For people who don't know about Ragnar, its a 200 mile relay run, run over two days by a team of 12 people grouped in two vans, typically starting on a Friday and finishing on Saturday, Wherein each of the 12 runners get 3 legs to run with varying distances, with a maximum distance of 24.4 miles including all the 3 legs
This was my third time running ragnar northwest passage with the same team. Our team is know by the name CRAWLERS, truly we are crawling for 6 years as a team. we had varied combinations of team members for the past 6 years in the team, but I suppose this was the first year that it turned out to be an all men's team.
Our team was scheduled to start at 12:30 PM from the start line, for people who don't know each team has to volunteer for some time at some point over the two day time or else have to pay for a volunteer. I was in van2 and our van1 guys had already been there at 7 AM or so. I have to say, this was the first time in 6 years it was raining on the day of ragnar, not sure what to expect and how things are going to be.
Start Point - Peach Arch Park Blaine - 11:45 AM
Van 1 guys volunteered at the start line, while we from van2 drove to the start line at Blaine, reaching there at around 11:45, while we took over the volunteer work, let the team take the safety training, collect the bibs and be ready for the scheduled start at 12:30 PM. We volunteered there at the Packet pick up tent, helping out teams with their t-shirt's and bibs after then had completed their safety training. we leave from there to exchange 6, where our van runners start.
Exchange 6 - Bellingham High School - 4:00 PM
Reached exchange 6, we as van2 guys had to take the safety training(they explain the rules to be followed on the course, rules by ragnar team, rules by local laws, what to do in night, what to do when get lost etc...). Only upon completing the safety training, will we get the bibs for the runners in our van, hence we got done with that, met few chuckit runners, had a brief chat and posed for a snap :)
Waited for the van1 runners to reach exchange 6, they were expected to arrive at 5:30, sun was starting to show up at 4:30 or so, giving a sense of relief
Exchange 7 - 11 5:30 - 9:30
We had our first runner Todd, who started from exchange 6, he had a tough hill to climb, he was sprinting by, doing 7's or 7:15's, helped out with water in between before he takes a trail, Madhu was the 8th runner, he took over from todd, he was doing 6.5 miles finishing with a hill, he did great with sub 8's and Biddu took over from him as the 9th runner running easy 2.8 miles, again him doing a sub 8's, Anand took over from him as the 10th runner running 6.1 miles, he was doing great too, then it was time for Jaydev to run as 11th runner, he had a good hill, he was cruising past the hills, helping out with couple of sips of water for him, it was time for me to get ready to the longest of legs of anybody has got.
Exchange 11 - 9:00 PM
I was the 12th runner, my first leg was 10.8 miles, totally flat, our Captain Anand, had suggested the running times for each runner in each leg based of our 10 k pace, so I was expected to run 7:30 for the first leg.
LEG 1 ELEVATION
LEG 1 PACE
I was the first runner in van 2 to wear the reflective vest and lights, I was all set with it for jay to arrive, primed with Gaitorade carb drink and got the band passed on from jay, took off, it was getting dark, it was a long run but I took off so fast, doing 6:50 for my first mile and slowly brough it to target pace of 7:30, about 3 miles I already had 4 kills, there was this old guy who wanted to just run with me at my pace, i was running with him until around 7 miles, honestly he kept the pace and he had to stop to stretch, I just kept my pace and the last 2 miles I again picked it up, finishing my first leg in 1 hour 20 minutes at 7:25 m/mile pace. that was clear 5 sec/mile faster than what our captain had for me for the first leg :).
Exchange 12 - 10:20 PM - Burlington Edison high school
I reached the exchange 12 close to 11 pm, what a great relief to get done with one of your legs, that too within the expected pace. Quickly used the potty, and we were off to a Bobs burger shop for our dinner, we had to rush as the shop was closing by 11 PM, reached there on time, had a big meal for dinner, had nice conversations amongst us, teasing our captain for generously giving us stipulated times to run. obvious to say it was just a guideline, but we were just pulling his leg for all reasons.
