After months of increasing distance and practicing running on inclines, I thought I would be prepared. Then I increased the workouts to two times a day and realized I was older than I thought. I hobbled around the house for a few days wondering what I was thinking. But, the pain subsided and we lined up to race.
We met at 4:30 am at the starting line. After a quick orientation that involved safety rules, we were off. I wondered if the Man upstairs had forgotten we were close to Summer as we began running into biting cold wind and across frost covered ground. I was in the first van with my sister, Melinda, my brother, Greg, and three cousins, Mariah, Vanessa, and Laraine. We laughed, shared stories, and cheered each other on. We met up with the other half of our team at the first exchange. We felt pretty good we had made it through our first legs.
Too quickly, we were up again for the next round. Our next runs were a little more difficult as we entered the more mountainous areas. Greg had the worst leg that took him up the side of a mountain. As we cheered him on, we were all grateful it was him and not us! We passed of the baton around 9:30 pm. This left the other half of our team to run through the middle of the night and left us scrounging around for places to sleep for a few hours.
The final runs for our van began at 4:00 am. Melinda took off and then met up with me a few miles later. Unfortunately for the people at the exchange, Melinda passed the baton to me and turned to throw up on those around her. I missed the spectacle because I had started running but I heard about it later. I had a discovery on my final leg-- if you just keep going, your legs eventually go numb and the pain goes away. I had a great run at 4:30 in the morning. The sun started coming up and turned the sky a beautiful pink. It was at this moment that I got a little choked up as I realized I had almost made it. All the hard work, training, and pain had paid off. I was overwhelmed and grateful for the experience-- I was also happy to hand the baton and be done.
We all met up at the finish line as we waited for Greg to run in. They call the team up when the lst runner is 1/4 of a mile out so the team can meet up and run in with him. It was all smiles and cheers as we ran in. Of course, we were the only ones smiling and cheering but we felt pretty good about ourselves.
The most impressive person on our team was Aunt Jennifer. She took over the hardest leg of the ragnar a week before the race. She is truly amazing. I know we all sit around and wish we could be her. I realized the pity I felt for myself before the race as I felt the pain of getting in shape had no place. I hope to be able to just jump into a race at the last minute like Aunt Jennifer.
While our name was "Crazy Runs in the Family", we all know that love, support, and pride (the good kind) runs in our family. What a blessing to be a part of such a wonderful family!
