Great River Ragnar Relay!

Ba-caaaack! This past weekend, I ran the Great River Ragnar Relay with The Chicks! {which is probably evident if you saw my FB posts I kept coming!}

The site explains it much better than me, but the jist of it is that 12 women, in 2 vans, with 36 legs (3 each), with one team member running at all times, ran 193 miles.

From Winona, Minnesota, across into Wisconsin following the Mississippi River, into Minneapolis.

Ragnar's goal? To have us have the most fun possible while covering 193 miles on little to no sleep. So? We did.

We decorated the van

Painted our nails Chick Yellow

Tried to get a few hours sleep and got ready!

**Did I mention I had NEVER met any of these ladies before Corey dropped me off for the meet up? Melissa and I knew eachother through our blogs, but that was our first face to face meeting, you know, when we would spend 48 hours running, eating and sweating together!?**

This sign says it ALL! We run, we drive, we WISH for sleep and repeat!

Our entire group of 12. (Most of the time, since we were in 2 seperate vans of six each, we only saw eachother at major exchanges.)

We, of course, ran. In the HOT, HUMID weather no less! I did better than I had hoped on my first leg, coming in from a 8 mile run at 1:12. I was happy with it because it was hot! There was no breeze at all, and it got to the point that having semi pass you was a treat. I believe I yelled, "I LOVE YOU SEMI!! I love your wind!" to one that passed me at mile 6 ish.

While we ran, our van mates would leap frog and follow us, stopping every half mile or so to cheer us on, give us some cowbell and water.

Your van is "on duty" while any of your 6 runners are out on the course. When your runners are done with their set, you are "off duty" while van 2 does their section of the course. This gives you a few hours to jump to the next major exchange, eat and rest up before your next legs.

Major Exchange 1- we stopped here for a few hours to hose off...

Try and sleep...which is impossible because it was so blasted hot! Then? Get ready for our second leg. Our second leg started at about 7 p.m., and would take us until about 2 a.m.

All decked out in our reflective gear. Every runner/supporter had to wear a reflective vest.

For dinner Friday night? Lots of puppy chow. Which, I might add, is NOT a good idea when you have to run 6 miles at 11 p.m. Hello stomachache! My second leg was painful for my stomach, but FUN! I have never run at night like that before, so it was a cool experience to do. While the van met me 3 different times to cheer me on, I spent the rest of my time just running...in the dark...by myself. (fine, unless I was being passed by an elite runner)

I must say? Everything is funny at 1:57 a.m. in a swampy van filled with 6 sweaty women who are in need of a shower and some rest. Everything.

We finished our second leg around 2:25 and headed to Stillwater for a few hours of rest. We ended up getting about 2 hours of sleep before we needed to be back "on" for our 3rd leg around 6:30 a.m.

Day 2?

Hot? FACT.

Humidity at 94%? FACT.

Hill that looked like this on my last leg? FACT. (and FAIL)

Yes, it was only 4.2 miles. BUT! It was 4.2 miles on a humid day with 2 hours of sleep!

We did it though! Fueled by puppy chow, chex mix, gummy bears and powerade, WE FINISHED!! It was an amazing experience and I would gladly do it again! At final count? I was up from 5:30 a.m. on Friday until 7:30 p.m. Saturday night with 2 hours of sleep total! So now? I am off to bed!

Thanks for an amazing time Chicks! You are all awesome women!