Northwest Passage Ragnar- Ultra Beast Mode Part 2

 After my first run, Part 1, I had been in and out of the port-o-potty ALL DAY LONG. Gross, maybe- but thats how a lot of us were. I'm not sure if its nerves / stress, my newly arrived period, or the fact that I was drinking nuun and zip fizz all day long, but something was off. What does nuun and zip fizz have to do with anything?!?! They both contain sugar alcohols which get absorbed differently in your system. Its not necessarily a bad thing, but too much can cause intestinal discomfort for some people... i'm one of the "lucky" ones that is considered 'some people'. (found out the hard way how awful cliff and luna bars are for me before a half marathon--- all the jostling around, wowzas)

Regardless of the reason, I was queasy all day long and getting to the point that my butt was in pain... yup I said it, pain in the butthole. I wasn't the only one on the team, so maybe its an ultra thing?!? Maybe it made me run faster than I normally would?!

That's pretty much how I felt, minus the running in tightie whities. You know who did run in tightie whities... my favorite team on the entire course, "Risky Business" (who also was an ultra team!!)

They all ran in their "costco special" pink and white striped shirts for EVERY leg with tightie whities underneath. (chafe city) My obsession was Mark on the far left-- some cat calls may have been made and I know our runner Katy ran with him / behind him/ slapped him (guess we think alike). All in the fun of the Ragnar spirit!!

Run 2- 11.7 miles. 

Since the time where we were required to wear night gear was going to be in the middle of my run, I had to put it on despite it being light outside.I don't mind the head lamp, but my vest is super annoying. I need to just break down and buy one of these bad boys since they don't move around

Stretching before run (not far from port o potties)- muscles still feeling great at this point

Since I'm the beginning of the rotation again, I had to wait for Julia to finish her super long leg, just shy of 18 miles. She was feeling great during her run and told us to just go to the exchange, but that made it more difficult to gauge when she would come in. Unfortunately I went to the hand off too early and I started to get the rumbles AND have to pee. Being a 'team player', I didn't want to risk going to bathroom and have her come in with no one to hand off to, so I tried to push it out of mind.

David, who I met back when I ran Rock n Roll San Jose, happened to be at the exchange cheering on one of his friends, so we chatted for awhile which took my mind off my uncomfortable feeling for a bit... just a bit.

Julia came through looking strong and then I was off.

• Just like leg 1, first mile was okay, then BAM - "excuse me, where is the bathroom????!?!!!" 
• Mile 2 I booked it trying to gain some ground so there was no one behind me because I seriously thought about jumping into a ditch to pee, it was that bad. 
• The first 3 miles of my route was pretty bland in regards to scenery- bunch of cornfields and gray skies, guess it didn't matter since I didn't run with my phone anyway. 
• Van stopped around 3.5 to supply me with water. Due to both of my legs being changed / lengthened the week of Ragnar, the actual mileage wasn't posted at the top of page like normal. I had to look at elevation map and kind of guess what my mileage would be, 11.7 looked about right. I couldn't remember if first part of run was longer or shorter than 2nd, so I told my van that if my first leg was longer, I wanted water right before the exchange to take my gu, and if the leg was shorter, I wanted it after the exchange. 
• In my mind as I'm running I realized that my 2nd leg is indeed longer, and was only confirmed when I saw the 1 mile to go sign. Unfortunately I saw my van right before the exchange, so I quickly took my gu and washed it down with their provided water. I was told I was over 1/2 way and had 5.5 miles to go.
• As I was going through the exchange 2 ladies "unaware" of their surroundings wouldn't get out of the way, so I was kind of bitchy and pushed her out of way since I couldn't run around her. Who stands in the middle of a chute anyway?!?! Her own fault. 
• Next mile I spent catching up to good old dragon tail (i saw him on the last part of all 3 legs), then breezed right by him. 
• I look at my watch and realize that the mileage is lower than it should be... crap. My vanmates must have mixed up my legs and thought my first leg was longer than 2nd, when infact it was the other way around. In their defense: all 3 legs that were changed were reprinted on inserts and could easily just be switched around. 
• I spent about 2 miles on a beautiful gravel travel with woods to my right and gently rolling hills (my favorite) which was at least a nice change of scenery. My bathroom issue resurfaced so I picked up the pace a bit to create some distance between me and the men behind me. I figured the woods would be the perfect place to relieve myself- unfortunately I decided against it. 
• Saw my van again shortly before mile 8, grabbed some water, and was disheartened when Katy and Rachelle said I had 2 - 2.5 miles left. For whatever reason I didn't speak up and say that it was more like 3.5 - 4, and just said I would see them at the exchange. 
• The last part of my run was DIFFICULT. My energy was zapped, I had to go to bathroom, there was no one in front of me to try to catch, and the winding road just seemed never ending. I kept hoping I read the map wrong and it wasn't 11.7, maybe 11.5... 11?!?!
• Every time I saw a blinking ragnar sign I kept hoping it was the "one mile to go sign", and every time it wasn't, I just got more and more discouraged.
• Finally, when I did get to it, I got HAWKED by some guy (the only person that has passed me so far in the relay) and that was enough motivation to at least keep going. 
• I get to the exchange, hand off to Ashley, beeline to the bathroom (pretty standard routine) 

Although I felt like crap the entire run, my time wasn't too affected- 11.7 miles, 8:09 pace. I finished in just enough time that night hadn't really hit yet- seemed as soon as I was finished the darkness came. The first go round I LOVED running and everything was all happy go lucky, this run, I was counting down the minutes until I would be finished, I hate that. 

I attempted to sleep for a bit and then when we got to a major exchange I had a little melt down with my butt- sorry for the graphics, but it was a huge issue for me. I didn't know what was wrong and I was starting to walk funny. Finally Jill said I should get some vaseline from the med tent and she went and got it for me (ended up being bacitracin, which was probably a better choice) 

After I applied that I went to bed and actually did sleep for a bit (wahoo) before my last run. 

Mile 1: 7:30
Mile 2: 7:10
Mile 3: 8:00
Mile 4: 8:31
Mile 5: 8:07
Mile 6: 8:12
Mile 7: 7:51
Mile 8: 8:17
Mile 9: 8:27
Mile 10: 8:40
Mile 11: 8:47
          .7 8:32