Saturday, May 27, 2017

The First Leg {Ragnar Niagara Race Recap: Part 1}...

I was a lot more involved in the planning and logistics for Ragnar Niagara Falls (compared to previous Ragnars) because our team captain wasn't going to be able to run in the event. Plus we had runners that canceled along the way. So a lot of my time leading up to Ragnar was spent trying to find replacement runners and helping to coordinate other Van 1 and general team logistics, including designing the team logo and magnets...

In the grand scheme of things, I really didn't mind participating in the planning because I'm team captain for a Ragnar event later this year so getting involved in the behind-the-scenes stuff from now will be beneficial later. Well, in theory it will 😉.

In any event, the weeks leading up to Ragnar Niagara were busy, so when it was finally time to go I was more than excited to get the whole process started. I happened to be traveling up to Canada on the same flight as my friend Dafney (who I had convinced to join the team from last year) and her husband (who was also running with us but will be m.i.a from all pictures)...

The flight to Toronto was mostly uneventful. Once we landed we headed to the van rental place, got the van, went back to the airport to pick up one of our van mates, EmJai, then went to pick up Julie (who was staying nearby), and then we headed to check in for the event and pick up our race bibs and other Ragnar Niagara race related delights. All that stuff took a while because Toronto traffic is (shockingly) just as bad as Miami traffic... the drivers are much nicer though 😊. 

By the time we made it to the Running Room we only had a few minutes to check in before packet pickup was closed...


While we were at the Running Room we met up with Cameron (aka Cam) and commemorated the check-in process for Van 1...
(the cartoon turtle is for Dafney's hubby (aka "A") who is off social media and opted out of pics)

So Van 1 was (from left to right): A; Julie; Cam; Dafney; Me; and EmJai 😊. We all flew in for the event except for Cam (who was local). After race check in we were all pretty tired but we still had another long drive ahead of us before we could get any rest at the hotel. So we said goodbye to Cam (he was going to meet us at the start on race morning), made a quick stop at Starbucks, and made our way to Cobourg where our hotels were and where the race start was.

There was a mix-up at the hotel where Julie was booked (i.e. despite her online confirmation they did not have a room for her and EmJai) so we all ended up at the same hotel... Dafney and A in one room and Julie, EmJai and I in the other. It was definitely more spacious than previous Ragnar sleeping arrangements so I didn't mind. And this was Julie's and EmJai's first Ragnar so I don't think they were too bothered either. 

Once we got the room situation figured out we went on the hunt for food...

The wait wasn't too long (which was good since we were hungry) but the food wasn't that great. At least my own wasn't. But it was something, and I needed to eat something, so it worked...

The rest of the night was uneventful. We went back to the hotel, got ready for bed and finally got some sleep. When we woke up in the morning we were all ready for race day. We got to the start and had a few minutes to take pictures and try (unsuccessfully) to not get eaten alive by bugs...

Van 1 (minus A) ready for our first legs...

And then we waited for a few generator issues to get addressed before I was able to start...

My first leg was really short (2.5 miles) and I was really excited about my sub-11 minute pace...

Almost as excited as when I saw this sign...

At the end of my first leg I was handing off to Julie just as the sun was coming up...

And after Julie's leg she handed off to Cam...

Then Cam handed off to EmJai...

EmJai handed off to A (no pics for that) and then A handed off to Dafney (who was runner 6 and our anchor runner for Van 1)...

After Dafney started her first leg we headed to Exchange 6 which was the first major exchange where Van 1 officially hands off to Van 2 (so they can start their first legs). I was a little disappointed when I got to Exchange 6 because I was expecting it to be bigger. Mainly because I remembered what I experienced at Ragnar Chicago in 2016. But I guess because Ragnar Niagara was a smaller event they didn't go all out with their major exchanges....

We shopped, walked around (which didn't take long), and hung out with some of the Van 2 crew while we waited for Dafney to finish running... 

Once she came in she handed off to Randy (who was running his first leg)...

Soooo with that Van 1 was done with our first legs! It was a great "Intro to Ragnar" for everyone who hadn't done Ragnar before (which was everyone in Van 1 but me). Part 2 of the recap will cover the next phase of the race, but until then here are just a few highlights from the first part of our day...

Dafney's amazing Ragnar flare...

Our Van 1 "running roster"...

The look Dafney gets every time I talk to her about running...
(She claims to hate running but I know deep down she kind of likes it)

Me pretending to sleep so I could have a "sleeping in the van" pic for my blog post...

That pic quickly turned into this pic...

After a lot of laughter and a few more miles we found ourselves at Applebees for lunch and eventually at Exchange 12 for the start of our second legs.

[I hope you like the Ragnar Niagara Race Recap (so far)! Check out Part 2 and Part 3]

2 comments:

  1. Haha I love that you staged a sleeping pic!! I would so do that but it didn't even cross my mind that it was staged when I first saw it LOL.

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    1. Thanks! My "acting" skills were on point ;) (well up until I started laughing non-stop)

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