Thirty-One Thermal Tote Giveaway

My wonderful friend Annie and I are teaming up for this giveaway.

This is us playing Laser Tag last weekend. 

I own one of these thermal totes and I use it almost daily. 

I absolutely adore it and love how it fits my lunch and various snacks. 

The winner will receive this bag and I may even toss in some running snacks.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We can only ship within the U.S.

 

Ragnar Relay Cape Cod Race Recap Pt 3

PART ONE 

PART TWO

I know. I know. I am a terrible blogger. I have waited FOR-EV-ER to post part three. Forgive me. Life gets crazy. Plus, I just didn't want to post this because then it would mean that Ragnar is for sure over. (le sigh) 

-----------------------------------------

   (bright light)

    I half woke up from my not so power nap. Why was there a light on? Where was I? What time was it? Oh my goodness I think I'm going to hurl. Then I heard Stefanie talking and saying something about us needing to get to the next checkpoint. I was so confused. Nothing was making sense. 

    I sat up and tried to figure out what the heck was going on. I groggily reached around for my shoes and started putting them on. As I was lacing them up I freaked out thinking my feet had swollen up because my shoes were so tight. NOPE. I was just trying to stuff my hobbit feet into Jillian's shoes. Oops. 

    Stefanie started briefing us on how her and Jenn hadn't wanted to wake us and so they quietly went to the exchange together. How sweet are they? 

    To say I felt like hell would be an understatement. I had slept for around 45 minutes. I kept trying to shake it off. I didn't have the brain power to fight off the self doubt. I was so tired during this part that things are pretty hazy. I remember we stopped by a gas station and they ran inside to get coffee but the line was too long. I also remember getting to the exchange and being oh so thankful for our toilet paper supply. I was probably quieter than usual. 

    Brent was smilin' and ready to run. This dude is my hero. 

Brent and Chris goofin' off before our last legs.

The sun was starting to rise which seemed to perk me up a little bit. Soon we spotted Jenn's bright shirt as she came running in from her 5 miles. I remember I said to her,"You're done! Can you believe it?" It was a small relief but mostly just sad.

Jenn coming in, handing off to Brent, and then being sad that her part of the race is done.

    We had received word from Ragnar that the leg distances were messed up. Runner 2's leg was a mile shorter -making it 3.7 miles. However Runner 3 would be taking on that extra mile making their distance 8.9 miles. That'll wake ya up in the morning. 

    You already know by now how quick of a runner Brent is. We all ran to the van to speed on to the next exchange. Chris is a trooper. He was not phased (or was really good at pretending) by the extra mile. He seemed like he was ready to tackle his final leg. 

   On a more serious note (not really) I was freaking out because my final outfit "Patriotic Ivy" was not going to be warm enough. I was going to have to ruin my theme and wear something else. Boo. 

   

I'm really good at taking blurry photos.

    Brent finished his leg and Chris took off on his long final leg. I was still feeling terrible but prepping for my run. I was more awake now and trying to convince myself that I could do it. Everyone else in my van was also convincing me that I could do it. Brent even saved the day by providing me with a navy blue top that would work with my "Patriotic Ivy" outfit theme. CRISIS AVERTED!

    As we drove on to the next exchange we honked and hollered as we passed Chris. Then we all were making all sorts of "OH NO" "AHHHHHHH MAN" as we drove the route and saw all the hills Chris would be running. 

    I think the only reason I was able to get my act together was because of my friend Janell. I knew that she was up and prepping for her 1st marathon in Pennsylvania. I knew her race started at 7 a.m. I knew that I would be running 'with' her. I needed to be thinking and feeling positive for her. So I geared up and got ready for my 5.6 mile final leg.

"PATRIOTIC IVY"

   This portion of the race was on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. It was such beautiful weather. I kept thinking of Janell and praying for her to be mentally and physically strong. I kept praying for great weather for her. I just kept praying for those 26.2 miles to seem easy. 

