Final Thoughts on Ragnar

I still am having trouble consolidating my thoughts into one neat little blog post, so I give you the following:

Ragnar:  The Highs


- Supporting the other runners.  My favorite couple of hours was when Rachel was running her 11 miler in the 90 degree heat (mainly because I didn't have to hear her yap yap yap all the damn time*).  We parked our van at several stops along the route to give the runners water, ice, gatorade, and a little cheer.

  

Cheer, also known as eyepatches on the tatas.
Photo credit, and sweet flag skills:  Falon

World-class roadside support right here:

- Falon's tweets, and discovering the hilarity of the hashtag.  A few of my favorites:

Sleeping on the ground at ragnar. #dryhumping

Ragnar is so fun! #punchinthebutthole

At exchange 17. Kimmie and Rachie are ready to pound out 3 together. #lesbianlovers

- My team.  They were all so awesome.  We really were lucky to have pieced together 12 enthusiastic, happy runners.

Ragnar:  The Lows


-Running all by our lonesome.  We really didn't experience the same Ragnar as a lot of other teams:  no rowdy exchanges full of teams, no seeing the same runners over and over and getting to know the other vans.  We started too late for our pace, and bringing up the rear was lonely.


-The finish line.  This was a little spirit-crushing guys.  Long story short, we were down two runners due to a family emergency, my van was stuck in Chicago traffic, and the other runners were just waiting fifty feet before the finish line for us. For a long, long time, in the blazing midday sun.

I crossed the damn finish line holding my purse and wearing flip flops, stumbling through the sand.  Our team ran kind of together the last fifty feet, but it wasn't the triumphant finish we had imagined.  Tears were shed behind my sunglasses, and it was bitterly disappointing.


-The finish line medical area.  One of our runners had a bit of heat exhaustion and was dehydrated, and the aid station put her on a cot.  They did not have ice, cold water for compresses, or anything else that you'd expect from an event like Ragnar.  It was 90 degrees, and I'm surprised they weren't overrun by runners needing help.


So, the big question:  Would I do it again?




Yes.  Definitely.  I learned a lot, and I had a lot of fun.


However, the next one I do, I'd like to walk onto someone else's team instead of organizing one.  It was a lot of fun, and Rachel did most of the work, but it still was a tremendous amount of time and effort over a 6 month period, and I'd kind of like to see what it's like to hop on someone else's team and just go with the flow.


Also, I'd like to do a different one other than Chicago... any suggestions?


  



*Jab specifically crafted to elicit this face:  

wtf?  I thought we were friends?