Since the topic that Cynthia, Mar, and Courtney chose for this week’s Friday Five, Fall Favorite Activities, is one I’ve already written about, I thought I’d share with you five things I learned from running my first Ragnar. (Yes, I promise that I’ll stop talking about Ragnar. Soon. But I may already have a second one in my sights…)
1. Trust the Ragnar calculator. These guys know what they are doing. I (and most of my van) put in our solid effort paces for our 10K pace. The calculations were nearly spot on for the majority of the runs. We spent way too much time before the race worrying about them. (And if you follow #2, this won’t matter that much anyways.)
2. Text or call early and often. Every time a runner leaves an exchange, text the other van. Use multiple cells on different carriers if need be. This is particularly important if you are in areas where the coverage is awful. I spent way too much time waiting at my first exchange because we had no idea when to expect our runner. So, I ended up starting that run already hot and hungry. (A combination of 1 and 2 will get you to the right place at the right time.)
3. Get to the next exchange first, then do what you need to do. We had a few times where we cut it pretty close because we didn’t get moving as soon as the runner coming into the exchange got to the van. You really have less time than you realize.
4. Know where the food is! We were in rural (extremely rural) Maryland for much of our Friday. If we had found some food options before Ragnar weekend, it would have likely meant a healthier, less tummy upsetting meal on Friday night. Plus we would have known that exit we pulled off at was a tricky one – food wasn’t actually anywhere near the exit…
5. Take advantage of any indoor plumbing options that arise. Shower when you can. Brush your teeth when you can. Use every real bathroom you see. ’nuff said.
All the rest is in the details:
- I used the list from Ragnar with a small number of extra things added and all I had left that wasn’t worn were these:
Yep, all I had clean at the end were four pairs of socks.
- If you go with a minivan, don’t take a driver. 6 people in a minivan works really well and it’s a whole lot easier to park.
- Soft sided coolers may fit better, but they often leak. Put the ice in zipped plastic bags.
- Only say about half of what you are thinking when you’ve had zero hours of sleep in the last 30 hours.
- One pillow is sufficient for an entire van of women. I think we all took turns dozing on that pillow during drive time. (During actual sleep time, a sweatshirt stuffed in the bag to my sleeping bag worked just fine.)
- Two pairs of shoes are nice, but not a necessity. Three pairs is definitely overkill.
- The thing you worried about most may very well be the thing you enjoy the most. (For me, that was the night run.)
I love the last bit about the thing you worry about the most being the thing you enjoy the most. I find that’s often the case. Sometimes I wonder if the lesson is to worry less but then I think maybe I wouldn’t have enjoyed it so much without the worry that cam before!
Hmm, interesting way to think about it. I like to believe I’d still enjoy things if I got the worry under control…
Sounds like people really learn a lot about themselves and their limits on these events!
It’s an interesting experience. I was very lucky to have an awesome team and no drama.
Definitely some good tips. I have only done a ‘day relay’ not an overnight one but I can agree on a lot of these even for that. You certainly get to know everyone REALLY well during these!
Yes, you do. I barely knew most of the women on my team when we started. I learned a lot about each of them over the 30 hours…
I would worry about the night run the most too! Nice list! I would like to participate in one!
They really are awesome! I can’t wait to do my next one.
Loved your post!! All so true and synch great advice. I loved Ragnar and can’t wait to run my next one!!!
Which one are you doing next? I think I want to run them all. One of my friends is trying to convince me to do one of the trail ones with him. Not sure how I feel about that LOL.
My team would love for me to come back and do Northwest Passage in 2015 (had to miss it this year last minute because of unforeseen events at home). I would also like to do the TN run. Was invited to be on a Keys team this past Feb and am still kicking myself for not doing it, but was nursing an injury. If I can get on a Keys team for next year I will jump on it! That race sells out opening day. But I’m with you, would love to do them all!! I don’t know about the Trail ones though haha, my ankles would hate trail running. I wonder how those are during the night runs…. We should get a team together for one sometime! There’s also this relay which is local that I’m trying to recruit friends for for 2016 (race conflicts for 2015) http://www.gulfcoastinterstaterelay.com
I loved reading about your Ragnar recaps! Sounds like so much fun!
Thank you. It was awesome.
I saw all of these wonderful Ragnar pics on Facebook all weekend long and I cheer on everyone!!! This is an interesting post because I never knew how all of that worked.
It’s a pretty cool setup and Ragnar does a great job of making it all work smoothly.
Great post! I’m definitely bookmarking this for later, in case I end up registering for a Ragnar (which I hope is soon! haha).
YOu should! (I’ve totally drunk the koolaid.)
Absolutely agree with those. The paces were right on. #4 and #5 ugh bringing my own food next time. Can’t wait to do it again with you!
It will be a blast. I’ve heard great things about the race we are considering.
I can so see that I would stress heavily over the logistics…but I’m starting to think more and more that I want to run one of these!
We all stressed a lot beforehand and then just had fun during. It worked out well.
Great tips! I hope to do one of those races one day. I will know what not to do now.
I am the queen of “what not to do” LOL.
Great tips! I ran Ragnar So Cal last year and had a blast! I was signed up for Ragnar Niagara but that one was cancelled. They say they will come back to Canada in 2016…..
Ooh, Ragnar Niagara – that sounds like an awesome location. I do want to do Ragnar So Cal one year.
Great lessons learned! I love Ragnar! 🙂
Yes. It’s so much fun!
Great lessons. I would have to agree with “if you go with a minivan, don’t take a driver. 6 people in a minivan works really well and it’s a whole lot easier to park.” my friends and I did this and it was great not driving the HUGE van.
Yep. And I’ve heard that the seats in a minivan are actually more comfortable.
thanks for sharing! I hope to do a Ragnar one day and these tips are great!
Thanks!
Great tips. The call/text one was so valuable during my Ragnar. It helped our exchanges go much more smoothly.
Yeah, ours was hard because there were some no signal areas.
Awesome experience that I hope to enjoy one day! Great tips!
I’m surprised you haven’t done one. You are definitely a runner I would peg as someone who would like it…
I love reading these lessons, especially coming off Reach the Beach a few weekends ago. Yes, the thing that I worried about most was the thing that I enjoyed the most – the night run too! For a good chunk of the race, we were in areas with zero reception which made keeping in touch kind of hard. Luckily, our van exchanges all went smoothly. Some of our night transitions on the other hand? oy! And this –> “Only say about half of what you are thinking when you’ve had zero hours of sleep in the last 30 hours.” YES
Yeah, I learned that last one the hard way LOL.
Great post!! I definitely agree with all of this, especially the not having as much time as you think in between exchanges!!
Yeah, you’re all like, oh they’ll be running for an hour… But by the time you get your runner in the car, drive to the next place, hit the porta potties… suddenly that hour is up!
I would never have ever thought about number 4.
Yeah, well, we learned that one the hard way…
excellent tips. the pillow one was particularly funny. the cell phone thing is a great point – especially in rural areas!
I can’t believe this was your first Ragnar. Great perspective. I don’t know that I’ll ever do one–at one point we had all talked about it, but now? I don’t want to poke the RA bear. Anyways, sounds like fun and great lessons learned.
Will you do it again?