   Pretty soon I saw Chris haulin' a$$ towards me. I didn't know if I had it in me but I sure was going to try my hardest. I started running my third leg at 7:01 a.m. according to my Garmin. It was serendipitous- I started my final leg only 1 minute after Janell started her marathon. That thought alone made my body surge forward. 

   This is when I discovered just how mental this sport is. An hour before I was hobbling and feeling terribly sick to my stomach....now I was cruising and ran the first mile in 9:17. I promise you I was smiling the entire time. My best friend was on her way to her dream. 

I was passing people. 

My stomach stopped hurting. 

My knee pain didn't bother me much. 

    I saw a man a ways up ahead and just focused on getting to him. Finally at about 3.5 miles in I was running by his side. He asked my pace and then said he wanted to try to tag along. Someone on his team was hurt and he was running straight through the exchange and running her leg too. He wanted to stay under a 9:30 pace. I didn't mind the company. We talked some and ran in silence also. He would fall behind a few steps and then surge ahead a bit. I felt amazing. The views were serene. The wind picked up on the second part of the leg but it didn't bother me that much. 

    At the end of the leg was a big hill. I turned to the guy and said," I'm eating this hill for breakfast." He laughed and said,"ENJOY!" I sprinted up the hill and tried to pass one more chick. Then rounded the corner to come down to the exchange. 

Finishing out my part of Ragnar

Passing off to Jillian

    As soon as I stopped running my knees became stiff and achy. I didn't care...I was done. I immediately checked my phone to see if I had an update on Janell. 

    I remember feeling so happy that I had overcome everything and ran my final leg. It taught me a lot about myself. It showed me that I am stronger than I think. 

Stefanie, Me, and Jenn
I was freezing cold after I ran. 

    I found out during this time that Van 2 had an injury and needed help. Brent graciously offered to run a leg for them- a 6.3 mile leg. He's a beast. Jillian was running her 3.1 (final) leg and cruised in pretty quickly.

Jillian exchanging with Stefanie. 

      Stefanie sped off to run her 6.1 miles. It was hard to digest that we were almost done with this long anticipated race. We were no longer strangers, but good friends. We drove on ahead to the next major exchange, except that we wouldn't be passing off to Van 2. Instead Brent would be running that leg and we would pass off to them at the next exchange. That way after Brent's additional leg we could go on ahead to the finish. 

      I got out and went into the grass and stretched. There was a guy that was doing yoga and I joined in. We talked quite a bit. He used to live on Cape but recently moved to L.A. He was a personal trainer. All the stretching and yoga really helped my aching body and mentally I felt fantastic. I couldn't believe how energetic I was for only about an hour of sleep in 30+ hours. 

Brent getting ready to run his 4th leg of Ragnar. 

    I saw Stefanie's bright shirt from afar and we all started jumping around and cheering.

Brent took off and we all knew that it was officially our van's final run for this race. 

The next exchange was absolutely beautiful so we were kind of glad we had a chance to see it. 

    It was insanely windy and chilly. It was nice to talk to the folks in van 2. I had all sorts of energy for some unknown reason. By this point in Ragnar you could tell your runner was approaching by how they ran from afar. We were all tired and therefore speaking jibberish. It was kind of a weird phenomenon. Even though we were all speaking this new Ragnarian language, we all understood one another. 

Our final exchange to Van 2

Now all we had to do was go to the finish line and await their arrival. 

    Even though we were exhausted, sore, and mostly fully speaking Ragnarian we were all pretty blissful. We had done it. We had pulled our weight in the race. We knew Van 2 was strong and would bring it home. 

    We all went out to lunch together. It kind of felt like high school and as if we were having our one last get together before it was time to part ways. It was so incredibly bittersweet. We laughed a lot. We retold stories. We enjoyed the fact that all six of us were together. We ate food. We laughed more. These people were 5 of my new closest friends. We celebrated and savored the moment. 

We grabbed coffee. I met Batman. No big deal. 

We stopped to get a Van 1 photo. 

Then we all sat at the finish area and relaxed. 

I was in shock that it was over; I didn't want it to be. 

Who knew that you could feel such a bond with people in just a couple of days? 

