Ragnar Cape Cod

 Last weekend I ran the Ragnar Cape Cod relay with 11 other fabulous ladies. We made up Team Road Hazards and took turns running the 200 miles from Plymouth to Provincetown.

 The whole Ragnar scene is very different from the typical racing scene that I usually hang with. Costumes are encouraged at Ragnar, so there were pink flamingos and pirates running around. Wearing earbuds and iPods were the norm, and no one else seemed bothered about the loose relay exchange zones or the lack of course officials.

 I ran three legs during the race. My first leg was 8.7 miles in Plymouth on Friday around noon. It was very hilly and warm enough to want some water. Unfortunately, the only water was on a table in a big jug with empty cups sitting next to it. Maybe the volunteers didn't show up? After the run and cheering on a few more runners, I snagged about 15 minutes of sleep in the van sometime in the afternoon. I tried to sleep at a campground later in the afternoon, but the noise of cheering and cowbells and trucks rolling by kept me awake. I went out for my second run around midnight. This time it was 9 miles through Barnstable. It wasn't as hilly, but the darkness was creepy, I was tired, there wasn't any water available, and I turned my ankles twice on potholes in the road.

 After my late-night run, I slept for just over an hour on a wrestling mat in a school gym. I was too tired to care about what grossness might be on the mat itself. I woke up and went for my last run around 7 a.m., this time a 6.3-miler through Wellfleet. The run itself was boring: it was on a paved rail trail that had every tenth of a mile marked. It ended by a gorgeous beach though:

 I ran all my legs at 6:30something pace, which helped me feel slightly vindicated about that whole Boston Marathon thing. All in all, it was fun because of the people I ran with, but if I do it again I want to either race it to win it or chill out and just run it easy.

Another account of our epic run is here.