If you haven’t noticed, my love of running has been waning a bit lately. I think things were getting a little stale – same old route, same old runs, same old music. With no real running goals in my near future plus the stress of wedding planning, I have been a bit off. However, there is a new adventure in my future – trail running! And not just trail running, a 2 day trail relay – the Ragnar Trail Relay at Vail Lake!
I’ve never run a trail race and I’ve never competed in a Ragnar Relay. Why not try them both at once? One of the main reasons I’ve never joined or created a Ragnar team is because the thought of absolutely no sleep and spending so many hours in a cramped, smelly car is somewhat scary. An even larger reason is that despite being a planner, the thought of coordinating a 12 person team including 2 vans and 2 drives seems overwhelming. However, the Ragnar Trail Relay solves all these problems!
Ragnar Relays have been around for a while but this is the inaugural year for trail relays. Unlike the traditional relay which is a point-to-point race, the trail relay race has a base camp. Racers set up camp sites and run on each of the three trail loops which begin and end at base camp. The teams are only 8 people and each person runs approximately 15 miles in total. The camp takes all the logistics out of the day PLUS if you really need to sleep you can crawl into a sleeping bag and pass out.
The camp itself is very communal and the website promises 1 free meal, s’mores and unlimited coffee with your entry. S’mores and coffee!? Music to my ears!!!
Once we heard that there was a race in our area, Asia and I rallied a team of 8 to participate. Although we haven’t officially signed up, our team is committed and currently working on an awesome team name and theme! Our team consists of: me, Mike, Asia, Jeremy, Mike’s sister Claire, Brooke (Mike’s coworker at Active), and Mike’s friend Arie and his wife Lynn. To kick off the training, tonight Asia and I met up with fellow team member Brooke who I became friends with at the ACTIVEx Endurance Camp. We ran for about 50 minutes through the trails in San Eljio – it was so beautiful and got me really excited to start training for trail running!
Cheers to the next adventure!
Have you ever participated in a Ragnar Relay? Would you do a Ragnar Trail Relay? Anyone else doing Vail Lake?!
I did Ragnar Northwest Passage a month ago. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I haven’t done their trail relay, but that sounds awesome. One of the problems I had was running it the hot sun in the middle of nowhere with no shade. Hopefully there will be many trees on the trail to provide some heat relief!
When I did the SoCal Ragnar, they were promoting the trail relays and I am SO interested! I am excited for you! It is going to be so fun and beautiful!
This looks like a lot of fun! I’ll be very curious how you like it! I have a paranoia with trails and running on anything not pretty flat. I actually tore a ligament in my ankle from a tree root, hence the paranoia. 🙂 Have fun and enjoy the change of pace!