Ragnar Del Sol

On February 23, I set out, ALONE, for the first time ever without my family, to Arizona to meet up with my good friend, Kim, and run Ragnar race #2. We spent the first two days there celebrating her birthday and doing some good ol' shopping.

And then we woke to this.... On Friday, the 25th, me, along with these other wonderful 5 ladies, started our adventure.

We arrived nice and early to our first exchange. Thankfully we were van #2, so we got to sleep in a little extra that morning. We were all super excited, a little nervous, and ready to start this 200-mile adventure. I was runner #7, so I was first up to run in our van of 6. My first run started about 1 pm that afternoon and was an easy 4.5 miles. It was so nice to be back running in the sun and warmth! This first run took me through the streets of the Arizona dessert.

By time we had all finished our first runs, we were starving and ready to eat and relax. There is never a shortage of good places to eat in Arizona, so we grabbed a quick bite and set off for our next pit stop.

We all tried catching a bit of shut-eye. Some were successful, some were not. Sleeping 6 women in a mini-van is no easy task. There were legs going every direction and stuff crammed in every nook and cranny. I'm sure we were quite a site. I, myself, couldn't fall asleep, but I did try and take advantage of the relaxing part. About 1 am, we started getting prepped and ready for our next set of runs. I, for some reason, thought it might be a "good idea" to pop a 5-hour energy, It ended up NOT being one of my brightest ideas...

I did, however, complete my 5-mile night run with a great time. I always LOVE the night runs. Nothing compares.

The next morning I paid BIG TIME for the energy drank I had earlier that morning. I was sicker than a dog. I couldn't eat anything, I spent the morning going back-and-forth to the bathrooms and my stomach was in knots. No fun considering I had a HUGE run before me. Despite feeling terrible, we never had a shortage of laughs.

My last and final run was crazy hard. It was through the residential area of Fountain Hills. It was only 3.5 miles, but the elevation gain was 660 feet. BRUTAL. It was straight up hill for the first 2 miles and then had rolling hills after that. I was seriously worried I'd have to walk the first half since I had been feeling so sick. But then, something happened. I started running and I dug deep. It was like the stars aligned and everything just worked. I powered up that hill like it was an everyday run. I let my body fall into the downhill and didn't hold back. It. Was. Amazing. I didn't want to stop come the exchange! This was, hand's down, my best run EVER. Even in my normal day-to-day runs. I had never really experienced a true "runner's high" until then. I just wanted to jump and dance and scream when I was done. SO MUCH FUN.

Our team, Run Like a Mother, finished with a time of 35 hours and 18 minutes. I didn't sleep for 39 hours straight, ran a total of 13 miles, met 11 new friends and had one unbelievable experience.

I love Ragnar!