and the quest of The Holy Hand Grenandes!
This past weekend was the New England Ragnar where my team The Holy Hand Grenades ran 194 miles from Yale to Harvard. Justin and I have really wanted to do a Ragnar together, so we've been planning on running this one since he did it last year (just a few weeks after Nouvelle was born).
I wasn't going to post all the greusom details 'cause I figure most people reading this blog don't care about those that much....but for my journaling sake I'm going to anyway. You can enjoy the pictures, skim the details or live vicariously through me as you pour over my personal moments from this race.
For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to captain the team, and this proved to be almost more stressful than the race itself....well almost.
We were thinking of maybe leaving a couple of spots open on our team so that a few of us could run a little bit extra, but due to some other drop outs we ended up with three empty slots! Normally a runner does three separate legs throughout the two day race. This meant some of us would have to do 4 and others 5. Luckily a few of our team members are training for long distance races and felt they could take on more legs. Others of us were just crazy like that and wanted extra legs whether they were training for something or not!
Justin and I ended up in van 2 with two other team members. We met up with our team at the first major exchange. I was following the weather closely hoping that a heat wave wouldn't descend upon me after only training in cool weather. It looked promising...possible rain, overcast... but this was not my fate. Literally 10 minutes before my first leg was to get underway the sun came bursting through the clouds! High humidity is bad enough but add to it direct, hot sunshine and it just zaps ya!
But off I went on my first leg (this being my first of the two extra legs I would be running). This was supposed to be a 8.2 mile leg. From the very start I was extremely uncomfortable and sweating abnormal amounts. I had no idea how fast I should push myself, especially since I had 4 more legs after this and a night of no sleep ahead of me. But I just dug in and pushed for a 7:45 min/mile.
It ended up being about 7:15 instead. Crap. I don't know if I thought this through enough.....There was only one person running between my first leg and my next leg. I had about 40 minutes to recoup. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand you have time to give your heart-rate a break, but then your legs start cramping. But not much choice, I hopped out and headed on my second leg of 3.6. Still hot and bizarrely foggy and muggy I pushed through my next leg. I wish I could have focused more on the beautiful Long Island Sound I was running by, and I honestly tried, but it was just too blasted hot and I was just focusing on keeping my pace which ended up being around 7:25.

This is the only photo I posed for. Normally I can successfully run a race and pose for great action shots at the same time. Not this race. It was all I could do to just run. This is me launching my hand grenade at the girl I was about to pass. I really didn't focus on passing people - but it just inevitably happened. At some points I was actually dreading passing people just in fear that it would make them want to run faster and then I would just HAVE to keep up. I tried very hard to just mentally run my race, my pace, in my way and if I ended up passing someone I did. Most people were really nice when I passed them. Almost all the girls said "good job," or "looking good." Most of the men didn't say a thing! It was about the last mile of this run where the horrid cramp, that would never go away, began to haunt my runs!
After my leg Justin was off into the heat as well and he seriously rocked his 4.8 miles at something like a 7:17 min/miles!

We met up with van 1 at the second major exchange ate some food and then took off to the third major exchange where we were "supposed" to sleep. As tired as I was, sleeping before 10pm was just not going to happen. As each runner on our team finished their leg we got more and more ahead of our predicted schedule, so Justin started his first of his extra two legs at 11pm in the pitch dark. And thus began our van running straight through the middle of the night.

Once again he rocked his 3.3 miles with 6:45 min/miles! Geez Justin!
It was a weird misty humid night and by the time I got to my first leg this is what I saw with my headlamp on.

