I ran my first Ragnar Chicago this weekend and it may have been the most fun I’ve ever had with a race. I got to meet some blogging friends in real life, made some other new friends, and ran hard on little sleep. I loved every minute of it.
Most of us were heading up from Chicago, so we met up with our team captain, Mo, at her dad’s house. It was nice to have a good staging area to set things up. I was in Van 2, AKA the #strugglebus. Luckily all the bloggers besides Mo were in Van 2, so nobody batted an eye when we were on our phones doing social media updates all the time. I finally got to meet Susie and Sara and also met Eric and Jessie.
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The car rental place messed up the reservation so instead of getting two minivans, Van 1 was a minivan and “Van” 2 was a nicely equipped Buick Enclave. And, we got free satellite radio, which we took full advantage of. We headed up to Madison Thursday night, grabbed dinner with the team, and then turned in to get some sleep in an actual bed.
Friday morning we woke up, headed to the start line and picked up Krista, our final vanmate. We then grabbed breakfast at Monty’s Blue Plate in Madison while Van 1 ran their first legs. I can’t resist a donut with sprinkles.
And we found a coffee shop with Cards Against Humanity and played a few rounds to kill some time. If you ever play CAH with Sara, watch out. She joined halfway through the game and pretty much immediately racked up four black cards.
In the late morning, we headed to the first major exchange to check in, get our safety gear checked, and to see Sara off for Van 2’s first leg. We had a lot of injured runners in our van (thus the #strugglebus tag), but everyone ran really well. My first exchange where Jessie was handing off to me was a mile long, so I wound up picking up some distance from her since I was undertrained but uninjured.
Our team name was “One Man Per Van”
I had anticipated running around 11 minute miles since I’ve lost a lot of my speed, but I averaged 10:18 for my first segment of 4.5 miles, which I was pretty happy with, especially since I started around 3:20 PM and it was kinda warm.
After Van 2 finished our first legs, we grabbed some dinner and then headed to the next major exchange before starting our night legs. I was a little freaked out about running in the dark because I don’t trust drivers when I’m running and part of my run was on an isolated trail. It had been raining a lot so I had some unavoidable puddles in the middle of the trail that I had to run through and my feet got fully submerged within the first mile of my run. By then the runners were pretty spaced out and I ran a good mile and a half before seeing any other runners. But, I survived, and the anxiety actually helped me run faster and I averaged 9:45 min/mi over 5.3 miles.
When the rest of my vanmates were finished with their night legs we headed to the final major exchange to catch some sleep. Jessie, Krista, Eric, and I grabbed our sleeping bags and slept under an awning by the high school where the exchange was located.
Apparently there was a storm that came through that Jessie and I completely slept through. And Eric had some guy next to him trying to snuggle with him. Good times. Unfortunately the storm washed most of our decorations off of our car–sad face.
We had a lot of fun running our last legs, helped in part by the lack of sleep, I’m sure. We were blasting the satellite radio top hits of the 2000s station when “Low” came on, so of course we had to have an impromptu dance party.
Everyone was looking at us funny, I think because they wished they were as fun as us. The last legs were really fun as we got to drive through the nice neighborhoods in Winnetka and got to see glimpses of the lake. My final leg was along a wooded trail, and I was pretty happy with my 10:18 min/mi average for 4.5 miles since it was getting pretty warm and I slow way down in hot and humid conditions.
Eric had our last leg and really booked it to the finish line. We finished way ahead of our anticipated time because my teammates are rockstars and we hauled some major booty.
I seriously had so much fun and loved getting to meet and hang out with everyone. I wish I could do this every weekend. I’m missing my teammates already and hope we can meet up for drinks or something soon. (Jessie, we’ll get you a plane ticket. :))
One more photo from the finish.
Have you ever run a relay?
Do you prefer to run in the heat or the cold?
What’s your favorite kind of donut?
This sounds like so much fun! I’ve read a few recaps–I didn’t know you were with Susie.
Any donut with sprinkles is a friend of mine!
Any donut with sprinkles is going to be in my belly within five minutes of me seeing it. 😉
MOST MAGICAL RACE WEEKEND EVER.
