Ragnar SoCal 2012 Recap

Team Sole Train

The Southern California Ragnar Relay is over. Team Sole Train finished Saturday afternoon around 4:23pm on Coronado Island in San Diego. We started at 6:45am on Friday morning. That means that for 33 hours and 38 minutes, someone on our team was running non-stop, around the clock, to cover the 203.5 mile course. The only exception would have been at a busy street corner while waiting for the light to change, and sometimes not even then.

Pictured left is our team, except for Susan, who was about 3 minutes out on her way to where we were waiting at the finish line, and Zoe, who must have wandered off camera right as I snapped this. I really want to thank them for letting me be on their team this year as an alternate. I had a fantastic time and hope I did the team proud. Team Captain Adam did a fantastic job of keeping the team motivated and piloting Van 2, in addition to running the fastest times for the team. Amy, Matt, Mark and Susan were the others in Van 2.

Ivy kept Van 1 organized, which also had Rob, Zoe, Jen, Lauren, and Michael.

While the mileage was roughly even between the two vans, each van had its own challenges. I would say without question, those that ran on Friday between noon and 5:00pm bore the brunt of the heat and had the toughest runs because of it. All of Van 2 had a piece of this and Jen from Van 1 got the tail end of it. My 4.9mi leg in 96 degree heat and was the toughest run I've done in a very long time. I was never so happy to get through a run and grab a cold Zico Coconut water and Vega Sport Chocolate Coconut protein bar, as well as continually wiping my face down to keep sweat out of  my eyes.

I'd say that the leg that Jen started right after us was the toughest leg of the entire journey. It was a 10 mile run that started around 4:30 or so and the temps were still in the upper 80's at least. The first mile was a near 300ft elevation gain. To make matters worse, it was in a section that had no sidewalk or trail, so Jen was forced to run most of the distance on the shoulder of the road. She is a kindred spirit in her running style and was shod with a set of Vibram Bikilas. The problem is the shoulder was full of rocks and there is no protection at all in those shoes. They are made for streets, not pebbles and rocks. One of the Treks or a pair of the Spyridon's would have made a world of difference. She did an amazing job finishing that leg. I am not sure if I could have.

Right Before The Temps Got Insane

Whereas Van 2 ate heat during its first leg, Van 1 definitely got the short end of the sleeping stick. You'll see why shortly.

Van 1 started at 6:45am on Friday and knocked out 25.4mi by around 11:00am or so, give or take. They ran from Huntington Beach towards Corona, but it was early and temps were nice. Van 2 took over from there with 33.5mi ahead of it, all in the heat and deeper into the desert. Adam had the first leg, which was 8.8mi. The first 4 to 4.5 were pretty easy and he declined any support as we met him half way. He said he felt fantastic (left with the Camelbak) and didn't need cold water. Notice Amy had two bottles of semi-frozen water he declined to drink or have poured over him. By the time he got done though, the temps had shot up and he was feeling it. The five remaining members of our team would have to finish 24.7mi among us in temps that were never south of 90 again and the heat index got up to 115. Oh, I cannot forget the obligatory "it was a dry heat."

Sleeping Quarters For Van 2

We wrapped up around 4:30pm, exchanged the wrist band with Van 1 and Jen headed off on her brutal 10 miler described above. We wished them well and headed off to dinner. It was right in the middle of the day so Van 1 didn't do much while we were running but roast in the heat. No one could really sleep that early in the event with the sun burning down on them. Our rest time though was as the sun was going down. We drove 47 miles to the next exchange, spread our sleeping bags on the golf course and caught some zzz's. I read on my Kindle for about 15 minutes and turned if off as it was getting dark. I was asleep in 10 minutes. My teammates got varying levels of sleep.

Around 12:30am or so, we woke up, packed up as Ivy finished her 2nd leg and passed the wristband to Adam. Van 2 was back on the road. This is where Van 1 should have had a good opportunity to rest. Unfortunately for them though, running conditions were excellent and for some reason, we only had to cover 22.2mi, which we did in well under 4 hours. By the time Van 1 drove to the next exchange, found something to eat and settled in, they would have less than 2 hrs to rest. It didn't help that everyone on our team posted their best times of the event. Van 1 didn't stand a chance to get real rest here, and it was their only opportunity under the cover of darkness.

We wrapped up around 3:30am-4:00am, and off we went to the next major exchange. Once again, we would have more time as Van 1 had to cover 32mi. We arrived, got out our sleeping bags and were laying down by 5am. The sun was coming up, so I just slid down into my sleeping bag and got at least 2hrs of sleep.

Our final leg would be a 43mi stretch that started at Torrey Pines, just a few miles north of La Jolla. The scenery should have been fantastic, but the marine layer was thick. We only saw the sun for about 30 minutes on Sunday. Again, prime running conditions for us. I am not sure how the individual legs were broken up, but for some reason, one of the six legs we had to cover here was 11.1 miles, over 25% of the overall distance for the 3rd leg of Van 2. Adam had seen my website and assumed I was the right guy for it. This was the only big mistake Adam made the entire weekend. I was tired, sore, dirty, sweaty and in the same clothes I had been in since 3am on Friday morning when I got up. I decided to duck into a gas station and change my shorts and put some anti-chafing cream on my lady parts before my run. I threw my Camelbak in the cooler a few hours before I started and decided that was all the prep work I could do.

All Of My Run Times

It was a pretty good run for me. The first 4 miles and last 5 were pretty flat and scenic. The middle 2 though were several hills through a neighborhoods with more than 200ft in elevation change in about a mile. Not the toughest hill in the world, but it wasn't nothing either. Out of about 10 runners I was around, I was the only one that ran the whole thing. Everyone else walked. I chalk that up to the hills I have to run on every day around my neighborhood.

Once I got on the other side and things flattened out a bit, I turned on my metronome to reset my cadence back to 180. I was feeling good and stepped it up a bit, switching my iPod Nano to some Blonde Redhead. Not exactly running music, but it works for me. The worst part now was having to stop at a few red lights and dodging people that were walking along the harbor. I wanted to finish this leg with nothing left, so kept pressing ahead. I passed a few people that had passed me near the start of this leg, which made me feel good. For the last 500 yards or so I was sprinting and when done, I truly had nothing left. I could hardly walk, much less run another mile.

Overall, I had an 8:55 pace on that leg. I ran a half marathon in 8:31 last year but I hadn't trained for this event much, was sleep deprived and had already run early 10 miles in the preceding 24hrs, so I was happy with it.

I had a fantastic time and got to know a few more people, especially in Van 2. I hope I did the team proud.

I'd say the Ragnar officials did an overall good job. Sure, there were a few exchanges that were questionable and I ran into a few forks that the only reason I knew where to go was to follow the person in front of me (usually way in front) and hoped they knew where they were going. One fork I had coincidentally run last weekend when I was in San Diego for other reasons. If it wasn't for that, I likely would have gone the wrong direction. Overall though, it was a great event that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'd have to say I enjoyed this run more than any other official runs I've done.

While we had fun, there was a good cause we were running for. If you have time, click on this link and donate a few dollars to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.