Thursday night, the night before Ragnar, we all met as a team over at Becca's house for a big team meal. It was carbs and salad and more carbs. We all look smiles but inside I was freaking out! This was really going to happen, I was really going to do this. All those months of training hopefully is going to pay off.
After dinner, we packed the cars with our food and junk and van 1, my van, headed to Chattanooga to spend the night so we wouldn't have to leave Knoxville at 3 in the morning.
6 a.m. Friday morning, and I didn't sleep all night. I was too nervous. The hotel was so nice with the feather beds and all the luxuries of home and still my nerves were getting the best of me. So when the alarm went off at 5 a.m. I was up and ready to go. And it was the coldest morning yet! 27 degrees is what Brittany's car said. Holy cow. Notice how bundled up we are. We were ready to get this race on!
10 minutes to race time and I had to shed all my layers down to my purple running pants. Man was I shivering. It was SO COLD! The first thought running through my head was, "there is no way I will be able to run in this cold. My body is going to lock up." The closer the time got, the closer I was to throwing up. I had to will myself steady!!
2 minutes to go. I ate my Gatoraid chews and was ready. Let's get this started so I can get warm.
30 seconds....YIKES! I am really going to do this. The thought running through my mind was, "I have to be fast. I am setting the pace for my whole team. I have to be fast. I am so cold."
The race announcer said all the team names of the runners and when he came to "SUPERMOMS" I was ready to bolt. 3...2..1 and we were off.
I jumped in the air and let out a whoop and a holler. I was so happy that I had ran all 7.8 miles and I was faster than my projected time. I was 10 minutes faster than I had ever run. Yahoo!!! I was no longer cold, I was elated and so proud of myself to accomplish something that I have hated to do all my life.
Erin was the second runner in our group and she had a murder of a hill to climb/run. She was amazing. On this hill, there were no stopping points for us to give her water, so we would drive really slow up the hill and yell for her. We did find a few illegal places to stop and cheer, but we weren't the only ones doing it, so it was okay. At least that is how I will justify it! Erin was faster than her projected time as well. Van 1 was cruzing right along.
My team took pictures of me while I ran. The first part of my run took me out of the park in Chattanooga where we started, and into an industrial area dirt road. There were blue Ragnar signs that had red blinking lights on them that you had to watch for as you ran. They told you where to run and when to cross the street, etc. Now usually I run with my headphones and listen to my music, but not on this morning. I was too scared about missing one of those direction signs.
After the industrial road, I headed down a busy highway full of gas stations and fast food restaurants. By then I had been running for about 4 miles. My girls in the van would stop when they could and cheer me on, and ask if I needed water. That helped when I was going along. Just hearing those words of encouragement and the cow bell ringing, rejuvenated my legs and body and off I would go.
Before this finish line, I had to run up a pretty steep hill that was 1/4 of a mile. As I began up it, there was only one guy in front of me and I was determined to pass him. My van of ladies drove past me as I was half way up the hill and Cheney sang out the window as she passed, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" I just laughed and willed my legs to run. That guy in front of me was a machine. I could not catch him. Once we got to the top of the hill it was all down from there.
My legs were grateful for the release of tension on them and I just let them go, at a controlled
pace of course. The road turned into a gorgeous lake side view and I smiled at the creation Heavenly Father has made for us. That sight totally helped me and the fact that I saw the one mile sign, I was almost done. I got to the exchange and gave Erin the slap bracelet and I was done!
Erin H. took the hill next and topped it off, and then it was a straight shot down from there. We were all a little concerned for her because she is 23 weeks pregnant, but she is an athlete and has been in shape this whole time. I was just glad when she made it down safe and sound.
Our Supermoms's van #1. We wanted everyone to know who we were.
Brittany was right after Cheney, who came in quicker than her time too. Brittany got to run when the sun had been out for a while so it was a little bit warmer, but not by much. She came in quick and exchanged with Natalie, whom I do not have a picture of running. Darn it!
Cheney was our 4th runner and this girl can run. It must be all the spunk she has. She took off like lightening and was determined to get "kills". I learned that everytime you pass someone you got a kill, and if anyone passed you, you were killed. We were all determined to get at least one kill. We had many of them by the end of Ragnar.
After our van was finished we got to take a little break and hang out a bit at the first major exchange place. It was all dolled up with Rangar gear and festivities. We purchased a few more cow bells and were on our way.
We found a nice place to rest and all tried to sleep in the van. I died and had a good hard sleep for about 1 hour. Not everyone was so lucky. It is not that easy to sleep six women in a van.