Exchange 18 - 11:20 PM - La Conner High School
we had our dinner, and drove to our next exchange point where we have to start our 2nd leg, this is the chance for us to rest quickly, all of us quickly settled with our sleeping bags, couple of us went to take shower and slept at peace, with clear instructions from the van1 leader valor, to have our phones switched on and with high volume :) . we probably got around 2 hours undisturbed sleep, which was great in terms of ragnar conditions. At close to 3 AM, we got message from valor, and our first runner Todd, was already up and getting warmed up, I just woke up then to see todd performing push ups at 3 AM in the morning :) , he was really serious about it. slowly all of us packed our sleeping bags, while van1's last runner came in with todd starting to start his second leg
Exchange 19-23 - 3:00 AM to 7:30 AM
again we got to rotate our runners, todd going strong, lost his way on the very first mile, we backtracked the path to find him finally on the right route. Then it was Madhu, who had a awesome run across a bridge in the night light, but that part of that was not supported, hence helped him out at mile 4.8 and we drove to the next exchange point, while all our runners were resting in the van, biddu , the next runner got ready and was all set to run his shortest leg, I drove to the next exchange point soon after Madhu came in since the distance was short for biddu. Anand was the next runner who got all ready, I had jaydev alone after anand, hence I got myself ready and was all set mentally, I drove to the next exchange point so that jay had some time to use the potty's and be ready to take his leg as anand arrived. I always wanted to run across the deception pass bridge, this time it was jay's turn to run across deception pass bridge, which was totally foggy, it was reasonably bright around 7:15, but no view point due to drizzle and the resulting foggy situation. I was mentally more tensed, since my next leg was hilly, and its not short either its 8.9 miles, had my carb primer and quickly used the potty, and I see jay reaching the exchange point already. got the batton and started my second leg
Exchange 23 - 7:30 AM
I was mentally not prepared to run, but as time nears to my turn, I have to just do it, got the batton from jay and happily started the second leg, since it was slightly drizzling and daylight was total on by then. totally happy to start with a down hill, with my left ankle still totally not co-operating, I wasn't sure about climbing even a single hill, but slowly as I was getting more kills, up the hills, that motivated me to keep going, my target page set by anand was 7:52, I at least wanted to be under that, but I was doing way better than I expected, I was doing 7:35's up the fist hill, 6:50's down the hills happily, which was totally compensated in subsequent hills over the course of my second leg, my this leg was 8.9 miles, i see chuck's group runner and the team van, got a great cheer from tien, that was just another boost. having known that i am done with almost all the hills of that leg, I started speeding doing 7:30's and finished strong to average 7:40 for 8.9 miles. totally satisfying run given the elevation of the leg. happy to have done my second long leg. I just had a 4.5 miler in the third leg, which i was totally happy. Here is the when we saw our chuckit group runners waiting for their runner. had a quick snap with dana and sumanth, and we set out to the school for a happy shower.
Exchange 24 Oak Harbor High School 8:15 AM
Always has been a favorite spot, just for the chance to sleep and eat. took shower quickly and had the breakfast in the school across the street and totally felt fresh, but we were expecting the van1 guys to arrive at 11:30, so we had close to 2 hours to sleep then, happily went ahead and slept in the gym for solid 2 hours, and around 11:30, we were up and were about to start, while Todd had already started his leg, an awesome route around the oak harbor, I remember doing that leg last year, its really a nice scenic route, Jay quickly helped all of us with a pack of yogurt, which totally felt great for the heat, when van 1 had come in, quickly snapped them all for a group snap and we leave to support todd and start our last and final legs.
Exchange 25 - Exchange Bay View Road 35: 11:30 AM to 3:19 PM
It was all of ours last legs, and most of us were already beaten up from previous legs and the heat then, Todd was as usual rocking doing 7's finishing his leg, it was already hot, madhu had a burst of hills in his last leg, with part of it not supported by van, yet they had two water stations along that leg which was cool, he did great too, Biddu took over, he had a shady route, but pretty bad downhill to finish with, finish alongside a beach, he did great too, finding it hard to control down the hills, he finished his leg and directly ran in the beach and had a whole dip into the water, it should definitely have been so refreshing.anand took over and he had pretty brutal hills, and with atmost heat and light, it feels even harder, he being a ragnar veteran, took it fine and finish in great shape. Jay had shorter leg this time, but it was really hot with absolutely no shade all along his route, he had water but he was maintaining a pretty good pace. I was really tensed to have me save energy till the end and finish strong.
Exchange 35: 3:19 PM Bay View Road 3:19 PM
being the last leg, I had already decided to give it all out effort the last leg, I had a decent hill at mile 1.5 and at mile 4 until 4.7 the end point, I started too ambitiously at 6:50's for the first mile and then totally slowed it down up the hill, had good number of kills up the hill, I had told that I don't need support until 2 miles and then on I shall take care, but the heat was taking a toll, and I had our van stop couple of times for water and at 3 miles I felt into the rhythm again and took off from then on, doing 7:15's and as I reach the pizza shop near the end point, I heard a huge set of people encouraging and cheering, that was a great boost, soon came the final hill, I just gave it all that I could maintaining 7:20s over the hill and soon I enter the last turn and I see my team, I just was one short of 2 digit kills, so started sprinting to eventually get 12 kills in the last leg and finish is great style and felt great about finishing it strong as an individual and also as a team we were right on time and what we had planned, which was an awesome feat by the whole team.
Had quick a bit of group snaps, had the free pizza that came along for every team and people settled into the beer garden for a nice drink and a relaxed discussions after 27 long hours of team effort
Soon after we are departed the finish line and were in queue for the ferry that took close to 1.5 hours in wait line and we stopped for a heavy meal at a thai place and left for home. it totally an awesome year and such a great team effort.
Kudos to ANAND for putting up the show year after year ! Great job by the whole team. Congratulations one and all!!
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