Thursday, March 4, 2010

The VERY LONG weekend

The Ragnar Del Sol Relay 2010 is finished.
An experience. To say the least.
SO much fun with "The Cheetah Girls" !....... SO much running!


My first leg of 6.6 miles went pretty well. Ugly incline, yes, but my legs were fresh.
I didn't start my second leg until 10:30pm.... maybe later. 8.7 miles felt like nothing and I couldn't believe how fast they went by! Maybe I was sleep running. ??

As soon as the rest of my van (pictured below)....

....finished their second legs, the entire race was stopped. There had been an accident up ahead. Some of you may have heard about it. A runner had gotten out of the van to cross the highway and give water or other support to a teammate. From what I've heard, he misjudged the speed of the oncoming car and was hit. The accident was Friday night and we just recently heard that he had passed away in the hospital. So sad.

Back to the race. The event coordinators decided to close those next six legs of the race. So our second van did not get to run their second legs. Instead, they were sent further down the road to complete OUR third legs and we would switch and finish the race running THEIR third legs -- make sense?

Well I ended up running a leg I hadn't been prepared for. An 8.4 mile stretch along the B-line highway from Fountain Hills to Gilbert Road. HOLY COW!! I was spent!!! That was hard. I was okay until mile 6 or so, but my legs and ankles started to feel weak and ...... done. I saw the "One more mile" sign and told myself -- dont' walk, don't walk, you can do it -- but I couldn't. I ended up letting my legs recover and walked a quarter mile or so. That helped a ton and I was able to start running again and finish my part. Here's the hand-off:


And below is a dramatic picture of how I felt knowing I was done!

The entire team met up at the end and crossed the finish line together.


I was not a fan of the "Cheetah Girl" name at first, but it fit our team very well. It was fun finding cheetah print stuff and making sure we lived up to our name!


By the end, my voice was gone and my body was finished. Ragnar is a crazy race and it stretched and tested my body. I'm still recovering. But would I do it again? Am I THAT crazy?



Probably.

6 comments:

Jenny at LGN said...

Way to go, Carolyn!! You're such an awesome athlete. I'm jealous that you go to do this. Sounds tough, but rewarding.

Sorry about missing each other on Monday. This was such a crazy trip. I think we're coming back this summer, so maybe we can get together then? Hopefully you guys will be all settled in your house and we can do some decorating!! :)

love
jen

becky d said...

I love my daughter!! She is an inspiration to me all the time. Do you see her picture of how she was 'spent' at the end of the 3rd leg?.....Thats how I feel at the end of EVERY day!

Jessie Brown said...

You are so awesome. I could never do that. Way to go. Love the cheetah girl stuff.

Jen said...

so fun!! have wanted to do that one for a while now. maybe one year my hips will be able to handle running again. You girls look awesome in your cheeetah stuff! what a fun time!!

Lachelle said...

That is awesome! I had a friend run it too. You ladies are crazy! And do you just love your Saucony running shoes? I LOVE mine, and am just getting into running. Slowly training :)

Brittanny said...

Yah! Good for you! I am pretty sure I won't look as cute and in shape as you do after I run here! I am also running in Ragnar, or called the Wasatch Back. I am really really nervous cuz I am not a runner, and actually don't like it. But, my family begged me...so come June I hope I don't let them down! I don't know what our team name is...but I think the Cheetah theme is cute!