     I don't know if I just got exceptionally lucky or what. All I know is that Van 1 ROCKED! We all got along so well. It was, as Barney Stinson would say, LEGENDARY. 

    A few hours later Van 2 arrived and we all congregated, waiting for our final runner to come in. 

It was awesome. It was sad. It was amazing.

Eventually "There's a Faster Way to P-Town" finished in 30:21:46.

---------------------------------

Since Ragnar people have asked me if I liked doing a relay and would I recommend it.
YES! YES! YES! 

This rates in my top life experiences. 

    It's hard to describe the feeling of community in an event like this. You can strike up conversations with anyone. All the usual social norms are out the window. It's completely acceptable to ask a stranger if you can borrow something. You stand around with your teams and multiple other teams and everyone cheers for everyone. We all laugh with one another. We all cringe when we see someone hobbling in pain. If someone shouts out they need water we all extend our water bottles for them to take. It's the craziest and most wonderful thing. I wish real life were more like a relay environment. Even though we were all technically racing one another....we all wanted to encourage one another. We all wanted to cheer one another on. We all wanted to be sure that everyone had food in their stomach and was properly hydrated. We all kept each others spirits high. 

   I don't want to post this because then I know that this incredible experience is really over. However, it's been two weeks and it's time. I guess I can start counting down the days until next years relay when the girls in my van maybe just crazy enough to run this as an ultra. 

Ragnar Relay Cape Cod Race Recap Pt 2

I did not intend to leave you hanging for so long. 

Life can be hectic, especially around finals time. 

If you missed out on part one click here

Okay, where was I?

Oh yes, I was laying in my sleeping bag out in a field right along the canal.
(Living in a van, down by the river...hahaha)

So I made my way back over to the van where everyone was having some down time. 

It was time to change outfits and gear up for leg 2, the night run. 

Jillian was sitting in the van already ready to go....well besides the booties.

How is it possible that she looks so good?!

I pulled out my overnight outfit

CRYSTAL CARNIVAL

    We sat in the van drinking water and people watching. Some guys were playing catch with a football right in front of us. We were mean and died laughing when a guy got hit and, um....dropped to the ground. We all wanted to sleep and maybe a few of us did doze off for a moment here or there. Mostly though we were anxious and ready to begin running again.

    Jenn and I made our way over to the exchange point. She wanted to see where it was and how it started. She was geared up and ready to take on her next leg. She would mostly be running the canal as the sun was setting.

Jenn at Exchange 12

    We got word that Peter had started running his leg which meant that it wouldn't be long now. I was pretty jealous because his leg included running over the Bourne Bridge onto Cape Cod. Van 2 informed us that traffic had been horrendous and they had feared that they wouldn't get Peter to the exchange on time. They made it though. 

I totally took this off our team site.
I just adore this photo of the ladies in Van 2. Peter was off conquering the bridge.

    Pretty soon these same ladies had made their way to us. We were so happy to see them. They were giving us updates on how their first legs had been (awesome!). We were all laughing and chatting and having a mini-reunion. Before we knew it Peter was churning up the hill to pass off the slap bracelet.

Peter coming in from his leg and Jenn heading out on her 4.9 mile leg (Jenn's 2nd leg, 13th leg overall).

    We hurriedly snapped a group photo (minus Jenn) and then rushed to our van to get Brent to his exchange. I always disliked how little of time we had to spend with the other van. 

We know we look good. 

    We started noticing that other vans had Christmas lights on the inside for decoration.
Note to self: WE NEED LIGHTS NEXT YEAR!! 

    We went from tired to completely energized. Jenn had asked me to text her husband when she started her leg. He and the kiddos were going to meet us at the end of her leg. It ended right at the Sandwich Marina. It was absolutely beautiful out that night. A little colder than we thought, but that's okay. 

I entertained the crowds with circus tricks. ha!

It's hard to take photos at night and when people are wearing reflective gear so
 many of these photos are not the best quality.
This is Brent gearing up for his 2nd leg, 14th overall leg.

