School is over and summer is officially in full swing at the Thorson household. What better way to celebrate than whisk the family away for a weekend adventure?! Okay okay so they might not have had a choice on being whisked away. I, of course, was running another race and basically begged Joel to join in on the fun. It was Ragnar Trail Relay in Snowmass, CO weekend! For any of you who have no idea about Ragnar-well, you are missing out on some serious fun. I am extremely competitive. It is hard for me to run a race just for fun, however, Ragnar relay races allow for us competitive people to let lose. I was hooked once I ran the Appalachians Trail Relay last year, and couldn't wait to join a trail team in Colorado: 8 friends, 3 trails, 1 billion stairs., unforgettable stories. Somehow I found myself in captain role and pulled a team of 8 strangers together (some of us not meeting until race day!). We had Alicia and Ty from Longmount, Rachelle and Brandy from Lincoln, NE, Alison from Denver, Jen from Colorado Springs, and Mike and I from Castle Rock.
It all begins with setting up your campsite, which we were there doing at 8am. Yes, you CAMP! The campsite opens at 8am and teams from all over become neighbors. Teams have staggered start times so there were team starting as early as 11am, while our team was slotted at a 4:30pm start. A later start time meant more time to hang out and get to know each other...that plus 21 hours of running gave us plenty of time.
The rain didn't stop. In our down time we attempted to stay warm and catch a few Zzzzs. The rain put a dampness in the air but not on our moods. Well, of course there were a few low points...like only getting one hour of sleep and the nasty fall I took during my night leg, but it is all worth it!
Ragnar does an amazing job of having a campfire going all night and morning..a place to stay warm while waiting for your runners to come through transition...
I lead the team off at 4:30pm. Each person does 3 legs, running each of the 3 trails, varying in difficultly, once-resulting in each team member running a total of 15 miles (a team total of 120 miles). The trails started at 8,200 feet but with gorgeous views. Unfortunately the rain (which started the same time as our team) put a bit of a damper on the views but we kept going! Our Nebraska girls, the flatlanders, blew my mind at how fast they were at elevation.
And the rain brings rainbows! This was the view from the top of the 7 mile loop and some lucky runners were blessed with a rainbow. (Picture not mine-this was my night leg)
The night runs seem to be feared amongst most runners, but seem to hold the most magic. Running through the tiki torches and the quietness under the stars-it was my favorite run of the whole thing (even though it took me awhile to figure out that the mountain lion stalking me in the brush was just my bib rustling).
I loved seeing all the headlamps dancing across the mountain.
...a place to socialize, and a place to have smore's...YUM.
And 21 hours and 14 minutes later, we crossed the finish line as a team, with 120 miles behind us and placing 4th in the Sub-master's category!!!
"8 Snowballs with a Chance in....Snowmass" became Ragnarians!
Once strangers, now friends already talking about next time.
And now I am sure you are wondering how my family got involved in this adventure. They came and went from the campsite, cheering runners on and eating with us, playing in their heated hotel pool during the rain. After the campsite was torn down and this adventure was over...I got to spend a day and a half with my family exploring Aspen and hiking. It is a whole other realm of pictures to share with you so I am going to save that for me next post. But my kids say it was the best vacation ever!
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