Ragnar Trail Angel Fire (Race Recap)

Friday, August 28 - Saturday, August 29
Angel Fire, New Mexico

So I was surfing Facebook late one night when I was having trouble sleeping. My good friend and Runner's Roost teammate, Heather, posted that she was looking for another person to run Ragnar with them in New Mexico. I was interested, but knew that I would have A so I didn't think that I would be able to do it. She said kids were welcome to come so I committed to be on team "The Running Dead" assuming I didn't have any major scheduling conflicts at work. My attorneys were find with me taking Friday off, and I called A in from school.

Thursday

My dad dropped off A at my office so that we could head down to New Mexico right after. This was a bad idea. It's like I've forgotten that Denver traffic is THE WORST. It took us an hour just to get to Ikea, which is something like 10 miles away. Shortly after getting to Castle Rock (about 25 miles away), it started to rain - pretty heavily. We stopped in Colorado Springs and went to Hu Hot for dinner. I was thinking that we had missed a bulk of the storm as it had stopped raining by the time we were done.

However, I was wrong. As we got closer to Pueblo, the rain got heavier. It was super dark and my wipers were going as fast as they would go and I could barely see. I was cruising along at an uncomfortably fast speed of about 40 mph. I had A call my dad to see where an affordable hotel might be and decided it was best to just stop for the night. We stopped in Colorado City at the Days Inn, about an hour north of the New Mexico border.

Friday

We got up at 5:30, giving us enough time to get dressed, load up the car and grab a quick breakfast in order to be on the road by 6:15. We had to make one stop in Trinidad to buy bottled water, and then we were on the road again. We arrived in Angel Fire just after 9, in time to see the fog covered ski slope that was the backdrop for our run. I found our team camp with no problems - it was the ever so wonderful theme "The Running Dead" and was decorated like the zombie apocalypse. SO FUN.

I was to be the leg 1 runner and still had a while to go. We sat around and talked, decorated our team shirts with fake blood, ate some lunch and drank a beer. Headed over to the start line for my 1:00 pm wave start only to find out the race was going to be delayed because of lighting. Arg. Headed back to the camp. Ate more. Around 2:00 there was still sketchy weather and thunder/lightning so the race was postponed ANOTHER HOUR. Sigh.

A was pretty terrifying in this clown mask

Leg 1 (Green Loop - "Easy")

Loop 1 - INKnBURN "zombie" tech tee

Finally, at 3:00, we were off. Due to the postponement there were quite a few of us starting at the same time. Even running a sub 10 pace (which really is the fastest EVER for me lately), I was dead last heading out for the "easy" loop. The first mile was on road and paved bike trail with a gradual downhill. That part WAS easy. However, I quickly overheated with my long sleeves, and I had to strip on course to get the top off as the sleeves were too tight to just pull up. There was a gradual uphill until the course moved onto the trail.

It was really pretty, but steeper than I expected. The green loop merged with the yellow but it wasn't congested or crowded. Steep climb towards the end of mile 3. Finally, we were at the top of the hill and there was a lovely downhill that I cruised down, jumping over ditches (glad I ran this section in the daylight first as all loops would run this last half mile). There was a weird section about a quarter mile out involving stairs and running on a boardwalk type surface before heading into the chute. I handed off to runner 2, Shelby. (Thoughts about the green loop? Not exactly what I would call "easy").

Headed back to the camp to for a beer. Most of the team stayed in the village. Probably 30 minutes after I stopped running, the rain and hail started. It was coming down so hard and so fast that the camp began to flood - there was seriously a river running in between our camp and the one next to ours. We thought for sure the race was going to end up getting canceled because the weather was so awful. Turns out the race was going to proceed as long as there was no lighting.

Spent lots of time just sitting around and eating. A participated in the "air guitar" contest. Sadly, she didn't win the overall prize, but she did get a stainless steel Ragnar pint cup out of it. I decided to lie down and take a short nap before my next leg since I was going to be running much later than originally planned.

