November 4-5, 2016
Fountain Hills, Arizona
Leg 1 – Green Loop – 4.1 miles
Angela: I was really excited to be the first runner this year. It was cool getting the whole countdown and everything. I started with about 15 other people in the heat of the day at 1:40 pm after they announced all of our team names. The group went out fast, and when I looked down, I was doing an 8:05 pace, so I slowed down and let some people pass, determined to run a smart race. This was my first run in two weeks because I’ve been injured, so I wasn’t sure what I was capable of (or if I’d even make it through without pain), but I knew I wanted to push myself, especially on the green loop which is the shortest and flattest. Stephen caught up with me pretty quickly, and we settled into a moderately hard effort for me as we made our way slightly uphill for the first half of the loop, occasionally passing people who had gone out too fast. It was definitely hot and quick, but I pushed
on, knowing that the second half was mostly downhill. After the third mile split came up on my watch, I thought to myself, “I hope Corey is there when we get in,” since I had estimated a slower pace than we were doing. As we approached the transition tent and I didn’t see any of the team along the route, I had a sinking feeling he wasn’t there, and sure enough, he wasn’t! I quickly hung our race bib by the door to the tent, and Stephen and I split up to run to find Corey. Luckily, I saw him within a minute, so even though we had a mishap right out of the gate, it wasn’t too bad. I ended up running this loop 34 seconds per mile faster than last year, so I was very satisfied with that!
Stephen (pacing): Ragnar! I love me some good Ragnar action and this was to be my third year running the McDowell Mountain one and second of the year. This time though, just like at Ragnar Trail Ft. Knox earlier in the year, I wasn’t officially a runner and simply was able to “pace” others on the team. I actually really enjoy this as it gives me some flexibility to run different legs at various times of the day and of course it allows me to run with a bunch of different friends. Dressed in next to nothing with my “stylish” Arizona flag split shorts and shirtless, I just had to own my sexiness and enjoy the looks. With Angela starting off in the chute I waited just down the green leg trail until all the runners passed me and then hopped on to join her. Pretty quickly I caught up to her and settled in to running behind or beside her so as not to push her faster than she wanted. Only about 1.5 miles in I realized I needed to pee (must have been the pre-run beer) so I pulled off the trail behind a tree and took care of business. Again I caught up to her before too long and enjoyed the rest of the run. Having not run much lately Angela was putting up a solid pace. We cruised into the transition tent to find Corey not yet there but we quickly found him just outside and he got set for the second leg. 4.1 miles in the books.
Leg 2 – Yellow Loop – 4.8 miles
Corey: 38 min. I realized after running this loop I was fortunate to have done this in the day. With its sharp turns and sudden death defying drops all along with a long relentless uphill climb right from the get go. I started on very fresh legs and a pace much faster than I normally run, so my legs tightened up almost instantly. They never calmed down and I had to work for each step on the very up and down course, which had almost no flat sections to actually run.
Stephen (pacing): Having just run the 4.1 miles with Angela I was nicely warmed up, but the weather had also warmed up even further. It was a moderately warm day but nothing like the weekend prior when I was out there for Javelina Jundred. The yellow loop in my opinion is by far the hardest of the legs as it features a pretty steep climb early on, a sharp, pretty technical descent on the other side, and then relentless rolling trail. Running with Corey would certainly be pushing my fitness. We rolled out of the transition tent and descended slightly for a little bit after crossing the main park road, cruising at around a 7:00 minute/mile pace. Not long after this we hit the steep climb and Corey powered up in front of me. He’s a great hill climber and I quickly found myself working really hard to keep up with him as we neared the top. However, he’s also a great descender and with his long stride he took off down the rocky descent. At this point he gapped me a little bit and I reeled him over the next couple tenths. I told him to keep up whatever pace felt good and just to drop me as necessary. The course crosses itself on the yellow loop with an underpass/overpass situation and I briefly debated whether to just wait for him at this point. I decided to push on though and before long felt pretty good again. Corey was battling some tightness so I just settled in behind him as we rolled through the next few miles throwing down a pretty darn solid pace for this tough loop. The toughness of this trail meant we passed A TON of people as Corey rolled on through to the finish to hand off to Erik. Side note: Corey was wearing his excellent six shooter board shorts which were the opposite in length to my shorties. 8.9 miles down with some tempo running!
