The craziest thing I have ever done

If you know me, and most of you who read my blog do, you know that I am not your wild & crazy friend. I don’t even know what a wild & crazy friend would do in order to be called wild & crazy, that’s how much I am not a wild & crazy friend. So it will come as no surprise that driving a borrowed 15-passenger van full of runners (1/2 of whom I had never previously met) around WA state for 36 hours straight for a 200+ mile running relay is quite possibly the craziest thing I have ever done. It was also fabulous, fun, unforgettable, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Meet The Ragnar – Northwest Passage.

I drove that van for these two gals right here. My SIL from CA who loves to run and inspires everyone with her smile and kindness; and my oldest daughter who loves to run and inspires everyone with her smile & her kindness. These two are peas in a pod, and they share not a drop of genetics.

So here’s how it goes…you get together a team of 12 crazy people who like to run and especially who like to run without any sleep whatsoever. You travel to whatever location suits you (this was the Northwest Passage – run from Peace Arch Park in Blaine…almost Canada…to the southern tip of Whidbey Island). My SIL has run Ragnars in SoCal and in Napa Valley previous to the NWP. 12 runners split into two large vehicles, aptly named Van 1 and Van 2. Van 1 starts, each runner runs one predetermined leg (length varies from 3 mi – 10 mi). Once the 6th runner from Van 1 is finished, Van 2 starts and Van 1 has a few hours to rest before their second legs. This continues, back & forth between Vans, through the night, until each runner has completed 3 legs. Then they celebrate and drink beer.

Our team, Who Needs Sleep? was comprised of Sarah, her coach, my SIL, 3 of her CA girlfriends, my SIL’s brother & his wife, my cousin’s wife, and a few other friends of my SIL and/or her brother. We hardly knew each other, but my SIL was an awesome team captain and after a pre-race BBQ at my parents’ and some fun decorating the vans, we were totally up for living in a traveling confined space together for the next two days.

Sarah did almost all the decorating of our van, Van 1.

Almost the whole team, minus my cousin’s wife who got stuck in traffic, plus minus one other friend who couldn’t make it.

All of Van 1!

Our Friday morning start time was 6:15, and we had to be there by 5:15, so we left home at 4:30. Yes, a.m. But those 4 Cali girls were ready & excited!

It was so fun to share this experience with Sarah!

Darcee was runner #1 and she was ready!!

Darcee handed off to Sarah, our runner #2! Sarah got to run along Birch Bay, which was pretty cool. Ed, Becca, Elise, & my parents came out to cheer on Sarah, Susanne, and the team during their first legs and it was great fun!

Sarah had a great first run and handed off to runner #3, her coach, Josh.

I didn’t get a picture of all the boxes getting checked off as legs were completed, but it was definitely a big deal – check off your run and be sure to do it in a creative way!

Josh handed off to Cali girl Patty, runner #4!

Patty handed off to Susanne, runner #5, who was the best encourager out there!

Part of the deal with this relay is that as your runner follows their route, the van drives past, cheers and rings cowbells, cheers on every other runner they see, and then finds a place to park (when possible and safe) to give runner support…do they need water, are they OK, encourage, etc. The challenge for me, being the van driver, was to always be able to get in and out of these runner support and exchange parking situations with a borrowed 15-passenger van. It went remarkably well, surprisingly!!

Okay, so maybe Darcee’s cartwheel puts her into the top spot for top encourager…

Susanne handed off to LeAnn, runner #6 and then we were off to the first major exchange, where we would meet up with Van #2 for the first time!

The Major Exchanges, where both vans of each team meet up, are big and exciting with lots of people and vehicles and music and comradery. We made a tunnel for LeAnn to come through to hand off to runner #7, the first runner from Van 2!

Then we had a little lunch break in Fairhaven!

Second Major Exchange!

Then came one of the toughest legs…Darcee was running in the heat, through an ugly industrial part of town. It was a brutal leg. I daresay if she ever ran NWP again she would not be runner #1.

We tried to give her lots of van support, but after this industrial area came two difficult hills where we could not give support. It was tough, but like everyone on Who Needs Sleep? she killed it!

Before Sarah’s 2nd leg, Susanne applied her official Ragnar “tattoo” -

I think she liked it! I love this smile on this girl!

