Ok, so it's been awhile, but I figure it's prolly about time to do my recap of #RagnarTN!
So, as I may have mentioned previously, I just recently moved to Tennessee! WOOT WOOT!
Livin' the big life south of the Mason Dixon, y'all!
So what better way to fully immerse myself into southern culture and make some running friends along the way than to join a Ragnar Team?
Yeah, that seems both sane and logical...
Ok, I've never claimed to be either. :)
So, as I may have mentioned previously, I just recently moved to Tennessee! WOOT WOOT!
Livin' the big life south of the Mason Dixon, y'all!
So what better way to fully immerse myself into southern culture and make some running friends along the way than to join a Ragnar Team?
Yeah, that seems both sane and logical...
Ok, I've never claimed to be either. :)
So, about two weeks before Ragnar Tennessee, while still living out of a hotel near the airport, I found a team through the facebook event page. One of their runners had sprained an ankle and would anyone be willing to join at the last minute?
YUPP! That's me!
After a few email exchanges back and forth and a phone call or two, it was decided that I would join team Anne's Angels. This group of runners had been running Ragnar Tennessee for the past two years and this would be their third year. Our Team Captain had lost her mother to melanoma and she had formed the team in her memory.
YUPP! That's me!
After a few email exchanges back and forth and a phone call or two, it was decided that I would join team Anne's Angels. This group of runners had been running Ragnar Tennessee for the past two years and this would be their third year. Our Team Captain had lost her mother to melanoma and she had formed the team in her memory.
The night before the race, we all met to get to know each other and to do some carb-loading with a home-cooked pasta meal!
While I was a little nervous before Ragnar Adirondack because I didn't know almost anyone on the team...
This time, I legitimately knew NO ONE.
So... a little apprehensive? :)
But everyone turned out to be really nice and we all seemed to get along pretty well. Not everyone on the team had met before, so I wasn't the only odd duck out, which definitely helped.
Ragnar Relay - continuing to bring together strangers for the sole purpose of running nearly 200 miles across the country together. CRAZY!
While I was a little nervous before Ragnar Adirondack because I didn't know almost anyone on the team...
This time, I legitimately knew NO ONE.
So... a little apprehensive? :)
But everyone turned out to be really nice and we all seemed to get along pretty well. Not everyone on the team had met before, so I wasn't the only odd duck out, which definitely helped.
Ragnar Relay - continuing to bring together strangers for the sole purpose of running nearly 200 miles across the country together. CRAZY!
I ended up being in Van 2. This team did things a little different than my last team, so our van slept in and didn't have to get on the course until it was almost time for us to run our legs.
A little different, but the extra sleep was definitely nice!
Since we were running to raise awareness for melanoma, we all had tee shirts that we were planning on wearing to get some extra attention.
But our first runner decided to not wear a shirt. So how do you get attention for your cause?
Have your teammates draw awareness ribbons on you, duh.
It actually did draw some extra attention, and one woman even came up to us to talk to us about what we were doing and shared that as a cancer survivor herself, she was very excited to see us committed to trying to raise awareness and turn a fun event into a fundraiser as well. Becuase in the weeks leading up to Ragnar Tennessee, we had used a website to collect donations for melanoma research and ended up raising over $1000.
A little different, but the extra sleep was definitely nice!
Since we were running to raise awareness for melanoma, we all had tee shirts that we were planning on wearing to get some extra attention.
But our first runner decided to not wear a shirt. So how do you get attention for your cause?
Have your teammates draw awareness ribbons on you, duh.
It actually did draw some extra attention, and one woman even came up to us to talk to us about what we were doing and shared that as a cancer survivor herself, she was very excited to see us committed to trying to raise awareness and turn a fun event into a fundraiser as well. Becuase in the weeks leading up to Ragnar Tennessee, we had used a website to collect donations for melanoma research and ended up raising over $1000.
Our team was doing really well, and despite the challenge of the hills (read: mountains!) of the course, we were making good time. My first leg went really well! I made pretty decent time and was really enjoying myself. The last stretch of my 6-mile first leg was through this small town on a winding sidewalk. At one point, with about a mile and a half left, I had this guy that came up right behind me and I said to myself...
"Jessica... you are NOT going to let this dude pass you!"
And so I managed to push myself and had a great last part of my leg. I was so excited when I finished and what was even better was when the guy I had been pushing myself to stay ahead of came over and said "Hey, nice finish. I thought I might have had you for a bit, but when you kicked it in, I had to work just to keep up with you."
