On June 2-3 I am going to run my first Ragnar race—Wasatch Back. Well, I finally found out the legs I am running and actually just got even more excited about it. But really, why would I get excited about running a Ragnar race?
First, let’s talk about what a Ragnar race is. Basically, you run a long distance (approximately 200 miles), have a team and you run over a period of two days. They take place in some pretty amazing places and I have just always wanted to do this. I just hear that you become the best of friends with the people you team up with and that seems interesting to me.
This week I got a lot of the information to really get the details of what you will be running. Once I got this I really got excited. You get assigned a number and once you know what runner you are; you know what legs you will run. Being that I am running constantly I was slightly nervous because people kept telling me all different things to expect.
“You’ll be running 15 miles, then a break, 10 miles, break, and then finish with 15 more miles!” WHAT? There is no way I could do this! Thankfully, that isn’t the case.
My first leg is only 4.4 miles. To me, that is super simple. I am running about eight miles a day right now, so to only have to start with 4.4 I think I will be good. Once you do your first leg though, you take a break and I think this is where I could worry. Especially since my next leg is a little lengthy.
Just under 10 miles will be a little bit of an eye opener. For me, I want to really push myself to train for this race. Since I have never done one of these before I want to prepare. When I read that I was going to be running 9.7 miles for my second leg I was nervous. Not only that, but in the race bible it said that this was a difficult leg because you run on your own.
When you run Ragnar, there is a van of supporters (aka team members) that is there to cheer you on. I honestly liked it better when I saw that the reason it was difficult because I was going to be running on my own. Personally, I don’t need a cheering section. Just plug in my music and hit the ground running. I understand that the team support is fun, but when I am doing a long run I don’t want it.
Now don’t get me wrong, I will be excited to see the van as I am finishing up this long run. That feeling you get when you see the people cheering for you is indescribable. You hear them calling your name and you get this sudden rush to keep going. I can’t wait to have that feeling again.
Thankfully, I will finish the race with a simple two mile run. It’s slightly down hill and just a simple run to end this entire thing. A two mile cool down is basically what I think of for this leg of the run for me. Just because it’s only two miles doesn’t mean that I won’t push myself to finish strong.
To be able to run just over 16 miles over two days in a race setting makes me excited. Also, I told myself that I wanted to run three races this year that I had never done before. This will be the first of the three and really I couldn’t be more excited. Here’s to training for these simple running legs and adding a fun medal to the collection.
