Race Report: Ragnar L.A.

A note from JB: Big ups to the Chasquis that post race reports. It is super duper cool reading everyone's experiences.

I'll be completely up front from the beginning. The only coastal leg that I would have run was cancelled a couple weeks before the race began. In other words, for each one of my legs, I could have just as easily been running in my own neighborhood, or some leg on Wasatch Back or Del Sol. Bluntly, my legs kind of sucked. I made the best out of it though.

Leg 1 - 4.5 miles - Moderate
This leg was basically a straight shot from an inland agricultural area to the coast, except that it ended a good mile or so before any hint of ocean was in sight. As it was mid-afternoon and I was running towards the shore, the wind had a hard time deciding whether it wanted to come straight at me, causing me to exert maximum force for minimum output, or if it wanted to hit me at a diagonal so that I was not only exerting force to move forward, but also to stay out of the ditch to my left. One thing I did notice about running into the wind: it's weird. I was very familiar with the energy I was expending to propel myself forward. On a normal day, this amount of energy would have me moving pretty well at a 9:15-9:30 pace. Not the case. I was moving at about a 9:50 or 10 minute pace. It was a weird phenomenon.

The part that my vanmates seemed to think was cool was when the course literally took me down a freeway on-ramp and running on the shoulder of a major freeway. Looking back, that was pretty cool...and I felt like a diesel truck.

Average pace: 9:28

Leg 2 - 4.5 miles - moderate
After smoking a 7-mile run at the Wasatch Back, I thought that night runs would be my strongest. After Del Sol and L.A., I beg to differ with myself. I don't know what it is, but I just feel so out of sync. Perhaps it's the fact that, instead of running, I should be sleeping. Perhaps...heck, I have no idea. But I was NOT feeling it during my nighttime run.

I started in a beach parking lot just south of Hermosa Beach and (of course) headed directly inland. It was breezy on the beach, and very cold. As such, I put on my usual Ragnar nighttime run layers, which consist of an Under Armour thermal top underneath my white Chasqui sleeveless top. It's a pretty toasty combo for the cold weather. I was less than a mile inland when I realized I was wearing way to much. It was uncomfortably warm. Nonetheless, I ran. People passed me, which was nothing new, but for some reason it was especially deflating this time. Then, about 2 miles before the finish this man and woman who were moving at a pretty good pace passed me. It was then that I decided that, come hell or high water, I was going to stay with them and run across the finish with them. And that's what I did.

As far as the scenery for this run, imagine running anywhere between Rainbow and the Strip as your west and east boundaries and Rainbow and Charleston for your south and north boundaries. Lots of pretty, stucco shopping centers and strip malls. And a Fatburger.

Average pace: 9:15

Another note from JB: Before I go any further, let me say something about the strength of teamwork.

Van 2 had some hard, hard legs for our third legs. Had we been given sufficient time to train for them, it would have been a different story.

Consider:

Imagine Dennis' surprise, less than a month after welcoming twins into his family, being sleep deprived and just having finished a busy season at a CPA firm, to receive the news that what was originally a 5 mile leg was now a 10.5 mile leg.

Or Mike C, who had just dropped about 70 lbs and was just getting into running shape, to find out that his last leg had gone from 4-something to 6.5.

My last leg was also increased from 5-something to 8.5 miles.

My point is this: When we were just about a third of the way through our route, I got a text from either Chasqui Warren or Heather, stating that (after getting their well-deserved grub on), they would be meeting up with Van 2 to see us the rest of the way to the finish line. I cannot express how excited I was at this news, and how much it meant to all of the Chasquis in Van 2.

Van 1 Chasquis, you are awesome, and we thank you.

Leg 3 - 8.5 miles - Very hard
It was after my 2 am leg that I began to tell myself that there was no way I still had 8.5 miles in the tank. In fact, it was with this very mindset that I set out on my final leg...and here's what happened.

As soon as I turned onto the main street from the cool little trail on which Dennis handed off to me. I got hit with yet another head wind - a head wind that would not go away for. the. rest. of. the. leg. It was the same situation that I had in my first leg: maximum input yielding minimum output. I even laughed at myself a few times at just how ridiculous this was. I thought this leg would never end. It was hilly, windy and hot.

But here's what happened...

Maybe 3 or 4 miles into the leg, I was approaching a spot where a few of our support vans were pulled over on the other side of the freeway. I was excited that I was finally about to get some water, encouragement and nourishment. But I was blown away when a group of Chasquis came scampering across the highway to join me for what seemed like a good mile or so. This happened not once, but TWICE during my run. TWICE!!! I was in a bit of a zone, so I don't recall who specifically was with me at which time, but I distinctly recall my pace increasing by a good twenty seconds each time a combination of Chasquis Heather, Warren, Catherine, Jamie and Amber were running behind me.

I'm going to come out and say it right now:

THAT IS MY #1 TEAM CHASQUI MOMENT EVER.

Not only is that what Team Chasqui is all about, but efforts like that epidomize and define exactly what I envision every time I put these Ragnar teams together: The camaraderie. The team. The experience.

Just awesome.

Proud to be a Chasqui.

Average pace: 10:29