    Jenn's husband was tracking Jenn from his phone and informed us that it would only be a few more minutes. We wondered if Brent would disappear as quickly this time. His leg was 5.4 miles and it involved a rather large hill.

    Jenn rounded the corner at a strong pace. It was completely dark out by this point so there was no hope of a photo. It didn't matter though because Brent shotgunned out of there. We took a few photos of Jenn and her family and then we had to jump into the van to get to our next exchange. We had fun playing with glow sticks....

Chris gearing up for his night run. 

    Apparently on Brent's run, right after he took off, someone yelled out to him that he needed to reserve some energy for the massive hill or he would crash and burn. He passed 14 people on that leg I do believe. What a crazy man.

    For this exchange we parked in the Stop and Shop parking lot in Sandwich. We, of course, had forgotten to look at the time when Brent left....so we were once again left guessing when he would be running in. I was starting to get nervous about my night run. It is SO dark out on Cape Cod at night because there really aren't that many streetlights. 

Chris is illuminated and ready to run his 4 miles 

    Remember how I mentioned the team who had been late to an exchange? Well they were at this exchange and seemed a little clueless again. It was entertaining. We pointed them in the correct direction when it was their time to run. 

    In the dark it's hard to tell who the runner is that is approaching until they are right up on you. So there were several times we got excited and thought it was Brent, but it was someone else. Then there he was cruising towards us.

Sorry for the blurry photos...Brent exchanging with Chris

    EEK!! I would be the next up. We hopped into the van and headed to my exchange. I made sure to drink some more water since I wouldn't be carrying my Camelbak. I would be running 4 miles in the dark in the Mashpee towards Barnstable area.

Ready for my 2nd leg, 16th leg overall

    I made sure I had my phone (to call the police in case I was kidnapped), my headlight (to signal SOS in Morse Code if needed), my vest (to say HEY here I am, a chick...running alone at night), and my blinking 'butt light' as we called them (to let creepers know how quickly they were approaching me). I had some butterflies before this run. I get nervous running in the dark and have never ran alone in the dark. As I saw Chris approaching- he was easy to spot with all his extra lighting-I swallowed my fear and got ready to run.

    Then I was off. If Brent shotguns out of places, I more so skip on outta there. I saw a few people up ahead and decided to catch them. This was less about passing them and more about safety in numbers. I glanced back and saw absolutely no one behind me. I wanted to shout up ahead,"WAIT UP GUYS. I'm scuuuured!!!" (aka scured= more intense than just scared) 

    I caught up to a lady in a tutu. YAY!!! Hey how are you, you look for crazy creatures on the left, and I'll look for crazy creatures on the right. Wait, she was moving slower than me. I contemplated staying at her speed just so that I wasn't alone but decided it was best to just move faster. 

    The sidewalk during this was bittersweet. It was nice to be off the road but the side walk was an obstacle course because of tree roots breaking it and making it bumpy. I had to focus on every single step as not to trip, fall, and become helpless bait. My only chance for survival was to run quickly. I soon saw another woman, and passed her. Then I saw a tall man running (please be nice cause you are much bigger than me) I saw he had stopped to walk so I cranked up my speed. As I passed him I hollered out,"Come on, lets do this." Ya see, maybe he would be an awesome body guard for me. He yelled back,"Yes ma'am." and for about a quarter mile he ran slightly behind me. Then I lost him again. 

   "Just keep running. Just keep running" was stuck in my head. 

 

    I saw two woman running side by side up ahead. Yay! Perhaps they wouldn't notice if I joined their little club. They were keeping the same pace as me so I knew I would have to speed up some to catch them. As I sped up, one of the chicks zoomed off into the dark night. I caught up to the other one and we started talking. I HAD A FRIEND! 

   I forget her name now....but I do remember she is studying engineering in Boston. She was as relieved to have me to run with as I was to have her to run with. She said she had tried to stay at that other lady's pace but she couldn't hold it. I don't remember all that we talked about. I just know that as we were in the final mile I said,"Come on, it's time to turn it up." She said,"I don't know if I can." I replied,"YOU CAN! Let's do this." 

