#RagnarSoCal with #TeamNuun

When I talked The H into letting me run Goofy Challenge AND Eugene Marathon, I had to trade out some other events - namely, Ragnar SoCal.

The course runs directly outside my office window.....

heeeey, Santa Ana River Trail...

Plus, 1/3 of #VanAwesome from last year is busy growing tiny new humans, so I was resigned to staring longingly outside my office all day, wishing I were wearing a sweaty slap bracelet and not sleeping for 24 hours.

So when Sarah OUaL asked if I was interested in running with #TeamNuun, it took me approximately .47 seconds to tell her ABSOLUTELY I WILL.

(I'm ignoring the parts in the 3 weeks following me joining the team, where I almost dropped out when I realized I was BY FAR the slowest runner, when I wasn't having fun training, and when I thought my right quad might just amputate itself if I didn't cut some shit out).

I lived in denial for a few weeks, and procrastinated so much, that I was packing at 9:30 am on Friday morning, while van 1 was getting their safety briefing and at the start line.

This year, I was runner 9, and in van 2 (last year, I was runner 3, in van 1), so it was like a whole new race for me.

Megan, our fearless Nuun leader and van 2 driver, got us to exchange 6 in record time, and we breezed through the paperwork, waivers, safety briefing (one for each van!), packet pick up. While our first runner got ready to pound out 8 miles in the hot, hot inland sun, we met up with van 1 for the first time, and got a present from Sheila!

The other van 2 runners had already decorated the van for our adventure.




Runner 7 off, and van 2 on duty.

Man. Like last year, it was HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT. I think the heat index was 101? So not ideal, but... it's Ragnar, and it all moves so fast, so you barely even get to register the heat (ha).

Leg 9, my first.....

This was an ugly, ugly slog up that hill, and down a long stretch of unshaded road. I have never been so psyched to see red lights during a run, ever.

After our van finished our 6 legs, we headed for a quick dinner at Applebees, and then on to the next major exchange, #18 at the Lawrence Welk Resort.

We had a couple hours of downtime here while Van 1 worked their legs, before we headed out again (I think around 1am?).

My second leg, leg 21, was an easy 4 miler, mostly downhill. It was cold and glorious and everything should be run downhill in the cool dark air. (seriously, I want to find that exact race course).



Safety first! Not even Ragnar Ambassador's can forego safety gear.

San Marcos at 3am. In case you ever wondered what it looked like.

Van 2 finished up around 5:30am, and we headed out to find some breakfast.

After breakfast and a delicious coffee break, we headed out to exchange 30, right in Torrey Pines. I was SUPER excited to hit this exchange, because I've never been to Torrey Pines.

And then we ended up here.

Vandemonium

Off the freeway in a broken van. Womp, womp.

Luckily, a friend of our first runner lives locally, and was able to pick her up and take her to the exchange so we could keep running. Van 1 rescued us shortly after, and the van rental company sent down a new van to get us through the remaining legs.

My last leg, leg 33, was an easy down/flat for 4 miles, then a killer death hill at the end.

Our last runner handoff......
And we headed down to the finish area to meet Van 1 and run Megan in as a team.

 

 

I had a blast, Ragnar is just the funnest event in all the land. Everyone is fun, and friendly, and I can't wait to do it again. The entire course was well organized, and well marked. Ragnar does a stellar job at the logistics, which seems overwhelming to me in an event THIS enormous.

A HUGE thank you to Nuun for letting me on the team, and for their great support this weekend keeping us all hydrated in that hot SoCal sun!

Ridic HTC Jealousy + 18 Internet Strangers + 200ish miles...

Freaking FINALLY!!

Ragnar supplies have taken over a corner of my dining room.

I'm sorry in advance, #SMCOL, for bringing this on board.

I'm still doing laundry. I haven't packed. I have to work tomorrow, then meet up the rest of the 12-chick team for van decorating. It's chaos.

It's just the way I like it.

Team So Much Cooler Online will be...

Outfitted by:

RunningSkirts


BIC Bands


Run Pretty Far

Hydrated by:

Nuun

Compressed by:

Aspaeris Pivot Shorts


Pro Compression Socks

And fueled by:

GU

You guys. 200+ miles.

THAT'S KIND OF FAR.

There have been some last minute changes to our lineup (um, hello, Rose is going to INDIA).

Our line up (with our Twitter handles for your following pleasure)

Van 1
Runner 1: Shannon@hungrygazelle
Runner 2: Becka @squirrelgirl44
Runner 3: ME! @hmgiraffy
Runner 4: Julie @julie16750
Runner 5: Sandy @bicbands
Runner 6: Madison @Borntorun77

Van 2
Runner 7: Ashley @prettyfittie
Runner 8: Linzay @brokerunner
Runner 9: Danica @GTR_Danica
Runner 10: Erica @cajun_runner
Runner 11: Sharon
Runner 12: Elisabeth @ewallerscott


We'll be tweeting up a storm, giving away Nuun at exchanges, and generally being... awesome.

