In no particular order, here were some of the highlights:
This was taken after Amanda's first leg. We were so young, naive, and full of life back then.
The Van#1 leg completion window
This was me after my 6 mile run. The true pain was the thought that I was less than halfway done. On all of my practice runs I got into the habit of listening to some NPR podcasts in the hopes that I could just get caught up thinking about something where I would forget that I was even running at all. The subject of the podcast on this particular morning was on death and the monetary value of extending a person's life, which happened to be oddly reassuring at the moment.
Also, everything's okay when I'm with my wonderful wife.
Cheering for Michael Craig, who, along with all of the other kids on our team, made the whole event look like a walk in the park. I specifically remember the moment where we woke Michael up minutes before one of his late night runs and he had the attitude of "oh *yawn* I guess I need to run over three miles now".
Midpoint where everyone in van#1 had finished their first leg.
The Ragnar experience comes with many perks...or should I say Purps (as in the the free grainy drinks provided in the goodie bag). From the website, "formulated with a blend of 20% organic coconut water, electrolytes,
antioxidants, essential vitamins and the Purps Proprietary Organic
Purple Life Formula". Life formula? But at this point of the race, David and I were hoping that this would provide the extra kick we needed.
Jonathan showing off his own life formula
Amanda didn't need Purps.
In a weird mystical chance of fate, not only was it Amanda's birthday, but also Kirtley's (one of Erin's cousins in our team). I finished my second leg and was greeted with a refreshing slice of delicious birthday cake.
Because our team was so amazing (or perhaps because we were too conservative on our times and got a starting time that was a bit too early), we had a lot of night running. Amanda got the honor of running through the somewhat creepy part of town. Nothing is as motivating as thinking that if you slow down, someone is going to pop out of an alley and get you. But as you can see above, she is not to be messed with.
And now I will dish out some Kudos...chocolately, carmel Kudos. Kudos to Shon for driving down to accompany Michael Craig on his night run. They were unstoppable. Literally unstoppable as they started their run going in the opposite direction and it took a while for us to get them to stop and get back on the right track. Kudos to Jonathan for doing that long steep hill in Torrey Pines. Kudos to Robert (Mr. I-don't-get-changed-into-running-gear-for-anything-less-than-six-miles) for being the team captain, telling us what to expect, and forgiving us after we didn't bring him water in one of his toughest legs when we were eating birthday cake. Finally, kudos to dad for driving the van throughout the whole event. I really underestimate how much driving was involved and how rough of a schedule it was going to be to get to all the checkpoints.
And another Amanda picture for good luck.
I have to say that it was indeed a memorable experience, and a lot more enjoyable than I initially thought. Really no better way to run 188 miles than with all of these people.
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