RAGNAR SOCAL RECAP, PART I

From Strangers to Sole Mates at the starting line. From left: Martha, Colleen, Cat, Hilary, Katie, Paige, John, me,
Shauntay, Dean, Caitlin, Bonnie.

Overall, Ragnar SoCal was a total blast! I loved my teammates and it was such fun to get to know them and hang out every day. The runs themselves weren't quite what I hoped, but a relay race is about so much more than that!

I think I'll be splitting this recap into three parts. I could probably do a few more, but I'll restrain myself and try to keep it brief. This first one will be a recap of my journey getting there and the bring you right to race time. The second will be a recap of the relay itself, and the third will be the after party and reflections on the whole experience.

First team dinner in Huntington Beach.

The night before my flight to San Diego I didn't get the greatest sleep. I had to wake up at 4:45am for my flight at 7:00am and probably didn't fall asleep until almost 1am. So a good four hours of sleep at most. I was bringing my team doughnuts from Voodoo and when I offered I forgot how big they were and how much room they were going to take. I had my carry-on bag and a backpack and both were STUFFED to the gills. My backpack didn't even fit under the airplane seat.

My flight was delayed in San Francisco because the plane door wasn't sealing correctly. So two and a half hours later than planned I was in San Diego and the last to arrive. My team captains, John and Katie, picked me up and they were as awesome as expected.

I then got to meet my teammates and pass out their doughnuts. I recognized 85% of them, but there were a couple I couldn't quite pinpoint (the further from your Facebook photo you looked like at the moment, the less of a chance I recognized you). So that was kind of awkward shouting a name and pretending I already knew who they were when they went to get their doughnut, haha.

After that we drove to Huntington Beach and had a team dinner. That was a lot of fun and afterwards we went to Party City and got a few supplies to decorate the van and ourselves. We had an early bedtime due to the early start the next morning. Our team start time for the relay was 5am and we had to be there at 4am. So that meant waking up at like 3:30am.

My team cheering at the starting line chute. I was at the
starting line getting ready to run my first leg!

So another crappy night of sleep. I was excited/nervous and sharing a room with three strangers, two of which were making some "breathing noises." All told I got two hours of sleep maybe. So starting an overnight relay on 4 and 2 hours of sleep. Awesome.

I was awake enough when we got up to go to the starting line though. I was excited for it to start! After checking in, we had to stand around and wait for the race to start. It was cold! When planning a trip to San Diego, I didn't expect to be cold so often. I think it had to do something with the ocean breeze, because 52 was felt almost freezing there!

Our wave ended up going off at 5:15am because a lot of teams were late or were having problems checking in. Ragnar wasn't nailed down quite to the science Hood to Coast is, but I'll save that for the third post. Anyways, we finally went off 15 minutes later than expected and the relay was on!

To be continued...