Ragnar Florida Keys: The Aftermath

As you can see from reading these missives, the Ragnar Florida Keys trip was a blast.  We generally count a Ragnar a success if we all make it out in one piece without too many injuries, but this year, we actually did really well.  Here’s the post Luis made the day after the race:

Holy crap!  Look at us go!

In addition, a few days after the event, we received the news that our van won Best Van Decorations for the picture contest Ragnar was holding on their Instagram page!  I don’t know what, if anything, we win for either of these items yet, but hopefully, we’ll find out soon.

I know I’ve already shared this, but just bask in the awesome one more time

Time to get a little sappy for just a moment…

I truly want to thank everyone who helped us during this event.  As a wise sage once said, it takes a village to run a Ragnar, and that was especially true this time, since all of us were coming from across the country. 

Mom, thank you for serving as our Van Mom for this event.  Thank you for sheltering me ahead of time and driving me all over greater Pinellas County to shop for all of the crap we needed (“okay, we need a shower curtain liner, two fruit cups, 12 chocolate milks, and three pieces of yellow posterboard.  Go!”).  Thank you also for rounding up all of the sleeping bags, pillows, sheets, blankets, towels, drawers, flashlights, paper products, and other items we couldn’t live without ahead of time.  Thank you, too, for taking all of these items back at the end of the run when they were substantially less lovely than when you originally leant them to us.  A huge debt of gratitude also goes to you for scouting out the trailer and leaving us snacks and cute little things to enjoy once we got there.

Uncle Doug, thank you for being our main mode of transport from the west coast of the state to the east and for not crapping a brick when we showed you how much sh*t we needed to cram in one SUV.  Thank for the delicious chicken biscuits you brought over on Thursday morning and for lending us the use of your coolers; the Sea Dell was thrilled to receive the smaller cooler and stated it would be put to good use.  Thank you also for storing a giant van seat for us and not even batting an eye when we asked this of you; I also owe you big time for not murdering any of us as we tried to navigate around the Fort Lauderdale Airport for the 6^th time with the GPS screeching in the background.

Jim and Leigh, thank you for lending us sleeping bags and the accompanying pads and for making us the most amazing van decals EVER.  I’m sure your decals are one of the reasons we were able to win Best Decorated Van, and they were amazing.  Also, thank you for bringing Pavlov to see Aunt Amy at Grandmom’s house for dinner, even though you both worked all day and were still recovering from feeling like a$$.  In addition, thank you for returning Harry Styles to me at Christmastime, so I could sew him a tiny bear coat and make him Beary Styles, dashboard ornament for the Bear Force One.

Brian, thank you for allowing us to stay at the trailer.  It was an adventure, and that’s what vacations and 

Ragnars are all about.

Van 1 (Sarah, Courtney, Josh, Laura, and Ryan), thank you for your excellent running, even under less than ideal weather conditions.  You guys are rock stars, and it is solely due to you that we placed at all.  I’m sure you would have placed much higher without us pokey folks in Van 2 dragging along behind you.  It was nice to meet all of you, albeit briefly, and I hope we get a chance to know each other a bit better sometime in the future.

Luis, thank you for trying to balance things between Van 2’s uber-organized, party-slacker vibe and Van 1’s we’re-all-new-at-this, serious-runner perspective.  Also, thank you for not rolling your eyes too much at when I insinuated you hadn’t read the Race Bible and hinted that maybe, just maybe, you might want to think about packing a first aid kit.

This is why we ended up placing at all*

Megan, thank you for joining our motley band of Ragtards in the Keys for our post-Ragnar adventures!  It was great spending this time with you.

Scott (aka Ron Bearemy), thank you for being probably the funniest person in a van full of ridiculousness.  Also, thank you for doggedly wearing the bear coat to almost all of the exchanges, despite putting yourself at a serious risk of heatstroke for doing so. 

Taira (aka Beara), thank you for doing another Ragnar with us, even though you swore up and down, back to front, from tip to tail, that you never would again; I’m starting to think you’re lying about how much you hate this…  There’s few people I’d rather sit next to on the floor of a hotel while quietly reading a book after waking up at some ungodly hour.

Murph (aka Amelia Bearhart), thank you for captaining this ship and keeping everyone in line and completing all requirements we needed to not be DQ’d before we even started running.  Thank you for always being a wonderful motivational force for happiness and joy, no matter how sleepy or cranky you may have been.  Thank you also for being an excellent and highly entertaining van driver.

Erin (aka Beary Fisher), thank you for your quiet, consoling words of encouragement that always came just when I needed them and for letting me vent about anything and everything.  Thank you also for your excellent choice in music (“BEAR.FORCE.ONE.  Boys.boys.boys.”) and for creating the amazing video of our pictures; I’ve watched it like a million times already.  I’m so glad you didn’t die of TB from the creepy dude on the bus.

And last but most certainly not least…

Chris (aka Beary Styles), thank you for driving us almost all of the time, including all the way back from Marathon to the Fort Lauderdale Airport.  Thank you for putting up with me as I was helping to plan all of this and for reigning me back when I was getting too out of hand; thank you also for not laughing at my lame attempts at crafting things (see Beary Styles, above).  You are the best person in the world, by far, and I love you!

All right, I’m wrapping this thing up before everybody starts to barf rainbows and whatnot.  To wrap up – amazing run, amazing trip, and amazing people! 

Later!

Amy (aka Beary Tyler Moore)

* When you pass someone during Ragnar, that’s called a “kill,” and most teams record them on the side of their van, to show other teams how bad-a$$ they are.  In total, our van had like 30-40 kills.  Van 1 had 270, or as we were calling them in bear-parlance, “mauls.”  Don’t doubt when I say they are seriously fast.