Better late than never right! This is one of those memories I do not want to forget so I even though it was all the way back on Oct 22 and 23, I am going to write about it right now.
It was one of those experiences where it was definitely challenging, but even more rewarding. There was moments where I realized why some people hate running and even wondered if I ever wanted to run again myself. There were other moments that I felt so incredible when I was running. One of the best things about this experience, however, was meeting and sharing the experience with everyone on my team. Our team was amazing. They were so supportive and inspiring. I especially couldn't have asked for a better group of people in my van!
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| Girls of Van 2 |
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| Guys of Van 2 |
Here are just a few reason why I found our team so inspiring. We had people running even though they didn't feel good. There was one who hurt his knee pretty bad and kept going and even ran his second leg backwards! We decided with the knee injury that he shouldn't run his last leg (did I mention that he had the hardest route). Another person who only had two weeks to train picked up the extra leg and did four legs, and other people running a different last leg than was expected. Another person ran through what we considered a river bed in the dark, and fell a couple times along the way. So many people where willing to help each other and offered much needed support.
I was runner number 11 out of the 12 runners. My first route was 2.5 Miles and considered easy. This route definitely had more of an incline than I expected and so even though it was considered easy it still had its challenges for me. It was a nice run and I even got a kill (a kill is where you past someone). I didn't count how many times I got killed though ;).
My second run was 7.2 miles and considered hard. This was my favorite run. It started at 4 am and even though I could barely keep my eyes opened during runner 10's run, once I got going it felt amazing and I felt so energized. It was so peaceful running at night and for the longest time I could barely see the flashing lights of the person in front of me. I kept going and eventually caught up to someone and then another one. I am pretty proud of my five kills during that run, the last one being in the last couple of feet. It was during this run that I couldn't wait to do another Ragnar, I knew I was hooked.
My last route was supposed to be 4.8 miles and considered moderate. My last route, however was changed to 5.6 miles and considered hard. Unfortunately, I was not quite prepared for this route and its steady gradual incline. I had told myself that I was not going to walk at all, and up to this point I had done great. I started this run off and I was doing fine. Then a couple miles in the wind and incline started to get to me and I finally broke down and walked and took support from the van. It was so hard to keep going after that, I just wanted to keep walking. Along my route I even saw a tarantula which kept me running for a little bit. And through the tears of frustration and disappointment of walking so much, I finally finished my last leg. It was this leg that was my biggest challenge. It took a little bit to get over my frustration of that last run, but now I am just proud of myself and hopefully next time I will be a little more prepared.
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| Waiting to start my last run |
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| On my last run |
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| Support from a wonderful team |
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| Finally finished! |
I am so glad that I had this opportunity, I think the only thing that could have made it better was if my husband could have been there. Now that I have finished and experienced how much fun and accomplishment it brings, I can not wait to run another one.
