How to become a badA$$

Over the weekend I ran the So Cal Ragnar with 11 other crazy people who thought it would be a good idea to run 203 miles.  I never thought it would be but my friend Lindsey told me I had to do it and that I would be bad A if I did.  So I did it.  I actually finished and stayed in my estimated time.  I did not forecast the mountains I would be climbing. Like 500 + feet in a mile.  Cruel but so bad A.

We left Thursday morning at the crack of dawn and drove down to Cali

Guy at the starting line. 

So nervous and yet so naive

Mom manhandled the race.  So proud of her.

 This was my first leg. 2.5 miles.... up the biggest hill of my life.  It was AWFUL!  I thought it was going to be a piece of cake.  I got the worst side cramp as I started the very last part which went downhill.  I had to walk for a minute and then as I saw the lady who calls your number on the walkie talkie I sprinted the whole rest of the way because my team just couldn't see me so weak and sad.  Then I had the side cramp constantly for the next 2 days.   

Waiting for mom to come around the corner and cheer her on with dad, julie, and megan

 I then ran six miles in the middle of the night and that was definitely my best route.  It was mostly downhill slant and flat with just a few little climbs.  I was feeling pretty good and ran the whole thing.  Little did I know what the next one had in store for me. We only got about 2.5 hours of sleep before our next leg started.  If you know me, you know I need to sleep.  Not because I get grumpy but because it just has to happen.  I can fall asleep anywhere, anytime. 

After I stumbled across the finish line for my last leg.  16 miles total .. check.

My dad was so hardcore.  I got a Tony chant going for his last few feet of the whole race

Funny story about me crossing the finish line.  I ran the first three miles of my race and I told the van to not meet me until mile 5 when I had made it to the top of my hill.  When I was getting to the hill the sun came out and I was extremely tired and thirsty.  What had I done?!  Well I made it up the 2.5 mile climb and my dad saw me walking and waved me on like "hurry up!" I was exhausted!  So they gave me a drink and a salt pill and my dad told me I only had 2 miles left and most of it should be down hill.  Down hill was right.  So steep that I couldn't walk when I tried.  Rough on the knees!  Longest two miles of my life.  So the last 3/4 mile was flat on the way to the beach and I had been totally by myself for awhile then all the sudden this guy came up behind me and said "come one!  we are almost done!" so I kept going.  I seriously was using the weight of my head to propel me forward.  When I rounded the corner to the exchange in the beach parking lot I see my team just driving in and I panic a little because they weren't ready.  Luckily they had dropped my dad off and he and my mom were waiting for me.  As I was rounding the last corner there was a ragnar lady holding a flag directing me where to go and she could see I was out of gas.  She said "give it all you've got. you're there!"  so as I start to pathetically cry I start sprinting and she keeps yelling "push it!  push it!" and my mom caught me at the finish line.  Oh how that lady will never know how much I appreciated her yelling at me as my team had not made it out of the car yet to cheer me on.

If you are a runner you should definitely do a Ragnar.  The atmosphere is so fun and in california it is way easier to breathe because the air isn't so dry.  I will never do the wasatchback ragnar as I would rather die. I don't know if I would do it again as I get really sick and nauseated after I push myself long distances.  I laid in the fetal position once we reached the finish line and waited for 5 hours for our other van to finish their last 40 something miles.  Everyone else was boozing and eating pizza and it looked like a lot of fun.... well not the boozing part.  When our team got there i was finally feeling better and we got to run across the finish line all together when our last runner came in.

Team 'DOIN' IT FOR THE STICKER"

finally got the stickers!!!

family fitness

all our legs checked off!  Notice Julie did 4 as she was prepping for her marathon next month and ran my 6 mile midnight run with me

and I got sunburned.  That has helped distract from my incredibly sore calves.  I can't remember the last time I had a tan line though.  God bless aloe vera. 

kthnxbye