Ragnar Las Vegas with team NUUN-PRO COMPRESSION part deux

Cannot believe one week ago I was in Vegas and Ragnar Relay had already started...heck I think I was actually running at this time...!

This is my second post on Ragnar Vegas...First one is here and where you can read about my fantastic teammates...seriously they were all so great and nice and funny...and well we were a perfect match I think...!  See our brand new Pro Compression socks..made special just for this race!! I love them!

So OK the weekend...

I flew to Vegas with Sandy...we live in the same town and we booked the same flights.  It was nice to have a good friend to travel with.  We got there in the early evening and met the others at the Luxor where we were staying (that's the pyramid hotel on the strip).  We met Vanessa and went  looking for something rare and impossible to find in Vegas...reasonably priced water....!  We met with Brennan and Hyla from Van 2 and I am glad I had a chance to chat with them that night because during the relay we did not see Van 2 a lot.  We saw them at the main exchanges but that was super quick and most of the time not everyone was present... Here we were 11 out of 12...with one on the course..this was taken early Saturday morning..before 6:45 am because we are still wearing our reflective vests....

Friday morning we left for Mt. Charleston and the start of this 187 miles relay. I could feel my ears pop as we kept going all the way up to 8500 ft high!  I was hoping to see some snow and I got my wish! There it was nice white snow !!!

 

 

We went to register and get our race shirt and listen to the security rules speech and then we did some van decorating before it was Nicole's time to start this thing. 

 

We had a late start at 12:30...only one other start time was after us and that meant that we had long stretches where we were isolated on the course.  I wish we had started a little earlier for that reason.  I was alone for 90% of all my 3 legs.  My first leg was 4.7 miles on the 95 freeway!  It was flat with a mild head wind.  It was a little crazy to be running ON the freeway.  This was a leg with no van support.  There were some orange cones and barrels and we were told to run as close to the shoulder as possible...well yes of course.... one truck hit one of the barrels when I was running...that was scary...I was glad this leg was in the daylight!! It went OK...felt a little pain in the knee nothing too bad ...stomach...hmmm one incident.

 

 

 

 

We had dinner after everyone had ran their first leg and this time was better than at HTC because we went somewhere I could find something to eat!  The vibe in our van was upbeat and positive the whole time.  No drama, no problems, all happy and having a good time. 

My second leg was at night and was my shortest one at 2.85 miles.  I had to stop several times at stop lights.  It is the rule and I am a rule follower.  One guy went on a red light in front of me and the race volunteer blew the whistle at him and made him comeback.  The leg started with a 1.25 mile hill.  Another leg with no van support and where I was alone almost the whole time.  Instructions for this leg said "runners are highly encouraged to carry leg map"  so I did.  It turned out the directions had changed a little so I followed the signs on the course.

 

 After the van exchange we parked and tried to get some sleep.  I slept maybe one hour.  I was so cold and I had really bad muscles cramps in my legs.  I tried to rest even if I was not sleeping...I listen to the snoring concert that was going in the van :) ha ha!!

Saturday morning I made a bad decision and I had coffee...black coffee...I cannot drink black coffee but I had a bad headache and I thought coffee would fix that so I had a small cup. My headache got better but I started having bad heartburn and I knew I would pay for this choice and boy did I....
I got worried about my last and longest run.
The sun was out and I was hoping there would be shade on the course.
No shade. All full sun.

This leg ended up being longer than it was supposed to be: 5.4 miles total.
It was difficult for me.
I puked 3 times and I was in pain..every time I would start running my stomach would cramp...it sucked.  I felt sooo bad that I had to walk so much but I did not have a choice it was walk or stop.  I walk run and It was hot and I was alone..again no van support because the majority of this leg was on a trail.  I kept texting my team to let them know what was going on so they knew when to expect me.  My body was not happy but my spirit was not down at all except from worrying about taking so long to finish.

Last few steps:

And then this:

But I got over it:

 

 

 

After that it was all about supporting my teammates and enjoying this fantastic experience!

 

After Vanessa was done with her final leg we headed to the finish line and waited for van 2 so that we could all cross the finish line together!

 

 And finally runner 12 was in sight and we got to finish all 12 of us together!
I stole that pic from Hyla's blog, I am assuming her husband (who was van 2's driver) took it.

I truly had the best time and I am very thankful for this fantastic opportunity.

Thank you NUUN and PRO COMPRESSION!

My fitness is still not back and my stupid stomach got reminded that I still like to run and it needs to get used to it.  It is frustrating to come back from injury but I am thankful I was able to do this and that my team was so supportive.   I did not win the speed contest but I was the queen of puking on the course and at the end of my legs! What else is new....

Now a little something for you: 2 great offers from our team sponsors:

Nuun

Code: ragnarvegas

Good for: 20% order

Expires: 12/31/13

 

Pro Compression

Code: nuunpc

Good for: 40% off + free shipping

Expires: 12/31/13