Last weekend I was one of eleven runners on the team The Ministry of Silly Runs for the Napa Valley Ragnar relay race. I was runner #2.

The Ragnar Relay is 200-mile (give r’ take) relay race with twelve runners per team. Each runner runs 3 legs, and the race generally takes anywhere from 24 to 36 hours to complete, depending on your runners. If you want to know more about what a Ragnar Relay is, check this out:

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/about

The reason we only had eleven runners was because one runner had to drop out at the last minute due to an injury. The runner was from van one, my van, so we had to run extra legs.

First Leg

My first leg was a 2.7 miler, just after the Golden Gate bridge. I ran along a trail and then downhill along a street until I got into downtown Sausilto. I ran past many nice houses and lots of cafe’s and shops. Man, they sell a lot of ice cream in Sausilito! I did run by some confused looking early morning patrons who probably weren’t expecting runners with race bibs to run down the street while they had their early morning coffee.

The morning was cold and foggy and perfect for running. I was kind of worried about a minor strain in my right calf, but I didn’t have any problems with it on the first leg, just some initial tightness at the beginning, but it felt fine after running on it for a while.

Fog and Sun

The first van had it pretty easy when it came to the weather. most of our runs were early in the morning or late at night, and I got to run through the dark and fog quite often. The second van got hit with the heat, up in the 80’s at times. At the last major exchange I found out van 2 had used up all of their water, so I gave them quite a few bottles from our van to help them out as they finished up the last round of legs in the hot sun.

Second Leg – Ultra Man!

Because one of our runners dropped out at the last minute due to injury, I was going to make up for the missing leg by combining legs 14 and 15 into one giant mega-leg that stretched out over 11 miles!

The first leg was fine. 4.7 miles fo steady running. By the time I got to the exchange for leg 15, nighttime hours had started. I had to put on my night gear: Safety vest, runners flashlight, and back blinky. I ran a steady pace for the next 6.7 miles, downing blok shots to keep me going. Asides from one stop to remove a rock that had gotten into my shoe and the stop to put on my night gear, I ran the entire 11.4 miles.

The terrain was slightly hilly, and I passed by many green fields and farmhouses as the sun was setting. But I have to say, I have never seen so many cows in my life. Cows everywhere! And one sheep. Sheep was belating at us as I was finishing my run.

Third Leg

My last leg was a run through the vineyards, in the fog, just as the sun was coming up!

I was a little worried about this leg. By now I was no longer worried about my calf, but I had not eaten very much. Just some bread, some snacks, and a Gatorade. No proper dinner at all. Now I was to pound out eight miles.

Downing a gel shot and bringing some shot bloks with me, I started out at a steady and measured pace. Despite my lack or nourishment, I felt pretty energetic. It was still dark out when I started, but by mile two everything started to lighten up. A bit more than halfway along, we could see the rising sun pushing through the clouds.

I never hit the wall once during my eight mile final leg, despite very little sleep and a nearly empty stomach.

A True Ultra Man?

I had to run extra legs in the Del Sol Ragnar last February, and that’s when I started thinking about doing an ultra Ragnar, (6 people running 6 legs apiece rather than 12 people running 3 legs apiece.) I did so much better on my last 8 mile leg than I ever could have imagined. I never hit the wall once during any of my runs, and it just shows me how much I’ve improved in speed and especially endurance in the past year.

I’m also convinced that the hardest part of running an ultra Ragnar is finding five other runners who also want to do it. So I will try to get an ultra team together, probably early next year, but I’ll have to see if it pans out. I have friends who say they want to do an ultra, but bringing it all together may prove more difficult than organizing a regular Ragnar team.