Ragnar Reflections - Part 1

Wow.  When I think back through our Ragnar Keys experience in my head, it sounds like a tall, tall tale.  I know I'm totally going to blow the minds of my non-running friends when I tell them about it.  It sort of blows my mind how crazy it was.  It feels like we MUST have made parts of it up, it was so unreal.  Driving home from Key West today in a quiet car with hubs, I felt in awe of how far we had come.

Prior to leaving for Ragnar, one of my team mates, Dawn, sent me this:

We had absolutely no idea how true this would end up being.

Keep in mind, this is a 196.7 (+/-) mile relay race involving 12 people in two vehicles and very little sleep.  There is a whole lot that can go wrong.  And boy, did things go wrong.  Here's a rundown of our Ragnar adventure.

Team 2 Bros and 10 Does started at 5am on Friday with Amanda leading off for Van 1.  It was hot and humid, and the sun wasn't even up yet.  Then I got a text that our 2nd runner and team captain, Kristi, was almost mugged while running up Grand Avenue.  Thankfully she was carrying her cell phone and called for mace.  Scary situation. 

After that things ran smoothly, other than the oppressive heat and humidity.  We did a Van 2 Photo Op as we waited for our turn to head out.  Notice those really cool decals?  That was thanks to Family Fan Club, one of our amazing sponsors. 

I was the first one out for Van 1.  Here Brad and I are waiting for team mate Dawn to come in so I could head out for 4.2 hot hot miles, from Tamiami Park.

 

Dawn came, I left and had a great run in the heat.  Little did I know that my team was dealing with THIS after I left. . . .

 

Yeah, the battery on our car died.  We had to get jumped not once, but twice . . . they did manage to get the car restarted (YAY!), but we still had five runners to put on the course before we would have time to get a replacement.  Thankfully team member Sarah E brought along her friend Val, who was driving for us and stayed with the car at exchanges.  She was a LIFE SAVER.  

To Be continued . . . this is only the first 4ish hours of our 38 hour crazy journey.