North Shore Ragnar

Ragnar Oahu - April 21-22, 2017

The idea was presented to OAG's about a year ago. Heather put together a team for the Big Island Ragnar. It went well, but she needed commits. Nobody better to commit than the OAG's.

The initial team was Heather, daughter Kalei and boyfriend Lijah, friend Bozo, and OAG's Darren, Erik, Jana, and I.

We didn't practice too much as a team. In fact, we didn't practice at all.

As time went on, people started dropping out. First Erik dropped out, then Jana, then Bozo. Now we needed to find 3 replacements. Heather said she wasn't stressing, but it must have been tough on her. Heather was able to get her friend Kathy. Kalei was able to convince her friend Kaity. Darren tried to get Kellie to go, but she got hurt, so we had 7 out of the 8 commits.

Since we couldn't find that 8th commit, that meant 3 team members would have to run that extra leg. I don't think Heather asked Darren and I to run that extra leg, but we were game nonetheless.

According to their website, King Ragnar was a 9th century Scandinavian king who was a free spirited leader and a wild man. The race, which travels all over America is meant to be a full days run where people have a lot of fun.

The prep for this event is intense. Its like backpacking. Heather is amazing at planning. We hope Aprille can get to her level one day. One can learn a lot from Heather's way of prep. My responsibilities were basic. I needed to bring a table and food. I brought extra stuff just in case including my wagon which ended up being valuable.

Initially we wanted to set up on Thursday night, but it rained all day and that wouldn't be a good idea. Heather and Kathy rented a hotel at Turtle Bay, but cancelled the set up due to the weather.

The next morning, I packed my car and picked up Darren. Darren put his stuff in my car, he had this graffiti art sign which I couldn't read, I only knew it was our team name, Running on Hawaiian Time. On the way to Turtle Bay, Michelle called me and said I forgot the food. We had to coordinate to where Jana would stop by my house to get the food. Luckily she was going today to hang out. It only took us 30 minutes to get to Turtle Bay. Parking was organized, I think only because we got there early. It wasn't raining so that was a good sign.

Set up took over an hour. We set up under a coconut tree. We had the tent in the back and canopy facing the ocean. It was a great location, it definitely was prime.

My wagon helped out as the campsite was far away from the parking lot. The many tarps Heather brought helped out. They formed some kind of wall which looked like a homeless shelter, but it kept the rain out. Homeless people know how to build shelters.

After everyone arrived, we checked in. We had a 2pm start time and it was only 8am. Heather asked if we could start earlier. There was a rule that if someone was a no show, we could start earlier. Only Heather reads those important details which helps out immensely. The lady in charged changed our starting time to 10am. That was so awesome! Instead of waiting 4 hours, we wouldn't have to wait at all. But it was 9:45am when we got the word and we still hadn't to watch the safety video.

Darren was the first runner and had to report to the transition tent at 9:50am, so he went off as we finished the video. The guy at the transition tent asked Darren if he watched the video, Darren said no. The guy was like if anyone ask you, tell them that you saw the video.

Before the first runners were off, it was introductions. The emcee was enamored with Darren's sign, he called it graffiti art. As I heard that I started to laugh, Darren's sign is "facemous". After the first runners left, the emcee went back to the sign to give it more compliments. Kalei and Lijah were good models as they showed off the sign to the spectators.

Darren finished his first leg in about 45 minutes, Heather was off. We went to the tent where they sold the merchandise. I actually bought something this time, a cowbell for my display and a hat for Michelle. After Heather finished her leg I was off. My leg was the Kahuku trail. It was sandy. Running on sand is difficult, but I did good and the last part of the trail was all dirt road. I did my first leg in 49 minutes, good yeah! One after the other, everyone started to run their legs. Our first rotation (where everyone completed one leg took us about 7 hours or so). Since we all run about the same pace give or take 10 minutes or so, the estimated times were as follows. The green trail took us about 45 minutes, the yellow trail about 1 hour 15 minutes, red trail about 1 hour. Jana came with poke and pizza. I was so hungry. I washed off at the beach, changed and ate so much food. I was hungry. I even drank a beer.

My second leg was the green trail which started at 6:30pm. I put my head lamp on because it was getting dark. I ran it well, but there were about 4 others who passed me, they were booking it. I finished a little after 7pm, went to the beach again to wash off and changed into my dry clothes. Darren and I went to the mess tent to get our dinner. Dinner was chicken, salad, and pasta, the cornerstone meal for any runner. Erik and Aprille came at about 8:30pm. We talked with them for a few hours. We were wishing Erik ran with us because it would be a major confidence boost to him. He has struggled these past couple of years with his runs. Ragnar provides a huge boost of confidence and determination. Nothing beats running hard for your team. It is the ultimate courage moment when you know you have to push because if you don't, you will let your team down. It started to rain really hard during this time. I had to go sleep. I took a short nap and woke up around 12:30am. I got ready.

It wasn't cold, but I was sore. I got the hand off from Heather and started the Yellow trail. My knee was in pain. Its the kind of pain where if you run too much, its sore a.k.a. runner's knee. The trail was shit, full of slop. I had to walk in many parts and my pace slowed down. I was so discouraged, but continued on. I told myself hopefully this loop is short, but it wasn't. About 1 hour in and I was only on my 4.5. I hoped no one would worry about me. Footing was terrible and my only thought was that I should have used my trail runners.

I got in at about 1 hour 25 minutes. Everyone appeared worried about me. I think everyone expected me to finish much earlier. I felt a little bad, but not too much as bad runs happen. It happens to anyone and everyone, no one person is excused.

After I cleaned up at the beach, Heather was the only one up. We drank a beer and talked stories. I was tired and took a nap. Heather said, we have to volunteer at 5:30am. I told her I'll go volunteer after I wake up. I fell asleep really fast and was out cold. When I woke up it was 6:15am. I ate breakfast and went to volunteer at the tent. They ran out of coffee, I really needed coffee at this point. I was in much pain.

Volunteering was good. It wasn't hard at all. I just had to slap the colored bracelets on runner's wrist. After about an hour, Heather relieved me and I got my coffee. Kalei had her jet boil and heated it the water up for me. I drank the coffee black it was so good!

As I drank my coffee, I felt bad that Heather had to volunteer. She was scheduled to run soon. I went back to take over, but she said our shift was done already. AWESOME!!!

After Darren came in Heather took off. I got ready for the last leg. My right knee was in so much pain. It was unbearable. But, I just sucked it up. I figured that is what champions are made of and I felt that King Ragnar probably felt the same way. About 1 mile in, I was walking/running on one foot. I had so much courage at this point. I was in excruciating pain, but channeled it out..

I pushed and pushed. It was something to behold. At about 4 miles, the pain went away and I felt adrenaline. I pushed towards the end, running as fast as I could. People were cheering. I thought our team would be waiting. I crossed the finished line, but no one was there. I think they were all resting. I called Darren to tell him that I was done. Everyone came out and we celebrated. I finished the Red course in under one hour with pretty much only one leg. It was great. We got medals and took a group photo. What an event!!! It is a great experience, no doubt.

One of the toughest events I've done next to the marathon. Its like camping and running all together. The hard part was knowing you had to come through for your team. You push yourself to its limit.