Ragnar Rainier Relay Trail Run

Ragnar 

This weekend I ran my first trail Ragnar at Crystal Mountain Resort. The best decision we made was this team.  It was comprised of 8 amazing, strong, talented and supportive women (not to mention fun and really funny).  Our second best decision was to stay in a condo rather than camp in the provided area. 

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The race is made up of 3 loops: green loop is around 3 miles long and is ranked the easiest. Yellow loop is 4.8 miles and was all up hill. It was the hardest loop for everyone on our team. The last mile felt like 3 miles as it was such a steep hill. Yellow loop was basically a 5 mile hike and very little running. It tested my grit, endurance and mental and emotional strength.  I did this just as the sun was beginning to go down and I could feel the temperature drop. My hands were numb by the time I finished the run.  Red loop is just over 7 miles and was downhill for 5 miles with some very intricate terrain but beautiful views, but the 2 miles of uphill at the end was challenging and even muddy in spots. 

We ran for 29 hours and 33 minutes straight as a team. Someone was always running, relay style, until each of us had each run every loop once. Each of us ran just over 15 miles individually, and around 124 total team miles. We got very little sleep over 48 hours, and although our team name was Trail of Regrets, I had no regrets about running this race. It was an incredibly hard but very rewarding experience. Pushing myself and my body to do hard things has taught me a lot about myself. Having teammates relying on me really added to the experience. I felt like I had to give it my all and do well. 

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The beauty of Crystal Mountain was almost indescribable!  Having beauty scenery to look at during my runs really added to this experience. 

The paths we ran. Green - 3 mile loop, Yellow - 5 mile uphill, Red - 7 mile downhill. 

The "campsite" So many tents and port-o-potties 😬

We drove up in two cars to Crystal Mountain Resort. The place for camp was literally a large gravel parking lot with lines painted for each camp site. We set up our "campsite" that was mainly to sit and visit or wait for our next run. It didn't turn out to really be that. We preferred to always go to the condo. 😂 We were so grateful to have that comfort for a shower, beds, warmth, kitchen, and indoor toilet!

The condo had more sleeping spaces than was listed. Lisa Garcia slept on this bench and was happy to have a bed of her own. At first I didn't think it was long enough so I laid on it. Proved everyone I was wrong. 😂

We walked around checking things out. Stared up at the hill we were going to be running. 

While one person runs the yellow trail up the mountain, the next person rides the gondola up for the handoff and then runs down the mountain on the red trail. 

The starting points for the green and yellow runs. 

We started at 7am Friday morning. Carrie started first at the green loop then handed off to Lisa Garcia. She headed up the mountain on the yellow trail and I rode the gondola up (it was a trek just getting to the gondola!) Lisa handed off to me for my first run. As soon as I got the handoff I was off on my run down the mountain on the red trail. It was such a beautiful fun. Being downhill it was a quick moving run for me. Until the last two miles. It suddenly went uphill. 

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With some muddy and watery spots. Yuck. 

When I got to the end I handed off the timing belt to Carly and she was off for her green loop run. 

It was a dirty run!

Pretty quick paces. You can see where I started uphill. The pace dropped drastically. 

We had hours between each leg so we'd take time to get showers, food, and walking around checking out the beauty around us. I got this picture Saturday morning. I road the gondola up to get a good view of Mount Rainier. It was breathtaking!

They had some fun signs up along the trails. 

Some beautiful pics of the sun rise!

Betsy coming up the mountain Saturday morning. 

Betsy, Carly, me

Looking down the mountain we could see our condo. That building with the square hole in the top. That's over the pool. :)

The fog came rolling in Friday night.

This trail starts uphill and just keeps going. These pictures don't even make it look that steep. 

The fog almost made me miss the lake! 

I stopped for a brief moment to get a shot down hill. 😓

I could feel the temperature changing as I was on this run. 

Pics some of the others girls got on the yellow trail. 

Jess and Carly waiting at the top for me to hand off to Carly. 

The last mile was real tough for me. I felt like I had no strength to keep my legs going. There was a false summit at one point. It was disheartening thinking you're almost there but then see the trail keep on going.  I wanted to stop and rest for a bit but I knew that it'd be hard to get going again so I just kept moving one foot in front of the other. This wasn't so much of a run but more of a hike. I made myself run on the less steep parts but I was slow moving it felt. 

I love this shot Carly got on her run up the yellow trail Saturday morning!

Heather handing off to Jessica

Our condo had this giant tree all lit up at night! It was so beautiful. 

Fog rolled in during the night.

My night run was around 4am. It was the green loop, 3 miles. It was a pretty easy run in reality but since it was my last run and I was sore from my previous run and didn't really sleep, the easiest run wasn't as easy as it normally would be. The first half mile was uphill with the yellow trail until I branch off to the left and then it was all down hill. Nice wide trail, I could hear the waterfalls as I passed them in the dark. I couldn't see them but I enjoyed hearing the water as I had a nice easy run. Then just as I get close to the end it goes more uphill. Normally it wouldn't seem that hard but as I mentioned, I was already tired before starting the run so the end of the "easy" run did give me a bit of a punch as well. I was grateful to have my last run be the shortest. 

Handing off my lights to Carly so she can run the 5ish mile yellow trail up the mountain. 

We went to meet Heather off the gondola after she ran the yellow trail and handed off to Jessica to run the red. The rest of us were all done with our three legs of the relay and headed down to the finish line to cheer on Jessica as she was the last runner. We were all so happy to be showered and in comfy clothes and sandals. We still walked like we were sore, because we were, but we still had energy to laugh and have a good time. 

Carrie Andros, Carly Allred, Lisa Garcia, Betsy Kemp, me, Jess Fort

We crammed into Jess's car after we loaded it up with the campsite stuff. 

All showered and received our medals!

Finish line photo.

Each runner had a distinct medal. 

Lisa Garcia made this great chart. Our projected start times. It was fun to see how the times actually went. We did a pretty good job! I was touched that Heather wrote "Running for Grandpa" on the board. Grandpa passed away the morning we left for the run. I was a bit emotional but actually grateful to have something else to occupy my mind and energy rather than feel so down. 

I really liked having something on my bucket list crossed off! Definitely a rewarding experience. 

I was exhausted by the time I got home. I ended up taking a nap on the living room floor. 😆 I was also grateful that we had Stake Conference this weekend so that I didn't have to do much but listen to conference via YouTube.