Ragnar 2012

Another year, another 200 miles.  Along with our friends: Dave and Samantha Garner, Jake and Jenny Johnson, Robin and Melanie Kettring, Lance and Janice Van Horn, Charlotte Bain, Kristina Rich, Jacob and of course, our beloved Rhett... we ran as the Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins in the Ragnar Del Sol.  It again started in Wickenburg and ended in Tempe Town Lake.  The three of us, plus Dave and Sam and Charlotte were all in Van 1.  The rest were in van 2.  Robin and Lance were just along for the ride!

After we dropped Glade off for his 1st 8mile run, we went back to the hotel to get some breakfast.

We checked into our hotel Thursday night, it was quite cozy.  There was some problem with the drain that Dave was trying to solve.  Very handy!

Glade taking off at the start line.  Our official start time was 6:45 am

Rhett stole the show again this year.  He was always the one getting the high 5's and cheers as he ran.  He is fun to have around and did really great.

He even did his night run this year which was a 6 miler in the dark at about 11:00 pm

Gearing up for my third run, 4.8 miles.  Even as light as it is right now, we were still required to wear all our night reflective gear and headlamp.

Rhett and Glade had the crazy fountain hills runs this year.  They don't call it Fountain HILLS for no reason!

Melanie coming across the finish line.  She did great, it was so hot!

Jenny, Melanie and I

This was my first run, 6.8 miles.  By midday it was already too hot to run.  I felt like puking and passing out and all that good stuff.  I'm a total wimp and I know it.  My run was a little slower than I wanted, and I felt terrible the whole time, but when I got home after the race and checked my runs on my iPod... turns out my first 2 miles were just over 9minute miles.  I just ran too fast in the beginning.

Hanging out at Fountain Hills waiting for Glade to come in.  This is an exchange where we meet the other van and tell them how things are going.

After our first legs, we went to an awesome little Italian place called Babbo's for some carb loading pasta.  Then we had to go wait at the next exchange for a couple of hours for our night runs.  There wasn't much to do but hang out in the van and try to get a nap.  After our night runs, we were able to go to the hotel, shower and get about 3 hours of sleep.  This is us at 3 am waking up to get to our last runs.

My night run was 6.8 miles uphill.  I felt pretty good when I started, but it didn't last more than a couple of miles.  Even though it may have been my slowest run, it didn't bother me like my first run that I actually did faster.  It appears I can over come almost everything BUT the heat.  This is also the run where my back first started hurting.

We tried putting this little elf hat on our antenna, but it kept getting all crinkled up when we would drive.  It never came off though!  Lasted the whole race.

This is us waiting for the race to start.  It's a little chilly at 5:30 am.

Our traditional stop at Texas Roadhouse after the race.

Hanging out in the van waiting for our night runs.

We reuse our shirts every year, so we just use duct tape to put our numbers on our shirts.  Pretty clever!  This year was definitely  not my favorite.  I was not prepared and way too heavy.  I told myself I wasn't going to worry about my times, just enjoy the race.  That didn't exactly happen.  By the end of my third run which was in the heat AND uphill, I was in tears.  Sucky way to end the race.  In the end I ran just over 18 miles.  Glade's was just over 18 and Rhett just over 16.  I swore I wouldn't do it again.  Actually, I don't really want to do it again.  I would love to do another one, somewhere else.  And if I do another one, I will do it right!