It's 6am and I'm awake for some reason. I'll try to put it to good use. This past week I participated in the Ragnar Relay Northwest passage. Along the way I learned a lot of things good and bad, met some wonderful people and definitely had an experience. Interesting week to say the least!
Thursday morning began much earlier for me than usual. Got to the airport around 330 in the morning with 3 of my Alaskan Friends. We parked our cars where the plane is usually tied down as it's a free spot close to the terminal. (This parking will come back to the story later!) We caught our flight without incident and landed in Seattle to meet 8 ladies from Texas who made up the rest of our relay team. I guess I should explain what we were doing...
This particular Ragnar Relay was a 200 (ish) mile, 12 person relay to be completely continuously from the Friday morning at 6am till 8pm Saturday. Each lady ran 3 legs. Truly beautiful area and scenery.
I got roped into this by a good friend who is still in Austin. We decided that we've known each other almost 20 years. It was nice to see her even though we weren't in the same van. (We had 2 vans of 6 ladies each). I normally don't really like group activities. I spent the majority of my life in both high school and college in vans and hotel rooms with a bunch of girls in softball and volleyball. You just get over it to say the least. As I've gotten older, as we all do I guess, I've gotten to know myself better. I'm pretty introverted in my personality and I really enjoy my space and alone time. That doesn't mean I can't be social, but when given the choice I will usually choose to go out alone and find myself lost in nature.
My friend and I are similar in that way so we split a hotel room just between the 2 of us so we could spread out and really get some rest. I'm so glad we did. It was just nice. Got there Thursday night and went to bed. My friend being in Van 1 had to go really early to the start and I got to sleep in a bit. I appreciated that being a night shift person. I'm not used to being up so early. Our van got going around noon. My first let felt good! It was around 6 and 1/2 miles. It was somewhat down hill so that was nice. IT was hot though. Who would have thought this girl from that south would think 70 degrees was hot. I swear it had to be warmer though. The heat was quite a struggle for a few people, one needing IV fluids at the Emergency room. Here was my experience. After my first leg I felt great. I was able to go back to the hotel and shower and sleep a couple hours which was nice. When i was going to sleep though I had a slight headache and noticed that my HR was a little elevated. Thought nothing of it. I only began to feel worse. I thought it was going to just get better. I ended up becoming nauseated and unable to take anything in I also had diarrhea quite often. My next leg was only a little over 2 miles and it was at like 4am so it was nice and cool. I did that leg very slowly and with little energy. Felt like throwing up a few times. During this time another friend was in the ER. She felt much better after her fluids and I am so glad that she got some extra anti nausea meds. She gave me one and that helped me turn the corner. I still felt shitty, but started forcing fluids on myself. Over the next 6 hours or so I forced down fluids, electrolytes, and a little bit of food. Someone in my van offered to take my next leg which was 7 miles. I knew I didn't have the energy for it so I agreed. I actually took her last leg which at that point I thought I could gut out the 3.8 miles that she had to do. Once again I felt energy zapped and it was very slow, but dang it I gutted it out and got it done.
Let's back up to Thursday again. On the way to the hotel and packet pick up I got a phone call from an unknown number. I didn't answer, but the voicemail said it was a cop and that my jeep had been stolen. I totally thought it was a hoax so I called the police station main number. Sure enough my jeep had been stolen from where I parked it at the airport and found in someones yard here in Anchorage. I was totally in shock, but what could I do. It was gone, recovered and my husband and a friend were able to go and get it and get it to our house to begin repairs. It wasn't that bad and it is only a vehicle, but it's still very violating and annoying. You have to spend money that you wouldn't otherwise have to. I just don't understand why people need to take and touch things that don't belong to them. Jerks!
Ok, back to the timeline! After the race we all finished together with our last runner coming in. Took team pictures and there was beer and pizza at the finish. We were exhausted and ready to get to our hotels to sleep. Once again, I got my own room and so enjoyed that! I checked in, hopped in the shower then got in my comfy fluffy bed and ordered room service. I had a great bowl of crab chowder and an entire of water! It was about 1030 when I finished all this and totally crashed out! I would have loved to sleep in the next day, but when flying standby you get there when the flight is the most open. I got up around 5 or so for an 8 am flight. Couldn't sleep on the plane, but crawled right into bed with the puppies when I got home. Would have been great to see Todd, but as I was flying away from Seattle, he was heading there for work. So we waved at each other in the air.
The best thing. about this race was the people I met. Everyone has a life story and a reason for doing these type of things. I've been doing some sort of sport my whole life so nothing new to me. It was really interesting to get to chat with some of the ladies. We're all fighting different battles. Don't judge...you never know what someone is going through. You know obesity is such an epidemic in our society. It's always been so inspiring to be to see folk that are really big out there doing it! Had a really good chat with one girl and I must say I'm so inspired and proud of her. Losing weight and changing your lifestyle isn't easy. I'm probably bigger than I've ever been but not obese. I feel uncomfortable already and I can't imagine what some of these ladies and men have to go through to do these things. It takes real courage to put yourself out there with a bunch of fit people. I can't say that I'd have the courage that these people have. Good on you! Keep on keeping on. You're an inspiration to many.
Overall Race:
Overall I would say I'm glad I did this. I spent most of my high school and college life in a van or bus with a bunch of stinky athletes so I can say I wasn't particularly looking forward to that aspect. Maybe it's because of that experience that I've gotten to where I really enjoy my alone time. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I did enjoy my own hotel room though. Just a few minutes of that alone time was enough to recharge me. Know thyself I guess.
The race was too long though for me. I think something 24 hours or less would be better for me. I can't say that I'll do another of these races, but I'm open to trying other new things still.
I wish I had more pictures to share. Thanks for reading.
