NMM 11/19

Short and sweet today because I have a final tomorrow to study for....

Our Way To Fall- Yo La Tengo
The Past & Pending- The Shins
Tilt (Acoustic)- Wild Sweet Orange
Right Ahead Young Sailor- Right Away, Great Captain!

RAGNAR

Last weekend we ran the Las Vegas Ragnar. In hindsight it was such a great experience but during the race I think we all were having some serious regrets. In fact, we were wondering why everyone said Ragnar's were so awesome because we all thought it was brutal. One of our team members summed it up well. She called it "Type II fun"- the type of fun you don't think is fun until afterwards. With good music, good food and good company, anything is enjoyable. The camaraderie is really great and everyone on your team becomes a lot closer. We had an awesome crew. It's also fun seeing all the different team names, van decor and costumes. Some of the highlights included: "Cirque du Sore Legs" "Never Nudes" who ran around in denim cutoffs (reference Arrested Development), "Lost My Sole in Sin City" "Try-Athletes" "We've Got The Runs" haha uhh... to name a few.

do we look tired or what...

So our team had 2 vans, 12 members and 198 miles to run in 24 hours. This meant that by the time I ran my second "leg" of the relay, it was 3 am and 30 degrees out in the Vegas desert. While the other van ran their portion of the race, we tried to sleep. Typically you rent a 12 passenger van but because we got double booked we ended up with a Ford Explorer which happens NOT to sleep 6 people comfortably. Soooo the guys, Brad and I pulled out a tarp, some sleeping bags and slept on the pavement... in 30 degree weather haha. It makes a good story though I guess. All in all the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Even though it was grueling, my 3am run was probably my favorite. The stars were gorgeous and once you get in the mindset of "enjoy the journey" you relax a bit. Also, once you get running and tell yourself you cannot stop until you reach the finish- you do. It blew me away how much of long-distance running is mental. I think now that most people "can't" run a marathon because they tell themselves they can't. It is amazing how much we underestimate our bodies.. and... what a good playlist can do.

made it to lake mead!

Food:
I love food and one nice thing about doing a race like Ragnar is that you can snack as much as you want! Granted, you have mostly healthy food, but you are so famished from burning all those calories that you pretty much just eat between runs. My personal suggestions for anyone who is running a relay would be rice cakes, peanut butter, bananas, pretzels and beef jerky. A lot of people recommended Clif Shot Blocs to me but I actually hated them. Even though Ragnar gave us a bunch for free, the blocs made my stomach hurt and the consistency grossed me out. I personally like the chocolate Clif Gel which is really smooth and is all natural energy. It made all the difference in giving me energy after each run. Plus it's pretty much like brownie batter made socially acceptable to eat.

Advice:
Stretch, stretch and move! I think the hardest thing about the Ragnar is that you have to sit all cramped in a van for over an hour between your runs... sometimes several hours. I found that getting out, stretching and just moving around helped my legs not turn to rock. Enjoy the journey!

Next Up: Marathon 2013

P.s. as a shameless plug for my team.... there were over 500 teams and we came in 7th for coed. Go team! So proud of us!

GoldieBlox- Brilliant

I saw this video and absolutely had to share it. This woman has designed a great toy to help young girls develop skills that maybe get pushed aside by the girly less-educational toys. I hope everyone with young girls takes this into consideration and at least looks for more cross-disciplinary toys like Goldie Blox!