Ragnar Part II: The Tutu

So...a Ragnar team usually consists of 12 runners...6 in one van, 6 in the other. While van 1 is running, Van 2 rests and vice-versa. The race starts early Friday morning and ends sometime Saturday afternoon...going through the night. My team captain...cute Celeste, is a veteran Ragnar runner and knew the ins and outs...including the joys of having a team costume. I thought we were out of the woods when we were still costume-less the day before the race. But then Costco had to ruin all that for me.

You may or may not be able to tell that this us...digging through a large pile of tutus. Someone found them and jokingly said "It would be funny if..." and in an instant a little joke became a terrible reality. You might be wondering why Costco would be selling adult-sized tutus. Well, don't worry, they weren't. These are little girl's tutus...the largest size being a little girl's 7/8...and while there were a few runners on our team who probably do fit into little girl's clothing, for the rest of us, it was a bit of a tight squeeze. All in the name of fashion?

We got compliments /comments throughout the entire race. People we didn't know asked to take our picture...about 25-30 people (real number, not "Jules number"). And people who didn't ask were also taking our picture. I have a feeling I may one day find not-so-flattering (as if any of them are) pictures of me in a tutu. Men seemed to be particularly interested...as is evidenced in this picture below:

You may have to click on it to see it bigger, but there is a man standing behind us watching...and this is pretty indicative of how things went.

At first I was NOT a fan of this idea. I did fall a little in love with my tutu (and may have even worn it when it wasn't required-like while stretching before the race while watching TV) but still refused to actually wear it while running (most of my teammates wore theirs for all three of their runs). They said "Oh, you will cave...you'll wear it." FALSE! I did not.

Ragnar Part I: The Hill

This past weekend I completed my first Ragnar (a 2-day, 200-mile relay race)...I say first because I loved it and hope to do another one soon. That being said, the first of my three legs was a 7-mile nightmare of a hill. I have had this little picture (see below) taped to my wall for the past several months and as I've been training I've been looking at it thinking..."I got this, I can so do this..." The nice little chart does indicate an elevation gain...but as the MONSTER hills were in front of me (and kept coming and coming), I suddenly felt that the cute little chart was a GIANT lie...it should have looked more like the heart monitor of a person in the middle of an acute heart attack...with violent spikes. (Which maybe is was my heart was actually doing during the climbing of said hills). However, when I finally got to the top and knew I was at the 5.3 mile mark and that the rest was downhill, I think I remember saying an out loud "Thank you Jesus" that was as sincere a prayer as I have ever uttered.

More pictures and stories to come...but to summarize, I ran 12.7 miles, biked 13 as a pacer (for the middle-of-the-night legs). It was the hardest race I've ever run and I understand why people say a Ragnar is harder than a half or full marathon...just such a different thing... I loved the experience and am excited to run another sometime soon hopefully.

Camping/Hiking...Pat's Run

More March fun...camping/hiking with friends, including the annual "Burn a Birthday Chair," which is undoubtedly bad for the enviornment and good for bonding with friends...Also ran a local race...happy to have completed it faster than last year...was happy the hills didn't quite hurt as much...

Nat and I before the race...

The starting line...see the balloon arch very far away...yes, the first runners crossed the finish line before most of us began the race...due to a "wave start" and there being about 20,000 runners.

The race ends in the ASU stadium...so many people...

Some friends and I after the race.

Mom and Dad's Visit

I'm back from my blogging break...here's a quick update...in March, Mom and Dad visited. We had a great time which included: shopping, hiking, eating, playing, etc. (I think my dad may remember it more like: shopping, shopping, shopping...). It was a short visit but we had fun. I think (and hope) they're coming again soon!

A few pictures of our hike...some are of us actually hiking and some are when mom and I played while dad went on a "real hike."