And girl, you totally sandbagged, and I loved it. But I loved meeting you and hanging out with you more, and now we get to go to blogfest together, and YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS
It totally was magical. And I’d rather sandbag than disappoint someone any day of the week. 🙂 I am so excited that we’re going to BlogFest together! Like beyond excited. It’s going to be such a great trip!
i stalked ya’ll on IG all weekend! Way to go!! seriously impressive!
Aw, thanks for stalking! 🙂 And thanks for your kind words!
I’ve been reading Ragnar reviews and they sound so fun! But man, the logistics must be complicated. I’m definitely better with colder weather rather than heat. I really struggled through a 10k in the heat this weekend and had my slowest 10k ever.
Yeah, I was lucky in that we had a wonderful team captain who had a lot of things planned ahead of time and I also was with some veteran Ragnarians in my van who knew how to do things. Glad you survived your 10K–running in the heat is really tough!
This all looks amazing, I really want to do a Ragnar now!
You should totally run one–they’re so much fun! Seriously loved running it.
So glad you had a great time. It’s amazing how you can be so sleep deprived and sore and tired and yet have the time of your life!
I know, right? I think I dealt with the sleep deprivation pretty well, so I was more happy than some of my teammates, especially after I had coffee and sugar in me. 🙂
That donut though… I am a big fan of those mini powdered donuts you get in the paper bag from gas stations. I’m classy like that. Pretty sure if you gave me a bottle of water, I could finish the entire bag in one sitting. I’ve never run a relay, but I really would love to. And I don’t mind heat, as long as it’s not humid! I think my ideal running temp is about 40-50 degrees. Congrats on an awesome race and hope you have a great day!
I think I’m a fan of any donuts, really. 😉 I’m with ya on the ideal running temp. Love it when temps are in the 40s. Thanks for reading the recap! 🙂
This looks like it was a blast! I am running my first Ragnar next weekend, but mine is trail so it will be a lot different. Glad you had so much fun!
Yay! I hope you have so much fun! I’ve heard the trail Ragnars are a blast. Pack extra shoes and have a great time! 🙂
Congrats on running your first leg so strongly. Too bad about the puddles for the next one, but it looks and sounds like a fantastic weekend anyway! 🙂
Thanks, Pete! The puddles were a bummer, but at least I packed two pairs of shoes so I had a dry pair to change into. 🙂 It was a fantastic weekend–so much fun!
Nice job! Im glad you actually talked about how far you ran bc I have been too lazy to look up the race and know anything besides it is a relay. I had no idea how long each leg was and if I would ever want to do one in my life haha.
Yeah, I did the same thing before I signed up. 🙂 I had some of the shorter legs–some of the legs are up to 10 miles. Unless you’re doing the 6 person ultra team, then you’ll be running lots of miles.
Ahh I miss you already! I had no idea someone tried to snuggle with Eric ha. And yes I am going to add CAH Winner to my list of accomplishments 🙂
Yeah, it’s funny hearing him tell the story. I guess the guy was trying to get out of the rain and kept getting closer and closer to Eric. Or maybe he just wanted to snuggle the Lone Sausage. 😉
OMG! Count me in for next year! I love that you got to meet some bloggers IRL and run. So fun!!!
It was so much fun! And I loved getting to meet my blogging buddies. It made the weekend even more awesome. You should definitely do Ragnar next year–it’s a blast!
Woo hoo! So happy you had a good experience and felt so good!
Thanks, Kim! 😀
Aw, glad you had a fun time! I’ve never run a Ragnar race, but it seems like the cool thing to do 😉
Thanks, Jess! It was so much fun–I’d definitely recommend running a Ragnar!
Fun! You guys look like you had an awesome time (and awesome squad). Relays are all about the team for me! 🙂
This was my first so I definitely don’t consider myself a relay expert, but I think being in a van with such awesome people really made the experience. P.S. Know of any relays down in the ATL area that you need a teammate for? 😉
That was such a fun post to read! Glad you had fun and can’t wait to hear or read more about it! You make me want to sign up for a race 🙂 Missing you my kindred spirit!
Thanks, love! I miss you too–so much! I’ll have to plan a trip out to visit you soon. Maybe in July?