Ragnar 2012

When Christopher told me he wanted to run the Ragnar, I had a few choice words for him; most of them involving CRAZY.  I mean, what kind of a person voluntarily signs up and PAYS for a 2 day, 1 night relay race spanning almost 200 miles over the Rocky Mountains?!

He asked nicely. I said I'd think about it. He trained with the team for a year. I said I was impressed. He said his team got corporate sponsorship. I said I'd pray about it. Dang it. "OK, Chris; go ahead, but please, PLEASE do not get killed on your night run."

A week and a half before the big race, Chris tore a calf muscle. No, not while he was training; while he was running to catch the bus home. We largely attribute the prayers of the children to his leg's recovery. On the day of the race, his muscle was still sore and stiff, but good enough to run on.

Here we are on the day of the race, driving Daddy to the team's rendezvous point.  As requested, Daddy is sitting in "the squishy spot."

[I'm looking at this photo and thinking: Caleb, why did you bring a remote control in the car? Matthew, did you eat chocolate-covered sugar bombs for breakfast? And Isaac, WHO is your mother and why didn't she comb your hair? Oh . . . ahem . . . back to the story.]
 

Chris was pretty giddy to join his teammates despite the special leg gear. That afternoon he ran 6.5 miles of Hard terrain, with his leg still bothering him. In the middle of the night he ran 8.2 miles of Very Hard terrain. (I heard later that he was limping for the first part of the night run. Chris claimed that it loosened up his calf muscle and by the end of the hour-long run, his leg felt better than ever. If you say so, Darlin'.)

The next morning Chris had a 20 minute 2.5 mile Easy run. The Southams joined the boys and I to cheer him on.

We even had a few minutes at his final exchange to chat and snap photos before his teammate arrived to pass the "baton" to him.

Then the kids and I met up with Chris by the finish line. We loved wearing our special shirts from Grandma Ruby!

It was a sizzling hot day, but in the shade we enjoyed talking, eating, and dancing.

When the final runner approached the finish line, the whole team joined in to finish the race together.

Here's Chris sprinting to the finish line!

Out of 1,092 teams, Chris' team placed 40th overall and 2nd in the Corporate division.

He was pretty wiped out when we got home. All's well that ends well.

So a day later, Chris tells me he wants to run the Ragnar again next year . . . .