Monday, October 14, 2013

Ragnar DC



The entire Ragnar DC experience with #TeamShittens was so amazing that writing about it actually seems daunting, so here's the short version... 

Ragnar DC in photos...

It was my birthday weekend, so in addition to having an entire case of Shittens courtesy of our sponsor, I was also gifted with many sweet gifts, including this amazing mug
I was also given some birthday bling and a cupcake headband, and this fabulous Shittens high-five turnnel 
#TeamShittens!
(Official name: "We're just here for fun... and to win)
I couldn't have asked for a more fun group of women to spend the weekend with!
We may have used a lot of energy jumping, but it all worked out in the end
In between photoshoots, jumping, and handing out Shittens, there was also some running.
Leg 1: 5 miles, 8:28 pace. Only moderately hilly, but I do not know how to handle single track!  I think it would have been beautiful, but I was too concerned with my footing on the rocky, rooty trail to be able to enjoy the view.  I would have liked to go faster, but only 2 guys out of our start wave finished ahead of me, and despite 137 ankle rolls, I came out unscathed, so I counted it as a win.
Leg 2: 4.6 miles, 7:12 pace. Night run through the middle of nowhere.
Leg 3: 4.2 miles, 7:29 pace.  Perfect morning running weather, passed a few more people, and held a fairly decent pace without vomiting or needing the Shittens despite some overnight GI issues (shared by several of us, so I think the dinner stop in West Virginia was probably unwise).  But as the team mantra went... everything was fine, nothing was f@#%ed.
Entertaining ourselves at exchange 12
The Shitten-mobile
Hand off from Jennifer to start Leg 2
Exchange 24 photo booth... who needs sleep?


Love my running BFFs!
We started at noon, with only about a dozen teams in later waves.  The rest of the field went out in waves starting at 5:30am, so some had a pretty sizable head start and the majority of the race was in front of us. Combined with Van 2, our team passed over 200 runners!
Team finish!
"We're Just Here for Fun... And to Win"
Done, and done!
This was definitely an amazing way to spend my birthday, and I am so thankful to have had such a fun, fast, and fabulous team!  In addition to having a really great time, we won the team spirit award and won the women's open division by nearly 3 hours while finishing 11th overall out of about 300 teams.  #TeamShittensFTW!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

September

Despite having some self-confidence issues and worrying about poor preparation, September turned out to be a great month... I ran an unexpected mile PR at the Magnificent Mile, won a pie and some cash at the Ramseur Triathlon, and set a huge 70.3 PR in Augusta.  With 5 races in the next 5 weeks, I am hoping that this luck will carry over into October!



Total time: 40:33:16
Swim: 6.75 miles, 4:05:35
Bike: 195 miles + trainer, 17:08:50
Run: 131 miles, 17:30:47