Ragnar Del Sol 2016

Last weekend I completed my second Ragnar Relay. I wrote about my first time running Ragnar last year, here. This year I knew Ragnar was going to be 5 days after I ran my full marathon so I didn't want to over commit myself. I signed up for shorter legs and although I felt pretty good and probably could have done more, it was nice to not have the pressure of any long legs. This year my sister joined us as well as my other sister's boyfriend and his friend. Justin and my brother in-law were our two other van members although we actually used a Honda Pilot instead of a van. Thursday night we got the van all decorated. Our team name was Scrambled Legs and Achin' again but the guys wanted something ridiculous on our car so we added a blow-up whale. Driving on freeways with that whale was interesting but she survived. Everly named the whale Starr. We were in Van 2 this year so we started our legs out in Tonopah. It was hot and dusty by the time we started Saturday afternoon but I was happy with how fast I ran (8:43/mi). After our first legs were finished out in Surprise we grabbed Subway and headed home to my house to sleep for a couple of hours. My second run was at like 3:00 AM in the Happy Valley area of North Phoenix and I ran even faster (8:34/mi). After we were all done with our second legs we had our largest down time and were able to get coffee and bagels and rest at my sister's house. It worked out really nice and actually felt like we had a good amount of time. My last leg was out in Fountain Hills and was so hard. It was only 3.5 miles but those were the biggest hills I have ever run. I still managed an acceptable pace (9:37) and passed a bunch of people so I was happy. I was actually never passed by anyone on all 3 of my legs which never happened to me last year so that was cool. By the time Justin ran the last leg Saturday night I was done. I just wanted to go get my babies and go to bed! Besides the incident shortly after we started where we took a wrong turn and almost got kicked out of the race, Ragnar 2016 was a success and I had a lot of fun. We ended up finishing 40th out of 106 teams in the Mixed Open division (men and women of any age). Can't wait to do it again next year!



 

Van 2!

Krys ran on a dirt road when it was like 90 degrees out!

Doug starting out on a half marathon leg

Subway never tasted soooo gooood.

Night Safety Gear

keeping warm and hydrated

Krys in Scottsdale

Katy helping Alex with his last (hot) leg.

cheering on our runner

Me on my last run in Fountain Hills.

Justin on the last leg of the race!

Finished!

 

All 12 of us with our medals and Doug with his 3 medals.

Pizza and...

Beer!

Weekend in Review

We had a great weekend. Justin left Thursday night to camp and run at Ragnar Trail AZ so we didn't see him until Saturday afternoon. Friday night we met my mom and the boys at Freddie's. Teddy and Ev were being so cute and playing and Aspen and Cameron were much too busy eating EVERYTHING. Those two were shoveling food in. Saturday morning Everly woke up with a hive-like rash all over her legs and on her arms and so I gave her Benadryl and a shower and she seemed fine. I packed the girls up in the jogging stroller for my first time actually running with it. I usually run before they are awake so I never use it for that but with Justin gone this was my only option. I ran 2.5 miles to Home Depot where I met my sister for the kids workshop. My brother-in-law was nice enough to come and help because it is hard to do that without your husband. Basically the adults to the building and the kids do "some" painting. They love it though and its free so we keep going. After the kids built their planes I ran the 2.5 miles back with the girls and they both fell asleep. I was surprised at how well I ran (about a 9:20 pace). My arms did get a little tired but the stroller really is pretty easy to push. We have THIS double jogging stroller. Saturday afternoon after Justin got home, we went to open swim at Hubbard. It was free if you brought in some canned food so we took advantage of that. My girls don't take year round swim lessons so it was fun to get back in the pool. Saturday night we went to Justin's sister's to watch the Nebraska football game and Everly started to spike a fever. We only lasted half the game before we had to call it a night but my sister in law made some yummy chili! Everly's fever was off an on all day Sunday but she wanted to come to my soccer game so we all went as a family. Sunday night she worked on her homework project of decorating her Turkey with Aunty Kim (who has all the teacher-y crafty things). Aspen and Mae also got some play time in Sunday night now that Mae can sit up. At one point Aspen sat on Mae's head and she didn't like it so much but other that that they played great. Everly turned in her homework Monday but is still fighting her fever/cough so hopefully she can kick that soon!

 

Thanks Uncle Mark!

 

zzzz

 

Having fun at Mama's soccer game.

A photo posted by Justin Larkins (@justinlarkins) on Nov 8, 2015 at 10:53am PST

Ragnar 2015

This past Friday and Saturday I did the craziest physical activity I have ever done. I ran a Ragnar Relay! If you don't know what that is, to sum it up, it is a 12 person 200-ish mile relay. In AZ, the Ragnar Del Sol course ended up being 206 miles and went from Wickenburg to Mesa. My sister-in-law put together an awesome team that was split up into 2 vans. My van included my husband, brother-in-law, and 3 girls that I play soccer with. Looking back on it now, it was crazy! So much fun, but crazy. I learned a lot and definitely want to do one again despite the fact that it was exhausting. Physically, I didn't get hurt or have any unusual soreness. I was definitely less sore than I was with both of my half marathons, however, it took me a good 48 hours to recover from the lack of sleep. It wasn't even that long ago that I had a newborn baby, but this level of exhaustion was just insane. It didn't hit me until it was all over, probably due to adrenaline, but going to work Monday was haaaard! I just wanted to sleep more, haha. Specifially, I was runner 4 in Van 1 and so my legs were 6.5 miles, 6.8 miles, and 4.2 miles. I ended up running at around 11:00 a.m. on Friday (hot), 12:34 a.m. on Saturday morning, and then again at 10:51 AM on Sunday. My sister came out and ran my night run with me, which was an awesome boost! It made it more fun because it was super dark and a trail run which could have been lonely without her! I definitely missed my girls, but my mom and sisters visited us while Justin was running his 3rd leg so that was awesome. I am also nursing still too, so it will be nice to do this again and not have to worry about pumping. Overall, I had a lot of fun and we had a great group of people and I can't wait to do it all again! I have a ton of pics but here are some of my favorites!

Our group in Wickenburg early Friday morning!

Our decorated van. Team name: Scrambled Legs and Achin

 

Justin on his first run and me on mine.

My sister-in-law after her 13.5 mile leg! That was the longest of any legs and she earned a special medal for it!

My sister and I after the night run.

The ladies of Van 1

Justin being greeted by Everly on his 3rd leg.

Handing off after my last run which ended in Fountain Hills.

The last runner in Van 1 was greeted with a toilet paper finish!

Our Van waiting for Van 2 to finish.

Running to the finish line as a team!

Team Scrambled Legs and Achin. We finished 98 out of 212 teams in the mixed open group so not bad!





Post race beers!