Let me start this race report by saying that Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I’ve run a lot of races, some fast, some slow, some much harder than others, including the Tram Road Race, which is basically running almost four miles straight up a mountain.
They got nothing on Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes.
This post is sponsored by Ragnar through my association with Fit Approach. I was asked to be a part of the first Sweat Pink Ragnar team, which I was honored to do. I also received gifts from Fit Approach, Goodr, Lily Trotters, and Ragnar Trail. This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are, as always, my own.
Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes Race Report
It’s really hard to recap a relay race. There is so much going on, for at least 24 hours straight, that it’s difficult to put it into any kind of sensible order. So I’ll just do my best and hopefully, you can understand what I’m talking about! I want to start, though, by telling you about my team because they were one of the best parts of the weekend.
Your team is such an important part of your Ragnar experience. I was fortunate back in 2014 when I ran Ragnar So Cal to team up with an amazing group of women. I got lucky again with my Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes team, only two of whom I’d ever met before.
RagnarTrail Los Coyotes: The Recap! I'm sharing my adventures and all the details of my @RagnarTrail experience! #SweatPinkClick To TweetMeet the Sweat Pink Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes Team
If you’ve ever run a Ragnar or other relay race, you know that your team can make or break your race. As I said, I’d only met two of my Ragnar team previously, Sandra and Jamie. Jamie (@JamieKingFit) is the co-founder of Fit Approach and Sweat Pink. We’ve been friends for years, and she was on my only other Ragnar team, back in 2014, where she basically kicked ass because she’s an amazing runner. Fit Approach did a great profile on each team member (including me). Here’s Jamie’s.
I’d met Sandra (@OrganicRunnerMom) a couple times at Blogfest, but I’d never run with her before. Or, I should say, run behind her because she’s pretty darn fast! I was so happy to see that she was on the team. Here’s Sandra’s Fit Approach profile.
Jenny (@RunnyLegs) was our team captain. I knew of her through social media, but that was all. I was excited to find out that both Jenny and her husband Sean (@UltraRunnerSD) were vegan! Yay! Here’s Jenny’s profile on Fit Approach.
To give you an idea about Sean, we were talking about how some people had taken a wrong turn in the Red Loop and added on extra mileage. Sean casually mentioned that once he was doing a 240 mile ultra, took an 18 mile wrong turn, so he ended up actually running almost 260 miles!!! I tried to keep that in mind as I ran my Red Loop. Here’s Sean’s profile.
Michael (@theBrosh) is a friend of Jamie’s who made the trip from Portland to join her in this adventure. I was super impressed that he could run as fast as he did while taking amazing video of himself doing it! Not an easy task! Check out Michael’s profile.
Jared (@JaredSBlank) is another ultra runner with amazing credentials, including running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days! That’s beyond impressive. Here’s his profile.
Kristina (@OCRunningMama) climbs mountains. Seriously, her Instagram feed is always showing her running up Mount Baldy or other mountaintops. A big thanks to Kristina for bringing along her husband as our designated volunteer! Here’s Kristina’s profile.
And if you’d like to check out my Fit Approach profile, here you go!
As I said, your team can make or break your event. I was so lucky to be a part of Team Sweat Pink, a group of amazing runners and wonderful people, who were fun, caring, and supportive.
Pre-Race at Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes
Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes takes place near Warner Springs, on the Los Coyotes Reservation. It’s less than two hours from my home, so I headed there early on Friday morning. We were scheduled to start at 11:00, and, even though I was runner number seven, I wanted to be there and settled in when we started.
Cell phone reception was terrible, so when I was nearby and texted Jamie that I was getting close, I didn’t hear back. I was able to finally pull up a facebook post that said our campsite was near the Smell Ya Later team and to look for the big nose on the tree! After wandering around where I thought our reserved site was, I finally found the Sweat Pink team. Next to the giant nose!
Ragnar Trail races are a bit different from the road relays, where your team of 12 packs into two vans, jumps from handoff point to point, and basically hangs out together in a van for 24 hours.
Instead, there are three loops that each teammate runs; green (the easiest), yellow (a little harder), and red (the hardest). In the case of Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes, the green loop was about three miles with about 600 feet of climbing. Yellow was 3.1 miles but had more climbing, and Red was just under eight miles and had about 2,000 feet of climbing. As the seventh runner, I started with the green loop on Friday afternoon, had my Red loop in the middle of the night, and finished with the yellow loop on Saturday morning.
Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes – The Race
Kristina was our first runner, and she started on time with the Green loop. Part of the challenge of a Ragnar Trail relay is to be at the transfer point on time when you have no contact with the runner on the course. It takes a combination of estimating their time and the use of the tracking computer monitors, which were prone to not updating on time, which made it essential to keep an eye on the course. I actually missed Sandra coming across the finish line and had to dash over to get started on my first run!
The Green Loop
When I finally got Sandra’s hand off (passing the “baton” involved handing over the race belt with our number) it was about 4:30 on Friday afternoon. I was the first of our runners to take her headlamp along with her because of the early sunset. All three loops started off through the campground, then started heading uphill after about a half mile. The Green loop soon turned off from the others, continuing uphill for about half the distance.
