24 Jun 2013 Ragnar “Wasatch Back” 2013
This will
be the first ever blog entry written from my Clark Jungle Hammock. We left Park City today at about 10:00 am and
headed to Ely, Nevada. Our camp is past
Ely by about 75 miles, next to the Illipah Reservoir. More on the campsite later, I want to tell
you about the Ragnar Race.
Racing
through the night is tough stuff. Even
though you are not racing the entire time, running and then sitting in a
vehicle for the next several hours and not sleeping at all takes a toll on your
body. Each racer completes 3 legs of the race and then has to “rest” until their next turn arises. During that time you are preparing another
runner, cleaning, eating, trying to sleep, cheering, using the bathroom,
navigating the road, joking with friends, all while being cramped inside a GMC
Suburban. It is tough. Then, you have to run again. There is no recovery, only more mayhem as
listed earlier.
Our truck
was VAN 2 of the “Vegas Zombie Flowers” team.
We were decked out with matching shirts and our vehicles had wonderful murals
on the outside representing our Zombie Flowers.
Katherine and I did not participate in the van decorating, but when we
saw the artistic talent of our team mates we knew we had not been missed! I mounted one of our Thule roof boxes on the
top on the Suburban for some extra room.
It mostly carried sleeping gear, which we knew would probably not be
used, but we began with a positive attitude.
The rear was chock full of 3 coolers and lots of eats provided by our
team mate Able. Tony drove most of the
time, except for when he was running. He
and Mary Kay, his wife, got us to every exchange on time and efficiently. It was like clockwork.
I can’t
really speak for the others, but I have to tell you about my 3 legs in the
race. The first one was only 4 miles on
pretty much flat terrain along a lake. The views were beautiful and the pace
was fast. I went out trying to save a
little for the next two, but that didn’t happen. I finished, giving the bracelet to Able,
barely able to breathe. The temperature
was about 90 degrees, and it took me a while to get back to normal. The second leg was quite strange
feeling. I had to start at 4 am. Ok, cool.
That is when I start running at home during the work week. Hey, but I usually get 8+ hours of sleep
before. This was messed up! After a little confusion finding Josh at the
exchange (we were both there, but couldn’t find each other) my 7.2 mile run was
along some railroad grade next to the highway, pretty flat and on dirt. I had to run with a headlamp to see and every
time that I looked up, a passing truck would blind me with its headlights. Then I couldn’t see the trail. I just never looked up from then on. It was the coldest part of the night with
temps in the upper 30’s. I had on tights
and a long sleeved shirt with gloves.
Then came the freezing cold sweat.
I just kept looking at my watch to be sure I was not going faster that
8:20min/mile. That would keep me fine
until the last leg. Then I saw Able for
the hand off of the bracelet at the exchange and all was good. I got into the truck with the heat blasting
since Josh needed to warm up. He ran before me and the chill was setting
in. I was hot as Hell and I just sat
with my shirt off. Then came my
chills. The human body is quite comical
how it handles work, temperature, and comfort!
My last leg was insane to say the least.
It gained 2k vertical feet over 3.8 miles. For a runner, this is not good. I wanted to run the whole thing, but some of
the switch backs were so steep, power walking with a giant stride was much
faster. Stomp, stomp, stomp, there I
went. Josh was before me with just as
difficult a leg. The two of us were
responsible for gaining the altitude to the ridge of Park City. I finished at 9,000 feet above sea level,
handed off to Able, wiped down, got in the truck, and was done. It wasn’t the distance of a marathon, or like
finishing and Ironman, but in a way it was worse. The sleep deprivation is what kills you, and
riding in a cramped vehicle is just icing on that cake. Your friends and team is what keeps you going. Somewhere in the middle of the night everyone
starts cursing the decision to enter this race, and to be honest, both
Katherine and I swore during the Las Vegas and Wasatch races that we would
never do another one. Then for some
insane reason, you start planning which one you want to do next less than 24
hours later.
The drive
today from Park City to Ely was totally spectacular. We drove around the west side of Utah Lake on
the way out of Salt Lake City, and then west towards Great Basin National Park. Passing by the park reminded us of all the
great memories of our trip there with Katherine’s brother Charles, and our
friend Richard. We did a few nights up there
with them and really enjoyed the place.
West of Great Basin was all new ground for me. I wanted to take highway 50 out of Ely, also
called “The Loneliest Highway.” Most
people take I-80 across the Nevada, and this is a slightly southern route which
has NO ONE! Too bad it is cloudy out
tonight, I thought the star gazing would be surreal, but we get what we
get.
Ragnar was
an experience, and to do it in such beautiful country was a delight. I would do another race like this again for
sure. Now, it’s off to Lake Tahoe. Let’s see what this highway is like and what
the next few days will bring us. Our
legs are sore, and it will be nice to take it easy for a while.
