Ragnar Relay Recap - Leg 2

(If you haven't caught Leg 1 go HERE first.)

With Leg 1 now officially run it was back to that whole waiting game again and maybe catch some shut eye?! We packed up the van with our exhausted runners and proceeded towards the next exchange point after a quick stop at McDonald's to refuel the Captain and allow P-Funk & I a chance to change our clothes. A quick baby wipe rub down, a fresh change of clothes and we headed over to the exchange point/field where Captain, being a triathlete and therefore wiser than the rest of us, unpacked a tent for us to utilize... and so began Caribbean Steve's first time ever pitching a tent... For what it's worth, every inappropriate joke imaginable was made but Steve stuck to his resolve that it was in fact a touching gesture on the Captain's part to impart him with the knowledge. *Cue Hallmark Moment*

With the tent pitched (that's what he said) the runners all settled in for a little nappy-poo... sorta. See P-Funk got her Hulk on when Jason left the light on in the van and "locked" her in (Don't judge, she was tired!) Then there was the ever present "UNZIP/ZIP" of the tent followed by teeth chattering as I made yet ANOTHER pee break. (As we all know I have a nervous bladder. I peed at every.single.exchange. Sometimes 2, 3, 4, 5 times...) See having Leak-a-litis Syndrome, as we've medically diagnosed it, on top of dropped temps and inadequate cold weather gear/blankets and you get an ever peeing, frozen redhead. Captain was not amused and couldn't figure out why I was so cold... after all he was warm... in his sleeping bag. (That he brought for himself & B.o.B while the rest of us froze our @sses off! Mental Note: Pack Sleeping Bag next year!) So that's how I spent the whole of the "sleep" portion... laying there shivering while trying to ignore the urge to pee... again. *sigh* Around 1am I finally gave up attempting sleep, went and peed again (shocker) and basically just wandered around, I tried to help a team find something they dropped on the ground, I ran into our other team, The 12 Hearts, and chatted with them and by the time I made it back to the tent Caribbean Steve had given up on sleep too.

Reprieve (although I don't think any of the other runner's felt this way, the rest could have happily conitnued sleeping like rocks... *cough*B.o.B*cough*) finally came when it was time for us to start our second leg of the relay. As Van #1 pulled in we found out that there was a runner down; where runner vs pavement didn't end up so well; One of their runner's took a spill and tore up her knees, hands, and shoulder pretty good. Obviously this rose some concerns but they assured us that all things considering she was ok. Waldo passed off to Steve and Van #2 was again on the move. Here's a few pics of hand off's and such during the leg. Mind you this leg started at 1:40 am and it was obviously way too dark to get any decent shots because of the reflective gear we had to wear...

Caribbean Steve's attempted kill... Chase that ponytail Steve!
(This is also about the time he realized it was officially his birthday! Happy Birthday Steve!)

Millionaire actually looks a little winded as he hands off to B.o.B.

Get it girl!

P-Funk is ready to rock and B.o.B is tired after killing some hills!

The handoff from P-Funk; Look at that determination!

The Captain ready to run his PJ leg

LEG 2 RECAP

(Runner / Miles Ran / Pace / Notes from Run)

• Caribbean Steve - 7.2 M / 7:58 - Attempted road kill on girl pictured above...
  


• Jason - 6.6 M / 7:06 - 7, count them 7 Road kills!!!
  

• B.o.B - 4.2 M / 8:08 - Chicked/Road Killed at least 3 runner's & still rocking those speedy legs!!!
  

• P-Funk - 3.7 M / 8:47 - Look who else found their speedy legs!!! Scared the h*ll out of a walker & was offered beer while running through the ghetto. She declined but Captain went back and they refused to share. LMAO!
  


• Redhead - 9.1 M / 9:25 - 1 Road kill, but passed 3x.
  


• Captain - 3.6 M / 7:40 - After bike pacing for P-Funk, B.o.B & Redhead the Captain shaves .17 off his pace and gets 4 Road Kills! Why? Because he does Triathlon's!!!
  

My second leg started shy of 5 a.m. in Oakland, FL and followed the West Orange Trail roughly 9.1 miles (9.5 according to Google & Mapmyrun... just saying...) into the Apopka area. This go round I made sure to start my timer just before P-Funk handed off and I was out the shoot with my game face on. Considering I was running on zero sleep, I wanted to run a bit reserved so I would last the entire run without crapping out. I paced it out nice and steady and Captain, my bike pacer, even complimented me on having a good turn over. (Yup that's right, the Captain complimented me! YAY!) I kept aiming on the blinking red light in the distance unsure if I'd be able to overtake them but the Captain kept encouraging me and telling me I had them for sure. Around mile 4ish I finally got my road kill and set my sights on a new set of blinking lights! There were definitely a few notable hills along the trail and Captain would fall back on the bike to do something or another, never did figure out why he kept abandoning me, so each time he did I would run that much harder to catch up with the runner ahead of me. (Ya'll know I'm scared of the dark!!!) I was finally closing in on him when I think he realized I was a chick and pushed off. D@mn it. I was never able to gain on him again but instead focused on maintaining my pace until we saw the 1 mile to go sign. At this point Captain broke away to the exchange point, since I was passing off to him, and I gave it all I had to bring it in strong. At 400 meters to the exchange I passed a Ragnar volunteer with a walkie talkie who asked my number and then radioed ahead that "#44 is coming in Hot!" And I was! I call this pic: "Kicking my own @ss" because that is exactly what I did! Final time: 1:25:42 / 9:25 min pace. In hind sight I know I could've ran harder but I was so nervous the distance and hills were going to kill me. Oh well, there's always next year...

Notable Moments from the Van Log

"Red Bull is great; 1.) It has caffeine and 2.) It makes you poo! Red Bull makes you poo!!!"

Redhead FINALLY admits that girls poo too.

Steve - "I ain't sleep yet!!!"

Captain - "Triathlete's are human, we get nervous poo's too" followed by "I didn't want to be event, although I can be..." to me as I wrote Triathlon instead of Triathlete.

"Is that an exchange?" "No that's a DUI"

"How do you spell poo noises?" "I def think there's a V" "Pvoot?"

Getting the FAIL stamp from the Captain as we pull in AFTER he finishes his second leg because we blew past the turn.

Text sent @ 4:41 a.m. - Gearing up. Scared sh*tless.

Now on to Leg 3!!!