Ragnar 2012: Wasatch Back

Dear reader, while this post won't take you as long to read as it did for me to write (Ragnar was how many months ago?), it is a long post and mostly focused on me - I hope you know what you're getting yourself into...

So this year our neighbors (growing up in Elkridge) convinced us to run ragnar with them. They run marathons, my family, excepting my sister-in-law Jesse, not so much... But we decided to do it and we all started training in January. Here were are ready to start:

About February the injuries started: Achilles tendons, calves, IT bands, knees. My personal injury was the IT band, but it wasn't very severe, so after a few light weeks I was able to get back into more intense training.

Generally I keep in pretty good shape, and I've always tried to run to stay in shape for soccer. But I've never really enjoyed running. Until now. I think having music or an audiobook has helped break the monotony, but I don't think that made me like running. I think running consistently made me like running. Somewhere around 5 miles there was a barrier that I hadn't crossed before. Once I did I found that regular 3-5 mile runs were rather enjoyable. Megan laughs at me because whenever I used to see people running up any of the various canyons around cache valley I would call them crazy. And now I am one of 'those' people. Of course, I still think running miles and miles uphill is crazy, but I do it anyways.

On that note, my first ragnar section was one that if I had seen people running up it 6+ months ago I would have called them more than crazy... It started down by pineview reservoir and climbed up to snowbasin. Here's a short video of me starting the run.

 The ragnar chart shows a total elevation gain of 1830'. My phone said it was 2008', but regardless of the actual number it was a great climb with some awesome views of the reservoir and surrounding valleys.

Here's the chart from MiCoach:

I was very happy with my 10 min/mile pace. Overall my runs were great, but generally I was pretty miserable because I was sick. Stuffed up, phlegm in my throat, and a runny nose did not make me a very happy runner or allow me to get much rest between runs either. I took some medicine before this first run and felt pretty good but didn't get any before my second run, so I was hacking up phlegm for most of the 5 miles. Probably my least enjoyable run thus far...but here's the data: (I didn't start the program until I'd already run .75 miles)

After our second set of runs we went to a middle school where you could shower and sleep and get breakfast (all part of a fundraiser for the school). Shower was great even though it was a bit nippy. Sleeping was ok - maybe got an hour of sleep (that was better than after the first set when we got about 44 minutes of sleep). Food was great! They gave me a large stack of pancakes, a pile of eggs and a load of bacon. I didn't feel like eating and had to force myself to take each bite, but I'm glad I did. Without that I don't think I would have had the energy to finish my last run. 

This one is from the top of the pass down through deer valley and into Park City. Crazy beautiful with some amazing houses and hotels visible along the route. This is the ragnar chart.

The hill just after mile 3.5 doesn't look very big or steep, but after coming downhill so far it felt so steep (and I was so dang tired) that I walked up the last bit. Besides stopping at water tables to fill up my bottles, and stopping to tie my shoe, it's the only time I walked/stopped on any of my three runs. Here's my data:

So, did I enjoy it? Not really...being sick made it hard to enjoy.

Did I have fun? Definitely! Doing it with my family was great. It was fun to train 'together' (while living far apart) for something and fun to see my brothers and sisters do great on their runs. Here I am with my bro and bro-in-law before we started. Side note, Megan thought this outfit was terrible...

Would I do it again? Yes. I'm still considering doing the Vegas ragnar in November to get the 'Saints and Sinners' medal. Anyone want to join me?