Digital Mustard: I Thought You Said Rum

The one thing I very much love about my life, is that I continue to do things that surprise myself. That was the exact thought that was running (pun) through my head the night before me and 11 other people were about to embark in an adventure that will certainly never be forgotten.

The Ragnar Relay Race is a 200 mile run from Miami to Key West. 12 person team, 2 vans, and memories to last a lifetime.

I originally was asked to be on a friend's team, but then wound up being the caption of my own team, and since I love planning, it literally became a part time job. The logistics of forming a team was nothing short of a nightmare, but all the hard work was finally paying off. We were a mixed bag of people with different backgrounds. Crossfitters, Runners, Runners in Training, Friends, Friends of Friends, and lots of people I had only met via Facebook months before.

Thursday morning Dennis and I were air bound on our first NON PARENT vacation in 15 months!

We arrived in Miami first thing Thursday morning so we had the entire day to catch up on some sleep, enjoy the nice weather, prepare for the Race, and of course have an adult beverage (or a pitcher of Sangria).

As the day went on, more and more of our team members arrived in Miami. We all headed over to the Ragnar packet pick up, which was pretty cool. There was a stage with music, food trucks, vendors, and of course the race briefing. We all called it a night and the next morning starting at 6:30am Runner #1 would be starting our run. Dennis and I got this amazing picture of Miami at night.

Dennis and I were in Van #2 and didn't have to meet up with Van #1 until all 6 people in Van #1 were done running. These spots were called exchanges, and the exchanges that involved both vans were basically big parties. And also that we were slacking in our Van Decorations:

This Van Had Lights COVERING IT and looked amazing at night.

Even though it was make shift, we added some Jazz to our Vans:

Now that that was taken care of, Van #2 was ready to start!!

Van #2 Runners: Laurin, Brandi, Joanne, Me, Dennis, Michelle

At this exchange, Van #1's last runner, would put a slap bracelet onto Van #2's first runner, and that would start Van #2's running legs.

Lynne to Brandi

Brandi to Karen

Karen to Laurin

Laurin to Joanne

Joanne to Dennis

Dennis to Michelle (not shown)

And then finally Michelle to Courtney, ending the 1st of 3 Legs for each Van and starting Leg 2 for Van #2.

Nice Shadow Photo Bomb!

Van #1 rand between the hours of 6:30am and 10:30 while our van ran between the hours of 10:30am through 6:00pm on Friday, getting the brunt of the Miami heat. (Dennis and Michelle in particular).

While Van #1's Runners were running, we drove down to the next major exchange to attempt to get some sleep, but instead we ate more free donuts, attempted to sleep, had dance parties and were slap happy:

With everybody's failed attempt to get any sleep, Van #1 was approaching the next major exchange and Van #2 preparing to start their next running section. Ragnar's saftey rules state that any runner running between 4:30pm and 7:30am, they must wear vests, head lamps, and tail lights. Obviously we looked awesome in this gear.

Van #1 came into the exchange at about 3:00am and with that we started our 2nd leg of the race.

We weren't able to get a picture of Joanne to Dennis and Dennis to Michelle because they were virtual exchanges. But finishing up our 2nd Leg, we have Michelle handing off the Courtney, giving Van #2 a much needed break!

Court looks so happy because this is the last time she has to run in the race!

So here we were, with Van #1 running their last Legs and Van #2 miles away from their last runs. We were so tired!