ragnar tennessee

Last week I went on an awesome adventure with 11 amazing women. We ran Ragnar Tennessee! It is a 200 mile relay that takes place around the country and we ran from Chattanooga to Nashville! We completed the course in 29 hours 24 minutes! We finished 69/218 teams and in our division 2/16 so we were pretty proud of ourselves! 

My team was with 11 friends who were also alumnae of Washington College, most of is rowed in college, but we had a few other girls who were friends. But it was great to see some people I haven't seen in years and some girls I see a few times a year! So here is our team shirt - the front is the one with the runner and the back is the running more miles!

The idea behind the race is that it is a 12 person relay race. Each person runs 3 legs - so 36 legs total for the team. The legs range from 2.5 to about 9 miles with each person running between 10-19 miles. I had 14 miles total with a 5.3, 4.5 and a 4.2 mile runs. With our start times I started my runs at 6pm, 3:15am and 1:30pm.

So here is my Ragnar adventure in pictures. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done! I can't wait to do another one - I love that these women challenge me and we all push each other to be better athletes. While I am one of the slower ones - we all have our own strengths and having their support makes me love running so much more. 

So Thursday we all flew into Nashville and made our way to Chattanooga. Once we got there we decorated our vans and had an amazing carb-tastic dinner. The pasta was all homemade and it was delish! 

decorating George & Martha - our vans for the weekend!

We found these great George Washington hats! So much fun! 

WOOOOO! 

Friday morning we were at the start line ready to go. They assign times from 7am-1pm depending on your team's pace. We had a 10:30 start time, so while Van 1 was ready to go, Van 2 went down to cheer them on! I was runner 11 - so I was in Van 2.

The start in Chattanooga! Gorgeous! 

George's Girls at the start line

  

team cheers and shoes! 

attempting a jump photo at the start line

start line! 

teammates running!  

Van 2 at about 1am! Wooooo! Oh by the way it got down into the 20s!!!! SO COLD! 

We love George Washington

So with our times my first two runs were in the dark - so I didn't get any photos of me running until my final leg. Here I go! 

At the exchange! Wooo! 

getting some water from my teammates on my run! 

best sign when running :)

Passing the bracelet to Jeanne - this is leg 36! She is about to run us to the finish line! 

marking my final run off on the van! 

WE DID IT! With my lovely ladies at the finish! 

We spent almost 30 hours in a van together! And had an amazing time doing it! 

My jump photo at the finish! 

the medal! 

this bracelet went 200 miles! 

 I absolutely loved this experience! At times it was crazy - I got maybe 3 hours of sleep during the race, spent 30 hours in a van with my teammates, ran 3x including 2 at night for 14 miles, at one of my runs i ran on a trail where I was alone in the darkness - pretty cool to run in this! and overall had a rocking time! SO much adrenaline and I loved it! I totally recommend doing something like this! My team is already talking about doing another one! Which I LOVE - that we plan reunions based on crazy things like this!

Have you ever done a relay like this?