Sarah had a long hill with several stop lights, but it was through our old hometown of Mount Vernon, and her exchange was at our former church, so our good friends came out and cheered her on as she finished her leg!

Here’s Josh finishing up his second leg…we didn’t give him much support on that leg, I’m afraid. Windy & curvy narrow roads didn’t leave us many options. Plus he was the most experienced runner on the team. We didn’t even warn him about the bee hives he had to run past…but he didn’t get stung.

And Patty is off on her second leg!

We were now down in the valley and it was so beautiful!

And Patty is done and Susanne is off!

Susanne had a beautiful late afternoon run through the fields of Skagit Valley.

Somehow I don’t have a picture of Susanne handing off to LeAnn, but it was beginning to get dark, so everyone was wearing their night gear.

Oh, Darcee! What were you doing in that cornfield?

We headed to the third major exchange, but the parking there was so horrible, we actually missed LeAnn handing off to runner #1 from Van 2. Once we found LeAnn, we headed to the 4th major exchange spot for showers & sleep. As we drove, we watched the most beautiful sunset.

We also stopped at Deception Pass so that the Cali girls could walk over the bridge. I stayed in the van. We all know how I feel about the bridge, and those feelings, my friends, are 10 times worse in the dark.

We got to Oak Harbor High School around 10:30/11:00 p.m., showered, and tried to sleep. Some of us slept in the van, some on the grass, and some in the gym. We had to wake up by 1:30 a.m. because our team members had all been running faster than our projected paces, and we were going to be starting our last legs by about 2:30 a.m.

I brought some fun dress-up things like feather boas and tiaras, but I was relatively unsuccessful in getting anyone to wear them, except for this brief moment when Josh obliged. Probably only because I’m the mom of his star runner.

Our first night time exchange!

I don’t have any pictures of anything else during those night time runs because, well, it was night time and cameras don’t work awesome at night. I would have had darkness with small lights where their headlamps were. Sarah had a great 3rd leg and Josh ran with her, which made this mama happy. Josh finished his 3rd leg so fast we barely got Patty there in time to take the bracelet and start her leg! This was Patty’s brutal run -  hills, hills, and more hills. It was pretty, as the sun was beginning to rise, but it was her longest leg (over 8 miles) and brutal. But she did not stop. She killed it!

Susanne had a beautiful morning run around the Penn Cove area of Whidbey Island, and she did awesome!

Handing off to LeAnn for her last leg!

At the last major exchange – LeAnn is finished and Van One is Done!

While we were at the last major exchange, Josh was able to see his wife, Nikki, who was also running the Ragnar, but on an all-women’s team, and Sarah was able to meet up with her running bestie Marissa, who was supposed to run on Nikki’s team, but was injured so was just along as a support.

Sure do love those two girls and their friendship and is it okay if I say this “outloud”?… I sure hope they someday run as Calvin Knights together.  

After a local breakfast, we headed to my aunt & uncle’s house for showers and a little rest before heading to the finish line! We were so grateful for their kindness!

This is when all the crazy people (aka runners) go drink beer, eat pizza, buy Ragnar swag, congratulate each other, etc. Except Sarah didn’t drink beer, of course. This was when I laid down on a blanket in the sun and promptly fell asleep for at least a half hour. Then I ate some pizza, LeAnn bought me a Coke, and I was ready for the 2.5 hour drive home.

There was a small pit stop in Coupeville for ice cream, because all Ragnarians deserve ice cream after accomplishing such a lofty race – plus our team was 90 minutes ahead of their projected time! Congratulations!!

The drive home was better than I anticipated. I envisioned 6 exhausted runners sleeping in the back of the van while I prayed I wouldn’t fall asleep and drive over the guardrail on the bridge. Thankfully, none of that happened. The runners slept on and off, but Josh & Sarah pretty much stayed awake and kept me quite entertained and happy. Josh offered to drive, but, like a runner wanting to finish her leg on her own and not have someone else take over, I wanted to finish my duties as driver. I had driven since 4:30 on Friday morning and I wanted to finish the job. A little Starbucks and a lot of giggling helped immensely and soon we were back in Lynden, washing all the memories off the side of the van.

We just might do it again next year.