Ragnar Relay New Haven-> Boston Race Report

(Caveat: Its long - and im sleepy so I apologize now if this makes NO sense)

This weekend was the Ragnar Relay from New Haven to Boston (or in this case Branford to Foxboro). I ran the 100on100 relay last year (100 miles/6 runners), this is 200 (192 or so) miles and 12 runners. My main concern going into the relay was running at night (and sleep deprived).

We dedicated the race to Betsy's (who was initially on our team) father who died earlier in the week. She showed up at the start to wish us off and cheer us on. Three of our team members went to the start at 4am to volunteer (although no one else showed from Ragnar until 5am) - while the rest of us got to sleep in a bit longer before meeting at Jerry's house - from there we piled into one van to head to the start. We (re)packed up the two vans at the start and then went through registration, safety orientation, packed pickup, tshirt pickup and such. All of that ended around 9:15 or so which left about 10 minutes for pictures and stuff before I had to get to the start. After the team introductions the 9:30am teams were off.....

Thinking back on leg 1 it was kind of a blur - not sure if it was the excitment of starting the race for the team, the sleep deprivation that has set in now, or if it just wasnt that memorable of leg. I do remember starting off and running with the pack for a bit. About a half mile in we started to seperate and I was running alone with about four 9:30 start runners in front of me. All the pains and strains from the previous week seemed to be gone which was great. The van went by to check on me and see if I wanted water. I waved em on said I was good - but then realized how warm it actually was and wondered if I had made a mistake in passing up water. Came into the transition (wiped the sweat off the slap bracelet) handed off to Dawn and she was off. Very happy with first run of the relay - ran strong and felt good. Food, hydrate, relax, support time.....

First Leg Stats (per Garmin) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34238030
TOtal distance: 3.73 miles (3.8 based on Ragnar site)
Total time: 26:57
Average pace: 7:13
Splits
7:00/7:03/7:27/5:25 (for .73 miles @7:23 pace)

During my down time, I tried stay hydrated and tried to eat food. Kept the food light as I didnt want to be overly full for future runs. We stopped along the course many times to support the runners from our (and other) team/van. It was very warm so we wanted to make sure everyone had enough water whenever they needed it - although some of us waved off water most of the time. After our van was done with its first set of runs we handed off to van 2 and ate some Subway, then off to the next major transition for some rest/down time. This transition area was awesome - big, along the water, nice cool breeze, plenty of space to spread out and relax.

Around 4:30pm I started to get myself ready for my next run. We weren't really sure where Matt (last runner in Van 2) was as van 2 got stuck in traffic and had no idea where Matt was either. We knew approximately what time he started - so I got to the transition area around 4:45pm in anticipation. Matt came in a little after 5pm, wished me luck on "The Hill" and I was off. First part of run was beautiful - I got to run over the bridge and over the river we were resting near. A little narrow on the bridge but car traffic was relatively light. About 2/3 of a mile in "the hill" that Matt warned me about started. This hill was long and steep. I was able to pass about 5 teams or so just on the hill alone - which seemed to help boost my spirits. After I reached the summit, the course came down fairly steep to and even though I just wanted to let loose and fly - I had to stay in control. A few rolling hills then another steep (but much shorter) incline. Some stomach cramps started to set in around mile 2.5 - not sure if I was under hydrated, under nourished, wrongly nourished, or what - but it was very uncomfortable. This leg ended on a nice downhill where I was able to pick up some speed (stomach pains didnt get any worse or better going faster or slower) and finish strong and relatively smiling. I felt like garbage after cooling down a bit and getting some gatorade. Stomach was cramping big time - pain would come, hold for a minute, then relax (what I imagine contractions feel like for a woman in labor). Changed into some dry running clothes at this point and got ready to eat, hydrate, relax and support the rest of the team some more. I didnt eat though as the cramps continued and the last thing I wanted to do at this point was add to it (this would be a big mistake on my part). Overall still happy with my running as with the hill I knew the time would suffer a bit - but the effort was still there and legs were behaving and listening to me.

Second leg stats (per garmin) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34238023
Total distance: 4.74 miles (4.8 based on Ragnar site)
Total time: 38:31
Average pace: 8:08
Splits
8:49/8:14/7:57/8:03/5:27 (for .74 miles @ 7:25 pace)

During the down time now, I tried to relax a bit more, lie in the van, to see if that would help with the cramping. Sipped on gatorade and water in hopes that hydrating would help. Since it didn't, I decided to start getting out of the van when we stopped and cheer on our team again. No point being miserable in the van when I could hopefully distract myself with support and taking pictures. I kept sipping gatorade over the next few hours (but probably not enough) and yes - I still have not eaten anything since Subway lunch at about 2pm. After we handed off to van 2 at the next major transition, we headed to the next major transition at Putnam High School for some showers and rest/sleep.

