to the sand after and just sit on it for a minute.  I loved that part of it. 
As far as my sleeping went, or lack of sleeping.  I stayed in a Hotel Thursday night with a friend and her family.  Her husband snored all night and I was sleeping in a tiny little recliner that didn't recline very far. I got to bed about 11 and had to be up at 3:45.  But because I couldn't sleep because of snoring...I was up for the day at 3 and not to mention waking up every half hour.  I had a few cat naps throught the day, but I didn't get to bed until 12 o'clock that night and was back up at 1:30 to meet for the next shift of running.  Our van was done running at 8:30 saturday morning so we headed back to get showered and little naps before we met out team at the finish line in Embarcadero in San Diego. 
It was seriously soooo fun!  I was soooo exhausted though.  I did recover faster than I thought I would...which was good.
I would for sure do it again...but next time I do it, I want to do it with friends