Captain's log 30 March 2016 - Ragnar SoCal 2016

Wow, where has the time gone. Oh yeah, big project at my #accounting job, #injury, and life with #kids. But now is the time to start focusing on #Ragnar!!!! I am getting pretty excited, if not a little nervous. Ragnar is just around the corner. Literally 2 days away! This will be my 3rd year and the 3rd team I have captained. Every year is a new challenge and every year is more fun!

Ok, for anyone who has not heard of Ragnar Relay let me explain, briefly, what that is. It is a Relay race with 12 people, 2 vans, and roughly 36 hours. You all run 3 different times of varying distances starting at one location and ending at another. For me that relay is the SoCal relay, starts in Huntington Beach and ends in Coronado this year (although it has been a different finish line every year so far). The short version goes like this Runners 1-6 are in Van 1 and they start, early, Friday morning. Runner 1 starts and then hands off the baton, or in this case the slap bracelet, to runner 2 and so on. Runners 7-12 are in Van 2 and meet up with Van 1 at exchange 6 where runner 6 passes off the slap bracelet to runner 7. At this point Van 2 is "on the road" and Van 1 can go "sleep and eat" before they run again after runner 12. It is crazy, exhausting, and fun. Find out more at http://www.runragnar.com.

Van mate/Team mate during the "night" hours 

So, on to this year. I have again set up an amazing team of women, some I know really well and some I have never meet personally but have been told they are amazing. After captaining 2 teams I am getting a little more selective on who is on my team. I have learned that getting 12 people to run is not as hard as it may sound, and a team fills up pretty quickly. Every year the team dynamics are different and every year brings on a lot of new and fun memories. But here are a few tips for any new captains or anyone thinking of creating a team:

Tip 1: Make sure everyone understands the importance of working together and going with the flow. Teams are set up usually at least a few months in advance, if not longer, things happen things change, go with it. If you get to worked up over something it ruins the fun and experience.

Team Run Runners of Ragnar 2014

Team Fox in Socks 2015

Tip 2: Logistics, logistics, logistics! When you set up your team remember think about where they are coming from and if you are able to get them to and from the pickup location. When running SoCal you start in Huntington Beach and end in San Diego (somewhere - it changes yearly). If you have some runners from LA area and some from San Diego you have to think about how to get everyone back to where they need to be. It isn't complicated, but needs to be considered. Also, think about start times, do you need to rent a hotel room for the night before or after the relay?

Tip 3: VANS - get them reserved early and be prepared for something to happen to that reservation. Last year I had 2 12-passenger vans rented and the reservation got lost. I stressed, cried, screamed and in the end we used Expeditions owned by my teammates and it was a bonding and close experience ;-). But because my team was able to "go with the flow" we made it work and had a blast. This year I have found out, again, the 12 passenger vans are not available because of a recall from Ford. So, we will do this in Mini vans with stow and go seats for extra storage (or space to lay down when we are trying to "sleep"). Either way, I am not crying this time. Frustrated yes, apparently the van gods have something against me, lol. BUT the main lesson, GO WITH THE FLOW.

Type of van I wanted - Glad Donate Lifers got on though!

Van decorations are the key!

2015 Home on the road, so much fun making it work!

Tip 4: Pack light and only the necessities! Whatever you think you will need, reduce it by 1/2. The stack of 20 magazines you think you will read, bring maybe 2. You will be way busier cheering, navigating, and running to really do anything else. Pack 1 warm outfit and your running gear, really you need nothing else!

Tip 5: Be prepared for injuries! You set up the team in January and a lot can happen before April. When a runner is injured don't freak out. You can handle it one of 3 ways, replace them (for serious injuries), move runners around so they have less miles (for minor setbacks), or other runners pick up there runs. If the team has only 11 runners then some of you can pick up those other 3 legs and you will be fine.

Tip 6: As captain taking your teammates opinions into consideration and then just make the final decision. There is a lot to get, magnets for tagging, team name, team shirts and costumes (if you do costumes), etc. Not everyone may LOVE the idea but I go by the majority rules type mentality. This is where the whole making sure the teammates you picked can go with the flow and be flexible. This year were are "Mermaids out of Water." I know a few people on the team or not Disney fans and would rather be a "Running from Zombies" type team. But because they are easy going and flexible the have loaded their iPod's with Metallica music and will tolerate the "Under the Sea" and other Mermaid themed songs that are thrown at them, as well as wear the mermaid skirt and pretend like they love it.

Tip 7: Let it Go and have fun! You are a captain but this is a relay of 12 people. It won't always go as planned so let it go when it isn't important and have fun!!!

Above everything, BE FLEXIBLE, and GO WITH THE FLOW. If you can't handle change on the fly and yet staying organized then you may be better suited to just being a teammate and not the captain. But if you really want to run Ragnar and can handle a little responsibility then go for it. Start the team, you have at least 1 running friend and they have a friend and it goes from there.

Those are my tips from my experience. Hope it helps anyone thinking about creating a team! No matter what Ragnar you are doing and if you are a captain or a team member Ragnar is an experience you will never forget! I would recommend it to any adventurous runner out there!

