Throwback Tuesday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly post theme that many social media users like to participate in. It is all about selecting an appropriately nostalgia-inducing picture – from a different era of your life, and then hash-tagging the crap out of it before posting it online. For the purpose of what has prompted me to write today, I'm calling it Throwback Tuesday. It’s no big deal though because some people post selfies that were taken 12 hours earlier in the day for Throwback Thursday, so as you can see, the unwritten rules about throwback Thursday are often stretched.

Two years ago today, during the era when I could still run, I participated in my last race before my body crapped out on me. I had unofficially diagnosed myself with Lyme disease by this point, but it would still be another two months before meeting my current doctor and beginning treatment. You can click here and also here for refreshers on my frustrating path to getting diagnosed.

Long before I started this blog I used to craft “Race Reports” to share with my friends and family after each of my events. I really miss competing in races and sharing my experiences, so today I reached into my archives and pasted my last race report into this post. I also took the liberty to correct a few grammatical errors, and in the process probably created a few more. Drum roll please...

Ragnar Relay DC - Race Recap

On September 23-24, 2012 I had the opportunity to participate in the Ragnar Relay DC event as part of the "Captain Awesome and His Bag of Monkeys" team. And, well... it was awesome!

A quick overview of Ragnar Relay DC

The race started in Cumberland MD and ended 200 miles later at the National Harbor in Washington DC. Each team that participated had 12 runners and two vans. Each person ran 3 times throughout the race. Each leg of the race varied in mileage. There is, of course, always one exception. The ultra teams. These teams were made up of 6 runners and one van and they split up the 200 miles between six runners. Ouch. They are crazy. One day I suspect I will be part of a Ragnar Ultra team. The race start was staggered so 10 - 12 teams started every hour on Friday for a good part of the morning into the early afternoon.


Each running leg is mapped out beforehand and the team Captain assigns each runner a position (1-12). Information about each of the 33 running legs of the race is distributed to each team detailing the mileage of each leg, written directions, maps, and descriptions of the areas that the runners will be running through. Runners 1- 12 on each team run in the same order for the whole time from start to finish. After each leg is completed, a slap bracelet is passed off between runners instead of a baton like you see in those much shorter relays that they run at track and field events. While one person is running, the vans are following and cheering them on. (Or getting food and trying to sleep depending on the time of day and which van of runners is running).

I was on a 12 person team and signed up for the shortest amount of mileage possible due to my chronic leg injury that makes it hard to run (yet I keep running). In total I ran 12.2 miles out of the 200.

If you ask my leg, that was 12.2 miles too many.

If you ask me, I say "What could be more fun than riding in a van for almost two days with 5 people I had never met with an inflatable monkey tied to the back door, telling dirty jokes and pretending that the stinky and muddy running clothes that were piling up did not smell like freshly raked mulch on a 100 degree day"?

I was runner #5, part of the first van. Here is a summary of my running journey. Our team started at 11 am on Friday, Sept 23rd.

Leg 5 (my first run of the day): 4.3 Mile "Mud" Run

Highlights from the description of Leg 5: "Switchbacks and some steep climbs await you. Prepare for Dust. VANS - THIS ROAD HAS A FEW NARROW PARTS, USE CAUTION, WATCH FOR RUNNERS, AND DRIVE SLOWLY".

It was a rainy morning. Runners 1-4 got caught in some downpours. When I got out of the van to run the rain had let up. I soon found myself ankle deep in a long and winding mud pit, which before the rain I am sure was a dusty dirt road with switchbacks and steep climbs.

I was running along feeling great, trying to get into my groove which proved to be hard because I had gobs of mud stuck to my sneakers. My teammates drove past me in the van honking and cheering and then they were out of sight. I was concentrating on trying not to slip in the mud when I started hearing loud noises in the distant woods that sounded an awful lot like spinning tires stuck in the mud on a steep hill. As it turns out, I was correct! There were MANY vans stuck in the mud up ahead of me, including my team van. The hill happened to be one of those narrow parts mentioned in the description.

I was covered in mud from the waist down sliding all over the place with mud cakes for shoes (mud cakes don't have terrific traction). One minute I was trying not to slip while running up hill, and the next minute I was darting/sliding all over the road in an attempt to avoid the vans that were sliding sideways and backwards down/across the same hill I was attempting to get to the top of. I heard a lot of cheers as I passed my van sliding around in the mud. Many vans got stuck that morning, leaving their runners stranded at the next checkpoint until they could get out of the mud and deliver runner #6. My teams van was able to navigate through the mud pit and around the vans that couldn't climb the hill. They honked as they left me in their muddy tracks as they headed toward the exchange.

Going down the hills in the mud was not much better as I was trying to keep from sliding and falling forward which in turn put a lot of strain on my leg. Between that and my muddy shoes that felt like they weighed ten pounds each, I am sure I looked like a duck waddling down a hill. At one point I did wish I was a duck. Webbed-feet and knowing I wouldn't have far to fall if I tripped sounded amazing.

I made it to the exchange, and then happily tried to get as much mud off of me with a wet wipe as I could before I entered the van to change!

