Ragnar Trail Florida (Ultra Distance) – Experience Report
Date: December 6-7, 2019
Distance: 32.1 miles over 3 runs
Location: Lithia, Florida (Alafia River State Park)
Place: 2nd Mixed Ultra Team
Strava: Leg 1 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2915601163), Leg 2 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2916115183), Leg 3 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2916841801)
The Crazy Idea:
The day before Thanksgiving I was doing some mindless task at work, listening to a podcast called, “Not Real Runners” and they had some guests on to talk about Ragnar. I’d heard of Ragnar before since a few people I know had done a road Ragnar and another had done a trail one here in Florida last year. Before the segment was over I was looking on my phone to see when the Florida Trail Ragnar was and, following the advice on the podcast, went to the Facebook event page where people post about looking for replacement team members. It just so happened that someone posted just 20 minutes prior that they had a spot on an ultra team.
A standard Trail Ragnar race has 8 people covering about 16 miles each, the ultra is just doing each leg twice. There are two configurations of how the race is done – either the runners do Green, Yellow, Red, and on until everyone has done the legs twice or you double up and do Green+Yellow, Red+Green, Yellow+Red, etc. The team I was joining would be doing the doubled up version, so you’d be running approximately 10 miles at a time. The idea behind the doubled up version is that your teammates have longer resting times between their runs.
By the time podcast was over, I was committed to being on a team of strangers to run in the woods for 30+ miles. I sometimes do things impulsively without thinking them through, and it usually turns out okay, so despite the immediate terror I felt after agreeing to be on a team, I knew all would be well.
Pre-Race & Packing:
I spent the next week reading a couple Ragnar race reports and trying to figure out what I would need. For food, I packed: pringles, 2 cans of lentils, smart food popcorn, clementines, and some kalmata olives. I also had some coconut water, a couple body armors, and a gallon of water. Following the advice of people online, I packed all of my running clothes into gallon sized bags so they would stay dry if it started raining and that they would be sealed away after I wore them. I brought comfy clothes and fleece PJs to wear between my legs.
The drive ended up taking a little longer than I expected, but I had planned to arrive early so it was fine; though it was interesting that when I arrived at 10am there were already people out running. Our start time for our ultra group wasn't until 1:30pm. I found our campsite and met one of my teammates who told me that we would be sharing a site with two other ultra teams.
The Running:
Finally 1:30pm came around and I got my run it. It was nice, easy (green and yellow loops) and would be my only runs in the light. I passed off the bib to the next teammate and changed into comfy clothes. In the evening, there were a ton of food trucks and using my food token, I got a mac&cheese grilled cheese with some tatertots. It was excellent.
My next run wasn't until about 8:30pm, so I got my headlamp and hit the red trail, which I hadn't done before. The red was challenging mountain bike trails with pretty big climbs (for Florida) and it kicked my butt in the best way. I loved the red trail. My teammates told me that I should be glad I would do all of the red trail at night because it's apparently kinda scary in the daylight due to drop offs you can't see at night, lol. After the red was the green and hoo boy, I really started to notice the cold then. It was an open meadow and there were lower ground pockets of air that were so biting.
During the night it was SO COLD, I think it was down in the 40s. I was wearing all of my clothes and wrapped in a blanket. Funnily enough, our team and the two teams we shared a campsite with brought gas stoves to make warm things during the night, but no one ever actually made anything. Talking during the night with everyone was really great. One of the guys on the super fast ultra team is also signed up for Long Haul, so that was a fun coincidence.
My final run started around 4:45am. It was so nice and peaceful out there and I felt better and warmer because I was finally moving around. The sunrise was so incredible and I was so thankful for doing something so impulsive. I got back to camp and realized that even though I was done, there were still 30 more miles to go for our team. I got pretty tired around mid-morning, but solved it by moving around and having some coffee.
The Conclusion:
I thought it was such a cool community thing. There were so many other teams and it was fun to see all of the silly team names while you're hanging out in "The Lounge" aka, the tent that has tv screens that show when a team's runner is approximately a quarter mile from the trade off tent. While Ragnar is pretty pricey, it is a very nice setup and so efficiently run. I can't imagine doing a road ragnar though, the idea of hanging out in a van for hours on end is no bueno.
In all, I had such a great and amazing training weekend. I got 32 miles in, I gained a LOT of confidence in nighttime running, and got to see how to coped with lack of sleep since I maybe only slept an hour max during the night.
It was exactly what I needed and I am tempted to do it again next year if there aren't any conflict with other events I want to do. AND! We got 2nd place mixed open ultra which netted us really nice belt buckles!
