Ragnar 2010 - Run Like a.... Speedimus Minimus

I ran my very first (but definitely not last) Ragnar Relay race at the end of this summer. Yay! These are a few (or a lot) of the highlights from the 29 hour, 193 mile race.

Team Speedimus Minimus = 12 racers, 2 vans, lots of fun, little sleep.

This was our van o' cowbell fun. Carrie and I were the only single representation on our team of 12, which was fine but made it a little awkward at times since everyone else had a spouse and they all were best friends too. BUT, we still had fun. The biggest surprise of the race came as we were driving to our starting point (we were van 2, van 1 had started racing at 9:30 that morning beginning in Winona, MN), and all of a sudden, we drive into Ellsworth MN! That is only the one and only home of Angel's, our very favorite roadside cafe that serves the BEST deep fried cheese curds ever. It was an easy sell to get van 2 to stop for lunch. Van 2 team included: Carrie Hanson, John & Jamie Parrish, Scott & Carey Baldwin, and me!

The van 2 starting point (exchange 6) was out in the middle of nowhere. Garmin couldn't find a road to map for us either.

And this is where Garmin finally got us to, but only after Scott nearly drove us off the road.

I was the third racer in our van, but I finally got to run. The weather report told us thunder showers. Lucky me, I got to run in 95 degree weather, not a cloud in the sky, and about 80% humidity. Needless to say, good thing I was only running 3.5 miles because it was miserably hot. And, I killed Carrie's iPod with my sweat.

Coming in at the exchange with Jamie. I'm pretty sure my shirt wasn't two-toned when I started.

Cooling off in the shade.

Seeing the sights while waiting for our runner to come by so we could cheer really loud with the cowbells. The double fist pump was the runner indication that everything was OK. (That's the Mississippi River (and Lake Pepin) in the background.)

Flashback 1985. Glow bracelets. We were cool.

Scott demonstrating all the safety gear we had to wear while running at night - headlamp & blinky safety vest. It felt more like we were construction workers than runners.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of my second leg in the race, which was at around 3 am, somewhere on the east side of the St. Croix river headed up towards the Stillwater bridge. If my first leg was miserable with the heat and humidity, this leg was its own form of misery. I got to run through a sticky, hot, drenching fog for all 5.5 miles. It was 75-80 degrees (yes at 3am) but it was also 98% humidity. Even with the headlamp (that died about 2 miles in, luckily my support team was up the road a mile and gave me a new one), I couldn't see anymore than 15-20 feet in front of me. Luckily there were only a few cars on the road that night - AND I had a construction worker blinky vest. So, the pic below shows the fog in Stillwater a few hours after I was done racing.

Finally, my last leg. I got to run along the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul. However, I was so exhausted at that point and didn't have any food in me, so I was just ready for my piece to be over.

My last exchange. Yay!

The end of the race...

Maybe next year I'll actually train for the race.