It was almost worse with it on than off. Kind of like driving in a blizzard with your lights on. But at least the sun was gone! I had an 8.7 mile leg. I thought it was going to have more down hills than up, but I'll tell ya, it didn't feel like that! The cramp came back with a vengeance especially on any down hills which meant just letting myself loose was a bit more out of the question. Man I gave that leg my all and tried to chase down a new running friend I'd made but he just wouldn't let me have it. It pushed me fast through those last few miles and I came in with a 7:25 min/mile. I had three miles on that run that were 7 min miles or faster!
Justin ran another 7 miles at a wicked good pace. Then one more teammate ran before I was up again for a 2.6 mile run, mostly downhill.
The cramp was so bad this run that I had to pinch my side most of the run to just deal with the pain. It was like daggers the entire run, but I dug in and forced myself to run through the pain. Just before my leg started I learned that van 1 was running behind. I worried the entire run about whether they were going to be at the exchange or not. I sprinted in to the exchange in excruciating pain, after giving it my all and was told the other van hadn't made it and there was no one to pass off too. Talk about ending a difficult run anticlimactically! Let's just say I was more than infuriated and leave it at that.
15 min later the other van finally made it and started their legs. We drove to our last major exchange. Too tired to do anything, we stayed in our stinky clothes, in our stinky van and laid there trying to sleep. I rested but did not sleep. At one point I tried to remember some of the details of my legs I'd ran thus far and couldn't recollect some things! What did the exchange of my third leg look like? How fast did I run my second leg? Maybe it was lack of sleep or just the fact that in a four person van where one is either running, driving, navigating or getting ready for your next run I had to hit reset before I was able to hit enter. Morning came and before I knew it our van was running again.

My fellow team member was more than exuberant about our team name and wore his hand made costume and ran carrying the holy hand grenade for the first two miles - you know just to get our last set of legs off with a bang! Crazy guy!
Thank goodness the sun was hidden behind clouds when we started but of course as luck would have it about 15 min before my run the clouds magically disappeared and I was left with that blasted humid sun again! By now my cramp was bothering me even when I wasn't running. Needless to say I was not ready for 5 more miles!
I gave myself permission to take it more easy this 5th leg but after two miles I said to heck with that and dug down deep for just one more leg. As you can see, this gal, who normally only "perspires" while running had a full on dripping sweat situation going on! I know it's only going to get hotter, but this was such an extreme shock to my system all at once I don't know if my body knew what to do with it!

My overall pace on this leg slowed a bit but what can you expect after running 23 miles at race pace on no sleep!? My overall pace for this last run was 7:45 but what I'm most proud of is my last mile was 7:06 with a full sprint up the last hill to the exchange!

By the time Justin started his 4th of 5 legs the sun was full force. For 8.7 miles he pushed through it up some major hills.

I was so proud of him! I'd get out and spray him with water every couple miles but it only helped so much. I decided to give him some moral support his last mile and a half and paced him. At first he gave me the stink eye but I hope in the end it helped.
When he finished his 4th leg he was seriously questioning if he could run his (and the races) final leg. He took his 30 min break while someone else ran and cooled off and regrouped. He was bound and determined to finish what he started!

And he hit those last 2 miles or so and brought us in! We pulled into the finish line only moments before he came running in, and our entire team made a half lap around Harvard's track for the finish in 27 hours and 34 minutes.

I LOVED running this race with Justin. It's such a unique kind of race. I love that there is always someone there to cheer you on. You get to hop out of your van and run your own race but also be a part of a team. It's fun camaraderie and bonding, and just a new way to challenge yourself. It breaks up the monotony of regular road races.
Next time I think I'll just go for the full ultra team instead of our 9 person, semi-ultra team. I think running back to back legs would actually be easier than the way we stitched things together. I'd like to do a double header (2 Ragnar's in one year). I don't know if this year will be the year, but I'm open to the posssibility! It's hard aranging to have someone take care of your kids while you and your spouse are gone for two days. But hey, you know me! I'm always up for a challenge!
Oh and what's even harder than running 28 miles over two days with no sleep?
Coming home and instead of taking the nap you both so desperately need, you get to take care of three kids (one of which was sick) for 4 more hours!

Oh but they're so cute, it was worth waiting a little bit longer for that much needed sleep.