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Ragnar New England – Ultra Relay Race Report

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

I survived. +31 miles. We made it from New haven to Boston. All +190 miles of it.

Here is the team, all decked out in our Brooks gear.

And the obligatory stupid group pose…

I was manning the second car for most of Friday, making sure whoever was out running knew where they were going and had plenty of water and calories. I was last in the rotation so while we started racing at 2pm, I didn’t lace up the shoes and hit the road until 9:30 at night.

I have run at night plenty of times before, but never like this. We were in the woods of eastern Connecticut. For the majority of my first 11 miles there wasn’t a single light anywhere in sight. No houses off in the distance, no street lamps, no head lights from passing traffic, no stars, no moon, just pitch black. With the exception of the tiny little 1 foot wide stretch of road that my head lamp and flash light gave me, it was like running on a treadmill in a dark closet.

I had no idea how steep the hills were ahead of me or where they topped off. I just kept moving forward, doing my best to spot tree branches, frogs and pot holes and jump over them just as they came into sight in front of my feet. It was completely insane/amazing/terrifying/exhilarating. I knew I was going out a little too fast, but I was feeling great so I just went with it. I polished off my first 10.9 miles in 1:28:40 (8:07 min/mile). That is faster than my half marathon PR pace, and I still had 20 more miles to go. GULP.

For almost every leg of the race, it rained. Sometimes it was a light mist, or a little sprinkling, but other times the skies completely opened up and let loose their fury. Some of us got it worse than others, but we all got wet.

After some more sherpa-ing, Chris, Greg and I (three not so small gentlemen) cuddled up and managed to get a few winks of sleep in my tiny little Mazda. At the very most, I managed an hour and a half of sleep. I felt surprisingly good when I woke up and the sun peaked through my windshield. The only problem was when my legs stretched out and my hips practically creaked and cracked. From being awkwardly curled up in my drivers seat while catching some Zs, my hips and gluts were killing!

I was already limping a little and I wasn’t even on to my second leg. Double gulp!

I bulldozed through my second leg, another 11 miles, taking a 1 minute walk break every 10-15 minutes. Uphills were nightmares, but downhills felt great and I could really open up my stride. I pushed through with 10 minute miles. Not nearly as impressive as my first leg, but I was happy with it.

Last leg. 9 miles = pain. My legs finally eased up so I could walk without limping (before I started) and I felt good keeping a nice even pace. The first 5 miles: I survived. The last 4: I was constantly on the verge of a emotional and physical breakdown. And THEN, the skies opened up and let loose on me. Quickly I got to the point where my clothes just couldn’t hold any more water and it didn’t matter anymore. Knowing that people were following me online and waiting for us to arrive in Boston was a huge motivator.

As I crossed the Charles River and turned the corner towards Harvard, I saw Sam (my girlfriend, personal photographer and number one cheerleader) standing in the rain by herself with an umbrella. I slowed down for a quick kiss and then the rest of my team came out to help run me in. We all ran through the puddles and drenching rain and through the finish line. It was one of the greatest finish lines ever. My team rocks the most.

Not only are the medals also kick-ass bottle openers, but team 5 guys, 1 girl, 140 Characters sponsored by @brooksrunning WON THE ULTRA CATEGORY! 27:10:17 is the time to beat for the inaugural Ragnar Ultra Marathon Relay!