On January 30, I headed up to Wickenburg with half of my Ragnar Del Sol Relay team. This year was the final running of the Ragnar Del Sol relay. I decided to run the race since it was the first adventure relay I had run with my fellow Sprouties. We couldn’t field a full team from Sprouts so I called some of my friends from Password Penguin to see if they wanted to run and they were in. The only issue on January 30 was that one of my Penguins had to pull out because he had pneumonia. This meant our van was going to have to pick up his legs amongst the five of us. We have done it before and could do it again.
We arrived in Wickenburg about 3 pm and decided to walk around downtown. I have been to Wickenburg a few times, but my friends had not. We looked around the shops and then decided to grab a few beers in one of the local saloons. We went into the La Cabana Saloon which was a typical western saloon. After a couple of cold ones, we then headed over to Anita’s Cocina. Anita’s is the oldest Mexican restaurant in Wickenburg. They have been around since 1986 which didn’t seem that long ago to me. But it is family owned and the food was great. When we finished, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest.
Our team’s start time was at 8:00 a.m. I told the guys that we would meet in the lobby of the hotel at 6:45 a.m. to head over to the starting line area to meet the rest of the team. Surprisingly they all were in the lobby and ready to go at 6:45 a.m. We loaded up the van and then headed over to the starting line area. We saw the rest of the team in the safety briefing area. When they were done, I introduced everyone as I was the only person who knew everyone. We joked around a bit waiting for the call to the starting line.
I will say one thing about participating in a Ragnar relay, they start on time. Sure enough at about 10 minutes to 8, we heard the call to get over to the starting line. Our first runner was going to be Dana. She was pumped up as she headed over to the starting line. The event organizers announced all of the teams and then started the countdown to the start. The gun went off and Dana was off. The Penguins were on the road. We said good-bye to Van 1 and headed to town to grab breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed out to Exchange 6 where we would meet Van 1. The exchange was at the Sun Sprititualist Camp in Tonopeh. We pulled into the big dirt parking lot. We grabbed our safety gear to get checked in and watch the safety video. Once we had done that, we hung out in the van listening to music and relaxing. The sun was up and the weather was starting to warm up a bit. Finally we got the text that Van 1’s last runner was on the road. I got the team together and got Bob ready for his first leg.
Van 1 pulled in a short time later. We were going to head over to the exchange with Van 1. I punched the lock on the key fob and nothing happened. I got in the van to try and start it. The battery was dead. We had drained it waiting for Van 1. I sent the team over to the exchange zone so I could try and find someone with jumper cables. Luck was in our favor and we found someone. Greg and I hooked it up to a van next to us and we got the engine going. I stayed in the van to keep it going. A few minutes later the other 3 guys showed up and we were finally off.
The first 5 legs went really smoothly. Jason had to double up running legs 8 and 9 together. Then Greg had a hard 9.7 mile leg. Next Brian had a 4 miler which would bring him to me. The entire team was hitting their predicted paces. Brian came in right where he was supposed to and handed off to me. I had the longest leg of the race ahead of me. I had volunteered to take our sick runner’s place. This meant I had to run an 11.3 mile leg that was a gradual downhill for more than 2/3 of the distance. The good news was that I was heading out at dusk and the temperature was perfect.
I headed out onto Sun Valley Parkway and my long downhill. The sun set about 15 minutes into my run. It was so peaceful as there were not many cars on the road. The runners ahead and behind me were pretty distant. It was like one of my long early morning training runs. I locked into a pace that felt fast but comfortable. I ended up running the first 6 miles of the leg at an average pace of 8:02 per mile. I could feel that I was going too fast as I started mile 7. I pulled back a little to keep something in reserve for the last 4.5 miles. I finally reached the point where Sun Valley Parkway changes to Bell Road. I had only 1.3 miles to go and my pace was now just under 9 minutes per mile.
I made the turn onto North Citrus Drive which would take me into Willow Canyon High School and the exchange. I picked up the pace running a sub-8 minutes for the last .33 miles. I pushed through the finish line and handed off to Dana for her to start Leg 13. Since this was the Ragnar Leg, I went over to collect my medal. The Ragnar Leg is the one leg that is longer, steeper, more challenging and more talked about than any other in each relay. I have run this leg 3 times during the Del Sol race. I am always up for the challenge. I had run this Ragnar Leg in 1:36:25 which was an 8:31 pace. My van mates met up with me and we got in the van to grab some food and rest up for our next legs.
We got the text around midnight that the last runner from Van 1 was on the road. They had lost some time and were about 45 minutes off our predicted pace. We headed over to Sandra Day O’Connor High School where Bob would meet up with Van 1’s final runner and head out for his second leg. Our goal was to try and get back the time Van 1 had lost. The temperature was in the low 50s which was ideal. Bob finished a little ahead of pace handing off to Brian who was running 2 legs back to back. He covered his 6.9 miles right on pace. Next up was Greg and Jason. Both covered their miles a little ahead of pace. Jason came in strong handing off to me at 3:13 a.m.
