I had an absolute blast in Seattle and am really glad I jumped in on this Ultra relay. It was a lot of fun and the course was absolutely GORGEOUS!! By far the prettiest area I have ever ran in. There was no pressure to race or kill myself running fast so I just relaxed, had fun, and thoroughly enjoyed running in a completely new area. My team was great and I really just have no complaints. I had a dang good time!
Leg #1 - 9.5 miles, 7:23 pace 1005 feet gain, 541 feet loss. I was runner number 4 (legs 7&8) and my first leg started at 2:30pm. This was my shortest but what I thought would be my hardest leg of the race with the 1005 feet elevation gain. I went out conservatively and felt really good. Talked to a couple of runners the first couple of miles and just relaxed and took in all of the secenery. One guy that I was running with was really quick and my team already had a plan to beat there team (Risky Business Ultra team) so I got a little competitive and did my best to hang with him. He was going a little faster than I wanted to but I hung pretty close and finished about 30 seconds behind him. Last mile was 6:39 and last half mile was 6:09. Way faster than I had planned for this Ragnar but whatever I was having fun.
Leg #2 - 16.4 miles, 7:50 pace 1003 feet gain, 991 feet loss. I started this leg at about 2:00am. For some reason I had it in my head that my first leg was the hardest and that the other two would be easier. I think I was wrong because there is absolutely nothing easy about running for 2+ hours in the freaking middle of the night! I did not really look at my garmin during this leg because it was dark and my headlamp batteries were dead so I couldn't really see. I just ran by feel and once I hit the halfway point I suddenly felt better. I picked up the pace in an effort to be done running because I was tired and desperately wanted to sleep. Physically I felt good and was probably running -7:30 pace when all of a sudden it felt like someone took a match to both of my feet and set them on fire. I ran through excrutiating pain the last 2.5 miles. If I ran really fast and tried to barely let my feet hit the ground it felt better but I had to stop completely a few times and just jog it in. I have no idea why this happens to me from time to time but oh my goodness it is miserable. I think it is the worst feeling in the world to mentally and physically feel great but have something in your body not allow you to run the way you want to. It was a humbling experience for me.
Leg #3 12.5 miles, 7:32 pace 565 feet gain, 575 feet loss. I was incredibly worried about how my feet would hold up for this final leg. I changed my socks, changed my shoes, and plastered my feet with glide praying it would help. There was no one to run for me so I had no choice. I started at around 11:00am I believe and it was hot. We checked the humidity and it said 100%! Is that even possible? Anyway I felt suprisingly really good and my legs did not feel like I had already ran 2 legs. It was weird because usually I am dead by that last leg. I kept a steady and conservative 7:30 pace all while worrying about my stupid feet. They felt okay until about mile 10 when the crazy someone took a match to my feet and set them on fire pain started again. Dang it! I powered through because I knew I only had to run for 20 min max and the last 1.5 mi was downhill which really helped.
Final Thoughts: I had a freaking blast and am really glad I decided to do this. Ragnars are fun but they also present challenges that I think really translate to training well. Running on zero sleep is not easy. I feel like I ran the right pace without killing myself and got in some great training. Now the big question is what in the heck is going on with my feet?? I think it has something to do with the pounding uphill/downhill but wow there is no way I could finish a marathon in that kind of pain. I will not sign up for a fall marathon until I can figure out what in the heck is happening! | 