Ragnarians Parte Dos

This week was a hot mess including only 1 short run, a Tuesday night boxing class (with scheming), and a YW pillow case creating activity. In addition to me crushing all my patients into basically 3 days (kill me). But that's not what's important. 

Let's talk Ragnar. 

We had 2 teams, each consisting of 8 runners, several of which backed out or were injured, requiring several last minute replacements. Luckily, Rog, my friend Lindsey from CO, and I were able to make it up to the outer Zion without complication and fueled by delicious Proper Meats sandwiches. (She has been lacking meat in her diet, so we made sure to rectify that ASAP).

The Crew.

Day 1 of Ragnar included setting up camp in a great location right behind the bathrooms/showers, and close to the starting line. Amy (who injured her hip and had to back out, but found her own replacement) made us delicious spaghetti - seriously, unparalleled. We had to wait for people to arrive and go sign the waivers (since they didn't online) and made sure Lindsey was oriented. We got our gear, including bright tye-dye sweatpants that fit perfectly. And tried to get to bed early. 

Love those early morning runs. 

Day 2 was race day. Our girls team started off at 8am with Heather, who passed the baton to me for my least favorite yellow loop (4.4 miles straight up and down a sandy mountain with no shade) - which wasn't as bad as last time. I did some walking and stretching and ate the best pulled pork ever (thanks Becky). 

It was crazy with two full teams and some extra people who wanted to support even though injuries prevented them from running. BUT. Eric, on the boys team, was super sick after his first run and we thought he was catatonic for a while, so we convinced Amy (injured hip) and Matt (fractured pelvis) to run his other two loops. 

The Finish. 

I played some Yahtzee and hung out at camp (with regular voyages into "Ragnar village" for free stuff). After drinking part of an energy drink I ran my Green loop (4.4 miles with pretty steep ups and downs) in the late afternoon and felt great. I ate some more dinner and almost a whole bag of chips and tried to sleep. Unfortunately, I do not consume caffeine regularly and was unable to do so. Rog, Linds, and I dipped in the ice tubs and then the hot tubs instead. 

On his way to try to catch Linds.

So I was awake when another runner decided they were out. This time from my team. And the loop they had left was the same as mine - the Red loop, aka the longest, hardest one. I ran my own loop around 3am, finishing before 5 and actually really enjoyed it. It might be my favorite one, honestly. But after I cooled down from that, there was no way I was running it again. 

I ate even more pulled pork and helped clean up camp and supported our other runners. The boy's team finished at around 10, and most of them left pretty quick. We hung out and waited while Eric (thankfully much recovered) agreed to run our last loop of the race. He killed it, Becky killed it, Lindsey killed it (also was set on NOT letting Rog lap her). We ended up 10th in the women's division. There were 400 teams overall, but not sure how many in our division. 

The Women. Minus Two. 

We took Becky with us back to Page (grabbed some chicken en route) and were actually able to walk into the house this time. We ate pizza, showered, napped, and then went to bed. We saw no snakes, but did eat some waffles/bacon and pork chops the next day. We leisurely made our way home to unpack. And met up with Taylor for some Enemy Rummy and a bout of trying to name everyone in our class (yikes). 

These kids. 

It was a fun time. I was pretty close to my times from last year, BUT my knee didn't hurt - which is SIGNIFICANT. I loved hanging out with Lindsey who I don't see or talk to often enough, but is an absolute delight and a beautiful friend. I also liked hanging with Becky and Rog, who I do see often, and meeting Brandon (even though the first night was a little rough).