When we got to the high school, I decided not to shower in fear that it would keep me awake afterwards and went right to the gym to hopefully get some sleep. We all decided to move outside to sleep in the grass as the gym was bright and very busy. I mostly just lied their waiting for the phone to ring, I did drift off for about 20 minutes until the phone buzzed at about midnight. I lied there after that until 12:45 just staring at the phone - I decided to get up and hit the bathroom and then try to fall back asleep. No sleep. Van 2 called at 1am saying that Matt was about 30 minutes out. So - I got myself ready with all my night gear while the rest of my team started to re-pack the van. Still - no food and now only 20 minutes of "sleep". I was not super thrilled about running at 1:30am, alone and with no food (I did eat three cola flavored shot bloks - but Im not sure if that counts for much), and my longest leg coming up - 7.5 miles.

I chatted a bit with some of the runners waiting at the transition area in hopes that I might be running with one of them for part of it. Matt came in strong (as usual - he is an amazing runner) - I took the slap bracelet from him and was off. There was no one to run with at this point - very quiet in towns at 1:30am. I got passed by someone from one of the faster teams - he wished me luck on the run and took off. I liked having him out in front as I could see where the course was going - but soon he was out of sight. This leg was pretty hilly too - and my hamstring started to make some noise. Since I didnt have much training at night like this, I though I'd be more nervous about wildlife - but I really wasn't. The few cars on the road (that didnt seem to care that we were out there as they did not slow down at all) made me more nervous. A couple time in the narrower spots - I stopped and stepped into the grass to let cars fly by me. I saw what I thought was another runner ahead so I took off after them. I was making up great ground on this other "runner" to find out it was a Ragnar direction sign with a blinky light on it. This, embarassingly, happened 3-4 times on this leg. After I "caught" the 3rd sign - my mood started to sour a little and I started to same somce choice words to myself. It was very dark so even when the road went downhill I couldn't just pick up the pace as I had no idea what the road was going to do more than three feet in front of me. I did some "van headlight sprints" using the headlights of support vans to help me see where I was going. Since I had hydrated myself during downtime - and there were plenty of vans out there - I told my van (who didn't have an extra hamstring for me) they could head up to the transition to make sure Dawn had time go get ready. Finally I caught up to another runner who was making room for me to pass. I let him know I had no intention of passing him and told him I've been trying to catch up to him for a while so I could run with someone. We ran (and chatted) the last two miles or so. The transition area was rediculously dark - I had to call out to Dawn to find out where she was (hard to pick out one person in the dark when there are 30 or so people all wearing head lamps and reflective vests). After this leg I put in my post running/normal clothes and decided that I needed a bit of sleep. Either the cramping had stopped - or I was so out of it that I didn't notice anymore. Pace was really off from what I expected - so I wasn't thrilled with myself.

Third leg stats (per garmin) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34238017
Total distance: 7.75 miles (7.5 based on Ragnar site)
Average pace: 9:09
Splits
8:39/8:26/8:55/9:09/9:13/8:45/9:07/833 (for .73 miles @11:40 pace)

I finally crashed out in the back of the van during Dawn's (2nd in our van) run and totally missed all of Chuck's (3rd in our van) run. I woke up to him getting himself cleaned up after his leg and Alecia (4th in our van) already gone. That hour of sleep though is all I needed - I felt refreshed and could run again (even though I didn't need to). I ate some snacks at this point and was feeling more human - although probably not smelling or looking very human. Sun started to come up during Keith's run and was up completely for Wayne's final run. We handed of to Van 2 for the last time, wished them luck and headed out for breakfast. My first real food since Subway. Bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes, coffee and soda - all good when hungry. After we ate - we headed up to Gillete stadium to the finish to wait for Matt to finish and bring the team in. We wandered around a bit - got myself a donut and soda - then we all relaxed until Van 2 arrived. Matt shortly appeared (although he missed a turn and added some mileage on) and we all ran through the finish line together as a team and received our finisher medals. We were the 3rd team to finish (not sure our overall place cause of the staggered start).

We headed up to one of the restaurants for some food and beers as a team. It was great being able to hang out with the other van a bit as we really didn't get much time at all to hang out as an entire team. We finished a bit under 26 hours which we were super thrilled with.

Overall - great experience, great times with some great people, learned alot about running - what to do and what not to do on long relay races. Look forward to running in another relay in the future.

Highs of weekend: Running with some awesome people, running fast/strong on first leg, tackling "the hill" during my second leg, "sleeping/resting" under the stars. finishing the third leg in one piece, finishing as a team at Gilette Stadium, and Guinness post race
Lows of weekend: not eating enough after my second leg, 20 minutes of sleep, my dapened mood during third leg - and really thats about it