   As we ran faster we passed a lady together. We could see the exchange point nearing. I frantically looked around trying to pick out where the heck Jillian was. I think I called out her name, and she yelled back. My new friend and I race to the exchange and handed off. I had passed 4 people and had kept a 9:15/mile pace. My friend and I high-fived and thanked each other for the company along the run. 

   I told my team about her and the guys responded that if I had time to make a friend then I wasn't running fast enough. HA! Probably true but I sure as heck felt safer-even if it were a false sense of security. 

    I needed to potty. Good thing I still had my headlamp turned on. As it turns out, port-o-potties do not have lights on the inside. Um, yeah....that could be a terrible situation. 

   As Jillian was off running her 5.2 mile night run I was trying to recover from my run. My knees were aching. I started to have some self doubt. Would I be able to run my final leg? 

   We moved on to the next exchange and Stefanie begin prepping for her 5.7 mile run. We stood there and watched people come and go for their legs. The most notable was when a man came running in and his teammate wasn't there waiting. He yelled out his teammates name and the guy comes running from the parking lot. They say a few things back and forth and the guy starts to take off and his friend yells."Where's your bib?" The guy turns back and in one swift motion goes to yank the bib off his teammates shorts. The man says,"You're going to rip my shorts..." (as the shorts are undoubtedly ripping). The guy laughs and just keeps on running as the man stands in shock and in totally destroyed shorts. I have to admit, it was hilarious. 

Jillian and Stefanie exchanging

   We leap frogged Stefanie because we were all nervous about her running without a phone at night. I stayed in the van because my knees were aching. When they saw her though they said she looked great. We went another mile down the road to make sure she didn't need anything. Jenn decided she would hop out and run the last 2 miles with her and we all felt good about that. That way Stefanie wasn't alone and they had a phone. 

   We went on to our 3rd major exchange, 18th exchange overall (are you getting confused yet? I am). We had to park forever away from actual exchange it seemed. We were happy to see some friendly faces from Van 2. We told them how tired we were and asked how they were holding up. Katie was all smiles and helped to liven me up a bit. I needed food...substantial food. 

    Stefanie and Jenn came zooming into the exchange and Katie bounded out of there. We said goodbye to Van 2 and our crew loaded back into our van to head to Stefanie's house. We were so lucky to have her house only a few minutes from this exchange. We all got to take a shower, eat some amazingly delicious food she had prepared, and rest a tiny bit. I cannot tell you how awesome that shower was. After I scarfed down strawberries, blueberries, and kiwis I ate these sweet potato cake things that tasted like Thanksgiving. I ate some grilled chicken followed by bow tie pasta. yum yum. Thank you Stefanie for the food and hospitality.

   After I had overeaten I went and found a place to lay for a few minutes while everyone finished showering and eating. I'm tucked in between Jillian and Jenn. Although I didn't have time to actually sleep it felt good to rest my body and eyes for a bit. 

    We knew it would be smart to hurry up here and get to the next exchange. We were headed back out the door in no time. At least we now were clean and had full bellies though. 

    As we reversed out of the driveway we heard a weird noise coming from the van. We brushed it off and drove down the street to the stop sign. Everything felt and sounded fine. As Stefanie went to turn the corner a terrible, load noise occurred and she had problems steering. So she reversed back (without any of the issues) to behind the stop sign and the guys hopped out to investigate. I'm so glad we had the headlamps once again. They searched and searched but found nothing out of sorts. Eventually we heard the guys figure it out and they jumped back into the van saying we were good to go. Now, I can't be sure that it had to do with that cone incident earlier in the day.... but the problem was related to that same tire. The guys didn't want to fully disclose to us the nature of the problem but assured us that we were fine. 

   For a few minutes though we were all terrified. We didn't know what this would mean for our race. We didn't know exactly what we would do. I am very thankful that the problem was resolved and we didn't have any further issues. I mean at 2 a.m. your options are pretty limited. 

