Good morning everyone! Hows your Tuesday going so far? My past two mornings have been a little tough getting out of bed post-Ragnar and my brain has felt like mush up until today, so I can finally type out a recap! 
Let me just start off by saying, Ragnar was the most incredible experience. The teamwork, the friendships, the laughter, the running, the sleep deprivation… 100% worth it for this experience. We made sure we packed a lot of food and baby wipes to last us through the next few hours!
I was in van 2, so we couldn’t start running until van 1 one finished their first legs. We got to start a little bit later (sorry van 1 for having to wake up at 5) and drove to exchange 6 to hang out, stretch, check out the expo they had, and stock up on Nuun! 
Here comes Janice, meaning it was our turn to start!
And van 2 has started! Brandon was leg 7 and I was leg 8, so I spent the entire time during his 12 miler feeling extremely impatient to start running. I wasn’t scheduled to run until 5:50PM and as a morning runner, I experienced a lot of angst waiting for my turn. 
The last few minutes before Brandon was scheduled to come in so I could take off! For Ragnar, any time from 6:30PM-6:30AM is considered night time and you have to be wearing reflective gear- even though I started my leg around 5:50PM, it was going to be considered “night time” once I started going. My first leg was 9.3 at 7:55 min/ mile! My coach and I discussed Ragnar strategy of having two tempo runs and 1 marathon goal pace run during Ragnar. I didn’t believe I could do it and kind of regretted how fast I ran the first leg!! 
This one was a little tougher- 5.4 miles in the dark at 2:30AM! I was definitely feeling a little anxious about running this leg, especially since the longer your leg is, the less people in between you there are. However, something about the fear and adrenaline caused this leg to be ran at a 7:56 min/mile average, knocking my two tempo runs out of the way! 
The next morning after our van finished by 6AM, we found the nearest Denny’s we could for real food. Even diner food tasted good after nothing but peanut butter, bread, pretzels, and bananas. It didn’t necessarily feel good a few hours later, but no regrets in the moment. 
My last leg was the toughest- 8.8 miles through La Jolla. I was definitely familiar with my surrounds and where I was running since I’ve ran a lot in these areas but I didn’t know if my legs could handle such heavy elevation. Finished in 9:19 min/mile, 19 seconds slower than my marathon goal pace! I’ll attribute that to all the hills ;) 
Anthony and I both finished our legs! Time for 3 more teammates to finish theirs before we have finished our FIRST RAGNAR! 
Rachel was our last leg so we were so excited to run to the finish line with her. She absolutely killed it, sprinting the 100 meters, making it very hard for us to follow! 29 hours, 22 mins, something seconds later, and our SoCal Ragnar Relay was done! We probably got a total of 2 hours sleep during that entire trip, but it was well-worth it. I am hooked and ready to relay again! 
Medals and beer- the perfect combo. 
Cheers to the perfect and best 2 days of my life! 
Oh yeah, my legs were in serious need of some TLC after. These elevation legs were great and served as massaging compression socks. I was a little skeptical at first but once they started, I was in heaven.
RunMileswithSmiles
The Diary of a Runner's Fitness Journey
RunMileswithSmiles 