The Best 203.5 Miles Ever

Holy smokes. I can’t even begin to describe how incredible-amazing-fun-awesome-exhausting-exhilarating-rewarding this weekend was. Ragnar was without a doubt the best experience of my runlife so far.

Since words really can’t do it justice I am just going to let the pictures speak for themselves right now and I’ll get some real recaps up soon. Enjoy!

So Much Cooler Online – Van 2 (That’s the molecular formula for caffeine!)

So much tweeting took place this weekend!

This may be one of the only times you will see 6 girls fit all their weekend outfits into just 6 backpacks.

Some love for our sponsors – Nuun kept us hydrated in the 110* heat index through the IE and PROCompression and Aspaeris seriously saved our butts (and legs, calves and hips). Huge thanks to BIC Bands for keeping our hair in check, and Running Skirts and Run Pretty Far for keeping us looking cute even when we were sweaty, tired and hadn’t showered in 2 days.

Cheering on the runners while Ashley takes on her first 8.8 mile leg in the INSANE heat. This was only 10AM and already over 80*!

Ashley downing the water we brought her – she was a champ on this leg! She was feeling sick from the heat and still managed to bust her butt and run hard.

Sharon, Me, Ashley, Linzay and Elisabeth posing and looking purdy in our Run Pretty Far tanks while Erica tackles her first leg.

One of the many odd signs in Corona.

Just a little foam-rolling and thunder-sticking out on the sidewalk. NBD.

Rocking my reflective safety vest and BIC Band (and a few – or 20 – glow bracelets) for my night leg. I ran 3.8 miles in 36 minutes at 2:00AM! (in my exhaustion-induced haze I accidentally wrote 4.8 miles – um I wish! Maybe one day I’ll run that fast!)

#SMCOL Van 2 with our driver/map-reader/hydration-expert – Ashley’s BF Phil.

Porto lines! A kind lady shared some TP with me and Linzay because they were all out by 8AM on Saturday.

A seagull with a whole bagel in his mouth.

Ready to run our final legs of the race after being up for more than 24 hours.

Our home for 35 hours of running.

I cannot say it enough – this experience was INCREDIBLE. I wish I had more pictures of the girls in Van 1 but I was lucky I could even find my camera half the time in the van – let alone remember to bring it to the major exchanges where we saw them. I’ll link to everyone’s blog again at the end of the post so you can read their recaps and see their pictures. Our team came in 16th out of 35 finishing teams in our division with a total time of just 35 hours 6 minutes and 22 seconds (10:21 average pace). Our ULTRA Team came in first! They ran the whole thing (just the 6 of them) in just around 29 hours – these girls are MACHINES!

Van 1
Runner 1: Shannon@hungrygazelle
Runner 2: Becka @squirrelgirl44
Runner 3: Heather @hmgiraffy
Runner 4: Julie @julie16750
Runner 5: Sandy @bicbands
Runner 6: Madison @Borntorun77
Van 2
Runner 7: Ashley @prettyfittie
Runner 8: Linzay @brokerunner
Runner 9: Me! @GTR_Danica
Runner 10: Erica @cajun_runner
Runner 11: Sharon
Runner 12: Elisabeth@ewallerscott

Ultra
SkinnyRunner @skinnyrunnerSR
SarahOUAL @SarahOUaL
HauteRunningMama @hauterunningmama
Margot @FasterBunny
Chiara @lil_yogini
Pam

On another note – my good friend Andrew also ran with the team Zombiebait so I was able to hang out with his adorable girlfriend Carolyn and his cousin Lisa and see him cross the finish (another running addict was born).

We were able to catch up a bit at the night exchange and snapped this picture as proof to our parents that we were still standing (my Mom was convinced I would be found curled up in the fetal position somewhere crying like a baby I think – Love you Mom!).

Sharon and I finally made it home around 11:30 on Saturday after 41 hours of being awake with only 3 hours of minimal sleep. I walked in the door to see this:

Along with a flute of my favorite TJ’s almond champagne. Is my boyfriend the best or what?

I love him so much! I’ve never been so happy to see him!

I’ll have some detailed recaps up soon for all of my legs and funny stories (spoiler alert – man running – in. a. thong.)

THANK YOU SMCOL FOR ONE OF THE BEST WEEKENDS EVER!!! I LOVE RUNNING! I am annoying Jason with all my I LOVE RUNNING RUNNING IS THE BEST RUN RUN RUN talk but it’s true. I love it!