We then went to the next major exchange where we would meet up with our other van of runners. The only sad part about the whole 2 van thing, was that neither van really got to be with the other one. We rested while van 2 ran and vise versa. Oh well, at least I had a fun van of crazy gals to hang out with during all of this.
We spent some time stretching out in this middle school's hallway. There was food to buy there, but our van was loaded with food for us and none of us wanted to eat a lot before we raced again.
Pictured above from Left to Right: me, Erin H, Brittany, Cheney, Erin, Natalie.
I was determined to wear my Supermoms outfit no matter what. Each one of my runs was either early in the morning, the beginning of night or at night. That all meant, that I had to wear my lovely butt light, head light, and my yellow vest. The vest covered up my Supermoms shirt I had made. Oh well. I was still going to wear it on my second run.
It was just before dusk and the weather was a little warmer, somewhere in the 30's. I opted to wear my sunglasses because the sun was still out and I didn't want to squint the whole time. I was ready, nerves running at top speed, waiting for Bonnie to come around the bend and hand me the slap bracelet.
Once all of us had finished, we headed to a friend of Brittany's to clean up and rest on something soft. The shower felt wonderful and the hour nap I got felt even better. Her friend had waffles, muffins, and apple cider all ready for us. What a sweetheart. We all dressed up in our gear and headed to the finish line to cheer on our van 2.
The finish line was set up in the heart of Nashville. Look at the festivities! They had a band playing, teams coming through every few minutes, and a pandemonium all it's own.
I had to have a picture by the finish line while we waited for our team to come home.
They had this big wall where we could sign our names. Each of us had acquired nick names and so we wrote them down. It felt official to add my name to that wall. I had actually accomplished something BIG! I hated to run, but I learned to love it here. We waited for Bonnie to come to the finish line and then our whole team ran through the big orange Ragnar arch and officially finished the race. What a feeling!
My whole team in our super outfits. This was such an amazing experience. After many hugs, pictures and stories swapped, we got our free pizzas and headed our separate ways. My van decided to go eat a real, sit down meal. The other van had to get back to Knoxville as one of their riders had to drive back to Alabama that night.
The girls and our winning smile. I learned so much about these ladies. What a bonding experience Ragnar was. You learn about each other's quarks, funnies and just about everything else as you spend 36 hours in a van together.
My winners lunch. It tasted so good. We were all dead riding home and had to take turns driving. Exhaustion took over many of us. Once back in Knoxville, our bodies ached, we were tired but we had accomplished something awesome! I couldn't wait to see my family and tell them all about it.
Here she comes. She was all smiles and I was all jitters ready to run.
I received the slap bracelet and was out. This run was only 3.8 miles. Not as bad as my long morning one. Piece of cake. I ran as fast as I could, but I had two people pass me. Darn it!
I got to the exchange and handed off quick to Erin, and she was off.
Two runs down and one to go. I was so thrilled that I showed off my Supermoms' spirit. Don't you just love my socks?
This is what the signs looked like that would tell you where to run, when to turn and so on. I think the one mile sign was the best one to see. It gave you that little umph that is needed to push it through to the end. I loved this sign.
We ran till our van was finished, some where around midnight. The next major exchange point between our two vans ended up at a high school. Our van had the option of staying there to get some rest or driving to the next major exchange point and then rest. Since I was the runner that exchanged with van 2 I got to choose what we did. I chose to drive to the next exchange and rest. We did and it happen to be another high school. They were selling sleeping mats for a dollar, and had their school gym set up for sleeping. We all prepared to sleep, rolled out our sleeping bags and slept; well sort of. I couldn't sleep. I had text the other van to text or call me when Bonnie started her run, so I could be up and ready. My nerves would not shut off! My poor body was exhausted, but I still couldn't go to sleep. So I laid there for a few hours and then just got up and got ready for my last run. The text came and I woke up the rest of my van mates. Come to find out, none of them really slept much either.
It was so cold, that I didn't want to get out of the warm van to run, and when I finally did, they were calling my number. Bonnie had come in while I was getting out of the van. I cussed, threw off my warm sweatshirt and off I went. This run was 5.4 miles.m I ran hard and passed several people. My lungs were burning and I wanted to die, but then my breathing found a rhythm and so did my body. As I was 2 miles into my run, I caught up with a little lady who became my running partner. Her van and my van cheered us on. We talked and decided that we would run together since it was so dark and neither one of us was too excited about running in the dark on this highway. She and I crossed the finish exchange point together and were greeted by both our vans. I received many hugs from people I didn't know, but it felt great! I was done! I had finished my three runs for Ragnar and I had done it! Wahoo!
I didn't know we were going to get medals? So cool!
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