  We pulled into Harwich Community Center (4th major exchange, 24th overall) to try to sneak in a quick 30-60 minutes of sleep before it was our turn to run again. It was cold so we all stayed in the van. My knees were aching and I was feeling sick from exhaustion. I had no idea if I'd be able to run anymore. 

   to be continued....

 

Ragnar Relay Cape Cod Race Recap Pt. 1

Many months ago Jenn and I talked about how incredible it would be to take part in an overnight relay. She mentioned that a running group she was a part of might be forming a team. That running group thankfully adopted me and allowed me to join their Ragnar team. 

People always rave about what a bonding experience this is. I didn't know what to expect since I barely knew anyone on my team, and wouldn't even meet some of them until race day. 

Our Team Captain Stefanie was super organized. I am beyond grateful to her for all of her hard work behind the scenes. I am also thankful to Katie for hosting a team meeting and feeding us. There was so much behind the scenes stuff that I am sure I don't know anything about. THANK YOU to everyone. Thank you to those that volunteered for us. 

-----------------

    The week before the race our team site was buzzing with excitement. We were sad because a teammate had to drop out last minute due to injury. We scrambled and were so happy that Kathleen stepped up to the plate and joined our team. We were all overnight relay newbies. 

    The morning of the start of the race I set my alarm for a few minutes before 4 a.m. I was groggy but overwhelmed with excitement. Soon I was at Jenn's house and we were waiting to be picked up by the van. Jenn anxiously paced around her house...and her husband and I laughed at her. She wanted to be sure she didn't forget anything. Stefanie rolled up in the van with the men that had traveled in from NY and PA to join our team. Brent, Chris, and Stefanie jumped out to help us load everything into the van. Then we drove the few blocks to Jillian's house to pick her up. 

    Just within the first few minutes of us chatting in the van I knew it was going to be an EPIC adventure. It felt like we were all old friends. We couldn't stop talking and laughing. 

    We pulled into Hull, MA and it was colder than we thought and CRAZY windy. We were Van 1, and I would be runner #4. We gathered our packets, attended the safety meeting, got our safety flags, took a few potty breaks, did some shopping, grabbed some freebies (Brent grabbed a little too many freebies), and talked about how awesome this was going to be. 

Van 1 of "There's a Faster Way to P-Town"

As 8:30 approached we all gathered near the start and 

Jenn got prepared for her first leg of 8 miles. 

Let's do this!!!

    Being the newbies that we were....we still thought at this point that there would be time to relax a little. We made it to the first exchange and waited for Jenn to run on in. This was the only exchange where we had a vague idea of what time the runner would be coming in. It's not that we didn't know each others pace....but we just kept forgetting to check the time at the point of the swap.

   We decided to walk over to the exchange. Brent prepped and just as he walked up I spotted Jenn's green shirt quickly approaching. She was on fire. I yelled out,"Jenn's coming!!!" 

I think she said it was 8:24/mile pace.

Brent got in position, she slapped on the bracelet, and he rocketed out of there so fast that there was no time to capture a photo. He was out of sight before I even blinked. WOW. This man meant business. 

We loaded into the van and took off for the next exchange as Brent ran his 6.5 mile leg.

A huge shoutout to Nuun for their sponsorship.

    When Brent was running it was always a rush to get to the exchange. We had to beat Mr. Speedy's running shoes with our van. I think we began to realize how naive we had been. There was no time to think in between exchanges. Just unload, swap, reload, and get to next exchange as quickly as possible.  It was important to us all to be out at the exchange and support each other.

   We finally found a parking spot. Stefanie was amazing at maneuvering the van into tight spots. It was still really chilly out. I was second guessing my leg 1 outfit choice. Jenn assured me that I would be just fine. 

    It was Chris's turn to run his 4.9 mile leg, which actually measured to around 5.2 I think he said. He stepped up to the exchange and you could see he was putting his game face on. A runner came down the hill and got to the bottom and we all felt so bad for her because her team wasn't there yet. 

Brent came flying in and then chased Chris up the hill.  

