Ragnar Relay Wrap-up

Just finished the 2011 Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay yesterday. For those not familiar with the Ragnar Relay, it is a relay race (of course) that involves teams of 12 people who take turns running three legs each. The Wasatch Back starts in Logan, Utah (this year on the campus of Utah State University) and we ran a total of 192 miles to Park City, Utah. The route is quite challenging, with many of the legs going up and down mountains, and this year there was even some snow still on parts of the course.

Each team is divided into two vans, with six runners in each van. A shout-out is in order to my van mates: Amanda, Justin, Tim, Miranda, and Stacie. They were all very upbeat, positive, and supportive. They stopped regularly along the way to offer water, gu, or whatever else the runner needed. They also shouted lots of encouragement and loved to blow a horn and ring cowbells. Thanks also to Amanda and Becky, our team captains, who were very organized and prepared.

For me personally, I felt a lot better running this year, although I did get sick again between my second and third runs. Not quite sure if it was lack of sleep, lack of adequate hydration/food, or more likely, a combination of both. Same thing happened in the Las Vegas Ragnar last two years. At any rate, once you get back on the course and start running, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in (“fight or flight”), and the nausea goes away by about 1.5 miles into the run.

Results: Overall, unofficial finish time for our team was 30 hours, 57 minutes or so. Not bad considering one of our runners in the second van aggravated an injury and had to limp along on her first run, then the other runners in her van had to run her last two legs for her in addition to their own routes. Also, the traffic was so backed up at one of the exchange points, our runner had to wait 10 minutes at the exchange for the van to arrive and drop off the next runner (yes — the runners were moving faster than the traffic heading up to Snowbasin ski resort).

For me personally, I ran legs 5, 17, and 29.

Elevation changes for Leg 5

Leg 5: 7.4 miles up Avon Pass for an elevation gain of about 1200 feet. I finished in 70 minutes, which I was very pleased with. I had 27 “road kills,” but I also got passed 3 times by other runners.

Leg 17: 4.2 miles, relatively flat and easy in Morgan, Utah. I finished in 33 minutes. Again, I was pleased as I was under an 8-minute pace and it had only been about 8 hours since I had run up Avon Pass. I had 21 road kills, while nobody passed me.

Leg 29: 3.0 miles, up and down 200 foot elevation in the suburbs of Heber City, Utah. I was pretty nauseated to start this leg, so I wasn’t expecting great results. I finished in just under 28 minutes. Still, I had 9 more road kills, but I also got passed 5 times. I just had no energy from not being able to eat or drink anything for several hours prior to my leg.

Again, thanks to all who helped make it possible and safe. I had an enjoyable time. There is nothing quite like running through the awesome canyons, trees, and scenery of Utah’s Wasatch Back. The Start Line and Finish Line locations were much better this year, with a lot more room to spread out and relax while visiting with other teams and runners. I’m still trying to catch up on my sleep, but I feel ready to run again and try to get a few more “road kills.” Can’t wait to do another one.

 

© Copyright 2011 Jeff, All rights Reserved. Written For: Jeffrey Olsen
Races

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