Ragnar Trail Relay VT – Mt Ascutney

The first weekend in August I participated in my second Ragnar Trail–in Vermont! My friend Margaret captained our team “Peer Pressure Heads for the Hills” for a run-through-the-night trail relay in the mountains of Vermont.  Three of us drove up from Albany on Thursday evening, camped out and awaited our team to arrive on Friday morning. Since I was Runner #1, I started things off at 9am on Friday. My first loop was “Green”, AKA the easy loop. But there wasn’t anything easy about it. It had just started raining, the trails were getting slick, and the first half of the 3ish-mile leg was up a mountain.

 

Green Loop
Distance 3.4 miles
Elevation 548′
Time 53 min

 

 

 

The trails at Ascutney are mountain bike trails. It was weird to be running up and down switchbacks and around berms. The trails were getting muddier by the minute, so I was cringing at the damage we were doing to the mountain bike trails. Generally, mountain bikers stay off trails in these conditions.

 

 

It rained on and off Friday morning. Eventually, a storm rolled through and Ragnar put a 2-hour hold on the race due to lightening.  Our team got to hang out together (a rare event during a relay) while we waited.

 

 

At around 9pm my next leg was up–the Red Loop–eight miles through some of the most challenging conditions I’ve ever experienced. I was feeling very apprehensive about running in these conditions alone at night, so my teammate Caitlin joined me (after getting it approved by the timing director).  The trails were so muddy that most of the trail was not runnable. We hiked for 3.5 hours in rain and mud by headlamp. At some points, we were crawling up the trail. I had never wanted to be done with a hike so badly. I have completed some really tough hikes, but NOTHING compared to this. Runners were flying by us all throughout the leg and I was wondering how on earth did they not fall and crack their skull open. I wanted to be done. Finally, we came up the hill to the transition area and I nearly cried tears of joy.

 

 

Red Loop
Distance 8.4 miles
Elevation 1,821′
Time 3 hrs, 22 min

We hobbled back to our campsite (it was still raining) where we wiped down our legs. I went into my tent, changed and crawled into my sleeping bag and didn’t come out until the next morning. I had felt so defeated. Running that leg was one of the most mentally and physically challenging things I had ever done. I was ready to call the race quits.

I was in and out of sleep all night, wondering how the rest of my team was doing in these awful conditions. I got up the next morning around 6 and ate some breakfast. Ragnar had decided that the conditions were so bad that if teams wanted to bail they would still get their medals. I told my team I’d be fine with bailing, but everyone else wanted to finish. In the end, I’m glad we did, as the skies cleared the next morning. The rest of our team doubled up on legs so I ran my yellow loop with Caitlin.

 

 

 

 

I’m happy we finished because the yellow loop was gorgeous! I was so glad to finally be able to enjoy the scenery. 

Yellow Loop
Distance 4.1 miles
Elevation 741′ 
Time 1 hr, 19 minutes

Overall, Ragnar Trail VT was an experience, to the say the least! I’m glad I had such good friends on my team to endure this race with. During my worst moment, I told myself I’d never do it again, but part of me wants to experience what this race can be in optimal conditions! Maybe next year…