My First Ragnar Relay Experience
As I have mentioned before running typically hasn’t been my favorite past time. However, over the course of time I have come to tolerate it kind of like pretzles. So for me to volunteer to run in this relay was a stretch for me.
I was excited about not going in to work. I was excited about spending time with my co-workers outside of the office. I was excited about doing something new and challenging.
So Friday, August 22 comes and psychologically I was prepared to run 3 miles, 3.4 miles, and then 6.5 miles. While driving to meet the first six of our team, who were already in LaCrosse, WI, we were informed that the sixth member of the team did not show up for the perfect storm of “reasons”. So we are already one person short. That meant that our van needed to get there earlier and I was going to have to run 6.8 miles instead of 3. I thought that if I took it slow and walked here and there I could do it.
It was about 1pm when Mark arrived at the exchange point and pass the “baton” to me. I had my headphones in and my sunscreen on and I was looking forward to a good run. About 2 miles in I started thinking, this is longer than I thought. I kept going. About mile 3 I was struggling but I didn’t want to let my team down since we were already one person short. However, I was starting to feel light headed and really, really wondering if I was going to make it. Plus even while walking it was an effort to walk a straight line.
My teammates were great though because they would just drive a little ahead of me and give me something to drink or walk with me and occasionally run. However, at about mile 4 I asked Lyndsy and Mark how much farther I had to go because I thought I was almost done. Lyndsy said I had about a mile and a half. I just looked at them and said I don’t think I can do it. Mark pulled me over to the side of the hill and said just sit down for a second. He then went to get something from the van. I started getting very dizzy and I grabbed his arm with which he described as a “death like grip”. He then told me to look at him and I struggled to focus. I told him I just wanted to go to sleep as my eyes rolled back into my head. He told me to stay awake and to focus on breathing and keep drinking liquids.
After a few minutes Mark asked me if I could walk to the van and I said I thought I could. I took one step and my legs were nowhere to be found. I had a complete out of body experience. My mind was aware of what people were saying and what I needed to do but my body would not obey. They got me to the next exchange point where I just stayed in the van for about 30 minutes with ice on my wrists and back of my neck. Thankfully at this exchange point they had cold, outdoor showers in which I probably spent another 20 minutes. After drinking a lot of liquids and a cold shower one of my teammates said I was finally getting my color back. I replied, “well since I am Scandinavian - that’s saying something”:)
Mark told me later that it was 98 degrees out while I was running. There were a few other factors that contributed to my heat exhaustion. I have never before wanted to just die. It took so much energy to just talk and breath much less lift a bottle to my lips to keep drinking. Thank God that Mark, having served in the military, knew exactly what to do.
So, I only ran 4 miles. I drove through the night instead and did what I could to help out my team. They were really great!! So now there were 10 people running for 12. They did a fabulous job; many of which over the course of two days ran 20+ miles. I want to do this race again next year but this time I’ll have a better idea of what to train for. I’ll post pictures later when I get them.
