The following is a guest post from talented triathlete Jess Lawrence (@swimbikerunjess) who I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know via Twitter. Jess and his teammates on “Team Brushfire” competed in this year’s Ragnar Del Sol. Jess recently started a blog about his triathlon and running adventures in Arizona which is definitely worth checking out. Enjoy!
This is a 204 mile relay race from Prescott to Tempe, AZ. Regular teams consist of 12 members, while ultra teams consist of 6 members. A regular team splits their team up by putting 6 people in van #1 and 6 people in van #2. Each runner is assigned a position (1-12) and you must stay in that order. Runner #1 starts the race and completes their leg, handing off to runner #2 and so on, until runner #6 hands off to runner #7, which is the first runner in van #2. While van #2 completes their 6 segments, the runners in van #1 have time to rest, eat and maybe get some sleep. Each person on a regular team runs 3 segments, consisting of anywhere between 3-9 miles per segment. Each person runs between 14-23 miles total. Ultra teams cover the same distance, but with half the runners, so they are typically running about a half marathon distance for each of their three segments. So, in essence, someone from your team is running at all times, until you cross the finish line 204 miles later!
Here’s my story!
This is my third year doing this relay race. Although the race is punishing, there is something about it that makes us want to do it again every year. This year was no exception. We were van #2 this year. Our van consisted of Amanda Miller (my girlfriend), Kristy Montano (HS friend), Billy Cox (my friend and running partner), Brian Soto (Tribe Multisport running partner) and Christian Hanson (I’ll explain later!). Once again, we were “Team Brushfire”.
We decided not to go to the start line, since we didn’t have to start our segments until around 1pm on Friday, February 26, 2010. This year, we went crazy with decorating the van. We went for a western theme and put a nice orange skirt with chili peppers around the van. The windows had our team name, sponsor logos, saguaro cacti and a cool “Boot Hill” sign. The inside had white string lights so we could rock out at night. The topper was the cow skull we mounted to the front of the van!
As you can see, the 2 hour drive tore up the skirt a bit!
We drove up to Kirkland, AZ to get ready for our first segments. For those of you that don’t know where Kirkland is, well, neither do I! The other vehicle’s last runner, Dawn, approached the exchange chute, handed off the slap band to Amanda and she was off! Amanda rocked through her 4.3 mile hilly leg. Brian was next. Brian does ultra marathons, so we gave him the hardest segments!! Thanks Brian! Brian had a 5.5 mile, super hilly leg. He absolutely rocked it. He was flying by people. I think he ended up “toasting” about 15 runners on his first leg.
Billy took over after Brian and also had some tough hills over his 6.7 mile stretch. We were off to a great start. Everyone was running fantastic paces. Billy handed off to me. My leg was a 7 mile run along a packed dirt road. I started way too fast (5:45 pace) and got winded quickly, plus, the dust from all the vans was killing my throat and eyes. I slowed my pace down, caught my breath and got into my rythm. I think I ended up toasting around 12-14 people, including a kick-ass looking Ironman girl towards the end. Kristy took over after me for her 8.5 mile leg. Her terrain was basically the same as mine, but she had to cross 2 washes! The rules allowed us to pick her up and drive her the 10-20 feet over the wash and start running again.
Christian was our last runner. This year was so hectic for our team. We had over half our team drop out for injuries. We ended up contacting Christian from a post that he put on the Ragnar website looking for a team. He came in to town from San Clemente, CA the night before the race! So, Christian had the last leg, which was a 7.1 mile, rolling hill segment. Most of it was on packed dirt, but the last 1-2 miles was a gradual uphill on asphalt. This was the first leg that it got dark for, so Christian ran with a headlight, backlight and reflective vest (as required). He had a great pace and tallied up some more toasts for our vehicle. He handed off to our other van and it was our first chance to relax.
We went to the Frog Rock Cafe in Congress, AZ. We have since given it the name of Fraggle Rock. This was a tiny little diner with a bar attached. They were definitely not ready for the crowd of people. It them an hour to even start cooking our food after we ordered! Ridiculous. So, we passed some more time talking and deciding that next year we were going to keep tally of our “toasts” by hash marking the outside of the van. After dinner, we drove up to the next major exchange point and tried to get some rest. Amanda, Brian and I all slept in the van, while Kristy, Christian and Billy all slept in the “Junior Suite”. The junior suite consisted of a counselors office in an elementary school that was piled high with books and papers. Somehow, Billy managed to sleep, but I don’t think Kristy and Christian got much sleep in the hard floor. I think we basically got about an hour’s worth of sleep.
We woke back up around midnight and Amanda prepared for her second leg. The van handed off to her around 1am and she crushed her 8 mile leg! Towards the end of her leg, we drove up ahead to the exchange point to get Brian ready for his long run. That’s when the chaos started. They were holding everyone at the exchange point, because one of the runners up ahead was involved in an accident. We ended up being held there for almost 2 hours, when they finally told us to go to the next major exchange point and we had to skip our 2nd legs. By the time we got to the major exchange it was around 5am. We got assigned another start time, so they could stagger the course a bit. Van #1 took over at 7:50am to finish their 3rd legs of the race. The news of the accident put a bit of a damper on the race and we wondered whether it was even right to finish the race.
During van #1’s legs, we all went back to my house for showers and naps. We woke back up around 10am, cleaned out the van and restocked the coolers. We were back! We all finished our last legs and felt great. Christian decided to go with his “Mexican” outfit, which consisted of a zarape, sombrero and a Mexican flag mankini.
We celebrated our finish at Zipp’s with some wings, burgers and beers. I think it took us around 29 hours to finish. I guess what keeps everyone coming back to this race is the fellowship you feel with your team. We all definitely bonded over the race this year and I think we made some new friends. Christian is coming back into town in a week, so we plan on hanging out. This type of race is special for other reasons too. I think the feat of running 204 miles is definitely a draw. The other thing is that running is typically a fairly lonely sport. You are out there running against yourself, not other people. At Ragnar, you don’t want to let your teammates down. It motivates you and drives you to get up in the middle of the night to run through the desert. It’s a pretty cool race, now that I really sit back and reflect on it. You will have to try it to truly know what I mean.
Race report:
- I love this race. You have to deal with so many things, like weather, sleep deprivation and multiple runs in a 29 hour period.
- There are no aid stations on this course, so everything is self sufficient. Your van is your aid station.
- The weather this year was great. Not too hot during the day and not too cold at night.
- The scenery and variety of terrain can’t be beat.
- Cool technical race shirts
- Awesome “bottle opener” medals
- The only downside this year was the finish line at Tempe Marketplace. They should move it back to the park, where they had a beer garden and live bands. Much better!
The sad part of this experience is the runner that was struck during our second legs. His name is Robby Mayasich. He ended up dying several days later from severe head trauma. He was only 18 years old and a student at Brophy High, here in Phoenix. If we run Ragnar again, I think we will dedicate the race to Robby. He will definitely be in our thoughts next year. If you are reading this, please take a few moments to give some thoughts and prayers for his family.
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