Distance: 32.1 miles over 3 runs
Location: Lithia, Florida (Alafia River State Park)
Place: 2nd Mixed Ultra Team
Strava: Leg 1 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2915601163), Leg 2 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2916115183), Leg 3 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2916841801)
The Crazy Idea:
The day before Thanksgiving I was doing some mindless task at work, listening to a podcast called, “Not Real Runners” and they had some guests on to talk about Ragnar. I’d heard of Ragnar before since a few people I know had done a road Ragnar and another had done a trail one here in Florida last year. Before the segment was over I was looking on my phone to see when the Florida Trail Ragnar was and, following the advice on the podcast, went to the Facebook event page where people post about looking for replacement team members. It just so happened that someone posted just 20 minutes prior that they had a spot on an ultra team.
A standard Trail Ragnar race has 8 people covering about 16 miles each, the ultra is just doing each leg twice. There are two configurations of how the race is done – either the runners do Green, Yellow, Red, and on until everyone has done the legs twice or you double up and do Green+Yellow, Red+Green, Yellow+Red, etc. The team I was joining would be doing the doubled up version, so you’d be running approximately 10 miles at a time. The idea behind the doubled up version is that your teammates have longer resting times between their runs.
By the time podcast was over, I was committed to being on a team of strangers to run in the woods for 30+ miles. I sometimes do things impulsively without thinking them through, and it usually turns out okay, so despite the immediate terror I felt after agreeing to be on a team, I knew all would be well.
Pre-Race & Packing:
I spent the next week reading a couple Ragnar race reports and trying to figure out what I would need. For food, I packed: pringles, 2 cans of lentils, smart food popcorn, clementines, and some kalmata olives. I also had some coconut water, a couple body armors, and a gallon of water. Following the advice of people online, I packed all of my running clothes into gallon sized bags so they would stay dry if it started raining and that they would be sealed away after I wore them. I brought comfy clothes and fleece PJs to wear between my legs.
The drive ended up taking a little longer than I expected, but I had planned to arrive early so it was fine; though it was interesting that when I arrived at 10am there were already people out running. Our start time for our ultra group wasn't until 1:30pm. I found our campsite and met one of my teammates who told me that we would be sharing a site with two other ultra teams.
The Running:
Finally 1:30pm came around and I got my run it. It was nice, easy (green and yellow loops) and would be my only runs in the light. I passed off the bib to the next teammate and changed into comfy clothes. In the evening, there were a ton of food trucks and using my food token, I got a mac&cheese grilled cheese with some tatertots. It was excellent.
My next run wasn't until about 8:30pm, so I got my headlamp and hit the red trail, which I hadn't done before. The red was challenging mountain bike trails with pretty big climbs (for Florida) and it kicked my butt in the best way. I loved the red trail. My teammates told me that I should be glad I would do all of the red trail at night because it's apparently kinda scary in the daylight due to drop offs you can't see at night, lol. After the red was the green and hoo boy, I really started to notice the cold then. It was an open meadow and there were lower ground pockets of air that were so biting.
During the night it was SO COLD, I think it was down in the 40s. I was wearing all of my clothes and wrapped in a blanket. Funnily enough, our team and the two teams we shared a campsite with brought gas stoves to make warm things during the night, but no one ever actually made anything. Talking during the night with everyone was really great. One of the guys on the super fast ultra team is also signed up for Long Haul, so that was a fun coincidence.
My final run started around 4:45am. It was so nice and peaceful out there and I felt better and warmer because I was finally moving around. The sunrise was so incredible and I was so thankful for doing something so impulsive. I got back to camp and realized that even though I was done, there were still 30 more miles to go for our team. I got pretty tired around mid-morning, but solved it by moving around and having some coffee.
The Conclusion:
I thought it was such a cool community thing. There were so many other teams and it was fun to see all of the silly team names while you're hanging out in "The Lounge" aka, the tent that has tv screens that show when a team's runner is approximately a quarter mile from the trade off tent. While Ragnar is pretty pricey, it is a very nice setup and so efficiently run. I can't imagine doing a road ragnar though, the idea of hanging out in a van for hours on end is no bueno.
In all, I had such a great and amazing training weekend. I got 32 miles in, I gained a LOT of confidence in nighttime running, and got to see how to coped with lack of sleep since I maybe only slept an hour max during the night.
It was exactly what I needed and I am tempted to do it again next year if there aren't any conflict with other events I want to do. AND! We got 2nd place mixed open ultra which netted us really nice belt buckles!