Ragnar SoCal ReCap

I'm with Chasqui Morgan with the belief that this was one long freaking race. There were times when i wasn't sure it was ever going to end, and if it did end, why was it so freaking late? This was my sixth Ragnar, and never have I experienced such a drawn-out race before.
However, upon reviewing this race and comparing it with others to an extent, I was able to find answers with which I am at peace.

My first problem was that I was comparing this year's SoCal race with last year's SoCal race, which just can't be done. Last year's race had an entire van's worth of legs completely extracted from the route just 24 hours before the race was to begin. This meant that Van 2 finished their first legs, drove to the next major exchange, rested for a few hours and then began their second legs at a time assigned by race staff. This cut major time out of everyone's overall race time. So, it made sense that last year we were waking up in Huntington at about 8 am and starting our third legs shortly thereafter, as opposed to the late morning/early afternoon start we had this year.

Also, this course had A LOT of mileage in it, and it covered very difficult terrain. Del Sol 2009 was just as long, but it didn't have anywhere near the amount of fluctuation in elevation that we just experienced.
So, the overall distance of the race, coupled with the difficulty of its legs, resulted in a much longer race than anyone in the entire race probably anticipated. I'm fine with that. It makes for a finer feather in Team Chasqui's cap.

My GPS was spotty during each leg I ran, so I don't have a consistent pace for any of them, but I'll do what I can.

Leg 11: 7 miles, Very Hard
Before running this leg, I'm not sure when the last time was that I actually ran 7 miles. But for some reason, I wasn't sweating it at all. It's not that I knew I could do it, I just knew that I had to. So off I went, pretty oblivious and unperturbed about what may await me. I knew that the elevation profile for this leg was jagged and there was a climb or two that would definitely get my attention, but the illustrations in the race bible just don't paint a very accurate picture.

I hit a red light about 150 yards into my run, where three other runners caught up to me. When it turned green, one of them took off and the other two stayed behind me. One of the two that stayed behind was a girls on team wearing tutus. I was tired of being passed in Ragnars, so I decided to stretch the legs a little bit and see what I had in me. One person fell of the back immediately and the girl in the tutu yo-yo'd back and forth right behind until just before the 2-mile mark. That was when we hit our first little climb. I held pace and she dropped. Never saw her again. After that, I passed two people and then got completely dusted by some older guy that was just rocking it.

Then, I crossed the 101, turned right onto Mureau Road and the leg really began.

Mureau is about a 3-mile long road. After doing some research, I learned that it averages a 20-25% grade and maxes out with a 27% incline. It was a beast and unlike anything I had ever run before, and I feel like I killed it. As I climbed I was faceed with a dilemma: do I just keep going for it and completely empty my tank, or do I lay of the throttle a little and save some for my remaining legs. I was in the zone, so I kept going full throttle.

This was the most I have ever put into a run, thus making it my best Ragnar leg ever.

Just for kicks, here's the elevation profile. Don't be jealous:
Leg 23: 2 miles, Easy
I wanted to just sprint this whole thing and come flying into the chute at a sub-8 pace, but in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn't going to happen. I was a wreck during this leg. I knew that I had emptied the tank on my previous leg, and I knew I still had another leg to go. When my mind is weak, so is my body. That's when I realize that the IT band is hurting, I feel like I'm overheating and I just can't find a rhythm. Got through it at like a 9:38 pace.

Leg 35: 3.7 miles, Moderate
I didn't worry at all about this leg. I know downtown Laguna and the stretch of PCH that connects it to Dana Point like the back of my hand. I didn't care how I felt or how fast I was going, I was going to get through it and feel good about it, which I did. Ragnar was nice and kept us off the PCH through downtown Laguna. I got spit out just north of Wahoo's Fish Tacos and the made my way through the rest of Laguna to Aliso Creek Beach. If you know Laguna and it's backstreets, you know how many parking meters, uprooted sidewalk panels and driveways there are to navigate around. It's also plenty hilly. I got passed on the final hill before descending into Aliso Creek but redeemed myself with a kill just before the finish line.

Felt great to be done.