I'm not certain but I believe he said he had a 6:40/mile pace

 It was time for me to prep for my 8.1 mile leg. 

I trusted Jenn and stuck with my SPORTY CRYSTAL outfit. 

( Did I mention that my running outfits had names?) 

Alright, I guess it's my turn to go.

SPORTY CRYSTAL

    As I waited for Chris I noticed a chick in a Coast Guard hoodie. I struck up a conversation and found out she works at the same air station as Joe. I then took one last potty break (heeding Jamie's advice to always potty when you have an opportunity) I was amped up and ready to go.

"Chris Chris Chris!!! Come on!!" -(TWSS)

    He came barreling around the corner and forgot to put the brakes on. Remember we are relay newbies. I was waiting for the bracelet to fully slap onto my arm before going and he was expecting me to start running as he was slapping the bracelet on. He tripped over me, we both almost face planted...I ran it out a few steps, regained my balance, and I was off.

    I didn't see any runners ahead of me. I hadn't memorized the route at all so I hoped the signage was good. It was so flipping awesome to feel like I was out for just a normal training run in an unknown land. Cars would pass and either honk or stare at me in bewilderment. I wanted to get a 'kill' (when you pass another runner) but I was running all alone. Well, until I heard footsteps closing in on me. No matter how hard I tried to hold the person off it wasn't happening. That dude was easily holding a sub-7 minute pace. He said,"You're doing great!" Shortly after seeing him I got stopped at a red light. Do you know how infuriating it is to stand at a red light as your Garmin is just tick, tick, ticking away?!?! I kept shooting glances behind me looking for other runners. After about a minute I was finally able to run through the light....and another speedy guy was catching up to me. 

    I was running through a busy section of the Marshfield area. I liked being on a sidewalk during it but I also hated it. I was going up a long, gradual hill while also going up and down on the sidewalk. You know how it is, up to sidewalk, down to parking lot, up to sidewalk, down to road, etc. I got stopped briefly at another intersection waiting to cross. The second guy passed me. GRRRRR.... 

   I remember taking a right off the main road, and then almost missing a turn because a car was blocking the sign. I crossed over the road to make the turn. As I did, a lady in a car at the stop sign rolled down her windows and her small son and her started screaming out for me. She was beeping her horn and saying,"GO GIRL GO!! There's more runners up ahead!!" I smiled ear to ear, gave her a thumbs up and thank you, then gassed it. As I rounded the bend I saw them.... the PEACOCKS! There were 2 or 3 teams of women dressed as peacocks. I happened to see 2 of them running together. I was zeroed in and desperately wanted to pass them. 

   I was focused on their blue tutus, willing my legs to move faster. I was closing in on them. I felt odd passing by them without saying anything....so instead I rudely interjected myself into their conversation. We exchanged a few words about how we're all recovering from injuries and then I was on my way. I knew they weren't far behind me. 

    There was a quiet scenic portion where I heard a tambourine. As I got closer I saw an older woman and small boy sitting outside their house cheering me on. How flipping cool!!

    After a bit I saw a lady in pink up ahead. We were getting towards the last 1.5 miles of the leg. I saw a ton of middle school or high school kids across the road. They were staring at the lady and me, perplexed. One yelled out,"Are you racing?" I hollered back,"Yep, we're headed to Provincetown." They looked shocked. As I neared them I screamed out,"Aren't you going to cheer for me?!" At that point about 20-30 young boys started screaming like I were about to win a race. I even heard,"You're hot!!" I shot up that hill and around the corner. What? I like to be an inspiration to the youth of 'Murica. 

    I really wanted to pass Ms. Pink Tank but she was speeding up and even though I was speeding up also...it just wasn't enough. We charged up the final hill to the exchange.

I pulled the bracelet off and got it ready to slap on Jillian. 

Jillian was ready to run her 7.1 mile leg. I kept an 8:36/mile pace...
amazing since I had dropped pace by a minute for that one mile. 

