We Are Ragnarians!!! {Ragnar Relay Race Recap; Part 2}

Before you start reading this, if you haven't read Part 1 please check out: "A Real Race Recap of the Ragnar Relay" and start the journey from the beginning. If you've already read Part 1, let's pick back up where we left off... 

I needed a shower

So there we were at Exchange 18. This was Van 2’s opportunity to rest and recuperate before our second leg, courtesy of a high school somewhere in Wisconsin. I was exhausted. Not only was I exhausted, I was also covered with sweat salt crystals (gross, I know). If you know me personally you know that there are several states of being that I don’t do well, including: sleepy, hungry (thankfully I had eaten at Exchange 12), and hot shower deprived. I typically don’t get too grumpy in these states of being. Ok, that might be a lie. I can get very grumpy. But I didn’t want to scare off my Ragnar crew so I just stayed quiet and followed my teammates, and the signs, to the designated “Women’s Showers”.

So here’s the thing about Ragnar Rookies. We don’t know EVERYTHING that we need to bring for a race. There are a bunch of lists and “race bibles” out there (I know because I've read several of them), but I either didn’t see (or it didn’t register) that I would need a towel. I’m not sure how I could have missed that since I packed two washcloths; but alas, there I was, heading to take a shower with only a washcloth and a change of clothes on hand...

A Real Race Recap of the Ragnar Relay {#RagnarChi Part I}

If you throw an average runner into an anything but average running situation (like a Ragnar Relay) it can go one of two ways: horribly wrong or amazingly right. It’s never usually both right? Well, let’s find out...

There is no way for me to do this Ragnar Race Recap without giving you a little bit of the back story on how I joined my Ragnar team. I’ll keep it brief:
I heard about Ragnar in my many searches for running events. 
        Saw there was one in Florida. 
              Tried to form a team. 
                    The race got cancelled. 
                           I looked for another event. 
                               Found Ragnar Chicago. 
                                    Chicago is my happy place. 
                                         So obviously I went looking for a team. 
                                              Saw a message on Facebook about a team looking for runners. 
                                                   Reached out to Nicole (team captain). 
                                                        She was super nice. 
                                                             She had spots. 
                                                                  I paid my registration fee. 
                                                                       Team membership confirmed.

Out to Ragnar

I'm off to Ragnar Chicago as of tomorrow (Thursday) and, in an effort to conserve space in the van...and because I won't have wifi during the run, I'm leaving my laptop behind. I will be doing a lot ALOT of updates via my Instagram account: @Thisismyfaster, so please follow my journey to find my #innerWILD during my first ever Ragnar Relay Run! 

I'll be back next week with a full race recap; an update on how NY Marathon training has been going;  and where I've reached in my training for the August Swim Miami Beach open water swimming event (*spoiler alert* not very far). 

Until then, see you on Instagram (or Facebook or Twitter, all @Thisismyfaster)

Have a great week and weekend :)