Between Us We Ran 189 Miles in 24-Hours #Ragnar

On Thursday I hopped in my car and drove to Vegas.

As a team we rented a house in Vegas. The rest of my team was driving there from Utah, and I just so happened to pull into the driveway at the same time as another car full of teammates. I didn't know any of them.

The house we stayed in.

After quickly unloading our vehicles the stranger teammates wanted to go to the Las Vegas strip. I have been to the strip more than enough times, but sitting at the house alone sounded boring. Off to the strip we go!

"Hey Jimmy."
"What?"
"Bow if you're gay!"
The guy slams of the breaks causing me to bow forward.
"Actually, I am gay." I responded as I proceeded to watch him squirm around in awkwardness trying to find the right words to redeem himself. I then called him a "bro" to his face and continued calling him that for the rest of the trip.

For the record, the guy was pretty cool and actually did a pretty good job and redeeming himself and showing he has nothing against gay people. Still, I was going to milk this for all it's worth and bring it up time and time again throughout the race. It was good fun :)

New York or New York New York?

Waling around the Las Vegas strip.

After walking around and watching people gamble, we went back to the house only to discover the other caravans had arrived while we were gone. My friend Greg was among them; the only person I previously knew on our team. We had a big day ahead, so I went to bed.

Setting off to begin the race! With a team of size 12, we split into 2 vehicles. This was the car I was in. To be honest, I didn't really get to know the others in the other vehicle.

We drove up into the mountains and saw snow! Snow? Nevada? It was around 90 degrees where our house was, so seeing snow was kinda weird.

The starting line!

Heather was our first runner. She ran off into the mountain and we scurried into the van so we could drive a few miles ahead of her and cheer her on as she passed us. We stopped the car and waited for her to run by. We were so excited! She began passing us when suddenly she stopped and started puking. *silence overcame us*. She did her puke thing, drank some water, then ran on her merry way. It was so awkward at the time, but we look back now and laugh hysterically at the event. Seriously the BEST way to have begun the race lol! We joked about it non-stop the entire trip and even still. The following drawing became our team flag when we hit up Chili's later that day.

I drew this of us watching Heather puking.

Heather also liked saying, "Wabam!" And so for the rest of the trip we kept saying, "Wableeeehhhhh" lol! Oh man, it never got old hahaha!!

I was our second runner and began running at 1:57 PM. My first leg was 4.77 miles and very downhill. My shins killed after. My average pace was 5:53. It was a pretty plain part of the mountain, though I was surrounded by Joshua trees which I thought was really cool because I'm not used to those trees.

My second leg was 6.64 miles long and began at 12:52 AM. There were some uphill parts and I was saving energy for my last run, so my average pace was 7:22. It was located in the middle of the desert and the moon was full and beautiful! I had a headlamp which allowed me to see the road in front of me, but other than that I could only see the silhouettes of the surrounding rock structures in the moonlight. It was such in incredible experience! Wow, the atmosphere as well as the music I was listening to made for such an incredible run. I said a prayer of gratitude mid run for having a body that allows me to run like I was.

My third leg was during the late morning, but it was sunny and hot. It was 6.97 miles long and my average pace was 8:11. The graph below doesn't show how difficult it was. Everything after the fourth mile was at least as steep as a standard staircase, but constantly up and down. The downhill parts were difficult because I was trying not to fall on my face. It was hot and was one of the few times I've ever anticipated the end of a run.

Between my van's legs we would go back to the house to take a nap and eat. But while my van was still running we would drive ahead of the current runner so we could cheer them on, like we did Heather earlier. Each leg has a sign on the trail somewhere telling you that you're on your last mile. Here I am waiting for our runner Kim to run by.

Waiting at the One Mile to Go sign for our teammate to run by.

Every teammate completed their first leg here. We were headed to Chili's to eat some food.

Eventually it came time for our last runner to finish the entire race. We met up at a Casino in Vegas where a huge party awaited us. I purchased a Ragnar jacket. Once our final runner came in we took a photo and celebrated.

My team just after our last runner finished!

We eventually made it back to the house where we all went to bed because we were beat and none of us could walk normally. It was hilarious.

The next morning I woke up and drove home. But crazy thing, my order number at McDonald's was our team number that was on our bibs! Aaaaahhhhhh!!!

Wableeeehhhh!