Wednesday, July 1, 2009

I came, I RAN, I conquered!

Have you ever been in a relay race? Sixth grade field day perhaps? I just finished a Ragnar Relay on June 20th and it was so exciting! I've always run for exercise, never been in a race. I didn't do sports in high school. A friend from my workout group that I teach invited me to be on her team. Let me explain the Ragnar Relay. The particular one I did is called the Wasatch Back. It is 188 miles from Logan to Park City, UT. There are 12 members to every team divided in half. Each runner has to run 3 times, with varying difficulty. It takes 24-36 hours to run. The first van starts the race, when all 6 have finished their first legs, we switch off at a meeting point, and the second van takes over. When their 6 runners have finished, the switch happens again. So you get your chance to rest and relax and such while the other van is going. I was in van 2. We ran all through the night!! I ran 7.1 miles at midnight and it was wonderful! I felt like I was flying, like I could run forever. Our runners finished at 5:30 and then we slept for 1 hour on the cement at a park. Then started again at 11 for our last legs. We had a fabulous time together, laughing and eating and getting to know each other. So fun to support each other and have the "water girl" jump out whenever you needed it. The van sticks with their runners. Getting each other pumped up was a blast!
Having never done any sports before, I didn't know how competitive I was. Passing was never my initial goal, but once I got going, I wanted to pass everyone ahead of me. At midnight I had 2 guys pass me, but I passed them both in the end...and it felt good!!! No hard feelings or anything, I just didn't know I could do that! I could never have guessed I have a competitive spirit with running. My last leg, 6.1 miles felt like it was 8.5. Probably just exhaustion and some of it was uphill, but it seemed to go on forever.
I enjoyed the beautiful places of Utah I've never seen, and loved getting to know other gals. We were running for Colon Cancer and advertised awareness on our vans. I highly recommend a Ragnar if your state has one. It is great fun. Whether you frequently run marathons, or if you just jog around for exercise, it is worth checking out.
So the point of all this, besides telling you how much fun I had, is to recommend these kinds of fitness goals. If you haven't trained for anything, start now. Find out if your community has a Turkey 10 k for thanksgiving, or see what other kinds of races there are locally. The exercise adds up to something in the end and the weight loss and conditioning are bonuses!!! Experience it and you'll feel so accomplished!