SoCal Ragnar Relay (Part 1)

The very SECOND that I heard about SoCal Ragnar, I wanted to do it.

Look at all the awesome we run through!

We actually had TWO teams under the name "So Much Cooler Online." I was on the 12 person team, and we also had a 6 woman ultra team. So much awesome exists with these runners that we were able to get some AWESOME sponsorships:

Need some "magic pant" compression shorts? Check out Aspaeris:

We kept our hair looking gorgeous and sparkly thanks to Sandy, fellow van-mate and owner of BicBands:

When we remembered fuel, it was provided by GU:

Hydrated by nuun:

Awesome colored compression socks from Pro Compression:

Skirted up by Runningskirts:

And a cute and functional running top from run pretty far:

Needless to say, I was pretty much exploding with excitement to fly out to California, see my running friends, and get to represent some of the best running products around.

Obviously, I waited until the last minute to pack. I mean, why would I pack ahead of time? I only registered last summer...

I somehow crammed ALL THE THINGS into my regular weekend race bag. I am clearly a packing magician.

When I booked my travel, we didn't know our start time yet. Problem. Had I known we were going to end up with the earliest start time EVER (5:45 am), I would NOT have booked such a late flight out of Denver. I was at school until 2:00, rushed home to grab my stuff, and J dropped me off at the airport for a 4:30 flight. Arrived at LAX... EARLY.

I headed outside to grab my shuttle to Heather's place, and found it without too much trouble. Although. It left late, TOOK FOREVER (thanks, LA traffic, for ruining my life), and I didn't end up in Irvine until after 8:00. We immediately headed to meet the rest of our team for dinner, although by the time we got there, they were pretty much done. I didn't find out until later that the place was vegetarian and chick'n is NOT the same as chicken. But it was good.

The carrot cake? REALLY good.

We headed to bed early, after some last minute packing/race prep. Not super early, it was probably close to 11:00 pm.

RACE DAY

Van 1 - the most awesome runners EVER

3:15 came VERY fast. We left Heather's place at 3:42 (exactly) and headed down the street to pick up Madison. Then we went to meet the rest of our team and get our van (home for the next 2 days) and drove up to the start line at Huntington Beach.

Team "So Much Cooler Online" Van

Checked the forecast on the way there. Wow. Hot.

I didn't take any pictures of the start line, but I should have. CHAOS. There wasn't really any signage, we didn't know what we were doing, and the organization just wasn't there. But we were already having fun. I said hi to my friend Josh, who I roped into volunteering at the last minute.

Me and Josh

We wandered around, took pictures, got coffee, ate pastries, but really lacked in the "getting prepared" area. We totally spaced about having a bib... a timing chip... the slap bracelet. Needless to say, by the time we had everything, we totally missed our 5:45 start.

Van 1 is ready to go!

Which just gave us time for MORE PICTURES! Here is Shannon, runner 1. You can't see it, but her "Richard Simmons meatball" shirt is the cutest EVER.

Shannon had a 5 mile leg, and we headed back to the van in hopes of seeing her on the course before getting to the first exchange point. We stopped a few miles in, I used a gas station bathroom, we climbed a hill and cheered on some runners with cowbells and screams, saw Shannon, then headed to the exchange. We decided to walk over to the exchange point right after parking. Good thing, since she was already there waiting. OOPS. I didn't even have my bib pinned on yet and my Garmin didn't have satellite. Failed exchange #1.

Hot pink dot at the end is MEEEE!

I was totally flustered with the chaotic exchange and obviously that meant starting out too fast since my watch wasn't ready. Three minutes in and my pace was :03 and I'd gone .06 miles. Grrrr.... My leg was 5.1 miles along the Santa Ana trail. Don't let the dark sky deceive you. It was CRAZY hot, and I got tired pretty quick. The course looked flat on the map, but turns out it was a gradual uphill the whole way. I did walk a few times. I'll admit, a few times during my run, I wondered HOW I was already so tired, and how I was going to possibly run anything else. However, I cruised in to a respectable finish.

Leg 1 - 5.1 miles, 47:19 (9:16 pace)

The exchange went off without a hitch. And obviously, we are the best dressed team EVER.

Part 2? Coming soon.