Ragnar Round II

My emotions concerning the last 48 hours consists of stupidity, accomplishment, exhaustion, and overall what was I thinking. 

Our TEAM- Pure Gumby Cane which our mascot was obviously Gumby to represent the 6 Gummersalls in the car.

Last year as we ran the Ragnar Relay I ran one of the easier legs in van one and thought wow this is not as difficult as I thought.  Maybe next year I will train really hard the months prior and be able to actually run the entire race without stopping.  Through the soreness and the sickness I for some reason WANTED to run Ragnar again.  I was excited. 

Friday morning we work up and carpooled up to Liberty, Utah where our first exchange would take place.  6 Gummersalls in one van and we were ready for anything- none of us were going to let Ragnar conquer us.  Happy and excited we began our first legs of running, all at a very good pace.  Van one estimated to meet us at the first exchange at noon, but ended up being 19 minutes late.  All 6 of us (Lance, Christine, Holly (aunt), Will (uncle), Cassidy (cousin), and Elliott(father) had the shorter of our three legs to start of with- sort of a warm up leg.  

**Parenthesis time is what we estimated, the actual time follows.

Start Time: 12:00pm Actual: 12:19
VAN 2 Exchanges 7-12
   22.4 miles
7- Holly   4.0 miles easy (40:00) 41:14
    10:23 mile pace
8-Christine    3.4 miles easy (37:23) 34 min
    10:00 mile pace
9- Lance   3.2 miles easy (30:24) 24:18
    7:29 mile pace 

(obviously Lance was running a little too fast- CRAZY BOY!)
10- Will  3.9 miles easy (39:00) 28:40
     7:17 mile pace
11- Cassidy  3.2 miles v hard (32:00) 35:00
   10:20ish mile pace

(Cassidy climbed a MOUNTAIN- 3.2 miles of straight uphill.  Finishing in the time she did and running 3/4 of the way was absolutely incredible.)
12- Elliott  4.7 miles v hard (47:00) 44:19.
      9:35 mile pace

Finish time 3:40. Actual time 4:30
3 hours 20 min total time

Elliott ran in to exchange 12 to hand the bracelet off to Van one.  Little did we know at the time the half mile away the team said they were was in reality 48 minutes away.  Elliott stood at the exchange for almost an hour waiting for the other team to meet him.  After the exchange took place Elliott decided to get lost and we had to hunt him down in the parking lot. 

Before our second set of legs we drove down to Coalville, UT and had a little picnic at the local gas station.  It was nice to be surrounded by no other ragnar runners for just an hour.  The peace and quiet really allowed us to enjoy our time before hitting the road again.  We ended up needing to back track to East Canyon State Park which is southwest of Morgan, UT.  As we drove the back way to the exchange we were greeted by a pleasant/exciting surprise.  My leg was supposed to be a 7 mile run down hill to Henefer.  2 miles from the end of the leg we were stopped by a rancher herding his cows and bringing them to another location.  There were cows EVERYWHERE.  On all sides of the car in front, sides, and behind.  We rolled down our windows and could almost TOUCH them.  I was a little nervous thinking making a cow would attack me.  Luckily they were all pretty mellow.  We pulled up 3-4 hours early and just slept/relaxed in the car while watching the Social Network.  Holly began running again. Followed by my 7 mile downhill run.  

Just as a side note:  I NEVER in my entire LIFE have ever ran 7 miles without stopping.  I don't even think I've attempted the task.  During my training I knew I had to run close to 7 miles, but in the end the most I ever ran in one session this year was 4 miles.  My goal was to try to run as much as I could during that leg before I had to stop and run and the wonderful thing was I ran the ENTIRE leg without stopping.  I have never been so proud of myself, even though I ran pretty slow.  I started off coasting down hill at an 8:50 pace, but by mile 3 or 4 I was lucky to be running at 11 minute pace.

After Lance's first leg being a 3 mile sprint (essentially), he had a 10 MILE run in the darkness of Henefer along a lake.  His original leg was supposed to be 8 miles which changed a month before to 9.3 miles and then the day of the race changed to 10 miles flat.  Lance who had ran maybe 3 or 4 times the entire spring/summer was about to run almost a half marathon.  CRAZY.  Lance finished his 10 miles without stopping, while SPRINTING the last section so a guy wouldn't pass him, and with his knee throbbing.  Definitely a way to end a run at 1 am. 
Start Time: 9:30pm Actual Start Time : 9:42pm

VAN 2 Exchanges 19-24
   40.2 miles
19- Holly   3.8 miles  (38:00) 48:30
     13:05
20-Christine   7.0 miles (77:00) 1:15.59
    10:51
21- Lance  10 miles  (88:21) 1:30:06.
    8:58

(that is QUICK!! 10 MILES!)
22- Will    7.6 miles (76:00) 62:00
    8:11
23-Cassidy   5.5 miles (55:00) 52:00
   9:45
24- Elliott  6.9 miles (69:00)

After we finished running at 4:30am we drove to Heber to sleep in the basement of a friend/family member.  Last year we slept in the hallway of a high school and didn't get a wink of sleep with all of the zipping of sleeping bags and people getting up go to run.  Having a home to sleep in was WONDERFUL and the best part was the Riddle House was across the street from our exchange.  When we woke up at 9am Holly was able to walk across the street and begin running.  Our van didn't have to get stuck in the traffic of the exchange but instead sat in the driveway until Holly left.  Our third run (after not eating much real food for the last 24 hours and being drained of energy) was difficult on all of us.  My leg was 6 miles through Heber and a mile into the run my hip flexor was ready to give out.  I called Lance on my iPhone and told him to have some ibpro. ready for me at the next water break.  I battled back and forth between running and speed walking.  Once I hit the mile marker I knew I needed to run as much as I could.  The last quarter of my leg was a hill which I "sprinted" up and was able to pass a girl before the exchange.  Lance took the exchange and began his assend up the first half of Ragnar Hill.  With a bum knee and an aching groin (and a 1400 feet climb up a mountain) Lance was spent.  He did so well running the last mile and almost beat our car.  

As Will ran up Ragnar hill there was still TONS of snow.  Snow piled up along the road and throughout the trees a few feet high.  Snow in June?  I can't believe it. 

When we first made our Ragnar leg assignments I was supposed to be runner 11 which meant a 3.2 mile climb uphill.  A "moderate" 5.5 mile run in the middle of the night and a 6 miles run down into park city.  Last minute, however, ragnar changed the runs so the downhill run turned into a 7.2 miler.  I didn't think I would be able to do all 3 so Cassidy and I switched and boy was I grateful.

Cassidy FLYING down one of her first downhill curves.

Start Time: 8:05 am Actual Time: 9:00
VAN 2 Exchanges 31-36
   31.6
31-   4.2 miles easy (42:00)
32-   5.9 miles moderate (64:54)
33-   3.2 miles very hard (40:24)
34-   4.0 miles very hard (50:00)
35-   7.3 miles very hard (73:00)
36-   7.2 miles hard (69:00)

Approximate Finish:  1:45pm  FINISH:  2:30pm