Ragnar with Team Durapulse

The best team out there:

Ragnar:

197 miles

12 runners

Wickenburg to Tempe

Do you wanna run Ragnar? Sure, count me in. Friday morning 6 am came around and I met my team. At this point we were 12 people, mostly strangers to each other. We split up into Vans of 6 people each, us being Van 1 which ment we were running for the first 6 legs before we got a little break.

Nice to meet you Ken, Steve, Chris, Carey and Kelly. Little did we know what the next 30 hrs in one van would turn into...

Here we go, navigating our way to Wickenburg:

Here we are before I took off for my first 8.5 mile run. Everyone was happy and refreshed.

I ran the first 4 miles with a guy from a different team, but then he got tired and I said ADIOS. As I made my way to the first exchange I was wondering why the van hadn't passed me yet...there was no other way then this road to get to the exchange...mhhh...I got to transition and waited...for about 15 minutes. There were lots of teams at the exchange, everyone super excited since it was the very first one :-) And everyone kept asking : Where is your team? Mhhh, not sure, but I was 100 % sure they would come eventually ;-)

I have to admit that I was there a little early. You have to turn in "predicted" times and I decided to run a little faster then that time. So it was not their fault.

After I handed off the bracelet to my teammate, the remaining 5 of us laughed for about an hour about the exchange-accident.

We switched off and switched off and cheered out the window and had a TON of fun. The first 6 legs went by so fast and we handed off to Van 2. Time for us to...sleep? get some rest? NO WAY. Time to get...

...some coffee. We wanted to cheer for every Durapulse athlete out there (we had 3 teams), so we had to stay awake and we made it our mission to be the loudest, happiest and most cheery people out there.

With that much action going on in the van it was no surprise that the van soon looked like this:

Poor Ken, who provided us with the Vans...We decided to use window crayons not only for the outside windowns but also for the inside of the van...where else would we write down notes from the trip, right? The van was great!!! A comfy companion for 30 hrs. Stuffed with 6 pillows and 6 now sweaty runners, food for 6 people and much more. Ken tried to keep it under control by looking in his secret mini-van-mirror.


At 9 pm it was our turn again to run and I was so thankful that I was runner 1. I had 7 miles in Sun City before I handed off the bracelet. Our last runner went off at around midnight. We were for sure the loudest van out there, I think everyone else gave up and went to bed:-) NOT US. We went back and forth to see if our runners needed anything and to motivate them!!! Now that is Team Spirit!!!

We ended our legs in Anthem and took a shower and a attempted to take a 1 hr nap. Mhhh...50% successful before we got back up at 5 am to drive to the last leg. There was no time for breakfast, but my sweet teammates offered to get coffee for me and have it ready after my run!!! Whohooo!!!

We got done running our legs at 11 am on Saturday and now it was up to Van 2 to bring it home to Tempe.

The unbelievable part was that our coach's team consisted of only 6 people (for 197 miles). They started 6 hrs !!! later then us and managed to pass us at noon on Saturday!!! It is amazing how far people can push their bodies, especially on no sleep!!! CRAZY!!!

Ragnar is a super fun event and if you ever get the chance to do it: DO IT!!!
We ended up 7th in the race and we are on a mission to take 1st place next year. We were the 2011 masters of Roadkill -athletes that started earlier then us- (what the heck? Roadkill? Street Roadkill? NO- runner roadkill :-) We passed 130 runners with our team and van 2 120!!! 250 roadkills for team Durapulse!!!)

By the end of the 30 hours none of the 5 people in my van were strangers anymore. Actually, I have been without them for one day now and I think I miss them already :-)

VOS weekend

It was really hard to take a week off of training :-) I guess I am addicted. I was "staying-in-bed-sick" until Tuesday morning...on Thursday I attempted to go for a ride...that lasted for about 20 min before I got a headache. I ran for about 30 min, but my HR was really high. Grrr...one more day of rest. Friday evening I went to the pool and felt surprisingly good for being out of the world of exercise for one week.
This weekend I watched the Valley of the Sun Stage race as my team was racing and I was soooo jealous - but I totally loved being the supporter/spectathlete/cheerleader :-)

The hardest part was watching the Criterium. Stage Races have a great variety of events -VOS had a TT, a Roadrace and a Crit. I like the TT, like the Roadrace but LOVE the Crit. Oh well, there will be lots more races in the cycling world that I can do.

Unfortunately two of my teammates crashed at the Roadrace and ended up in the hospital (yes, I know, I feel guilty complaining about being sick...small fish compared to a crash like that!!!)There was a crash 10 min into the Cat 1,2,3 race- I hope everyone involved heals fast!!! My two teammates are tough cookies. They both showed up at the Crit today to cheer (one with a sling around her arm due to a broken bone in her shoulder, the other one with a cast one her arm due to a fracture in her radius)...and let me tell you, they cheered LOUD. They did not complain once...VERY IMPRESSIVE!!! I hope they get better very soon.

How much more can I sleep?

I have been feeling sick for the last 3 days, and I have slept a ton. I actually managed to fall asleep WHILE my friend talked to me (ooops). Today I found out the reason for the sleepiness: Acute sinus infection/flu symptoms and a fever...yeah, that would make one sleepy. I finally went to Urgent Care to take care of this so I can be up and running (literally) ASAP.

This last weekend was supposed to consist of Crit racing and a Trail run/race, instead it turned into nap, waiting room, bed...sleeping through the superbowl (I did see the half time show and...well...lets just say I will stick to my Ipod for listening to the BIP:-) Maybe they were just nervous...)

Here is to getting healthy and strong and a season without any more interruptions!!!