First let me start by saying this was THE BEST Ragnar yet!!
Last winter they announced this new location for Ragnar, sounded pretty nice I felt around and thought I could put a team together, got on Facebook and started hounding people. Finally got the monies and commitments in February and signed up! I was pretty excited but being in the Marathon brain I put it aside. Summer was crazy and before I knew it here we were in September and less than a month to go. We only had to replace two people after the original registration! So Van 1 ended up being Mitch and Erin Proctor, Clayton and Marcy Jones, Mike and Michelle Lamoreaux. Van 2 was Vanessa Christensen, Mary Howell, JaNae Eldredge, and my 2 sisters Anna and Wendy and of course me :)
We had some problems with our transmission and Don said he didn't think it was a good idea to take it, We got another van to take but Wednesday night as we packed we just couldn't do it. Don decided to let us take the Expedition, He did a quick oil change and transmission service on it while we packed it. Thank Heavens for such a wonderful man as my husband!!! We finally rolled out of Salt Lake around 8:30-9pm. We drove through the night. We switched drivers off and on to keep us going.
I woke up to a foggy, beautiful California! We were in the mountains it was so neat, we pulled off to take a potty break and decided to go to Denny's, since it was there. Well after breakfast we were on the rode again and drove to Oakland, across the bridge-ugh I had to drive that, sweaty palms and all!! and we finally came in to San Fransisco. We found our hotel but couldn't check in but they let us leave our luggage and we spent the rest of the day seeing the Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39. It was sooo neat!
We saw dolphins in the bay and seals at the pier. We had clam chowder which was sooo good! We shopped and took tons of pictures of the bridge, Alcatraz and of various things on the pier. We were getting tired but wanted to go to Ghiradelli Square when we got there we realized we were hungry again so we went down the street and ate. Then we had to drive Lombard Street before we could go back to the hotel, it is the crookedest street in the world. I didn't even know if we would make the turns it was soo crazy!! We dropped of some of the girls at the hotel and went to the store to get some things we forgot and filled up on gas. Went back to the hotel and slept till 4am got up and headed to the start line it was sooooo cold!! Our start time was 6am. Well we checked in and went through the process (if you've done a Ragnar you know the drill :) ) We went to the start line and were hanging out. it was abotu 20 minutes to go when Van 2 came up!!! YAY!! we did pictures and sent JaNae on her way! We were completely confused by the instructions and went to the wrong place. We figured them out and got to JaNae, she had been waiting a few minutes. She said it was only about 5 but she was probably just being nice.
Well I felt great and off I went I knew I only had 2.7 mile so I wanted to do it fast but not over do it. lucky for me it was mostly downhill into Sausalito. OMG!! What a gorgeous run!! It was still a little dark when I ran but the longer I ran the lighter it got! my only disappointment was that I wasn't closer to the ocean, I could see it but wasn't very close. I ran and finished the 2.7 in 24 minutes! WOWZERS!! Handed off to my sister Anna-who has only been running a little over 2 months, this was her first event! She did soo good I am so proud of her!! Next Mary ran. She is my neighbor she is almost 19, Next was Vanessa, she has been running almost a year and did awesome the last was my other sister Wendy ran, she is going on 1 year of running and has been doing great and she did fabulous!
The exchanges were so fun! We had 4 cowbells, ribbon twirlers and bubbles! And we did tunnels as the ran in to exchange. we went on to our next exchange to wait for van 2 to do their runs we were all pretty tired since we hadn't really slept much but we were able to catch some zz's at the park.
My second run was sooo windy and there was lots of old smooshed roadkill haha!! It was almost sunset and we were on back country roads in Petaluma for this one, as I came into the exchange Anna was lit up in her night gear! this was the only run I did in shorts and a tank top. During Anna's run I am sure I put on more clothes bacause it was getting cool. I got a phone call from Kristi, Anna's daughter saying Anna thought she was lost. I called Anna back and as she was grabbing her phone she fell and scratched her knees and palms. But she kept going and she wasn't lost, some times you go so long with out seeing another runner or sign you worry you are lost. I know I felt the same way on my first run! She came in and we cleaned her up and headed on. We came to an exchange it was dark and there was a burger place -Sequoia Burger. It smelt sooo good so a couple of us got food here. At our next big exchange Anna and I slept in the expedition and everyone else slept in the school. In the morning Vanessa said her foot was really sore and was thinking maybe she would run part of her run and I told her I could finish it for her if she wanted.
I was most nervous for my next run because it was over 9 miles! I have never been to this part of California, in fact I have only been twice once when I was 12 and once when I was 14. When we came to this area the smells were fabulous! I just couldn't get enough of it! It was dark when I started this 9 mile run in Napa, but slowly it got lighter-I never saw the sun rise it was foggy and cloudy and COLD! but the day was here and I could see the vineyards. I didn't have my phone and it is a good thing or else I would have been taking pictures! It was a hard run along a highway up and down the roads. I wondered what the people driving by thought seeing the people running. We got to a point where we had to cross the road so I had to stop knowing there was just about a mile left. There was finally a break in traffic but 3 other girls had caught up to me, one I had passed :(. I couldn't keep up with her. as I was running down the road I could see the exchange and a man came out to get his newspaper. He watched a few runners go by and as I approached he said we were ambitious this morning. I said we started yesterday day in San Fransisco he was like "WOW! Congratulations!" HAHA! As I came into the exchange I thought I could hear Mary yelling me in but as I got there and looked and looked they weren't there!!! I asked if it was hard to find since I had been running for over an hour and a half! Well I asked to borrow a phone and not knowing anyone's number I called Don and he called them just as they realized they were at the wrong exchange! They finally came after about 20 minutes. We sent Anna off then Mary, We talked to Vanessa and she decided it was just too much and so Mary and I decided to split her run. I would do the first part and mary would come in and finish it. so When we got to that exchange I ran 2.6 miles around a college campus and handed off to Mary. My running in Cali was over! I was done! I ended up running over 19 miles this weekend! We went to our final exchange then to the finish line to wait. We were originally scheduled to finish around 3 but I don't think we finished till almost 5. We were one of the first to start and one of the last to finish. I don't mind, I did this to have fun and it was so much more than that!! When our other van came the anticipation was crazy!! it was so excited!! There is nothing like a finish line!! We finished!!! Finally!! but sadly our Ragnar was over. We headed to the hotel and then decided to go out to dinner at Applebees. I could barely eat. we decided to just get up when ever and go we woke up about 6:30 and headed back to Salt Lake. We had fun talking and being crazy girls on the way home. We rolled into my house about 10:30pm. Like I said at the beginning this was the funnest Ragnar I have done yet!! I can't wait to go to Vegas with a van full of MY family next month!!
She loves running now, she said she is addicted. I have helped her through some running down days and LOVED listening to her messages, still out of breath, from really GREAT runs!! She signed up for the Tuscon Half Marathon in December, oh how I wish I could be there at the finish line to see her cross! She is loosing weight and made a commitment to me to stop smoking by February when we run another relay together.