Ragnar Las Vegas Race Report

Ben Z Mon Oct 31, 2011 5:50 pm

I ran Ragnar Las Vegas a little over a week ago as part of an ultra team. Here is a brief recap of the day/night events:

Ragnar Las Vegas is a typical team relay race. You can participate as part of an ultra team of six or as part of a regular team of 10 or 12. Along with five friends from San Diego we participated as an ultra-team. This was my second-ever relay race with my only previous experience being part of a 10 person team in the 2007 Great Midwest Relay.

The race covers ~188 miles from Lake Mead recreation area circumventing Las Vegas in a big clockwise loop. It is almost entirely run through the desert with little time spent running through towns or cities. We pulled names out of a hat to decide on who would run each leg and I won and got to run legs 11/12, 23/24 and 35/36. My three/six legs totaled ~29 miles. The fun part was that the 35/36 legs were the last two so that meant I got to finish up the race for our team.

Starting at ~2:30pm on Friday afternoon our team, the Dutch Rudders (google the term if you are curious as to the meaning - note: I didn't make it up), headed off in to the scorching heat of the desert from the start line. Thankfully I got to run my legs at ~10:00pm, 5:00am and 2:00pm the next day so only my last 11 miles were a little warm.

Highlights from my legs included running through the Lake Las Vegas resort area, getting absolutely dusted by a runner from the team that ended up winning the overall team title (I was running 6:30ish pace when one of their runners passed me like I was standing still), passing over 100 teams (including 56 in the last 11 miles) and racing head-to-head with a runner who I was able to catch and drop the final five miles.

Looking back on the final leg I was really pleased with myself because coming out of the final relay checkpoint a regualr runner jumped in front of me as I cruised through (as an ultra team we would run through every-other checkpoint) and opened up a 200m lead on me almost immediately. However, I noticed that he was not pulling away so I made a goal with myself that I would try to reel him in a few steps every mile and then hopefully kick past him near the finish. Of the final seven miles it took me ~five to catch him. When I pulled up alongside of him we exchanged a couple of short "hi's" before we each saw our team-mates ready with water. We both grabbed for the bottles and I quickly choked down as much as I could handle while pouring the rest onf my head since I was now starting to overheat in the desert sun. He did the same and stayed right behind me off my shoulder. He then pulled up next to me for about 100-200m before tucking back behind me. Then I could hear him drift back a few more steps and hear him breathing harder. Once that happened I put my head down and decided he was going to have to work to stay with me. I only had two miles left and while I was hurting I still had a bit left in the tank. Well that move broke him because within less than a minute I couldn't hear him anymore. After a few more minutes I glanced back and couldn't see him anymore and I was pleased with how hard I was able to push this section.

I stuck to my plan of running the first leg fairly hard (11 miles @ high 6 pace over hilly terrain), the second leg fairly easy (7 miles @ 7:45ish pace) and my third and final leg hard (10.3 miles @ 6:30ish pace). This was a really great workout day for me considering I logged almost 30 miles with almost 20 @ marathon pace / effort. Combine this with the lack of sleep (as we were an ultra team we only had one support vehicle so we didn't get to sleep much between legs due to the constant activity) and I think I gained some fitness from the weekend.

On paper we were supposed to be one of the fastest teams of the group of 447 teams competing and that is how things played out. Based on the preliminary results were ended up 9th overall and 2nd among ultra teams. We completed the ~188 mile race in just over 25 hours. (that team that blew our doors off ended up doing it under 20 hours - that's a 6:00 avg!).

After a few dry-heaves at the finish line, a recovery drink and some more water poured on my head I was headed to the airport in my running clothes so I could just make my flight back to San Diego. I felt sorry for the person sitting next to me on the plane (though I did have time to clean myself up a bit at the airport).

Next up will be a marathon for me in December or January (still trying to decide which one) where I hope to finally crack 2:50:00.

Happy running everyone.