Tag Archives: ragnar

Ragnar Reach the Beach ’23 – Race Recap

It’s dark and I’m running on the side of a New Hampshire freeway chasing a blurry blinking dot a half mile in the distance. The wind whispers rumors of a hurricane as I crest a hill and start down the other side, slowly closing the gap on that dancing light.

The kill will come soon. All those runs up and down Indian Hill are going to pay off. I will conquer the light. I will swallow it whole and eat its glowing heart. I will show no mercy. Just a curt nod and wave and a slight acceleration. I will skip any pleasantries if the person is in costume.

I pick up the pace as I visualize marking up the van window with another blue tally mark. This is the moment when the little sprites leap out of the darkness and attack my hips and knees with their tiny, sharp Ginsu knives.

I am halfway through my second relay leg.

This is when Ragnar gets real…this is when I ask myself why the f*ck am I doing this?

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Scenes from Saturday + Rhythm & Relays

That is the look of a very sad dog. One whose owner went to his annual Ragnar Race Relay in New Hampshire which is why his #2 (or 3 .. or 4) in the pack is up writing the Scenes From Saturday Blog this week.

With Mike away the house rhythm is different and Dash is NOT having any of it. There was no one to follow down to the basement, up the stairs, or into the bathroom. There wasn’t someone to take him out for a woods walk, or to make sure that he has a blanket nearby for resting. The food wasn’t served the “right” way so of course it was time to go on a hunger strike. And worst of all, Saturday started with a hurricane forecast which meant lots of rain. Dash does not like the rain.

Fall is right around the corner, and the school year is in full effect. I have felt the pull of the last few weeks to figure out the new routines and the routines that need to continue, all while knowing that the people around me are doing the same. It’s a time to embrace the new and get comfortable in the changing rhythms…that even means you too, Dashiell!

Now onto Saturday…

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Ragnar: Reach the Beach Relay – ’22 Race Recap

It’s Saturday morning and the van smells like a Frankenstein combination of boiled cabbage, Febreeze, and beef jerky. I’m in the third row, half bent over with my hands on my slightly distended stomach. For the past thirty hours I’ve been conducting a delicate chemistry experiment on myself. What is the proper combination of Tums, Pepto, and carbs to keep my GI tract happy through three legs of a Ragnar?

My stomach gives a troubling burble. Or was that a purr of satisfaction? I’ve lost track under the avalanche of antacids I’ve poured down my throat.

The line of honey buckets is only yards away. As the sun has risen, the conditions inside have gotten worse at each transition area. My friendly Scottish teammate came back whistling at the last stop and happily told me his body’s response to stress was to empty the tanks. Cheers to that, mate, but mine is quite the opposite.

At the first sign of stress, TSA security lines, or unfamiliar toilets, my digestive tract clamps down like Scrooge McDuck’s grip on a dollar bill. The only cure isn’t more cowbell, but a quart of prune juice and some quiet contemplation. Neither of which are readily available during this 200-mile team trek across New Hampshire.

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Ragnar Reach the Beach Relay ’21 Race Recap

There was a moment during my third Ragnar leg that the pain faded away. My quads stopped hurting, my knee wasn’t barking, and I no longer felt my sweat-soaked singlet chafing my pink parts. I was consumed, utterly and completely, with doing some furious calculus. There was still almost three miles to go and my stomach was giving off dire warnings.

Neither Isaac Newton nor Bill Rodgers could make this math work. I wasn’t going to make it. Not even close.

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Scenes from Saturday + Apples & Absences

It’s everyone’s favorite guest blogger here. It’s time to finally tell the world how Saturdays really go down at our house.   

Mike was away the past night participating in the Ragnar Relay, where a bunch of people ride in a van and take different legs of the race. They run through the night, occasionally try to sleep, don’t shower, and eventually finish at a beach in New Hampshire. It’s not my thing and I don’t ask a lot of questions, but I know Mike and the Soles were thrilled that Covid (or their broken-down van) didn’t stop the race this year. Continue Reading

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Race Recap: RAGNAR Reach the Beach 2019

When you tell people you are going to do an overnight 200-mile relay race that involves traveling in a van with 6 other people for 36 hours, getting little sleep, running at 2 am, all while paying for the privilege, you are going to get one of two reactions: some will get a recognizable gleam in their eye and ask if there are still any open spots in the van. The others will openly question your sanity. One of the many joys of belonging to a local running club is that I saw much more of the former than the latter. Continue Reading

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Scenes from Saturday + A Very Special Episode…

I admit it, I am not a huge social media person.  I forget to take pictures every Saturday to help with Mike’s blog post. I have less than 100 pictures on my Instagram. The pictures I do take are not perfect. They usually are crooked. I don’t pay attention to backgrounds.  If I do edit them, I just touch the magic wand on the screen and call it a day. So you can imagine the whole family was a little nervous when I announced I was going to write a guest post while Mike was away running the Ragnar event in New Hampshire with the Soles. Continue Reading

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