Follow us under #SMCOL

I'm super stoked, in case the obnoxious giant fonts didn't tip you off.

*******************************************************

In less exciting news, I saw a new PT today regarding the lumpy shin, and I'm hopeful she'll get it unlumped. She's a runner, and gave me the green light to run Ragnar and PCRF in 2 weeks (omg 2 weeks), and then, probably take a week or so down time to actually fix the weirdness.

Phew.

Running news: 6 miles easy yesterday, 10:53 pace. Boring, I know.

I ain't sayin you ain't pretty

• When was the last time I did bullet points?


• My to do list today after work: 1. pick up chemo at the pharmacy, 2. stop at REI for Nuun and GU.


• The AC in my office has gone wonky. It apparently doesn't run at night (fine), because it's warm when I open my office. Then, around 10, for 10 minutes every half hour, it runs FULL BLAST. That makes it FREEZING (not fine). I don't like to be cold. I'm pretty much getting hypothermia.


• I am running 20 miles tomorrow. TWENTY. Do you know how far that its? IT'S FAR.


• I've been mildly obsessed (shocking) by Evan Dando performing Different Drum for... oh... weeks. I know. Someone should stop me.


• Goofy registration opens next week. Who's running? (Psst, I am)


• Actual Wine and Dine planning has begun, too. I am SUPER SUPER STOKED for this one - a bunch of my non-bloggy friends are running. So excited.


• I had a tempo run last night. I really hate tempo runs, but every now and then one isn't SOO bad, and I think it could be less horrible than I think.


• Warm up was dreadful. Everything hurt. And not just, like, man my legs sure are tired I've been doing so much hurt, like motherEFFER that hurts ow, maybe I should stop. But sometime between mile 1 and 1.5, the ow stopped, and my body realized I wasn't just stopping. And it decided to play nicely.


• Actual tempo run: Scheduled for: 2@10:30, 2@10:00, 1@9:30. Actual: 10:30, 10:21, 10:01, 9:46, 9:14. Take THAT, tired legs.


• Um. I also registered for my 4th marathon. Before I've done my first one. I KNOW. IMS Arizona - registration is only $35 right now. I think it goes up pretty soon, but even with the increase it's CHEAP. Do it. This crazy and THIS crazy will be there too.


• I got an email Wednesday about a caramel blizzard at Dairy Queen. I know exactly what I'm doing Saturday afternoon.


• Go wish Haute Running Mama happy birthday!

One thing you can’t recycle is wasted time.

I really, really suck at time management, apparently.

Yesterday, I was scheduled for 7 miles (easy). Monday night, I had grand plans to wake up at 4:12 am to be running by 4:45 to be done by 6 to shower and leave for work by 6:30.

And then my alarm went off at 4:12, and I remembered, running alone in the dark in the morning really freaks me out. I know, we've had this chat before, I don't know WHY I thought this time would be different.

And WHY did I want to run in the morning? Because I had dinner plans with some friends at this place.

"America's Best Salads" -> not necessarily true.

Anyway, then I decided I would run my 7 miles on WEDNESDAY morning, before the "Conditioning" class (I'm going to keep "" that word until it no longer equals torture and cruel things).

But then I realized, I am not fooling anyone with this morning run business. I'll run what I can before dinner, then run whatever 1-2 miles in the morning before class.

Except, by the time I got home, yapped with the family for a bit, changed, etc etc etc ad nauseum procrastinated lame, I could only fit in FOUR miles.

LOSER.

But whatever. I ran the 4 (42:37, 10:39 pace). Met Skinny Runner, Sarah, Margot, Pam, and Monica for soup and salad...

....and next time, can we do Souplantation? This 5 item topping limit is completely unrealistic.

Margot brought our Nuun stuff - they're supporting Team So Much Cooler Online!

Pretty rad. And, delicious.

And then I skipped FroYo with them after because I promised the kids I'd be home before they went to bed.

And THEN, this morning, my alarm went off at 4:34 (wtf), and I was actually waking up and ready to get out of bed, when Gabby walked face first into my bedroom door and scared the hell out of me. Then she walked in saying, "I'm okay. That really freaked me out.".

That kid cracks me up.

So I hung out quietly waiting for her to stop talking (seriously, she was starting full-blown conversations, and poor H just wanted to snore), before I procrastinated myself long enough into only having time to run 1 mile before "Conditioning" class.

1 mile, 10:45.

So to recap, last night, 4 miles, dinner, no fro yo. This morning, 4:34 heart attack, 1 mile run, 45 minute "conditioning" class.

So this is why, when the Stabucks boy this morning asked if, at 7:28 am, I was ready to start my day now that I had coffee, I laughed at him.

Sorry, it was rude, but I couldn't come up with a more reasonable response.

Anyway. BIC Bands is running a special today - buy 3 bands, get 1 "goof" band FREE! And, since they're donating a portion of February sales, that makes TODAY you're last chance to shop and donate at the same time! SHOP SHOP SHOP!