Leg 3 – Red Loop – 6.6 miles
Erik:
Stephen (pacing): I didn’t have a set plan on which legs I was going to run during Ragnar other than wanting to accompany Angela for all of hers. After completing the green with Angela and the yellow with Corey, I figured I might as well do all of the loops right away and continued on with Erik. The yellow loop with Corey was a very good effort and I had almost 9 miles under my belt already, but I felt like I would be able to take it a little easier with my buddy Erik. Not long ago Erik moved from Tucson (and my rental home) up to the Phoenix area so this was a great chance to catch up again. We started off catching up and rolling down the trail comfortably. There is one fairly prolonged climb up the hillside of the Scenic Trail and I still felt like throwing down a solid effort so I told Erik I’d wait for him at the top and proceeded to put out a steady effort up the hill. At the top I was certainly wanting some more oxygen but had a little break until Erik crested the ridgeline. From here we rolled along a beautiful stretch of trail, high above the desert floor. I had never seen this red loop in the daylight before so this was a great change of pace. About halfway through the run we came upon a couple women who latched onto our pace and we had a great time chatting it up with them, encouraging them along as we rolled into the transition. 15.5 miles done already in the first three legs!
Leg 4 – Green Loop – 4.1 miles
Julie:
Leg 5 – Yellow Loop – 4.8 miles
Jonathan:
Leg 6 – Red Loop – 6.6 miles
Cassidy:
Jim (pacing):
Leg 7 – Green Loop – 4.1 miles
Jen:
Jim (pacing):
Leg 8 – Yellow Loop – 4.8 miles
Julio:
Leg 9 – Red Loop – 6.6 miles
Angela: I love the red loop, and I was curious to see what the big hill felt like this year after having done more vert and hill training in the last year. I ended up running the first 2/3 of it and walked the last third. When we got to the top, my calves were burning, which is pretty normal, but also the cause of all my lower leg issues, so I walked a bit more to help them loosen up. When we started running again, I was really bothered by Stephen’s bright headlamp behind me illuminating my shadow in front of me. It was difficult to see. I asked him to keep back further, and that helped some, but I was still having a hard time seeing and navigating the rocky terrain. When I looked down at my watch and saw how slow I was moving, I decided to stop and check my headlamp. Yep, it was on a dimmer setting. After that got fixed, we cruised the rest of the way through this loop. Each mile was quicker than the last, and I really got into a rhythm by the time we hit the wash. I was moving pretty quickly the last couple miles, and it felt good. Once we combined with the yellow loop, there were finally some other faster runners, and I chased a girl to the end. I ended up sprinting up the final hill as hard as I could in order to pass her before the transition tent. Dumb, but fun 🙂 I ended up running this loop 45 seconds per mile faster than last year, so I was excited to keep seeing improvement.
Stephen (pacing): After having a great rest and a couple beers at our camp, it was back out with Angela. This time it was dark and the weather had cooled down but I was still #shirtless (my nickname for our team shirts). Angela again rolled out of the transition tent really strongly and kept up a good pace until about 2/3 of the way up the hill. I wanted her to keep on running but shut my mouth and let her do her thing. I’m not one to push people much and she’s an experienced enough runner to know how she’s feeling and pace herself appropriately. In fact, her smart running is perhaps one of her best assets during races. After helping her resolve her headlamp issue I continued to hang back while on the Scenic Trail which was all singletrack and then pulled alongside her as we hit the Pemberton which is basically doubletrack trail. On this last half of the run she really settled into a nice rhythm and I was impressed with her run. 22.1 miles completed.
Leg 10 – Green Loop – 4.1 miles
Corey: 30 min. flat, fast and fun. Again in the beginning my legs were super tense but after making it to the half way I realized that I had been steadily climbing. So coming back down the pace increased and I was able to really push the last mile or so. Nothing much of interest in this loop, just a fun fast night run.
