So where did I leave off.. Oh Yes alone and forgotten on the side of the road!

Well that might be a little over dramatic, but kind of true.  We did get a laugh out of my first leg, me I was just happy that I was able to complete it.  You know the only thing I knew about Ragnar’s before Del Sol was what I watched in the movie From Fat To Finish Line.  What I knew about Ragnar’s was running in the heat not so much fun… alligator is the same in English and Spanish and running in the dark looked scary as hell!

So Van #1 has finished all our first legs and not like most Ragnar’s we had the privilege of having our Co-Captain live about 2 blocks from the 1st transition area in Surprise Arizona.  By the way I just love the name of this town!  We got a shower, a nice place to lay down and sleep, although sleep was not that easy and to be honest very overrated.  I was so afraid of not wanting to wake up so I got about an hours sleep.  I also was over thinking my next leg why… its my night leg!!!!

Now for a split second the majority of our team got to be together at Victoria’s house with the exception of Nick who was Runner #12, our superhero!  We heard how tough it was for Van #2 with the heat and with the legs that had very minimal to no support.  The Runners in Van #1 know how lucky we were to have the legs we did.  The majority of ours had support and were not in the heat of the day.  We know that Van #2 Rocks!!!!  But now it is time to let Van #2 rest and off we go to the transition area.Leg 2 here we come!

So now to our second legs and time to run at night … ahhhhhhhh!! I cannot even explain the fear I have for running at night.  But hey I am Runner #4 let the others pave the way right. Let me explain that running at night, yeah this is a whole other beast.  All your childhood fears of the boogie man coming back to get me are coming back to haunt me.

But night has fallen and we are off…Go Victoria! Runner #1  Let me tell you running at night on minimal sleep is definitely an experience.  As Runner #4 my run started at around 11:30 pm and it was so dark and the roads I was on were so deserted.  But to be honest the darkness and the fears had nothing on the fact that the porta potties had not arrived and there was no where to go. I now got to experience peeing behind a cactus and let me tell the thoughts that go through your mind, not good I tell you not good.  So I do what I have to do and finish.  I did not have a second to spare as Janet Runner #3 was ahead of schedule even with some major cramping in her calves.  But it was Victoria and her horse gu to the rescue and Janet finished strong.

So I need to kind of explain one of my crazies.. Yes I have a few.  But one is that I have to pee before I run, and not just once, not twice but I will run back to porta potties multiple times before I start a race.My biggest fear that is that the porta potties will be full and I will not be able to use it.  I now have a new fear.. NO PORTA POTTIES!!  Yes this happened not once but three different times during this Ragnar.  My first time dealing with it was right before the night run.  We got to transition and you got it the porta potties had not arrived.  We were parked at a lot next to an empty field with cactuses and bushes.  My only option was find the biggest bush around and do my business.  Well I did and just as I finished Janet arrive with not a second to spare I was off.

So I did training runs at night but I am going to say there is not way to really prepare for it.  Different states, different paths all have different levels of darkness.  This one was DARK!!!  I was on a road for a moment and then off to a dirt, rocky and un level path. I was very fearful of falling and at how everyone else was taking it easy so were they.  Once I got back onto a paved road I felt much better and before I knew it I was at the 1 mile left marker.

So I got on my way to the finish line and as I start into the school I look up and I see a falling star.  I know this is corny but I swear my mom sent it to say good job!

I hand off to Jen and she is on her way.  I have to share that when I saw the documentary From Fat To Finish Line and watched Jen Roe do that Ragnar she was the one runner I connected with.  To be in a Ragnar with her and in the same fan I was so thrilled.  But to be the one to hand off to her I was so fan girling.  we are only 2 runners from being able to finish our second leg.

Now we have picked up Jeff and Valerie is on her way!!!  Go Van #2 Go!!!

Again we are lucky as our second leg ended just a few miles from our rental house.  We leave Van #2 to start their second leg and we head to our Mini Mansion for a little relaxation.  There was a debate as to where we would all sleep as this was the first time we were all in the house at the same time.  The debate was most of us were sleeping in the bunk house, but the captains were given the masters, because well they rock and they were the captains.  But as we all started to choose bunks, Victoria decided she wanted to sleep in the bunkhouse with the team.  Then you could tell the guys did not want to be left out either so what did we do, all 12 of us in the bunkhouse best 2 hours sleep ever!

So we are now in the final home stretch and we will be heading into our third and final leg and to be honest it was the most exciting leg.  Stayed tuned for the third and final leg and seeing the Running Down a Dream Team finish the 2017 Ragnar Del Sol!!!!