28:25:24 - The Beginning

Let's get the basics out of the way first.

What's a Ragnar Relay?


12 runners run, relay style, roughly 200 miles. Each runner completes 3 legs ranging between three and ten miles. You run through the night. In our particular race, we ran from Madison, WI to Chicago, IL.

Logistics?


Each team consists of two vans. Each van has six runners on board. When a runner from a. van starts his run, the van proceeds to the next "exchange". Exchanges are where, you guessed it, one runner finishes and another runner begins. When the last runner in a van hands off the "baton" (Ragnar uses slap bracelets. Rad.), to the first runner in the other van, these are called "major exchanges". There were a total of 36 exchanges on the course. Three of them were major exchanges. Still following?

Who ran?


Twelve people that had no idea what they were in for:

Van 2
Me
Jon
Leah
Seth
Dani
Matt

Van 1
Glenn
Julia P.
Terry
Julia B.
Carrie
Jess

I'm telling this story in parts because there is so much to write that you won't read it all in one sitting. It will be ridiculously long. So, in order for you to gain maximum enjoyment (and to build suspense?), I'm splitting it into three parts. This is part 1.

28:25:24

Getting There

"Wow, dude. You're so special." 

Matt was a little frustrated when I showed up about 30 minutes late to pick him up from the airport. It didn't help that I was driving down the shuttle lane of terminal 2 instead of the personal vehicle lane, which is where he was waiting. It probably did help that the beautiful Bri B., of Sidebar fame, was riding shotgun. Pretty girls disarm guys. This time, it worked to my advantage.

"Sorry, Matt. I brought you something. It's Bri!"

"Hi, Bri!"

Like a charm.

We drove back to Bri's place in Soulard and dropped her off. Then, we drove down town and back to my loft on Washington Ave. We have a bus to catch at Union Station at 1:15 AM. Matt and I throw in season three of Dexter and watch it until our ride to the bus stop arrives. When Julia and Terry arrive, we attempt to toss our bags in the trunk, but we forgot that Julia, although small, packs large. We carry our two bags on our laps for the short trip to Union Station.

At the bus stop, we meet up with Glenn and Carrie. We board our bus and Matt and I snag one of the last pairs of seats on the bottom floor of the double decker. Quite happy of ourselves for getting a pair of seats next to each other, Matt and I begin watching Dexter on my laptop where we left off. The ride was pretty uneventful until "the odor." About two hours into our trip to Chicago, it happened. Someone opened up the door to the restroom. I'm not entirely sure how to describe the aroma that slithered out of the commode, but it was quite foul. I described it in a tweet as the smell of a "dragon placenta". Imagine that for a minute before you read on. Now imagine it happening multiple times, including a bout of nearly 10 minutes when the door swung wildly after the small child that had finished using it forgot to latch the door shut.

The rest of the ride went on without incident until the bus driver swerved so hard it woke a grown man from his sleep with a scream. We did finally arrive at Union Station - Chicago a little late, thanks to morning rush hour. I hadn't slept at all. Matt, however, did. Before I woke him up with a camera flash.

So precious.

It was cold and rainy in Chicago. We walked through the gray sky and light drizzle, across the city streets and cross walks with herds of people going about their business. Criss-crossing intersections and sidewalks until we got into Union Station. There, we ate breakfast at a small place near the Great Hall. Surprisingly, it had one of the best breakfast burritos I've ever had. We had about three hours to kill before we caught our next bus to Madison. So, we snapped some pictures and did some people watching.

Cell phones and breakfast burritos.

We saw enough pregnant women in Union Station to supply another baby boom. We all felt under dressed in our travel clothes as compared to the business travelers on their way to work. We used half of the station's power grid to recharge our cell phones. The girls put their faces on. The guys debated buying beers at the bar that was 10 feet to my right. We discussed running. We exchanged stories. We tried to describe our excitement for the next day. We mostly fell short in being able to put it into words. Our expectations fell far short of the reality of Ragnar. At this point, however, we had no idea.

Leah was working across the street from Union Station. She and Julia B. would drive the rental vans from Chicago to Madison a few hours later. Seth was on a plane to Chicago and would be riding with them. Jon was waiting in Milwaukee to pick up Jess from the airport before driving to Madison. Dani would be catching a late bus from St. Louis. Every runner on our team, "Sole Train", would come from various parts of the Midwest and meet at one place - Madison - the beginning of a 197 mile journey.

Arrival

We rode Coach from Chicago to the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Nothing noteworthy happened. No smells, no sudden swerves. The bus drove by the starting point of Ragnar. That gave us a quick jolt of excitement as the starting line darted across our window and out of sight. The bus stopped and Jon's girlfriend, Caitlin was there to take our things in her car. We walked from Memorial Union to her apartment a few short blocks away.

Arrival.

Around 7:00 PM everyone, through their various modes of transportation, arrived in Madison. The trepidation among the twelve of us was palpable. As we ate the delicious dinner that Caitlin graciously prepared for us, we started predicting what may happen. "I'm gonna die, but it's gonna be awesome." "This will be the coolest thing I've ever done." "Whoever gave me the 9.9 mile leg better sleep with one eye open." "I hope my knee lets me run."

