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Ragnar Trail - Vail Lake

Last year, I participated in my first Ragnar Trail Relay (McDowell Mtn) and surprisingly our team won the Leave No Trace Award (or Eco-Friendly Award? Environmentally Friendly Award?). The prize came with a few race goodies but best of all came with a free race entry for our entire team. We decided to put it to good use this year at Ragnar Trail Vail Lake located outside Temecula, CA.
Ragnar Village
To those unfamiliar with the Ragnar Trail relay, I'll explain as quickly as possible. It's a relay race where one runner on a team is always running the course. The course consists of 3 loops on trails. Each runner on a team runs all 3 loops but the runners don't all run them in the same order. Make sense? Sorta? Not really? Go here for more info.
Our campsite. So much space!
Anyway, we arrived at the campsite just in time to drop off our gear, drive to the parking lot, and catch the last shuttle back to camp. We set up tents and crashed for the night. In the morning, we checked out the goings on at Ragnar Village, organized our stuff, and readied ourselves for our team start at 11 am. As runner #6, I had a while to eat, hydrate, and prep.
Though Vail Lake is a nice change from the desert, the surrounding area is reminiscent of Phoenix. The trails were dusty, lined with brush and cacti with trees here and there to provide brief moments of shade. I started my first leg around 4 pm on a hot, dry, cloudless day. 4.5 miles and 900 feet of climbing, most of that in the first 2 miles. The climbs were steep and I pushed too hard at the beginning per usual. Those pre-race jitters always make me push too hard out the gate. But my heart and lungs soon recovered to be able to joyfully bound down the mountain again. It was a good leg, tough during the heat of the day (low 80's but with heat index of 100+) but felt good nonetheless. Especially once I got back, cooled down, and enjoyed an afternoon jump in the lake. It wasn't as good as a shower, but it was a close second. I ate dinner and soon settled into my sleeping bag to rest until my middle of the night run.
Looking far too happy before leg 1.
My teammates woke me up about midnight to prep for my next run. The night run at Ragnar is always my favorite, but I knew there would be more hills to conquer in this 3.9 mile loop. My calves and quads were unhappy as I headed up the first few hills. But the downhills were once again my saving grace and allowed me to pass several runners. Soon enough I was back at camp, cleaned myself up and back into bed.

There isn't a whole lot of sleeping that occurs at these sorts of races. Not for me at least. I don't sleep well unshowered in a tent on the hard ground. So I maybe got 4 hours of sleep that night. The next morning, I headed out for my last leg at about 9 am, sun beating down again but with a cool breeze. 6 miles of mostly flats, with one lengthy but steady incline about halfway in. I felt good, despite the fatigue, and finished the route with my best pace of the race so far. I finished the leg out with a quick jump in the cool lake. My muscles were thankful.
Our team finished at about noon, everyone running well, no injuries and no major incidences. Each of us ran just under 15 miles, with about 2000 feet of gain total.

With Ragnar #8 in the books, I guess it's time to get ready for #9 next month. I'm not sure I'd call myself a Ragnar fanatic, but it is always a blast to be able to run as a team sport, supporting and encouraging other runners as you go.

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