RAGNAR SOCAL RECAP, PART III

Supporting Dean of Van Two!

Once all of Van One's legs were done we decided to support the first runner of Van Two on his legs (Dean). So we ended up stopping every quarter to half mile to cheer him on. That was a lot of fun because he didn't expect any support from us and then we went completely overboard with cheering and power tunnels.

After that we headed to San Diego and grabbed lunch at In'N'Out Burger. I got a Double Double Animal Style and Animal Style fries. They were good, not great. I was expecting more from the thousand island sauce. I think the Big Mac sauce kicks its ass personally.

I was staying in a hotel with Katie, Caitlin, and Colleen so after lunch we got settled in there. I tried to nap for a little bit but I don't think I really fell asleep. We misjudged the time Van Two was going to finish so we raced to the finish line only to realize we had 90 minutes more than we thought. Oh well, beer garden it was! I think I had three beers in there before Van Two came in and was feeling pretty good.

Pretty soon Colleen ran in the final leg for our team and we all joined together and ran that final tenth of a mile. That was a ton of fun running in together as a team. That part was way better than Hood to Coast, where your runner crosses the official mat and then you meet them in the finishing chute and then walk across the "finish line" together (probably due to the sheer size of HTC and number of teams finishing every minute). We then got our medals and a bunch of pictures taken. Back to the beer garden for a beer or two. Couldn't linger much, our team captain John's husband Ric had a giant party at their house ready to go at 6pm.

The party was awesome. John and Ric's backyard is already super pretty, but they really did it up for the party. Felt like a really classy wedding. Very cool. Dinner was pasta, garlic bread, and salad, which was perfect for hungry runners. Dinner was eaten and more alcohol was consumed. Again, like Hood to Coast, I should have been exhausted, but the during the after party I caught a second wind. Had a blast. Wish I could do that party over again on a full night of sleep.

Went back to the hotel around 10:30pm and absolutely crashed. The next morning we woke up and had an amazing brunch at a place called Baja Betty's. It was then off to the San Diego Zoo with most of the team. The zoo was awesome but very hilly and tiring. We went out for dinner at a nice place called The Fish House and then called it a night. Everyone was still pretty beat.

All of us (except Cat) at the after party.

Monday my flight was at 5pm but I still had time to visit the USS Midway Museum with Dean and get in one last lunch with my team. Everyone was so awesome and they felt like family even after only a few days. It was super sad to leave all of them!

Overall, Ragnar SoCal with From Strangers to Sole Mates was hands down my favorite running related experience and definitely in contention for favorite trip/event ever. I loved all of my teammates and to experience this relay together was just awesome. It went by so quickly and I can't believe it's over so soon after waiting for it to get here for what seemed like forever.

Ragnar itself could use some work. I understand this is a new course for them and other Ragnars seem to be better run, but compared to Hood to Coast they didn't quite have their shit together. The first 2/3rds of the course were uninteresting and ugly and the whole thing had way too many stoplights. There was a weird gap in one of the legs were you had to drive your runner to the next exchange (which defeats the whole relay thing). That drive took 40 minutes!

Many volunteers didn't seem to know what they were doing. That might be the biggest difference. The HTC volunteers know their shit and get everything in line. A lot of the exchanges were in chaos because I don't think the volunteers at this event were properly trained. Traffic honestly wasn't too much of an issue, at least for our van. Hood to Coast traffic was worse, but I guess that's understandable given twice the teams and most of it being on two lane road. Ragnar didn't mind if your next runner jumped out and ran to the exchange, which I thought was a good way to combat any traffic snarls at the exchange (big no-no at HTC).

Dean and I touring the USS Midway Museum on Monday.

Despite those gripes though, they did pull off a fun event with only a few hiccups. Those are bound to happen and as long as they take constructive criticism and try to improve upon the major complaints, what more can you do. Our team wasn't going to let a few glitches ruin our time and most teams felt the same way. Ragnar has a lot fewer teams actually competing and most teams were like us, just trying to have fun and support all the runners.

Well, that's it. Like I said, I could say a lot more, but I'll keep it at that for now. What a fun time! Going to be hard to get back into the normal routine but I'm going to have to. Vancouver is less than a month away and I've got a twenty miler this weekend.