Tuesday, November 13, 2012

{Ragnar Las Vegas}

Another Ragnar DONE!  This was a tough one.  Who knew Vegas would have SNOW and 60 mile an hour winds?!  Not my favorite conditions to run in but we FINISHED and had a ton of laughs!

We arrived in Vegas just in time to settle into our hotel and decorate the van.
Our team name was Ragnarians At Work.  R.A.W.  We used a construction theme with cones, stop signs, and caution tape.

The race started up at a ski resort so that should have been a sign!  Do we look miserable?  It is because we were!


This is where Jessica started. 

She busted it out like a champ!

IT WAS COLD and miserable.  I don't think I ever was able to warm my body up.  At one point in the race I curled up in a little ball in the back of the van trying to get warm.

I was runner 2. This was my first run.  4.7 miles down hill. 

Normally a down hill run would be my favorite.  Not too much of an effort.  But when the wind is PUSHING you down the hill that is a different story. I usually run at a 10.5 minute pace but when I finished my GPS told me I was running at a 7 minute pace.  That killed me!  The sun came out at that point which was the only good thing about this run.

The support we give each other is amazing!  I love these girls!

Then it was Annette's turn.  This was her first Ragnar and she did awesome!

Malinda was runner 4.  At this point we were now running against the wind but she did awesome

Julie was runner 5.  Her mileage total was 26.1.  I'm glad she was willing to do this!  She killed it!

This was also Noelle's first time.  She did great!

After that is was time to change clothes, rest, eat and try to warm up.  We went to a hotel that had an awesome buffet...the problem was they were closing.  They let us in anyway but told us we had to hurry and get our food.  You would think this was a table full of hungry MEN...nope just a bunch of girls!


We decorated the car a little bit more with some lights since it was now dark

You can't see in this picture very well but we had a roll of caution tape.  Malinda and Noelle decided to start wrapping people up in it.  It was SO funny! 

This was my second run. 4.5 miles up hill.  Oh and did I mention the wind was blowing?  This was the hardest run of my life.  All up hill AGAINST the wind.  I wanted to die.  Plus it was pitch dark in the middle of no where.  I thought I would never see the end.

After this round we were able to stop at our hotel and get a couple hours sleep.  I HAD to take a shower to warm up.  I was willing to lose sleep over that.

My last run was at 6:30am.  7 miles.

 The sun was just coming up and the sky was clear.  I knew that as soon as the sun came up it would feel like a heat wave.  I seriously wanted to quit though and I remember telling Malinda that I hated my life...okay just a little dramatic of me but wow I don't like the cold.

This was my favorite run!  It was in town and the sun finally came up.  I felt great!

It felt SO good to be done!  This is what I looked like the rest of the time....wrapped in a blanket with my ear warmer and slippers.  Even though the sun was out it was still cold.

Now that we were finished, it was time to wait for the 2nd van to do their thing.  We went back to the hotel but our room wasn't ready for us.  So we had to change and do what we could in the bathroom.  We looked homeless dragging all of our luggage in the hotel lobby bathroom.

We drove to the finish line and took a little nap in the car.  I don't even remember what time it was but we finally ran across the finish line in the dark.  It was probably 6:00pm
 


I received 3 medals this time!  The normal medal you get when completing the race (middle).  Deuces wild (left) for doing Vegas and another run besides Utah....I did Napa and qualified for that one. Saints and Sinners (right)  because I did Vegas and Utah.

Then when I got home I had to take a picture of all of mine together.  Pretty amazing accomplishment for someone that just started running in January!  I am so proud of myself!
 

1 comment:

Layne Bradford said...

Woman you are my inspiration!!