Leg 2 (Red Loop - "Difficult")

Taken before it got dark so I could get a picture of our outfits

I was awoken by A hovering over me telling me to get up. I really didn't want to. I was so tired. But I dragged myself up and then went to sit in a chair, looked up, and saw Dan. That's who was handing off to me! He had run WAY faster than expected and I obviously wasn't there. Luckily I had all my stuff ready and I ran to the transition tent and headed out, half asleep. There was a full moon but it was obviously SUPER dark, and this was my longest and most difficult leg. The first half mile or so was on the road, and then it moved onto the trail.

I was completely alone, I could not even see other headlamps. The trail didn't seem too technical and I'm assuming it was pretty but it was dark so I have no idea. The first 3 miles was all uphill so there was very little running for me.

When I hit the three mile mark I knew it was mostly downhill so I ran as much as I could. I haven't done much running at night, and certainly not on trails, so this was fun. I had a great time on this loop. (And looking at my Garmin information - turns out my sprint into the finish was just that - 7:22 pace O.o)

Headed back to the camp and everyone else was in bed, except Dan. He stayed up with me while I had a few beers and then I headed to bed around 2. Was woken up fairly early, maybe just before 6 because everyone was starting to wake up.

Leg 3 (Yellow Loop - "Moderate")

Matchy matchy mummy tech tees!

I wasn't feeling all that great so I decided not to eat before my run. I spent some time in the village waiting for Dan to arrive. He took a lot longer than expected, so I was wondering if he even ran the correct course. I headed out for my last leg of the race just before 9:00. The first mile or so wasn't too terrible, but then the climbing began. It was substantially more difficult than I thought. It was more technical than the red loop with a lot of roots and rocks. And the climbing. So much climbing. It was steep and I was tired and it was already hot. There was very little relief from the climbing, not many downhills or flats.

There was a small section of downhill and then the course merged with the green and I was back in familiar territory. Bombed the downhill again and was super happy to be done.

Due to the late start and slower running (mostly because of trail conditions), our team was in danger of not finishing in time, so we had to "double up" our runners. Good - because then we would 1). finish and 2). not finish so late that I would be driving at night again.

A and I went up the hill to the Lodge and got some breakfast (I had a delicious ham/cheese and green chili quiche and A had a breakfast burrito). We started to pack up our stuff since were planning on heading out right after the team finished. Spent some time in the Elevated Legs after Heather and Dan went out for their last leg. Not more than 15 minutes after they headed out the rain started. AGAIN. A and I sat in the car and only headed over to the finish when we thought they might be finishing. They came in - cold and soaking wet. We got our team picture taken and then, of course, it stopped raining.

Runners Roost team members (Dan, Heather, Me)

We helped tear down the camp and then headed out around 3:00. The drive back was just about as adventurous with MORE torrential rain. We stopped in Pueblo for dinner (burgers), and got home around 9:00.

Whirlwind weekend.

Thoughts

• This was only the second relay I have ever run, the other being the SoCal Ragnar back in 2012. This was THE MOST FUN EVER. I had such a great time running this, and again, I really love being on a team that is not competitive. Takes off a lot of pressure!
• The courses were marked extremely well. At night they had LED lights of some kind on all the markings so they were easy to see even from a distance.
• The transition tent was well organized and it helped to have the color of the bracelets we wore match the color of the loop we were running.
• There was only one bib, and it was given to us on a race belt so it was really easy to change hands.
• I would 100% recommend a trail relay - ESPECIALLY if you like trails. So great. I hope to do another one sometime!

Week in Review (August 25 - August 31)

Tuesday (17,042 steps) - Upper body strength training. This was a surprisingly "different" workout, and I enjoyed it. Not moves that I normally do. Since I am not going to be able to do a video on Friday (because I'll be at Ragnar), I figured I would have to do a "double" day. The evening video was HIIT cardio and abs. (Note: seemed reasonably difficult when I was doing it and the next day my abs were screaming).

So apparently this is what I look like when I do jump squats?