Injury, booo!

Here it is, early on a Friday morning. Kids are sleeping, husband is at work already. Perfect time to get a workout in, maybe even a run on the treadmill. Right? And yet here I sit at the computer about to work on a project for my #accounting job and mad. Mad may not be the right word, frustrated, scared, sad, upset, all of the above. Ever since the "accident" in January I feel like I can't get into a good routine.

Let me explain. While I have been cleared by the doctors to run, and I do run it isn't the same. Running is important to me and my sanity yes. But when I started Marathon training, really back in March of 2015 when I started the 21 Day Fix Extreme, cross training became important as well. When I didn't feel like hitting the treadmill and wanted to exercise I would pop in a video. I know have a pretty good library to chose from and there is always Beach Body on Demand with tons of options. Variety when needed or a set program if I was on one. I was starting to see stomach muscles! I was feeling great and ready to take on the next 26.2 in June. Then BAM! Out of no where I get rear-ended and everything changes. Between Dr appt for myself and my daughter, worrying about the long term affects her #concussion may have. I am at my wits end. Then to top it off, I can't really do my home workouts because I don't want to do anything to my back. I am at this point beyond over it!

I will say the massage therapy from Fix Body Group is/has helped tremendously but now I am nervous to try anything for fear it will bring back the pain. So here is the question of the day, when you are injured and have to find new methods for exercise and stress relief, what do you do? Comment below with your ideas! I need some help please!!

I Am A Mermaid

Man, time just keeps ticking away doesn't it. I meant to relieve my most recent Half Marathon so much sooner! Sorry about the delay. But here is my recap of the Mermaid Half Marathon on Saturday, February 13, 2016!

I found myself up and going at the crack of dawn. Race days always make me wonder why I am a runner. I mean honestly it was cold, dark, and foggy! Why do I do this to myself? But thanks to the generosity of the Mermaid Series the San Diego Mom's Run This Town chapter had received a free entry. They had held a little competition to encourage us runners and get the new year started right. A winner was chosen at random and I was the lucky winner!

I was super excited when I received the message letting me know I had won. It was the perfect timing, a few weeks after my marathon and I could hopefully finally get the sub 2:20 I was looking for. And then, as my previous post stated I had a car accident. That slowed my training down. It is so important to listen to my body. While I am cleared by doctors to run I also make sure I listen and if my body is hurting then I adjust. That means the plan to continue training hard for those 3 weeks slowed to plan to just maintain as much fitness as possible. And I did. Had some good training runs, and some not so good training runs leading up.

The morning of the 1/2 dawned cold and foggy. The drive in was a little nerve racking. I got to the race a little unsure of where I wanted to park. The parking situation was a little different. While the course loops around Mission Bay and Fiesta Island the start line is about 1.5 miles from the finish. I had planned on parking at the lot right between the start and the finish. However, when I pulled up and it was PITCH BLACK and foggy with minimal lighting between the planned parking lot and the start line I decided that was not the right option. I parked by the start, opting to have a good 1.5 mile cool down at the end. I will say the bathroom setup was not to bad and I had the chance to meet up with some other running friends, always helps to keep the nerves down.

o dark 30! Fog and all but ready to run, right?

As the 10Kers headed out I got lined up and positioned myself between the 2:20 pacer and the 2:30 pacer. I had already decided to scale back on my goal and take a sub 2:30, it was still a PR so I was okay with that. The course starts behind Sea World and I had run the course a few times already. I spent the first 4 miles adjusting my new fuel belt (now I know why you don't run a race with untested gear). It was a fast 4 miles because I am not usually a fan of running on Fiesta Island, the sloped road bothers my hips, but it is a fairly easy run and the foggy started to burn off so it warmed up nicely and was a pretty run. Then as the course opens up around mile 5 onto Mission Bay Drive you get a nice easy flat run pretty much the rest of the course. It is a wide street and the course was well marked.

The course was pretty well supported with water stations. Running in Mission Bay races is usually a little tricky because they can't close the path to the public, but overall it was a slower day so that part was not as bad as I was afraid it would be. I won't lie, the last 3 miles coming back into the finish was a little difficult for me. The course goes onto the bike path at this point and there tend to be some slight elevation changes you have to account for. Overall I was just tired at this point and because the road is closed it makes it difficult for spectators and cheer squads to get down there so it was pretty quiet as far as that goes. The finish line however is set up nicely and they were very well stoked with water and food. I LOVED the post race refreshments and while I finished at 2:28:59 (I got my PR) and feel confident those finishing after me received the same food as me and that always makes me happy. There is nothing worse then finishing a 1/2 Marathon and there is NOTHING left because you are a back of the packer.

These ladies are some awesome momma runners, friends, and Ragnar 2016 teammates!

After the race there is lots of space to stretch, meet up with friends watch the kiddos run their race. Overall, it was a great race to run. I know a lot of people that PRed and a great one to run with younger girls because you get the t-shirt, medal, and a necklace at all the distances. I mean who doesn't like BLING?

After this last race I have had time to sit back and really focus on where I am heading in my running now. Stay tuned, that is a post for another day :-)