One Last Hurrah - Ragnar Trail AZ 2022 - Part 2

But what about Part 1?

When last we blogged, Chris and I awoke at McDowell Mountain Regional Park with our buddies Bryan, Jen, and Jake on a Friday morning in early November, ready to run Ragnar Trail Arizona!

As always, my eyes popped open way too early, and I killed time waiting for quiet hours to end by surfing my phone in my sleeping bag.  Eventually, my bladder convinced me to leave my warm confines, and I ventured to the bathrooms.  With quiet hours officially over, it was time to get some hot water going for coffee/tea and take some pictures of the sunrise.

Sunrise over the nearby mountains

Once everyone else woke up, we started breakfast as well - sweet potato scrambles

Once it was light, we could also see more of the aftermath of the storm the afternoon before:

The busted tent/canopy graveyard.  So sad!

Before too long, Rachel, Andrea, and Christina had joined us (as well as Amadeo, serving as our resident photographer this year), and we helped them unpack their vehicles and set up our additional ground coverings.  Since we're not only two years older than the last time we Ragnar'd, but also somewhat slower, our start time was right around the corner.  After grabbing some team pictures near our campsite, we headed into the Ragnar Village and the main transition tent to send Jake (Runner #1) out in style and kick off our legs.

And he's underway!

Bryan and Chris

Jen, Christina, Rachel, and Andrea

I think we're only missing Jake (out running) and Jen (taking the picture) here!

Jake finished green without issue, Bryan did fine on yellow, and then it was my first leg, around the red loop.  The red loop, although it's the longest and has the most elevation gain, is actually my favorite, and I enjoyed it again this year.  Around mile 4, there's always an annoying bit of running in some of the nearby washes, but due to the rain, things were a little more packed down than normal, which was nice (there was one section of mud, which I went slipping across, but no disasters occurred - hooray!).  After I came in, Jen took over, then Andrea, followed by Chris, Christina, and Rachel.  Jake started us off on our second set of legs, and we did all that once more for the third.  

All of our runs went pretty well - although we're no longer as young and speedy as we used to be, everyone still had a good time on most of the legs (although I really do hate yellow and all of its sharp ups and downs - a kind gentleman came along behind me and helped me down a really steep section, which was most appreciated).  More importantly, everyone came out safe and sound, without any catastrophic falls or injuries; we were all beat up and achy in general, but that's trail running anytime, at any age or pace.  Before too long, it was Saturday morning, and we ate breakfast and chatted while waiting for our final runners to finish.  

We put on our team t-shirts, donned our haz-mat suits, and headed to the finish line to wait for Rachel.  Timing things just perfectly, we arrived at the chute just before she did, and we threw the apron on her, handed her the bear, and swarmed across the finish line!

Rachel and the bear, leading us across the line!

Hooray!  Another Ragnar in the books!

We claimed our medals, then had the official Ragnar photogs take a finishing picture of all of us:

Our outstanding team!

From left - Jake, Chris, me Jen, Bryan, Andrea, Christina, and Rachel

A short stroll brought us back to our glamping site where we finished cleaning and packing up, and we were able to say hello once again to Keeli and Amadeo, who had rejoined us to claim their respective (and likely gnarly-smelling) spouses.  We enjoyed some adult beverages hand-selected by Jake and Jen, but eventually, it was time to head out.  Saying goodbye to Andrea, Rachel, and Jake and Keeli (they had previous committments), the rest of us headed to the All American Grill in Fountain Hills, our normal post-Ragnar lunch spot.  It was still delicious, and it felt great to sit inside a building and catch up on the day's early college football scores while visiting with one another.

Once lunch was over, we all hugged once more, then hopped back in our respective vehicles and started our drives home; Chris and I picked the girlies up at daycare, took the best showers of our lives, and started on the Mount Fuji sized pile of laundry in our living room.  

And that's a wrap on Ragnar Trail AZ 2022!  Our very first Ragnar was waaaay back in 2011, running Ragnar Del Sol (the road version) with a bunch of people we barely knew as part of Team Bridezillas; it's insane to think that over a decade later, we are still doing these crazy things.  Participating in the Ragnar series of events has been such a joy, and it's taken us all around the country from Las Vegas to the Florida Keys to the Los Coyotes reservation to Snowmass.  We've met so many incredible people - most importantly, the folks on our teams - but also the volunteers and staff and our fellow runners.  Runners, on the whole, are a kind, caring bunch of nutcases, and I've never met a set of people more willing to drop everything and help out someone else in need.

Although this will likely be our last full Ragnar, we still want to keep running races, including trail events, and particularly with this amazing group of people.  While most of us knew each other before we started Ragnar'ing together, the time spent crammed into vans and tents (and putting bandages on busted toenails and foam rolling tired muscles and so on) really allows you to bond with one another, and none of us want to give that up any time soon.

Ragnar may be in our past, but onward to our next adventures, together!

Later!

Former Ragnar Team Captain Amy