Wednesday (21,501 steps) - Upper body strength and cardio. Probably not the best idea to do back to back days of arms. My triceps were already pretty sore after yesterday's video. As a note, the cardio was jumping jacks in between every set, which I kinda liked. This was a good video. Super quick trip to the gym for 2 miles.
Thursday (15,561 steps) - Woke up at 4:15 and couldn't go back to sleep. I tossed and turned, did a load of laundry and one of my favorite videos, the butt & thigh "drop it like a squat." Because I am the most intelligent person on earth, I planned to leave for Angel Fire right after work. Like in the middle of rush hour. My dad was kind enough to bring A to my office, and we left right at 5. And promptly sat in horrible traffic. We didn't even get to Colorado Springs (something like 75 miles away) for well over 2 hours. We hit some rain and stopped at Hu Hot for dinner. When we were done eating the rain had subsided, only to pour on and off. Finally we stopped for the night in Colorado City because the rain was so bad I could barely see. I can't see the best at night to begin with, and pouring rain makes it worse. We were in bed by 10.
Friday (25,433 steps) - Up by 5:30 and then quick breakfast at 6 before heading out. Stopped in Trinidad to buy bottled water. Arrived in Angel Fire without further incident just after 9:00. I'll blog about the race itself, so I'll leave it at that - but will put in the picture before leg 1.

Saturday (32,018 steps) - Finished up with the race, helped gather up trash and pack up gear before heading out just after 3:00.

Dan, Heather, Me - the Roost Runners from Colorado

First we got stuck behind the slowest and most nervous drive ever leaving the resort. Once the road straightened out we got stuck in MORE pouring rain. I swear, the rain follows me. We drove in questionable and hard to see conditions all the way until Trinidad. Stopped at Applebee's for dinner in Pueblo (which was delicious), and got home just after 9:00 pm. Even though I was exhausted, we unpacked the car, I threw in some laundry and had a beer. Bed by 10:30.
Sunday (15,776 steps) - The weekend caught up with me and I slept until 8:30 - which is CRAZY late for me. We had coffee and pastries for breakfast. Was sore/exhausted so I did the optional pilates video before taking the kids to the park for some ring toss and horseshoes while Jessa went to the gym.

Then we all went to the park down the street for A's start of the year Girl Scout BBQ. Unlike New Mexico, it was sunny and a jillion degrees. Back to Jessa's for an hour and then over to my parents house for my dad's birthday dinner of lasagna and angel food cake. Second dinner of homemade chicken meatballs with Jessa and early to bed.
Monday (15,747 steps) - Up early because I had a doctor's appointment. After almost a year of fighting with my current doctor over incorrect billing I finally got fed up and switched. Of course I had to go through all the paperwork and initial "new patient" nonsense. However, they were quick and efficient. If they get the billing done right I think I'll be pleased. Skipped the gym and did a kettlebell video (using dumbbells since I don't own a kettlebell). Jessa and I watched the Walking Dead (since we had forgotten to watch on Sunday) - bed by 10:30. Phew.

Stats:

• 143,078 steps
• 16.2 miles run
• 87 minutes of cross training (other cardio/HIIT)
• 75 minutes of strength/stretching

Everything Else:

• So I'm halfway done with my eight week program (already!) - I can't actually tell if I am getting stronger, but I am not finding myself quite as exhausted as I was in the beginning. I am getting into a better routine of doing the video in the morning, which saves me a lot of time.
• New Mexico was SO MUCH FUN - had a great time with friends, and A had a good time too. Even though this was a "runcation" she was able to have fun as well.
• I'm supposedly at the end of the line of my moving struggles - no details to share at this point in time, but hopefully after this weekend I will no longer be homeless!! (Although A and I will really miss staying with Jessa - she has been such a great friend through all of this!)

Week in Review (August 18 - August 24)

Tuesday (14,888 steps) - Didn't go to the gym. Video of the day was cardio and abs and blissfully only 21 minutes long. I almost attempted the additional 8 minute abs video and realized I'm still way too weak for 50 second sets (womp).
Wednesday (19,700 steps) - Up early (barely) to do the video of the day - HIIT and cardio kickboxing. The HIIT was definitely challenging. Not sure how much the kickboxing does for me since my brain is very slow and I can't seem to get the moves right. Either way, I was done before 6:45, so that was nice. After work I went to run club - no pictures (?). An easy 2 miles. What was great about this run was that it was legitimately an EASY TWO MILES. I know it sounds dumb, but I've been struggling for so long that to have an "easy" feeling run (at a decent pace) is pretty fantastic.
Thursday (24,076 steps) - Cardio warm up, Six Pack Burn Out (Core) and yoga cool down. I keep saying it is shocking how weak I've gotten, and this workout proved it again. These core exercises that used to be "bearable" are now so incredibly challenging I can barely get through them. Gah. After work I ran a fairly decent 3.7 miles on the treadmill. It does, however, seem really daunting to ever get into double digit runs again. I don't know how I ever did it. After the gym A and I made a quick stop at Build a Bear for their 40% off sale. I could not resist Chewbacca (dressed as a Girl Scout?)