Stephen (pacing): With over 20 miles on my legs I again was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with Corey on this green loop which is definitely the fastest paced of them all. We had a great time running up the Cinch Trail though which is a steady but relatively gentle uphill ascent. Our pace was solid but nothing too fast although my heart rate was up. After a quick stretch on the Pemberton we turned left onto the Shallmo Wash Trail where it’s all downhill. Corey gradually kept increasing the pace and eventually we were running just under 6:30 min./mile pace around 3.25 miles. It was right around this point that I began feeling it in my legs and didn’t really have the desire to push extremely hard. There’s no shame in getting dropped by Corey though as he’s a great runner. Even after backing off his pace I glanced down at my watch and saw I was still running right at 7:00 min./mile pace. I finished out the run and congratulated Corey on a great run and another fun time out there. Now time for a little sleep before the next leg with Angela, but not before grabbing some hot chocolate. 26.2 miles…a marathon in the bag!
Leg 11 – Yellow Loop – 4.8 miles
Erik:
Leg 12 – Red Loop – 6.6 miles
Julie:
Leg 13 – Green Loop – 4.1 miles
Jonathan:
Leg 14 – Yellow Loop – 4.8 miles
Cassidy:
Leg 15 – Red Loop – 6.6 miles
Jen:
Jim (pacing):
Leg 16 – Green Loop – 4.1 miles
Julio:
Leg 17 – Yellow Loop – 4.8 miles
Angela: I really dislike this loop. It’s so hard to get a rhythm going because you’re constantly going up or down, and they are steep ups and downs. Looks like a fun mountain biking trail. Last year was rough doing it last and in the morning sun, so I was thankful to at least be doing it during the coolest part of the night, even though it was still last. I decided upfront to walk the hill near the beginning. My legs were a little burnt from sprinting the final hill of the previous run. After that I managed to run most of the loop and was thinking about how much more endurance I have, probably because of the ultra training, just before the wheels started to fall off a couple miles from the finish. I ended up walking the steep little ups, but I tried to turn it on for the last mile when it met up with the red loop and cruised gradually downhill to the finish. I ended up running 55 seconds per mile faster than last year, so even though I felt like a wuss for a good mile or so, it turned out okay! It was pretty sweet knowing that I was done running before the sun came up and that I could go back to sleep for a while and then have a beer in the morning without having to plan for another run!
Stephen (pacing): I had grabbed a few hours of sleep after chatting with the crew still up in the middle of the night. I kind of was dreading doing this yellow loop again, but at least it was Angela’s last loop so I figured her slightly tired legs & tired body from a little less sleep than she’d like would allow me to still run pretty comfortably. We started off pretty well and had a girl cruise by us early on, only to have Angela roll by her about a mile later when she faded fast. At the steep hill I did go up ahead of Angela to knock out another good hill session. Once she arrived at the top we continued on and meandered through the seemingly never ending rollers. Angela was struggling a bit so I tried to keep her positive and she ended up finishing strong again and much better than last year’s time. So proud of her! 31 miles or almost a 50K complete.
Leg 18 – Red Loop – 6.6 miles
Corey: I had to have seen at least 6 shooting stars along this 3:30 am run. My legs felt great, cruised up the main incline and was sub 11 min at just over 1.5 miles. Ups and downs were fun and easy to keep a decent pace. But once it got to the flat section I REALLY had to work and still my pace was steadily falling. Hit the last hill and it almost stopped me, changed up my stride and got to the top, crossed the road and I knew I was almost done so I stepped it up and sped to the finish.
Leg 19 – Green Loop – 4.1 miles
Erik:
Leg 20 – Yellow Loop – 4.8 miles
Julie:
Leg 21 – Red Loop – 6.6 miles
Jonathan:
Leg 22 – Green Loop – 4.1 miles
Cassidy:
Stephen (pacing): After getting some more sleep I woke up and began debating whether I should go out for one more loop. I’d already done each of them twice but I was here to have some fun running and it was good training. I very quickly ruled out the yellow loop as an option since two loops on that route was simply enough. The red was a bit longer than I wanted to undertake so that left the green loop and I hadn’t run yet with Cassidy so I decided to head out with her. We had a great time running this loop as she kept up a really strong pace on these fast, smooth trails. It was just the right pace for me to feel comfortable but putting forth a good effort. As we neared the end I was definitely ready to grab another beer and enjoy the rest of our camp time! Final tally – 35.1 miles!
Leg 23 – Yellow Loop – 4.8 miles
Jen:
Jim (pacing):
Leg 24 – Red Loop – 6.6 miles
Julio:
