Reflecting On Ragnar 2017
Reflecting On The 2017 Ragnar Relay
November 3, 2017 the desert of the McDowell Mountain Park was filled with over a thousand tents and sunshades three feet apart. Off in the distance you could hear joyful karaoke and stories being told around the crowded not so glamorous campsites. The night was cold and everyone seems to be wearing shorts.
This is what you’ll see the night before the Ragnar trail run through the McDowell Mountain Park. Ragnar is a 35 hour, 120 mile or more 8 person trail relay run where teams camp out and take turns running approximately 5,6 and 7 mile loops through scenic terrain.
This year was the first time desert garden middle and high school had a team at the Race. My hobby is obstacle course racing so when I decided to participate I expected no more than an inconvenient half marathon with resting breaks. Reality was much different and heres why.
At the event merchandise store the event shirts say “Run. Camp. Sleep? Repeat. Notice the question mark after sleep. After my second lap and gallon of coffee, I stopped at a medical tent because that was the only place I recognized. I stopped and immediately collapsed in the dirt the medics asked me how I was doing and I thought I was just dandy even though I could barely walk. The medics asked me if I felt confused to which I answered “I don’t know”. Then they asked when the last time I slept and I came to the realization that I’m a moron who took a volunteer shift a 10:00 to 1:00 in the morning than watched the classic movie Tommy Boy and ran at 5:00 I’m the only person on the team that didn’t have time to sleep I had been awake for 23 hours on 3 hours of sleep in the dirt because there was no space in the tent. So I went back to my camp to change out of my clothes that were soaked in ice water. Next thing I know I’m somehow asleep in a Porta-John barefoot.
The best and worst part of the whole race was definitely all of the time you have to wait around and do nothing but talk, eat and walk around. One way to pass the time is to explore the Ragnar village where there were booths run by companies sponsoring the race giving out free samples and doing demonstrations of there products. One booth that I liked was the taser booth where you could fire a one million volt stun gun designed to be brought on runs at a rubber dummy.
Looking back on my experience at Ragnar I realize that I have never had to push myself harder mentally or physically to accomplish something in my life, but at the same time I think that if you are even thinking about doing this race or one like it I say you should definitely go for it don’t make excuses don’t say you’re thinking about maybe sometime doing it just go ahead and sign up.
