Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Napa Ragnar Sept. 18th

 3 weeks ago I ran my first Ragnar in San Francisco. The Napa Ragnar is 205 miles long. 12 people are on a team. The team is divided into 2 groups (Van 1 and Van 2). My friends (Raquel, Lizzy, Annie, Becca, and Jen) were  in Van 2. Van 1 was 6 other people that knew Jen. The race started in SanFrancisco; went through Marin, Sonoma, Napa, and ended in Callistoga. Up above we were on our way in the airplane. Me, Raquel, and Lizzy. We're still just excited and in disbelief we don't have to change any diapers or cook meals for 4 days.
 We made it to San Francisco and walked around Pier 39 for a few hours. Alcatraz in the back.
 I had to take a picture on a cable car. I brought Levi home a cable car and he loves it.

 All of us with the Golden Gate Bridge behind us. It got very foggy, windy, and COLD! I think I had goosebumps the entire trip. Guess that Alaska blood has run through me and I can't withstand cold weather.
 I just love this picture of the Golden Gate Bridge.
 The night we flew in, we drove to where our first exchange would be in the morning. We ate dinner with van 1 and got some sleep before a long weekend ahead of us. I have to add, before we started driving around, we rented a 15 passenger van. I was one of 3 people to drive that beast around. I even drove it around San Francisco which was scary at many times. We decorated our van. Our team name was "burning sensations." Don't ask why; van 1 has been a team for years and always uses that name. None of us liked the name. It sounds like an STD. Our theme was Tie-Dye so we all tie-dyed our own shirts and socks that we all wore at the end of the race when we crossed the finish line. We also decorated our van with hippie-type stuff. Peace signs, etc.
 Here we are when we started our first 6 legs of the race, sporting our new Ragnar shirts.
 Part of what we ran through. There were lots of hills. We would follow our teammate many times. Drive ahead of them and cheer them on and/or give them water.
 or take pictures while they were running. This was my first leg. It was 6.2 miles. I ran a total of about 16 miles in 24 hours.
 My last leg, wearing my tie-dye headband and shirt. My very last mile to go before running into the finish line. It was worth to stop and take a picture. I was always the last runner in our team so I always looked forward to a good meal after I ran. After the finish line, Van 1 and Van 2 ate dinner together. We drove back to San francisco that night and washed the van before flying home the next day.
 Part of our van. Each of us kept count of how many runners we passed on their leg (kills) and we kept track of it on our van window.
 On my last leg, running by a vineyard.

1 comment:

gammie said...

Finally I get to hear the whole thing!! It looks like you had a great time!! I love the picture on the cable car and the "deer-in-the-headlights" one! I also loved the one of you running and the tie-dye outfit!! Way fun! Way cute!!