Trail Ragnar

My dear friend Sheila and her husband, Orlo, had signed up to do a trail ragnar (which is a team race where everyone run a total of about 17 miles in a relay style).  Orlo had recently gotten in an accident and hurt his arm pretty badly so he was unable to race. The team was looking for someone else to fill in and I was able to hop in last minute. I had not trained AT ALL for trail running....and really had no idea what to expect. I had been "running" so I thought I'm in good enough shape. I did okay, but the last leg I had to walk quite a bit and that was frustrating for me. It was pretty hard on my calf muscles and I was limping around afterwards for a couple days...but worth it! It was a lot of fun.

There are three different loops that each person needs to run. an easy loop (green- a little under 4 miles). Then a medium loop (yellow- a little over 6 miles), then a hard loop (red- a little under 7 miles). The yellow loop was a lot of up and down the whole time. Red was a very steep incline for the first couple miles and then slight decent and slight up and down after that. The green loop was pretty flat the whole time.

I was runner number 5 so my order was yellow, green, then ended with red. I felt really good on the yellow loop (and now looking back, maybe pushed a little too hard which is why my calves were a bit sore) green was fine. I ran that loop in the dark, I started just after midnight. Then the last one, red I started running in the morning....but luckily there was a good cloud cover so it wasn't too hot....running in the dessert!!! hahaha :) But I was having a hard time! Had to walk a lot!! 

It was a great experience and hope to be able to do it again, with a bit more training next time around. So fun to be in nature and God's creations and make new friends.

The way it works is that everyone sleeps in tents in a central location then when it is your turn to run you go to the main start/finish line. All the loops start and stop in the same spot (the transition tent). You get a slap bracelet of the color loop you are on...it is very cleaver. So while you are waiting for your tun to run you get at hang out as a team. 

 Kari Evans was on another team and camped next to our team. Her team was made up of mostly teachers and staff from Legacy Traditional School (the kids school).

 Everyone's medals all connected together to make one large medal. "Ragnar Trail: Find your inner wild...."

Me, Keith Kasperson, Matt Pockrus, Eric Wall, Sheila Knight, Darin Phelps, Glen Phelps