Leg 17 (my second run) 4.4 Mile "Where’s My Night Light?" Run

Highlights from the description of Leg 5: Rolling hills continue! To the north of you is Fort Ritchie Military Reservation and to the South, the famed Antietam Battlefield.

I set off for my second run at 1:32 am on September 24th. The air was thick with moisture causing a low lying fog. Visibility was about 5 feet, maybe less. At the exchange there were big spotlights, vans with their lights on waiting for their runners, and plenty of headlamps to make it appear much brighter out than it really was.

I took off running decked out with my headlamp and my blinking light so traffic and other runners could see me. The first quarter of a mile was great. Lights here and there from houses, vans passing me on the road shuttling runners to the next exchange and I was running on pavement and not slogging through mud. The team van drove past me and cheered. Then reality set in.

I was running in thick fog with low visibility. There was nobody else on the road with me because we had passed a bunch of teams throughout the first day, and hadn't quite caught the next bunch of teams that we eventually passed.

The sound of crickets filled the air, yet the silence was deafening.

On a scale of 1 to 10, one being mildly freaked out and 10 being FREAKED OUT, I was about to break the scale at a 10. I was running in the breakdown lane on the left side of the road. My light was illuminating all the brush and bushes on the side of the street. Droplets of dew were sparkling as my light swept over the bushes. Every once in a while I would see a mailbox. In front of me I could see the lines on the road, but they looked like they were disappearing into a black hole due to the fog. When I would reach a hill the road literally looked like it was dropping into nothing because I couldn't see over the crest. I was curious to see what was on the right hand side of the road since I knew I was near the Antietam battlefield. About a mile into my run, I looked to the right and saw cornstalks encased in fog. And then this happened...

The minute I saw cornstalks (which looked down right ghastly in the fog), I thought of Malachi and the Children of the Corn. Damn you Stephen King and your scary short stories! I have never had a panic attack before in my life, so I can't say with certainty that is what happened, but I really think that is what happened. My chest felt really heavy. It sounded like my breathing was echoing in a cave. All of the dew droplets on the bushes lining the side of the street turned into little beady eyes of kids who wanted to kill me and I swear I heard laughing. And then I took off. I ran the rest of this leg in a personal record setting pace. I always claim I have one speed of running. It is not that fast, but I can keep going for hours. As it turns out, in the middle of a foggy night when I think fictitious characters are going to appear out of nowhere, drag me into a corn field and kill me, I can really kick my running pace up a notch or five. My mind was working in overdrive, as were my legs. I wanted to cry (I may have). I had to keep wiping my eyelashes because the fog and my sweating were producing so much moisture it looked like I had spiders on my face when I was looking out of the corner of my eye. And then this happened...

One minute I was thinking I was covered in bugs and there were eyes on the side of the road watching me and the next minute I heard breathing. Someone was running up behind me. The footsteps got closer and closer. The road got brighter. I was about to scream and then I heard "Nice job out here tonight. You are really moving" as the one man who I saw on this leg of my race said as he passed me on my right side. At first I was blinded by his headlamp when he turned to talk to me. But then I got so excited to see someone else on the street that I started running even faster so I could keep my eyes on his blinking lights.

I was so relieved to see the Ragnar Relay checkpoint signs as I turned the final hill and ran to the exchange. I ran this leg of the race significantly faster than my first leg, even though this one was slightly longer, and for the first mile I was running my usual pace.

Leg 29 (My last run): 3.7 mile "Oh Boy! That Hurt" Run

Highlights from the description of Leg 29: Nice and flat (which was a lie... there were some hills).

I knew this last leg of my race was going to be bad news after running twice, and then trying to sleep in a van with six people in a high school parking lot all curled up in a ball after having a panic attack near the Antietam Battlefield. I was exhausted and my leg was so sore and inflamed that I could barely walk across the parking lot to the grocery store that I was going to use the bathroom at before I started my last run. I was hobbling/shuffling along the parking lot thinking to myself, 'Self, you may need to crawl this last 3.7 miles".

#backwhenicouldrun#isthatabananainyourpants
#dontspankthemoney#don'tsliponthepeel

I am happy to report that I was able to stay on my feet for the entire run, which was quite miraculous because I was tripping over everything due to the fact that my foot that was connected to my bad leg actually never left the ground. It kind of dragged itself behind me. I bet I looked funny sort of running sideways with one leg trying to move forward and one leg just trying to move whichever way it could. 

Captain Awesome and His Bag of Monkey's finished the race in 28 hours and came in 21st out of 262 teams overall, and 9th out of 50 teams in the "Mens Open" division. Even though we had men and women on the team, we didn't have enough women to qualify as a mixed team.

______________________________
Sidebar: The chronic leg injury I mentioned in this race report wasn’t caused by running. I always attributed it to running because for the four years that it bothered me it always got worse after I ran.  It turns out that when I would go for a run, I would irritate the already inflamed muscle in my leg that was being attacked by the tick-borne disease party that I had been hosting for many years, without knowledge or consent. I still have the leg pain and it comes and goes with my level of activity and inflammation. My doctor often refers to my athleticism as a thing of the past; I prefer to say I have been overcome by events and am on a training hiatus. I love competition and I love writing race reports; while it is going to take a good amount of time I can say with confidence, I’ll be back.