run. drive. sleep? repeat

this last weekend i did something so spontaneous and crazy but it ended up being such a great time. i ran the del sol ragnar in arizona. ragnar is a relay race with 12 people on a team where you run about 200 miles. so about a week and a half ago i got a call from my brothers best friend saying "i have an opportunity for you" i was so anxious to see what he meant so i called him right back and he asked if i wanted to run the ragnar with him and his team. i said yes, not really having any idea what i just committed to. i haven't been running a whole lot since my half marathon so i immediately hit the treadmill for exactly one week hoping that i got enough running in so i wouldn't die while doing the relay. 7am thursday morning we hit the roads for arizona. we first drove to las vegas and got a mini van that andrew had rented and our team drove from vegas to wickenburg arizona. we went grocery shopping, ate some pasta and hit the hay real fast. we woke up super early on friday morning and headed to the start line! we got all signed in and our first runner (brian) started his first leg. the rest of us in the van drove up a few miles and waited for brian to run by so we could give him any water that he needed and cheer him on. in van 1 there was brian, andrew, luke, travis, jackie and me. we had two girls! the rest of our team in van 2, was filled with six guys and they ran about 21 miles less then our van. we couldn't believe they didn't offer to trade us places since there were girls in van 1 but we just figured they were lazy or something. well once brian finished his first leg he handed the baton to andrew, then from andrew to travis, travis to jackie, jackie to luke and FINALLY after waiting for hours and hours luke passed the baton to me. my first leg was 4.5 miles and it was at 1 in the afternoon so it was getting warm. i had quite a few kills and i was pretty proud of it! i finished in about 40 minutes. i passed the baton onto the alternate brad hintze and van 2 started on their stretch and van 1 headed straight to the next exchange to try and get a nap in. we loaded up on the free muscle milk and pbandj's at the exchange and after a few hours the baton got passed onto brian again to start our second leg. it was now about 545 at night so it was getting dark and definitely cooling down. once it gets dark the runners have to wear a headlamp, a reflective vest and a blinking light on the back of you so we can be seen by cars. once again i waited and waited for my turn and at about 1115 at night i got to run my second leg which was 6.5 miles. this run was awesome, i wasn't ever too hot and for some reason i just felt like i could have kept running forever. it made me laugh though because if it were any other place (like not ragnar) i would be SOO freaked out if i were running that late at night and all these vans kept pulling up next to me ha. but since it was the ragnar, it was just normal. i ran my second leg in just over 50 minutes! i was way stoked about that. we tried to sleep in the van for a few hours but van 2 didn't have to run very far so we didn't get much time to rest. brian started running again at about 330 in the morning and this last leg was slooooow. everyone was super tired and getting sore so we weren't running our very best. once the baton got to me i was dead. i was running and i would have to stop and walk for little bits and try running again and my last 5.6 miles felt like they would never end. it finally did though and i passed the baton on to brad hintze for the last time! i had finished!! i ran 16.6 miles with barely any training at all. i felt soo accomplished - and hungry ha. we had a few hours before our last runner crossed the finish line so we went and ate our first meal in 2 days and took a much needed shower. we then went and waited at the finish line and all our team (DIRTY DOZEN) ran in together at the end. we got 34th place! out of atleast 350 teams. it was such an awesome experience and i am so glad i got to be a part of it. now i am craving to run more ragnars all over the country!!