If you didn’t know already, Adam and I are running the Ragnar Relay in the Adirondacks this weekend. If you’re not familiar with the race, check out last night’s post or the above hyperlink. 🙂
—————————————————-
Yes, the race ended Saturday, but let me tell you about the end of the race and why exactly there was no finishing post the way I’d intended.
We attempted to sleep at Exchange 18. There were about a hundred people split up in a variety of rooms – classrooms and gymnasiums, etc – throughout this school. I decided that lying down and sleeping in a crowded room of strangers wasn’t exactly a desire of mine, so I rested my head on my arms and a few coats on a table in the student cafeteria. I was dozing and almost asleep when a few runners past by and pointing at me, said, “Now that says everything.” I didn’t fall asleep for more than a few minutes, and Adam woke me with news that Van 2 was quickly approaching their next exchange point (Exchange 24) and we needed to start on the 40-minute drive there. It took me a long time walking through pitch black rooms of sleeping people to find Hayley and Anna and then we headed on to meet up with our team.
We did well our last leg of the race. The rain, which had stopped for all of Van 2’s legs, started up with a vengeance again, and we found ourselves stiff, exhausted at 4am, cold, and not quite in the mood to go for a run. Ray took the wildcard leg plus his own and ran a decent time. Then, I took over, and unfortunately, our time clock on my phone got erased, so we’re not 100% of all our official numbers. Either way, it was a very slow 5.7 miles for me, as my left knee was all flaired up and hurting. I had to walk a good bit, stop and stretch, and then just run through the pain (and the rain). I was very happy to see the end of the almost-six mile run and to finally sit down and realize I was actually done!!
The rest of our legs finished up well, and Adam finalized our time with a quick 4.3-mile
run that he destroyed in 6:30 min/miles. We cheered on Van 2 as they began and started the long road to recovery. Excited to be done and so ready to be warm and dry, we paid for access to the bathrooms and showers only to find that we had ice water for showers. We girls decided against the showers, simply dried off, and got warm, and made ourselves as presentable as one could be after hours in a smelly, cramped van and a constant downpour of rain and sweat.
We decided food was the next priority. It was about time for breakfast, so we made our way to Lake Placid, visited a bakery and a Starbucks, and enjoyed the moment. We got updates on Van 2 periodically, and as they were finishing up their legs, we joined them at the finish to run the last .10 mile as a team.
We were sore. We were exhausted. We were quickly getting wet again from the rain that
continued to come. But we were done. 🙂
Together, as a team of 10 crazy dedicated friends, we had run 192.7 miles from Saratoga to Lake Placid. It was an amazing finish!
Overall, we finished #35 out of 227 teams, 4th in our way, and at a total time of 26:58:59:20.
Adam’s Run Times: 23.4 miles
10:00am – 5.3 miles -COMPLETED
2:00pm – 5.1 miles – COMPLETED
12:00am – 8.7 miles – COMPLETED
8:50am – 4.3 miles – COMPLETED
Ashley’s Run Times: 16.7 miles
12:00pm – 5.1 miles – COMPLETED
9:00pm – 5.9 miles – COMPLETED
6:15am – 5.7 miles – COMPLETED
——————-
Our recovery consisted of driving the 2 hours back to our camper and sleeping for 17 hours. We are actually less sore than we felt immediately following finishing the race, and we continue to train for our next event, the Tough Mudder in Kentucky on October 20.
——————-
For more information on Ragnar, visit: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/about
Making My Boast 