Ragnar McDowell 2017: Time to Be Done!

Previously on the blog, Ragnar after dark.  Cue the glow sticks!

Once my legs were finished, I headed back to camp and changed back into my comfy, warm, non-running clothes, as well as fresh undergarments and the like.  Truly, there's nothing that will make you appreciate comfy, "real" clothes more than not wearing them for a good 24 hours while you're all sweaty and gross from running.  Ahhh, soft cotton underoos.

Okay, anyway, the sun was coming back up and camp life was once again stirring.  With Jen on yellow and Christina on red, the rest of us starting making hot beverages and warming up breakfast burritos, homemade by Jen earlier in the week.  They were delicious, and since she made enough to feed our entire team thrice over, we were happy to share some with our BNE.

Nom!

Tired but happy

It was also during this time, changing back into normal clothes, that I discovered this fun little number.  I'm not really prone to blood blisters (on my feet - I get them with a decent degree of regularity from pinching the pads of my fingers in things), but sure enough, I had one now.  Fair warning before you scroll down - it's not super horrible, but it's not pretty:

Also, it's time to redo my toenail polish

This is on my left foot -

you can also see the callous that's starting

to build just below the big toe.

That's a new thing from changing

my running stride.

Fun times, folks.

After burritos, Chris and Amadeo headed up to the transition tent to welcome Christina back and send Chris out on his final leg.  As they were waiting, they each commented on how warm it was this morning, and after several minutes, they realized they were standing in front of a heat lamp.  Given the mindset of all of us by this point in time, this seemed just about right.

Once Chris was out on green, we'd hit our final few loops, so the rest of us began packing up camp and tearing things down.  We deflated air mattresses, rolled up sleeping bags, and pondered how we'd put Jake's changing tent back in its bag.  It kind of worked like those pop-up dashboard sun shades, but it was quite a bit more complicated than that.  Jen and I kept an eye on one of the guys at the camp on the other side of us (not the BNE), who was attempting to fold his.  

Jen: "Ooh, let's watch this guy so we can figure it out later."

Me:  "Good idea!"

[guy takes around 500 tries to unsuccessfully get the changing tent back in the bag]

Jen:  "...or maybe not."

Chris made it back, and he was happy to contribute his "expertise" to putting the changing tent away.  Feel free to insert your own, "how many engineers does it take" joke here:

Because we had three, you guys...

...and it took them awhile...

...and this wasn't finally accomplished until 

the guy from next door came over to help,

showing them the video he had to look up

on YouTube.

Success!

With Bryan back at camp after yellow and Whitney out on our final leg, it was time to don our hazmat suits and start our slow-mo, antihero walk up to the finish line.  While on a vacation to Albuquerque, Jen and Bryan picked up more bags of blue rock candy, so we happily tossed those to the other camps, letting them know the first sample was free.  I made sure to offer one (with accompanying speech) to a large contingent (4-5 teams) of sheriff's officers, and then follow it up with, "oh crap!" and then a speedy dash away; Chris said they laughed.

Thanks, clouds, for the dramatic picture assist.

We made it to the finish with about 10 minutes to go, which was enough to chat with our favorite Ragnar announcer, Steve, and for him to ask where our "guy that really looked like Walter White" was.  We were sure to tell Jake that Steve missed him.  We also hooked Steve up with our last bag of rock candy, and he announced us to the crowd.

Whitney came into sight, and Jen dashed down to get her geared up:

Can you imagine running a sweaty

6.6 miles - on trail - and then

hopping into a hazmat suit for a final

sprint up a hill?

Whitney's a damn champ.

We all darted across the finish line and grabbed our medals, happy to be done, but also celebrating the great time we had.

Done!

Finished!

The bear is standing in for Luis here.

The gentlemen headed to grab the vehicles, while the ladies stopped for a picture and then headed back to camp.

We packed up the cars, gave one last round of hugs, and wished our Tucson crew (Jen, Bryan, and Whitney) a safe journey home.  Since we finished so early (11am!), we figured Jake and Keeli might not be ready for us yet, particularly given what they'd been through the day prior.  Amadeo and Christina were awesome in allowing us to come over to their house, so we could befoul their newly (and beautifully) redone bathroom (and done by them, not by professionals) and shower up.  While I was waiting for Chris to finish, I made friends with Freyja, one of their feline kiddos.

"Hello, random stranger!"

We also had lunch with them (real food!) at Local Jonny's, a great spot in Cave Creek, not too far away from their house, which was outstanding.  

Okay, one more blog to go!  Visiting and other fun and driving home and whatnot!

Later!

Amy