RUN, drive, sleep?...repeat!!

This last month Mark and I had the fun experience of running in the Napa Valley Ragnar Relay race. We were part of a team of 6 couples, 12 runners, all running relay style from San Francisco to the Napa Valley or Calistoga to be exact. A total of 186 miles...with very little or NO sleep. Our team started at 9:30 am on Friday morning, Sept. 16 and finished around 12:30 pm on Saturday. Sounds pretty crazy! Well, it was crazy but also a total BLAST! And how fun to be doing it with my favorite person :) This was an experience I will never forget and we will most likely do again in the future... we liked it that much! And to be in the middle of such beautiful scenery and have the best weather....really we couldn't have asked for more...ok maybe a little sleep...But who needs sleep when you have to get up and run again?!! AHH!!

So here's the jist...We all have 3 different legs to run...so a total of 36 legs. The distances ranged from 3 to 9 miles and total distances for each runner were from 11.5 to 22miles. And actually I was the runner that ran 11.5 total and Mark was the runner with the longest total miles of 22 miles. Our team name was "She told me this was a couples retreat!" and we were part of van 2 with runners 7-12. Our team consisted of Van 1 - Steve and Allison Carter, Matt and Rachel Ludlow, Kevin and Shawna Robinson, and Van 2 - Mike and Aubry Tenney, Mike and Jen Mendoza and Me and Mark. We were one of 6-7 teams from just the Lincoln area. That's over 72 people just from our little small town of Lincoln CA!!! It was so much fun running into so many of our Lincoln friends at the exchanges and throughout the race. Mark and I really had so much fun with our team! I never in my life thought I could be running the distances I am running and doing a race such as this one! (Adrenaline helps!) It really is such an amazing feeling of accomplishment! There are lots and lots of pictures...I had to make sure and capture every moment I could...

Van 2

Car decorating is a must...and the guys could have cared less.

The Hubbies.

The Hotties :)

Van 2- Tenney's, Us, Mendoza's

Team Stacy :)

Team Ludlow- Matt and Rachel

Team Tenney- Mike and Aubry

Ran into team "Escape from Alcatraz, I wanna go back!" and Captain April...Love this girl!!
and other fellow Lincoln friends.

Ready to party it up with some running! Whohoo!

Exchange 6- Go Mike go!

Ready to RUN!! Off I go for my 5.5 miler up a very steep hill. I totally rocked it!

Done! Go mike Mendoza!

Go Jen!! Kill em!!

Mark totally rocked his first leg of 8.5 miles! Way to go hot stuff!

Ragnar baldies...Matt and Mike T.

Fueling up after our van finished our first legs :) Yum!

Aubry marking our kills- or the runners we pass on our legs. Definitely motivates you to run faster when you have someone to pass! I didn't take any pics of our night runs but I ran 2.5 miles at midnight at a 8:52 pace and Mark ran 8.3 miles at around a 7:30 pace at like 2 am. Whohoo!! Now the tiredness starts setting in. We did go to a hotel to shower and try to get some sleep but how much sleep can you actually get in one hour?! If we were smart we would have brought some sleeping bags.

This was at the last major exchange where van 1 finished their last legs and van 2 was just beginning our last legs at like 8:30am.

Go team "She said this was a couples retreat!!"

Notice we had a little tag-a-long in van 1. The Carter's baby Lily came along for the race and from what we heard she was a little trooper and cooperated very nicely :)

Team Carter- Steve and Allison and Lily :)

LOVE these guys!!

Me running my last leg, 2.9 miles. Luckily I put on my happy face for the picture because I was hurting by this run. I actually have been running and suffering from horrible shin splints and this last leg pretty much did me in. BUT I did it and it felt so AMAZING to finish and be done! Not my fastest but I still kept it under 10 min pace.
Crazy ladies. I think the sleep deprivation is setting in. haha!

To the finish line!! GO Aubry!!!

Crazy guys. but hilarious the whole time. Definitely kept us laughing.

Team Mendoza- Mike and Jen. Both amazing runners!! SO glad they joined our team!

Team Robinson- Kevin and Shawna. Awesome runners too!

WHohooo!!! WE are DONE!! And our team actually placed 2nd in our category out of about 20 other teams! Below is our after race celebration meal at a restaurant. And I'm pretty sure we are all ready to crash and pass out! haha!! That's what running all day and all night will do to you!!