Rocky Mountain High - Ragnar Snowmass 2019 - Part 3

In the last blog installment, we finished our first set of loops at Ragnar Snowmass, waaaay up in the thin air of the Rocky Mountains.

After Tim blasted through his first loop, which was on yellow, we started our rotation over again, and Jake (Runner 1) headed out on red.  When you're not actively running a loop during trail Ragnar races or checking out the Ragnar Village, you're generally chilling out; you're resting up in the tent, trying to sleep, putting food and hydration down the old pie-hole, rolling out tight/sore muscles and the like.  You're also chatting with your buddies who are doing the same things, and every now and then, you bid adieu to the runner who's next on deck and welcome the runner who just finished back into the common team area.  There's an ebb and flow to things, and it's generally pretty calm, overall, since everyone is trying to conserve energy and fall asleep, when possible.

When Jake arrived home from his red loop and the camp area volume amped up considerably, I knew something was amiss.  Unfortunately, Jake had taken a tumble on the downhill portion of red; thankfully, he wasn't badly injured, although he would be a bit achy later on in the week:

At least it looks pretty bada$$

Thankfully, we'd all finish the rest of our loops without further spills, and we appreciate Jake appeasing the mountain by offering it his plasma.  

I knew Bryan would be pretty quick around green, so I headed up to the start line, carrying a new piece of gear: one of Christina and Amadeo's trekking poles!  Okay, let's back up a bit.  See, Colorado had a crazy wet winter, which led to a wet spring, and was still manifesting itself as a wet summer (they actually got enough rain to technically move themselves out of the drought conditions they'd been under for the past several years), and warmer summer temperatures were leading to a lot of the increased snowpack finally starting to melt and head downward, some of it onto the very trails we were running.  The streams that normally ran through the Snowmass golf course more closely resembled rivers, and the uphill section of the yellow loop was exceedingly muddy.

Christina'd already taken on yellow, so she knew what a mess it was, and we all understood it would only get worse as the event wore on (and hundreds more runners stomped through it, both widening and deepening the mud).  Since I'm short and clumsy (she phrased it much nicer than this), she made the recommendation to me to take one of the trekking poles she and Amadeo packed, as it would give me a solid point of contact with the ground to help me get through the mudpits that awaited me.

Although I try to stick to the mantra of "nothing new on race day," her suggestion was excellent, and that trekking pole saved my bacon multiple times.  A taller, heavier gentleman was right behind me through several of the mud sections (there were at least 5-6 that you couldn't hop over, and several smaller ones as well), and he expressed regret at not having one himself.  Even though it was muddy, yellow was fun, too; since the second half was on the same loop as the downhill side of red, I got to bomb down my new favorite trail once more, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time (even with squishy shoes).

I crossed the finish line and handed the muddy bib to Jen, who started on her trek around red.  As I wandered out of the transition tent, I found myself in the middle of a t-rex dance party (to Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby").  You know, as one does.  I had to snap a photo and attempt to take a video as well:

The photo...

...and the video!

I turned around to find Bryan right behind me (he had escorted Jen to the start line), and when I exclaimed, "Bryan!  I got a picture of the t-rexes!," he informed me that he got a pic of me taking a pic of the aforementioned dinosaurs.

And here it is!

You can kind of see the trekking pole

sticking out under my left arm.

As you can see in the above photos, night was starting to set in, so when I made it back to the tent, quite a bit of sleeping was already underway (it was around 9pm - the sun sets late in the mountains!).  I made haste to ditch my muddy clothes and join the festivities.

A shot of one muddy shoe and one muddy sock,

which was inside the shoe.

I took off the socks, and my feet were muddy, too.

Pretty much everything I was wearing -

with the exception of my shoes and hydration pack - 

went in the trash.

This is why I bring old gear to Ragnar.

As it pretty normal at this stage of Ragnar, not too many photos are taken; everyone is running their loops, then coming back and changing quickly, so they can head to bed before they get too cold.  I got a good few hours of sleep, then was awake for a bit, then crashed again, and during this time, everyone cycled through their runs once more.

Dawn approached (around 5:30am or so), and it was time for me to hit the trails for my final lap, this time, for a spin around green.  Even with the mud on yellow, green was my least favorite loop; there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, but it just didn't compare to red or yellow in my eyes (Chris felt completely the opposite, which is why we're married - he can have the loops I don't like, I suppose).  As usual, though, the views were gorgeous, and I grabbed some shots of dawn breaking over camp while I hiked the steeper sections of the trail.

I made it back to camp without incident, changed back into lounging around clothes, and started eating everything I could find.  I was done running!  Hooray!  Jen, Christina, and Chris also had great runs, around yellow, red, and green, respectively.  As I finished up green, I noticed a road crossing right behind the Glamping site, so Jake, Christina, and I wandered out to see Chris finish up his loop.

The welcoming committee!

Hanging out and cheering on other runners

I think he's in this shot somewhere...

the trail zigzagged down this hill.

Okay, there he is for real!

Crossing the road

"Hi guys!

I'm almost done running!"

Amadeo headed out on our final yellow loop, and then Tim sped off into the distance for our anchor red.

Off to battle the mud!

Like normal, back at camp, we got all suited up and sauntered toward the finish line, about 10-15 minutes before the earliest projections of Tim's arrival time.  We handed out some blue rock candy and enjoyed the reactions to our attire.  More importantly, we also sat under a tree and rested our legs.

Jake, scanning the horizon

Free samples!

Before too long (he was the speediest person on our team, as I've mentioned previously), Tim appeared!  We got him apron'd, and we headed for the finish line!

We don't have any "running across the line" shots this time, but we do have this one, which cracks me up every time I see it:

Guys, Tim is DONE.

Just a shot to prove the rest of us were there, too

Before we could ditch the sweaty hazmat suits (ours were tossed after this Ragnar - they'd served us well, but after 4 different events, we figured it was time for new ones), we needed to get our medals and grab team finish line shots:

The serious one...

...and the silly one.

You can guys which one's going

on our mantle.

Jake and Tim celebrate our finish!

We strolled back to camp, where we enjoyed a round of mimosas provided by our Glamping concierges (it was most appreciated).

I don't have a shot of the toast,

so instead, here's a picture of

all the slap bracelets everyone

"accidentally" re-homed during the event.

We did give these back, I promise.

We all finished packing up our respective gear, and we helped each other load up the cars, check for anything left over in the tents, and take out the trash/recycling.  Chris and I joined Jen and Bryan for a lunch visit to Aspen, while Amadeo, Christina, Jake, and Tim headed to the Snowmass Village rec center for showers and a little pool time.  After lunch, Chris and I drove back to Snowmass to check into the Westin, our home for Saturday night.  We took some amazing showers, and it was time to hit the hay for a well-deserved nap!

As always, we had an absolutely fantastic time hanging out with our buddies and running every now and then, too.  While the folks on our team are consistently outstanding, given all the delays and struggles we faced even making it to the start line at Snowmass, they really stepped up in so many ways this time, and I can't say how much I truly appreciate everything they did.  You guys are all awesome!

Coming up in future blogs, now that the running's done, we spend some touristy time in Colorado!

Later!

Amy