Friday (15,721 steps) - A new type of workout for me today - kettlebells. Well, and since I don't HAVE a kettlebell, it was really just doing my best with dumbbells. Warm up, kettlebell cardio, cool down and stretch. After work A and I took Jessa out to dinner at a new Mexican restaurant, Corona's, as a "thank you" for housing and feeding us. A bit of shopping and then home for some relaxing.
Saturday (20,536 steps) - Up fairly early because I had to take my car in to the shop. Due to the fact that I still don't have a physical driver's license (remember, I lost it during Ironman when we were volunteering?) I wasn't able to schedule a loaner. A and I walked down to the High Line Canal and went for a super sweaty 5k run before heading back to get the diagnostic results about my car.

Turns out to be nothing major (yay!) and thankfully they went ahead and gave me a loaner (since I have gotten them from them before).


The non "mini" Mini

We went to lunch at the new bakery/cafe Kneaders and I had a delicious salad.Spent some time shopping at Target and then I took A to the Wheat Ridge rec center for a few hours.
Sunday (26,852 steps) - Was sort of dreading getting up to run because 1). running is hard and 2). it's been really hot. I hit snooze and then finally got up to go run. I had hoped to go between 5 and 8 miles, depending on how it went. Pleasantly surprised that it wasn't a fiery inferno outside - temperatures were near perfect. The three miles out were not great, but the three miles back were.

 

Lounged around a bit in the morning before meeting up with a guy who was buying A's old bedroom furniture. That was quite an adventure as all our things are still in "storage." We went to lunch with Jessa at Sweet Tomatoes and then did a bit of shopping so she could get a new storm door. A and I went roller skating for a few hours.

Dinner at Hu Hot, which was SO DELICIOUS. I had never been there and I was very pleased with my experience - I will be back! A went to bed and Jessa and I watched the new "Fear the Walking Dead" - which was pretty darn good!
Monday (22,473 steps) - Hit snooze before getting up and doing HIIT cardio butt & thigh. I was pleasantly surprised with the HIIT not being that terrible. I finally (FINALLY) got the newest INKnBURN kit in the mail - and I LOVE IT. In case you missed it, I am HUGE fan of bright color. So of course I had to test out the capris at the gym. Ran a fairly decent 3.6 miles.

Stats:

• 144,246 steps (decent increase from last week)
• 18.4 miles run (big increase from last week)
• 101 minutes of cross training (other cardio/HIIT)
• 28 minutes of strength/stretching

Everything Else

• So I finished the first three weeks of the eight week Fitness Blender program I'm doing. And I honestly feel better and less weak. I've also been trying to eat better, but sadly, the scale is not moving in the right direction. I would care less about what the scale said if my my clothes were fitting fine, but they are not. Everything is tight and uncomfortable. Sigh.
• I'll be going to New Mexico for the weekend to run the trail Ragnar at Angel Fire Resort! So excited that my teammate Heather had a spot open and I can go (and A is coming too because we are with a kid friendly group, hurray!)
• Not much on the moving for now. Still in limbo. Tired of that.
• Nothing else.

Colfax Marathon Relay (Race Recap)

Sunday, May 17

Denver, CO

Weather - Sunny, NOT raining

The only relay I have ever done was the Ragnar in SoCal with #VanAwesome. I had no intention of ever running Colfax again. I ran the half two years ago only to knock it off the list. It always falls on my birthday weekend and I don't really like running on my birthday. I would rather eat and spectate, like I did last year.

Anyway, I somehow got roped into running with people from work. Two people who had run in the past were going to be on vacation and my attorney volunteered me since he calls me a "real runner." Wheee.

Our captain did not pick up our stuff for us, so since I had the first leg I went to the expo on Friday so I could get my bib and the baton. The expo was at Wings Over the Rockies - a pretty cool museum. However, it was INSANELY CROWDED, which as you all know, makes me twitchy. I think the drive to and from the expo and the time I spent there took an hour and a half. Sigh.

