Ragtastic!

I heard about a Ragnar Relay Race a year or two ago. I wanted to run in one but last summer I was with child and I don't run many races in that condition. As my belly grew with Everett so did my desire to run in this ridiculous race. At 6 months pregnant I started bringing it up to everyone I knew. By 8 months pregnant I had enough of a team that we could commit ourselves to run. We had to reinvent the team a few times as some members got pregnant, husbands went out to sea or had business meetings...but we ended up with a really rad group of women. The Hot Tamamas was our name (our original team was made up of all moms, but two of our fill-ins aren't there just yet).

In January I gave birth and it wasn't until April that I began to wonder what I had done. When you're 8 months pregnant you do crazy things. When you're 8 months pregnant you think that you can't wait to exercise and that you will want to get out and run every day until you are pregnant again. When you're 8 months pregnant you look in the mirror and think about how that stretched-to-the-max skin is going to look when there's no longer a babe in there. So like I said, you do crazy things. Like sign up for a half-marathon and a Ragnar Relay. I digress...

There were a whole lotta meetings, hours, tears, prayers, research, e-mails, and phone calls put in to organize these twelve ladies and get us on the road. But get on the road we did! And it was all that I had hoped it would be and more. I LoVeD it! What a crazy/incredible experience.

The night before the race we met at my house to have a potluck and decorate the vans (a Ragnar must). It was so fun to settle in and feel like we were on our way and things WERE going to work out. Phew!

The shirts...sweet, no?

My final 'pep talk' to the ladies

Enjoying the grub

Sweet and Spicy

Feet on Fire

Van One left that night for a hotel and Van Two (my ride) left the next morning. You see, I have this little boy who refuses a bottle and I needed to be with him as long as possible. (Poor little man did okay, but was so happy to see me...thank goodness he had cereal and veggies so he didn't completely starve. When I got home he did the smile/laugh/cry - 'So happy to see you, Mom, but why in the world did you do that to me?!' Oh, my heart.)

The way it works is Van One goes first with runners 1-6 running their first leg, then Van Two picks it up with runners 7-12 running their first leg. And you do that all over again two more times...in the middle of the night, in the wee hours of the morning, in the heat of the day. It's hilarious and hard and fun and exhausting and memory-building and an incredibly bonding experience. Some things I want to remember:

• We ran a total of 187 miles!
• I ran 21 of those miles
• My van laid out our sleeping bags on some grass at one of the exchanges before our night run, hoping to get some shut-eye, but at one point I opened my eyes and looked around at all of these adults getting in and out of decorated vans, some of them dressed in crazy costumes, and I couldn't stop laughing. The absurdity of it all hit me and I was thinking about how I have three kids and a husband at home but here I am laying on some grass in the middle of this chaos in the middle of the night...and I paid some good money to do it! Angie joined me and then we chatted instead of slept.
• I only slept an hour and a half in two days on a high school gym floor with a ton of other runners and when I climbed in my sleeping bag I realized just how BAD I smelled (but couldn't have cared less). Nelsa and I woke up with some smelly, scruffy dude's feet in between us, which only added to the experience.
• My night run was so, so perfect. I rocked my time - it was nice and cool - I ran with a headlamp and couldn't see how long the hills were - I turned off my music a few times to just enjoy the run, the experience, and the spirit. My favorite run of all time, for sure.
• Two of my sisters-in-law flew in from Colorado to run. I loved doing this with them...THANK YOU for coming Liz and Angie!
• Watching Tristalene and Sandy cross their second and third finish lines after running through some serious knee pain/injuries - I was so, so proud of them!
• Nelsa. The woman is stinkin' hilarious and one of my favorite people. I was SO happy to be in a van with her and get to know her better.

With Sylvia before my first run (I was runner 7 - the first runner in our van)

Tristalene, me, Nelsa

Waiting in "the chute" for Christine to pass off the slap bracelet

And the run begins!

Bookin' it :)

Van Two-ers after our first run: Nelsa, Sandy, Angie, Liz, me, Tristalene

The Hot Tamamas cross the finish line!

Hot Tamamas: Tristalene, Sylvia, Maren, Kayla, me, Sandy, Nelsa, Christine

Gabe, Katrina, Liz, Angie

Thanks to all of the Hot Tamamas for a very rad experience that none of us will ever forget. We so rocked the Ragnar!