YUPP. Damn straight.
"Jessica... you are NOT going to let this dude pass you!"
And so I managed to push myself and had a great last part of my leg. I was so excited when I finished and what was even better was when the guy I had been pushing myself to stay ahead of came over and said "Hey, nice finish. I thought I might have had you for a bit, but when you kicked it in, I had to work just to keep up with you."
YUPP. Damn straight.
A little bit after I had finished my leg, I started to feel a little stiffness in my right knee. I wrapped it up and iced it and tried to keep it elevated. I felt a lot better and I was pretty excited to get at my second leg, which was only 4 miles.
But about one mile in to my second leg, things took a turn for the worse. I dunno if it was a because I was favoring my right knee, and putting more stress on my left, or just one of those fluke things, but as I approached a curb, I didn't quite get my left leg up high enough to clear the curb...
And that's when the REAL pain started.
My knee started t hurt so bad, I could barely put weight on it. My knee felt loose and sloppy and yet tight at the same time. I finally gave in to the pain and stopped to walk for a bit, hoping it would help...
But it didn't.
My teammates eventually passed by me and stopped. I grabbed an extra ace wrap out of my bag and sent them along. I figured I would wrap it good and tight to help with the instability and I'd be good to go.
But I was WAY wrong.
But about one mile in to my second leg, things took a turn for the worse. I dunno if it was a because I was favoring my right knee, and putting more stress on my left, or just one of those fluke things, but as I approached a curb, I didn't quite get my left leg up high enough to clear the curb...
And that's when the REAL pain started.
My knee started t hurt so bad, I could barely put weight on it. My knee felt loose and sloppy and yet tight at the same time. I finally gave in to the pain and stopped to walk for a bit, hoping it would help...
But it didn't.
My teammates eventually passed by me and stopped. I grabbed an extra ace wrap out of my bag and sent them along. I figured I would wrap it good and tight to help with the instability and I'd be good to go.
But I was WAY wrong.
I ended up giving in and walking the rest of the way to the exchange.
The pain may have been excruciating, but the damage to my ego was even more so. I'm not a quitter and I'd like to think I'm pretty tough. But I felt like crying, and, in fact, did give in and cry a little bit.
Not exactly my proudest moment.
But what it turns out happened was that I had damaged my lateral collateral ligament, or LCL. Most of you have probably heard of an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) or MCL (medial collateral ligament). The ACL is the ligament directly behind the meniscus (knee cap) and the MCL runs along the inside of the knee. The LCL connects the femur to the fibula on the outside of the knee.
I'll probably write a post about this later to expand on it, but essentially, the minor tear to my LCL pretty much rendered me useless for running for the rest of the race. (And, to be honest, still gives me trouble, even through the past couple weeks.)
The pain may have been excruciating, but the damage to my ego was even more so. I'm not a quitter and I'd like to think I'm pretty tough. But I felt like crying, and, in fact, did give in and cry a little bit.
Not exactly my proudest moment.
But what it turns out happened was that I had damaged my lateral collateral ligament, or LCL. Most of you have probably heard of an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) or MCL (medial collateral ligament). The ACL is the ligament directly behind the meniscus (knee cap) and the MCL runs along the inside of the knee. The LCL connects the femur to the fibula on the outside of the knee.
I'll probably write a post about this later to expand on it, but essentially, the minor tear to my LCL pretty much rendered me useless for running for the rest of the race. (And, to be honest, still gives me trouble, even through the past couple weeks.)
Sad to say that I did NOT finish my first attempt at Ragnar Tennessee. But there's a reason I say my "first" attempt. Because I will be doing Ragnar Tennessee again. There's no way I can leave that race unfinished.
I had a great time with my vanmates, and while I probably won't run RagnarTN with that team again next year, I'm definitely going to run the race again in 2014.
Now I just need to finish getting my knee back in to top form!
Send well wishes and luck my way y'all, cause this knee is being a pain!
Hope your runs are going better than mine!
#runlove!
I had a great time with my vanmates, and while I probably won't run RagnarTN with that team again next year, I'm definitely going to run the race again in 2014.
Now I just need to finish getting my knee back in to top form!
Send well wishes and luck my way y'all, cause this knee is being a pain!
Hope your runs are going better than mine!
#runlove!