Ragnar del Sol Relay - Feb. 26-27, 2010

Last month, I ran in the Ragnar del Sol relay race. It was an experience unlike anything I've done before. There are several Ragnar relays held around the country. Each is about 200 miles in length, split into 36 legs between 3 and 8 miles long. Teams of 12 runners rotate running around the clock until they reach the finish line. There were nearly 350 teams this year that ran in Arizona. In the end, participants have done a whole lotta running on precious little sleep. Each team splits up to travel in 2 vans. Team members in each van run 6 legs, then "rest" for 6.

Our van's worth of runners ready to get started! (L to R) Ben, Warren, Spencer, Scott, Jon, and me - all rookies to the relay.
The other half of our team had several members that had run the relay before.

Most of the teams decorate their vans and some teams ran the shorter legs dressed up in some crazy ways to go along with their team name.
Teams track their "kills" or number of runners they pass during each leg. The Fat Man Xtreme team also tracked their "got killed's"

Team Disco Fever

Team Fast Food

At each exchange point, the finishing runner snaps a slap bracelet on the next runner as a hand off.

Your team van can stop along the way to encourage you and keep you hydrated.

At a couple of points, the race crews let the drivers shuttle the runners through some flooded areas. Notice this team named the Ultraviolets. There were a few "ultra" teams of only 6 members that would run 2 legs at a time.

Apparently, this guy's van was AWOL.

I started my first leg (#12) of 7.1 miles at dusk and finished in the dark with a 7:19 min/mile pace.

The Town of Congress Fire Dept. had a pasta dinner waiting for us after I finished. We handed off to our other van, grabbed some dinner, and drove ahead to an elementary school that let us pay $2 to sleep - er, toss and turn for a few hours - inside. Around midnight our other van had caught up to us and we started up again.

Ben ran his 8+ mile leg (#18) and handed off to Scott.

During leg #19, tragedy struck when a runner from another team was hit by an oncoming car when he was crossing to give his teammate water. He was resuscitated several times before being life-flighted to the nearest hospital. He passed away shortly after. Our deepest condolences go out to the Mayasich family. Race organizers ultimately decided to bypass the next six legs and pick up at exchange 24 to allow emergency crews to do their jobs.

My second leg was 8.4 miles at a 7:26 pace.

I ran the last leg of the race, and after a missed turn, had the chance to extend the final 3 mile experience to almost 4 miles. I was SO happy to see my darling wife (and her best childhood friend, Ashley) send Carter out to finish the race with me!