Team NO[rth] FEAR
1. Alexis
2. Kristine
3. KatieM
4. KatieT
5. KatieN
6. Jacki
7. Tom
8. Sam
9. Blair
10. Eliza
11. Mark
12. Amanda
We brought my vehicle as one of the two team "vans." I left my house at 1:30am Friday morning and picked up KatieT, Alexis, Kristine, Tom, KatieM and KatieM. On the way down we saw a moose in the middle of the road acting all drunk and crazy; I believe we were down near Long Lake at that point. There were more people out driving then I expected during the night! Once we got on 87 south we passed two other vans on their way to Ragnar all decorated and realized we should have decorated our vehicle too! (Next time for sure!) We got to the start and used the porta potties, got our bibs and shirts and got all ready for Alexis to start us off. She started at 7:15am and kept a good pace. While she ran we drove to a Dunkin Donuts where they were less than friendly. KatieN asked what kind of bagels they have and was told "their on the second shelf" or something like that, indicating she could bloody well look for herself. hahahahahaha that woman hated her job!! We then drove the van to the 1st exchange and got the next runner ready to go and then waited for Kristine to start her first leg. Right before our 5th runner started we met up with the other van quickly to drop off some of their gear and Tom (he was riding with them and participating from their vehicle as one of the 2nd set of 6 on our team). When KatieT finished this leg she told us that she had stepped on a pair of poopy running spanx *blech* someone must have crapped themselves and wiggled out of them and left them... ugh. I was runner 6 and I ran the last leg for our van. My leg was partly on a pretty rough trail, which I wasn't expecting, and through Saratoga and some residental areas (aboutu 5.5 miles). At the first van exchange (when I finished, the last person in our van) we got something to eat (I had a pulled pork sandwich and a soda, I went omnivore for the weekend, back to veggie now). Some of the women noticed that Boniband (sp?) had left free headbands on people's van mirrors and so we went and stole lots of them hahahaha! Then we drove up to the beach where we got to take a few hours off and shower, nap, and just relax. I took a shower but forgot a towel and so had to use my sweatpants to dry off!! At this point we also let another team tag and decorate our vechile and in turn they let us use their markers to add some of our own things to our vehicle like the names of the people in our van and boxes to check off after each leg.
The other van finished their first set of legs at the beach where we started up again and they got to take a few hours off. So we started up again around 6pm and knew that we would be starting to run our night section. At this point we all had to get on our reflective vests, headlamps and taillights, a safety requirement for this race from 5:30pm-7:30am. Right after the third person started to run we got in the car to leave and were sitting there when the van next to us started backing up, well, I thought we were backing up and sliding into the ditch and started to freak the fuck out. I was moving levers and hitting the brakes, trying to shut the car off... yeah we weren't moving. HAHAHAHAHAHA A little sleep deprived? At this point I had a total of 3 hours of sleep since Thursday night... it was now late Friday night. Unfortunetly, I wouldn't get that much more sleep the rest of the trip. That was the one big down side. During the nighttime run KatieM totally biffed it in front of a water station and scraped her hands up. Ugh. We could have all used MORE SLEEP!!! At the next van exchange I was exhausted, I had just finished my night run which was actually pretty nice (8 miles), the weather was perfect. I kept thinking I was running really slow because I kept getting passed, but, I kept an average of 10 minute mile pace, which is far from my best, but, decent considering the lack of sleep, and not enough food! This next, exchange was at Ticonderoga High School where you could pay $2 for a shower, $2 for a bathroom and $8 for a pasta dinner. Yep so I got the pasta dinner and it was seriously cafeteria slop just like we got back in school. BARF. I ate the garlic bread and drank a water and gatorade. I threw the rest away. What a waste of $8. So I was going to take a shower until I asked about them... KatieN said she had gone and paid $2 for the shower, walked in and realized it was ONE OPEN ROOM where everyone was openly showering naked. So she walked right out again and said, "Can I get my money back? That isn't what I expected. I will not be taking a shower." They gave her the money back hahahahaha. So yea, no thanks! I ended up using a porta potty and then catching about 3 hours of sleep in the car. It was not enough LOL. At some point during the night or early morning KatieT relized, as she went to the bathroom, that her undies were on inside out AND backwards hahahaha!!
So we drive to the next van exchange, which is a fairground and dropped off Alexis for her final run! My final run was very hilly. It started out on a long downhill were I averaged 2 8 minute miles. Then the hills started going th other way. I had to walk up 4 of the hills but I maintained an overall pace of 10 minute per mile which considering the walking up hills was great. The last downhill was crazy steep. I thought I would wipe out for sure!! Finally, after my, just shy of 9 mile, last leg our van was done. We headed toward what we thought was Lake Placid BUT was Plattsburg and lost about 30 minutes going the wrong way. But, we finally got on track. Toward Lake Placid we saw a runner down with an ambulance there, scary. We stopped to eat some pizza and everyone ordered their own medium pizza, except Alexis, and then we tried to scarf it all down. I managed to eat 5 pieces hahaha! I'm a pizza pig for sure. After eating we headed to the finish to wait for our team. We changed into our team shirts and got ready for Amanda. When she got to the finish we all crossed together and then got our picture taken. Afteward, we waited a bit for my mom and then divided up the people and gear into my vehicle and hers. I rode home with my mom and so did the Heuvelton people. Kristine and Tom drove my vehicle to her house and dropped off the Ogdensburg people.
It was so much fun, I would definitley do this again!! In fact, my suburban still has the writting on it a week later. One huge downside, I took out my diamond earrings so I didn't lose them on a run, placing them in a ziplock baggie. Yep, totally through them out :(
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