Ragnar Trail - second time

 

A couple weeks ago I got to do my second Ragnar Trail!  Trail is different than a regular Ragnar in several ways.  First of all I've done 4 Ragnar Del Sol plus my first Ragnar was the Wasatch Back in Utah.  In those races there are 12 runners and the race has an early Friday morning start and a Saturday afternoon finish.  No one runs the same three legs as anyone else on their team.  You start in one city and wind through and finish in another city 200 miles later.

With Ragnar Trail there are 8 runners running the same three legs while camping out in the same area.  Everyone at the race runs the same three legs labeled RED, YELLOW, and GREEN and they all started and finished at the same place.

These photos are kind of all over the place but that's kind of how a Ragnar feels.  You're eating, running and sleeping at strange times.

Here's part of the team!  Our team was an Edward Jones work team.  Dan McKay works for Edward Jones and he invited me on.  Besides his cousin, Robert McKay, I didn't know anyone else on the team before race day.  It's aways fun getting to know some new awesome runners.

On the far left is James Weinmann (he's the oldest and fastest in the group and has run several marathons but this was his first Ragnar), then Kim Phair (married to Steve Phair- they both run races all the tines for fun), next is me, then Dan McKay, then Robert McKay, then Bret Seeley a dad who has biological children and an adopted son plus he has a foster girl who is like a daughter.  Really awesome group.

Just missing from the photo the team captain Julie Reid and Steve. Julie is on the left of the below photo.  The only three not working for Edward Jones was Robert, Kim, and me.  We were team "Buy Sell Hold Run" and we ran for 27 hours with a total of about 15.2 miles total each.

^ ^ James ^ ^

Everyone had a least one night run where you provide your own light by headlamps or flashlights.  I had two night runs which isn't a bad thing because it gets pretty hot in the afternoon, like my last run.

^ ^ Dan ^ ^

^ ^ Robert ^ ^

Can you see Four Peaks in the distance?  This was on my last run.

There were food trucks to grab food.  I brought some snacks but bought a pulled pork sandwich for dinner, and this sourdough bowl egg with bacon and sausage for breakfast.

Bret, Kim and Steve had to leave early so just the five of us at the end of the race.  Feels so good to finish. I was the last runner so it feels special to finish the team off in the race.

Ragnar has done this for a few years where you put all your medals together and it writes our a secret message.  "WE ARE REGNARIANS TOGETHER WE CAN...".   I got the top left "...Blaze new trails".  I like that.  If you pull the orange necklace part off you can pull out the metal survival utility tool.  It has a special name Andrew said but I don't remember.  Pretty cool though.

Here's the YELLOW leg I ran first at 7:30pm.  We had a noon start time but being runner 8 I didn't start until after dinner time.  The race said it was 4.5 but my maps said 4.62 and it was a very bumpy trail.  Definitely felt longer than four and a half and I was glad to get it done early.

Here is the GREEN leg, the race had down for 4.2 miles.  I started tracking a bit late.  Started this ru before 4:30 in the morning and I had about a 5 hour sleep before which is pretty good for a Ragnar.  Great pace.  It goes gradually uphill then gradually downhill.  I saw a snake (possibly a rattle snake) around mile 3 a few feet out from the trail but it wasn't interested in me.  Just a nice run and really quiet that third mile before joining up at the end.

Here is the RED leg.  Red and Yellow are the hardest.  Whichever one you ran last and in the heat was the hardest for that person.  Red was definitely it for me.  It is the longest distance (the race said 6.6 miles), my legs were tired, my eating and sleep were off, the first few miles were steep and very rocky, and I started the run at 1:43pm.  It took me and hour and a half.  My goal was under a 14 minute per mile mace average which I got!  I actually forgot to stop tracking after finishing since my team was there and we were done so I didn't better than it says.  Mostly it was just hot and I didn't see very many people on the run since many teams had finished and were headed home.

Now I have run 7 Ragnars!  Feels good to say that, and they won't be my last!

Gillespie family photos

We've been in quarantine over here with Andrew getting covid last week, then Zara had a positive before Thanksgiving, than Rupert after Thanksgiving, now we're waiting to hear back about Elliot & Avery's test today because they're sick too.

The Gillespie's had covid last month so we went ahead and did their photo shoot on Saturday since I had two negative covid tests last week.  I actually took a few photos of them last year when they moved from one house, to the house next door after remodeling.  They're in our ward and we loved them.  Sutton is in Baa's nursery and preschool class so they're good friends.

I suggested a few places for their photos and this spot came up because it is where we had our family photos taken this year and they turned out so good.  It was an easy choice for them because apparently Jon proposed to Nicole on this lake.  So sweet.  Samson is from Nicole's first marriage and they've had Sutton and baby Charly together.  Such a beautiful family.

They also had their German exchange student in a few photos.  He seemed super cool and great with the kids.

 

Sutton was just not interested in holding her baby sister for photos so it took a couple attempts.  I can't get over how cute Charly's face below when she had a mouthful of sand.  At first she was just surprised and wondering what happened.  Then she was grossed out by the sand. :)  It was worth a try.

Love this beautiful family and I hope I get a chance to photograph them again.

trail running: Pass Mountain

 

Yesterday Dan McKay, Robert McKay and went trail running the Pass Mountain trail in Usery.  Dad and I had just hiked it last month so I had a good feel for what to expect.  The guys let me lead the way and set the pace which was great, apart from the last mile when I ran out of steam.

We went around the mountain clockwise just like Dad and I did last month.  It gives a more gradual uphill and because we had an early start we didn't get any sun in our eyes until just after the halfway point and even then it was just a short while because we headed west soon after.

We took a five minute rest for some food and water at the saddle about halfway.  Such a pretty spot in the shade.  Dan and  brought backpacks with food and water and Robert brought nothing.  This was a good learning experience.  We are all on the same team for the ragnar trail in three weeks so this was really good training.  Neither of them have done the ragnar trail before and this is my second time.  I did one with Charity (Shepherd) Peterson, a friends from high school, and her brother Jacob Shepherd.

This is actually my second time trail running Pass Mountain.  I remember doing it years ago with Rachel Willis, her aunt Karen, Luke Johnson and maybe Emily Dial.  I think it was to train for the Ragnar Del Sol.  I remember we went counter clockwise that time.

Dad and I hiked it in 2 hours and 38 minutes so I thought we could trail run it in under 2 hours and we did!  It took us 1 hour and 50 minutes!  We weren't doing it for time but not bad.

Over halfway I looked up at two ladies coming in the opposite direction and ended up tripping and falling down hard.  My arm stung so bad.  The longer I go the more conscious I need to be to lift my feet high enough.  It could have been worse though.  Thankfully cactus wasn't involved.

Pretty sure I'll be back at this trail before long.  I like how there are always people on it, hikers, runners, and mountain bikers, and everyone is so polite.