I had a predicted 3.2 miles moderate leg. The problem I was having was that my quads were really sore from all the downhill during my first leg. I really wanted to run at an 8:30 per mile pace. I was able to average an 8:40 pace for the first 2 miles. But I was unable to hold it. My legs were really burning and I had to back off the pace. I was so frustrated. I just didn’t have the gas in the tank. I ended up running at above a 10 minute pace. I pulled into the Cross Church of Christ in Anthem and handed off to Dana. I had run 3.14 miles in 31:19 which was a 9:12 pace. I was unhappy as I couldn’t help make up any of the time we had lost. We headed back to our rest area to get some much needed rest.
Van 1 was not able to make up any time during the next 6 legs. We got in about 3 hours of sleep before we got the call that Mark from Van 1 was out for his final leg. We headed over to Cactus Shadow High School in Dove Valley to meet them. Mark came in and handed off to Bob. Bob was going to run this leg of 4.1 miles and then pick up a second leg later. Bob killed his leg and handed off to Jason. Jason, Greg and Brian all ran their legs right on pace. Brian handed off to Bob who had to run 2.1 miles before handing off to me. I was feeling really sore and my legs were tight. I only had 4.7 miles to run and knew I could gut it out and get to the finish line.
We headed over to Vista Del Camino Park in Scottsdale where I would meet Bob. Bob came in strong and handed off to me. The temperature was 62 and the sky was cloudless. This meant it would feel a little hotter than it was. My leg would take me though the southern portion of the park before making a couple of turns to get me under the 101 Freeway and onto the Tempe Marketplace Trail which runs along the Salt River. It is a concrete bike and running path and overlooks the dry riverbed of Salt River. I headed south trying to run at a sub-9 minute pace. I was able to average an 8:48 per mile pace for the first 3 miles. But I couldn’t hold it. As I crossed the 3rd mile, I started to overheat a bit, so I stopped to walk.
I started to run again and just couldn’t push the pace. I gutted out the last 1.7 miles averaging just under a 10 minute pace. I turned into the tunnel that would take me into Riverview Park and the finish line. As I approached the finish line, I could see my teammates lined up making a tunnel for me to run through. That inspired me to pick up the pace a bit. They fell in behind me and followed me across the finish line. I was so happy to be done. My legs were shot and I even had trouble walking over to the tables to sit down and rest. We all shared a celebratory beer and chatted about our experience. The consensus was that it was a lot of fun and we cherished the last running of this Ragnar Relay.
Password Penguin had run 186.5 miles in 29:00:51 which was a 9:20 per mile pace. We had come in 9th place in our group Open – Mixed. This is one of the highest finishes my teams have accomplished. I was really proud of the whole team but especially my Van as we had to suck it up and cover extra legs. Our predicted finish was 27:48:00 (8:48 pace). We had run an hour and 12 minutes slower than we had set as a goal. But Ragnar had predicted that we would finish in 28:59:29. We had missed it by only 30 seconds. How about that!
I am sad to see Ragnar Del Sol end. I have some fond memories from each of the 4 times I participated. I am sure that Ragnar will come back to Arizona again in the future. Until then the Penguins will run in other relays across the country. I love this group of crazies and can’t wait until the next race.
Jan 20 – 5.10 miles (54:07, 10:25 pace) – Hill Repeats
Jan 21 – 3.10 miles (25:07, 8:06 pace) – Speed Work
Jan 23 – 3.60 miles (33:00, 9:10 pace)
Jan 24 – 4.10 miles (1:18:00, 8:21 pace) – Tempo Run
Jan 26 – 3.30 miles (33:49, 10:33 pace)
Jan 27 – 4.50 miles (38:47, 8:37 pace)
Jan 28 – 3.10 miles (27:59, 8:45 pace)
Jan 29 – 2.20 miles (19:31, 8:52 pace)
Jan 31 – 11.33 miles (1:36:25, 8:31 pace) – Ragnar Del Sol 2020 - Leg 12
Feb 1 – 3.41 miles (31:19, 9:12 pace) – Ragnar Del Sol 2020 – Leg 24
Feb 1 – 4.70 miles (43:26, 9:13 pace) – Ragnar Del Sol – Leg 36
Feb 3 – 3.10 miles (28:30, 9:12 pace)
Feb 4 – 7.30 miles (1:04:31, 8:50 pace) – Speed Work
Feb 6 – 7.30 miles (1:04:48, 8:53 pace) – Tempo Run
Feb 7 – 4.10 miles (37:28, 9:09 pace)
Feb 8 – 13.16 miles (2:25:24, 11:03 pace) – Sprouts Mesa Half Marathon
Feb 9 – 7.40 miles (1:09:00, 9:19 pace)
Total Miles: 98.30 miles
2020 Total Miles: 206.10 miles