    Jillian has had a hip/back injury that has kept her from running for months. She didn't know how long she could run or how fast she would run. Jillian only knew that she was determined to run every single step of her legs. Spoiler alert: She crushed EVERY leg. 

-------------------------

I interrupt this recap for a Nuun commerical.

I started using Nuun a few weeks ago...before I even realized they would be sponsoring us. I have really loved the tablets and the light flavor they add to my water. It's nice to know I'm getting some needed electrolytes into my body too. 

They provided us with water bottles, a ton of their tablets, the tattoos, and the van magnet. 

Thanks Nuun!

Jenn's sexy legs representing Nuun and Ragnar. 

    As I was applying these tattoos to Jenn I said,"Man you have smooth legs." Everyone died laughing and she was like,"Wow, I don't know if I should feel complimented or uncomfortable."

Nuun, do you want to sponsor my team for 100 on 100 Heart Of Vermont Relay in August? 

Nom Nom Nuun. 

Please be advised that the opinions expressed are my own. 

----------------------------------------------

   We drove about midway and waited for Jillian to pass. 

We wanted to be sure that she felt okay. 

She cruised on by, feeling strong. 

The common theme of "What time did she/he start?" happened....

We went on ahead to the exchange in Plymouth. 

Stefanie was getting prepped and in 'business mode'. 

Jillian came down the hill and looked great! She couldn't believe how fast her pace was. 

What an animal!

Stefanie bolted to begin her 8.1 mile leg!

    Stefanie doesn't run with a cell phone and wanted us to meet her around her halfway point. So Brent took over driving duties and we rushed to our designated meet up spot. We sat in the van waiting and soon we saw her approaching. We all piled out of the van and ran towards her, except it wasn't her. HAHA! The lady said,"I'm guessing you thought I was someone else?" Guilty. It was a nice practice drill though. A few minutes later we REALLY saw her approaching. She threw her jacket at Jenn and kept on going.

Stefanie moving through Plymouth

   We jumped back into the van to go to our first major exchange (handing off to van 2). It was in a park. The parking situation was a mess. We were trying to get turned around and Brent accidentally ran over a skinny, long cone. Jenn jumped out to help pull it out. The parking attendant lady walked over as Jenn was working hard to help get the cone unstuck and asked us to remove the cone. HA! Jenn, while pulling on the cone, responded that she was working on it. Eventually we got the cone out and we parked. (That cone would come back to haunt us later....) 

    As we walked by the same lady she said we weren't parked correctly and would be towed. Which made absolutely zero sense, but the guys ran back to re-park the car in a manner pleasing to her. We were in a parking spot, not on the grass, not on the side of the road. When we drove back by later another vehicle was parked there. I think she just didn't like us cause we ran over a cone. 

    We were so happy to see our teammates in Van 2. Hugs abounded. We were all introduced to Kathleen our amazing last minute addition. Then Stefanie came around the corner to pass the slap bracelet to Katie.

Let's go Katie!!!

Our first legs were done. 

It was now Van 2's turn to begin their part of our journey. 

    It was afternoon. I was starved. The ONE THING I had repeated leading up to this race was,"Feed me and I will be happy. I can do without sleep but I cannot do without food." Brent started giving me a hard time because I was being quiet. I told him I was starved. I was eating an orange slice and ended up hurling it into his eyeball, playfully. He said,"We better get her some food." So we drove to Panera Bread for fuel. I hopped out of the van and hurried towards the doors. I told ya, I WAS HUNGRY!!

  Even though I was one of the first people to order, I was the last one to get my food. Lesson learned- Patience is a virtue. They were all laughing as I salivated over their meals. haha! We sat in the warmth of Panera and I enjoyed every single bite of this....even slurping the soup and wiping my mouth with an,"Ahhhh." (envision Shrek) 

    We then loaded back into our van and crossed the bridge onto Cape Cod. It was time for a few minutes of rest while Van 2 finished up their leg. Joe was able to pop in for a few to say hello. I laid out in a field with my sleeping bag but was unable to get any sleep. My heart was racing, anticipating a call any moment that they were nearing us. 

to be continued.....