Shortly after dinner, the twelve of us claimed sleeping spots. Slowly, one by one, we began falling asleep. Like children before Christmas, we had to fight our nerves to let us slip into sleep. Tomorrow, it all begins.

Getting Back

My alarm woke me up at 5:00 AM. I shot up instantly. The adrenaline from my excitement was fueling my tired body. I had been asleep for about 6 hours. I peeled myself off of my air mattress and took the last shower I would have in nearly 36 hours. Once everyone was ready and the vans were packed, we drove to the starting line. Our starting time was 10:30.

At the starting line, we wrapped up registration, Van 1 went through a safety course, then we bought some swag from the merch tent.

At 10:15, we lined the starting chute. Jess was lined up next to a guy from a team called "Our Back Seats Pull Out, But We Don't". It was funny until you realized the girl next to him was eleven years old. It lost all humor later, when we discovered that eleven year old was running for her mother who was disabled. For more on that story, go here. At 10:30, it finally happened. Everything we had been excited for - the beginning. The runners took off. Jess was the first runner from our team to go. The start was less than what I had expected, less hype, less celebration. The excitement remained high among us, however. The beginning of our 197 mile run had arrived. Sole Train split to it's respective vans and went our separate ways.

Van 1 went to exchange 1. Van 2 went to exchange 6. The nerves didn't set in until this point for me. We stopped for lunch and I could only eat half of my sandwich. I disguised it as saving the rest for later in the race. In reality, I was out of my mind with nerves. I wasn't anxious about the distances - I could handle them. I was anxious because I wanted to deliver for my team. I wanted to meet or exceed the expectations I had put in place about my pace. I put it in the back of my mind.

The course with the major exchanges labeled. Van 2 starts at exchange 6.

When we arrived at exchange 6, we threw a Frisbee around. It helped take my mind off of the nerves. I didn't have to run until the 8th exchange, so I had time. Matt was up first. We walked up to the exchange and watched other runners come in, hand off to their teammate, and the new runner take off. The exchanges were exciting At this particular exchange, there was a lot of movement, a DJ, and even some dancing. This was a major exchange (van to van), so there was more action than usual. The exchange volunteer called our team name as Glenn approached the end of his run. In the exchange, he will off to Matt (his run).

"359!"
Matt jumped up, "that's us."
"Good luck, Matt! Run hard!"

Glenn came barreling down the chute, lined with cheering people, and handed off the bracelet to Matt. Matt took off. Van 2 had begun it's race. We took a few photos with Glenn and loaded into our van. We had to drive to exchange 7, where Jon would take the bracelet. For this run, the van could not support Matt. We were forced to take a different route than the runner. We arrived at the next exchange and waited for Matt. Matt finished strong. He handed off to my brother, Jon. Jon took off on his run. In the back of Jon's mind, however, was the daunting run he faced on leg 3, his last leg. With that on his shoulders, and soon to be on his legs, he ran on. We gave Matt water and walked him to the van, he told us he felt good during his run. Jon's leg had full van support. We could get out and cheer, give water, give food, give shoes, give anything to our runner that was on the course. Jon's run was nasty. It was very hilly and 6.7 miles long. We loaded up in the van and drove up the course a few miles. We parked by a ranch with a few horses outside, watching us. It reminded me of how horror movies start for some reason. There was nothing else around us.  All I could see were trees, fields, and runners every few hundred meters. That's it. We waited for Jon to run by. When he did, we gave him water and support as he crested a particularly nasty hill. He downed the water and kept running. We drove to exchange 8.

I hadn't had a whole lot of time to think until this point. When you're in the van, you may not be running, but you're still doing a lot of work. Your navigating, getting water ready, or prepping the runner about to run. The nerves I had put in the back of my head had come creeping up to the front of my mind again. We drove on, through the middle of no where in some ghostly farm town in eastern Wisconsin. We arrived at the exchange. I prepared, stretched a little, had a little water, tried to calm my nerves. They called our team number and I stepped into the exchange. Here comes Jon.

He handed the bracelet to me, brother handing off to brother, and I tore out of the exchange. I slapped the bracelet on my wrist and barreled down my leg. 8.2 miles to go. It started off in a small suburban neighborhood. I ran on sidewalks, roads, I crossed train tracks, and ran by empty baseball fields. My nerves were completely gone now and I was focused solely on my run. My feet hit the ground and my arms pumped. My run went off without a hitch until mile six. Six miles in to an 8.2 mile run, there is only one thing on your mind. Finishing. You're starting to pick up your pace, you're trying not to leave anything on the course. Your pulse races, your breathing quickens, your pace speeds up and up and up. By now, I was on a trail in the woods. There's no van support. It's just me and the course. I'm completely focused on finishing this leg and handing the bracelet to Leah. My lungs are burning and my legs are stiff from hitting the ground for six miles. I grit my teeth and press on. Just get me to the finish.

The course however, wasn't going to make that a straight shot.