Ragnar Preview

I am running the Reebok Ragnar Wasatch Back in a little over a week. A friend from Michigan (who now lives in Oregon) has a sister who lives just a few miles from us. When said friend was in town for spring break, we met up at a park and met her sister for the first time. In the course of conversation, she mentioned that her family was running the Ragnar in June and were short a couple of runners. I not-so-casually mentioned that I would be very interested in joining a group. A few weeks later, it turns out that they still needed someone, and the price was very right, so I'm signed up.

How excited am I? Even before I officially had been offered the spot, I might have started developing my own spreadsheet to evaluate each leg of the race based on distance, time of day and elevation gain, and to estimate their relative difficulty. I started my packing list. And of course I've been talking about it to the point that Shannon probably wishes it was over already. (Also, their website has some typos, and the rule book has a couple of minor inconsistencies. But who's counting?)

If you're not familiar with Ragnar, it's a relay race, usually run with teams of 12. The route this year is 184 miles long, and will take a very mediocre team like ours something like 30-32 hours to complete (I think). They stagger the start times for the teams letting the slowest teams start first, for logistical reasons. We'll be starting in Logan at 8:30 on Friday morning, and hopefully finishing somewhere around 5pm on Saturday in Kamas. The 184 miles are divided into 36 legs, and each runner does three of them. (Some teams are crazier and do it with fewer runners.) Just in case you don't quite appreciate what 184 miles is like, here's what the route looks like in map form:

I get to run legs 12, 24 and 36, which I've roughly marked on the elevation map below between the pairs of red lines. It was only once I did this that I really got to appreciate that I get to do 2 of the 5 biggest climbs and run the highest part of the race. The jury is still out on whether I should consider this an honor or a punishment.

As this is a continuous relay, the team will be running through the night. My legs should work out pretty well in that regard, as I expect to do my first leg around 6pm, the second at 6am and the last at 4pm. I still haven't met 9 of the other 11 runners, and probably won't until the night before at the earliest, so it's going to be a big adventure hanging out with them for that many consecutive hours. I'll try to remember to take some pictures, and you can be confident that there will be a lengthy write-up of the race afterwards.

And if that doesn't get you excited, then just wait until I unveil the next epic running adventure that is planned for late July. It makes the Ragnar look like a walk in the park.