The marathon relay began at 6 am, so I had to be up just after 4:15 to drive down to City Park to get my car parked before 5 am so I could walk over to the start and do all my port-o-potty nonsense. I think I parked in almost the exact same spot as when L and I ran a few years ago. I was parked by 4:58 am, and the walk to the start was 10-15 minutes.

There were billions of bathrooms at the start so I didn't even have my normal "waiting in the bathroom line" stuff to do. Luckily I ran into a fellow roost teammate and we chatted until about 15 minutes before the start.

I had a throwaway sweatshirt since it was cold and I kept it on until about 5 minutes before the start. The race started about 5 minutes late and since I was in the 6th wave back I texted my team to let them know to expect me a bit later.

I had no idea what to expect but decided to just run on feel and hope for the best. We started in City Park, ran by East High School and we were on Colfax pretty early on. I was feeling good and running much faster than I normally do. I briefly stopped to get water at the first aid station just past mile 2. The best part of the early miles was seeing the guy dodge into Voodoo Doughnut and come out eating one. He got a bit of grief when he didn't finish it and tossed part of it in the trash.

Came up on a Grease Monkey around mile 2.5 - "Marathoners, you are at mile 3! 23.5 to go!" Nice try. Just before I25 we ran through the fire station (lame, there were no shirtless firemen" and then we turned onto the Cherry Creek trail, which I have never run on. Normally it is filled with homeless people, but they had apparently all been cleared out. There was an aid station around mile 4 on the trail and I briefly stopped there as well. I was still feeling pretty good. I was not having the fire calves, but I could tell I was starting to get tired and wasn't sure how long I could hold out. We got off the trail, ran by Confluence Park and then ran behind Elitch's. The answer to how long could I hold my pace? About mile 5.25 we started a small climb and my legs just stopped. I took a few walk breaks for the next half mile or so. We arrived at Sports Authority field and ran through Gate 5 and got to run inside the stadium:

We exited the stadium and then had to run up the ramp and back around the west side. Seems unfair to end on a hill. Didn't want to walk because I was SOOO CLOSE to the exchange. As I got closer I was wondering how on earth Sheryl was going to see me - the exchange area was so tiny!! They were announcing bib numbers and luckily she found me right away. I was so happy to be done!

The big annoyance was having to wait in a ridiculously long line just to get my bottle of water. I was pretty hot and thirsty and I didn't appreciate the 15 minute wait to get my water. Wah. No good food at the exchange, so I had a gal take my picture and headed out:



I figured I would have to catch the bus on Federal and luckily there were others wandering around confused like I was. We figured out that we needed to walk about 6 blocks south to catch the bus. The bus wasn't "special" for the race, just the regular city bus, so it stopped about 25 times before dropping us off near the start at 17th and Colorado. By this time it was already 8:30 in the morning. I briefly considered walking over to the start to see if I could catch up with anyone I knew who was running the half and decided going home to shower and eat was more important. It was another 12 block walk back to my car.

Garmin time - 1:07:17

Garmin distance - 6.53 miles (my leg was 6.4 according to the race)

Garmin pace - 10:18

Mile 1 - 10:37

Mile 2 - 10:12

Mile 3 - 10:03

Mile 4 - 9:32

Mile 5 - 10:09

Mile 6 - 11:15

Mile 7 - 10:26

Thoughts

• For such a large race, this was really well organized. The aid stations had both Gatorade and water, and there were bathrooms on the course. And PLENTY at the start.
• Very cool medal - even for the relay.
• The baton that we had to use for the relay was a bit archaic for me - join the 21st century and do bracelets or something. I had considered running back to my car instead of dealing with the bus but decided I didn't want to carry a handheld AND a baton.
• The exchange could have used a little work. The water really should be separate from the food so we didn't have to wait so long.
• The bus was a bit complicated to find, but it was nice that I was able to get back to my car without any difficulty. Our bibs had our bus tickets attached as a tear off, so that was nice.
• They have a pretty good finish line deal with BBQ and beer, but I didn't go because it was too early and I wanted breakfast instead.
• All things considered, it was fun and I would probably do it again. It helped that work paid for the race so it didn't cost me anything but time.