This was the easiest loop, but it was still challenging, with a lot of uphill (611 feet of elevation gain), but with a nice, steady downhill during the second half. The sun was just starting to set, so I did turn on my headlamp during the last 20 minutes or so, but it wasn’t completely dark when I finished. This was also my fastest loop, 38:05. I handed off to Sean, who was our first nighttime runner, heading out on his Yellow Loop.
The Red Loop
To tell you the truth, I was dreading the Red Loop. I knew I would be running in the dark, and the Red Loop was the longest and most challenging of the three Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes legs. After grabbing dinner (a vegan burger from one of the food trucks, which was included in our registration), Sandra and I decided to see if we could get a little sleep before our late night legs. It was already getting cold, and I found it hard to get to sleep. I think I may have dozed a bit, but soon the alarm went off and it was time to prepare for my midnight loop.
This time I was in place when Sandra finished her loop and off I went. It was hard to decide what to wear. It was so cold that I was wearing all my layers, but I chose to pare down to tights, about three layers of tops, gloves, and a beanie cap that covered my ears. I wore my headlamp, plus I carried my Nathan Zephyr hand torch. I was still cold, but I was able to move, so it was good. And the combination of headlamp and hand torch was perfect. It was very dark, but I could always see where I was going.
Just as in my first loop, the Red Loop started off uphill. And continued uphill. Sometimes it was so steep I felt like I needed to grab something to pull myself up. There were narrow passages, fallen trees across the trails, and other hazards, which were clearly marked, but still challenging to tackle in the dark. My strategy was to just keep moving forward. That was all.
The memories that come to mind are how polite everyone is out there. When you come from behind, the runners move out of your way. When you allow another runner to pass, they are quick to thank you. I will also remember the sky. So many stars! It was beautiful, even though I didn’t take the time to stop, turn off my light, and just take it in. I needed to keep moving.
Many of the downhills were as steep as the uphills, making me pick my way down and definitely not making up any time. There was finally, though, the ultimate downhill run: wide, clear, and not too steep. Even in the dark, I was able to pick up the pace for a couple miles. And then it started up again, for a total of over 2,000 feet in climbing!
I’m proud to say I survived the Red Loop, finishing up around 2:30 am with a time of 2:11:25, a time I am completely proud about. I have to send even more kudos to Jamie, though, who also did most of the Red Loop in the dark and kicked some trail butt in 1:38!
When I finally passed off the bib baton to Sean, I hurried back to the campsite because I could already feel the cold creeping in. I made the mistake of not stopping at the toilets on my way, which left me with an uncomfortable bladder a couple hours later when it was too cold to go out.
Once I huddled in my tent, I couldn’t bring myself to change my clothes! It was just too cold and I was too tired, to struggle with my clothing in my little tent. I told myself that I wasn’t all that sweaty and instead pulled my prAna Cozy Up gear back on over my running clothing. And another jacket. And added an extra pair of socks. And a warmer pair of gloves. And I squirmed to get as deep into my sleeping bag as I possibly could, curled into a little ball, and tried to warm up. I figured I had about six hours until my next leg so it would be nice to get a little sleep.
Sadly, beyond a little bit of drifting off, sleep just didn’t happen. I was told later that it got down into the 20s overnight, and this desert rat is just not used to that! I shivered through most of the night, waiting for daylight so that I could get up and use the bathrooms. And get some coffee (which was free, strong, and plentiful). Then I started thinking about my next leg.
The Yellow Loop
Or as I like to call it, the loop that almost killed me. After the Green Loop, I made sure to carry my inhaler with me, though I hadn’t needed it, not even during the Red Loop. I also knew I was dehydrated. While I carried my handheld bottle on my longer run, it was so cold that I really didn’t drink very much, nor did I rehydrate after my run (I just wanted to sleep!). So as I headed into my final leg, I guess I was destined to have some problems.
And yes, they happened, about halfway through the Yellow Loop. I started to get lightheaded. I stopped, used my inhaler, and tried to regroup. We were at about 5,000 feet elevation at that time, and regrouping just wasn’t happening. I felt nauseous, continued to feel shaky and lightheaded, and had a hard time getting going again. For maybe the first time ever I wasn’t sure if I could continue.
But, you know me, I’m pretty tough. I started out by walking until I felt I could run. Then I was able to run most of the way, though I had to stop once more to use the inhaler. It was not as bad the second time. But, I managed to finish that killer Yellow Loop. A little over three miles with 743 feet of climbing, it took me about 56 minutes. Then I got to hand off to Sean as he ran the final loop of our relay.
It took me a long time to recover from the Yellow Loop. While the asthma settled down, I was prone to bouts of dizziness for the rest of the day. I really attribute that to dehydration more than anything else.
Wrapping it Up
As we waited for Sean to finish his Red Loop (which he did in 1:21:40!), I had time to change into my race shirt, grab a bite to eat, and start to pack up a little. I admit, as exhausted as I was, I was sad that it all had to end. While I think of Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes as one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, it was also one of the most fun. I absolutely love everyone on my team, they made a great event even better.
When Sean finished, we met him ahead of the finish line so that we could run across together. We picked up our medals, took a few team and medal photos, and then it was time to say goodbye. I loved this adventure and I hope that I have a chance to do it again! Oh, and in spite of this slow grandma, we managed to finish 10th in the mixed group out of 119 teams! Our total time was 24:35:51.
I was so honored to be a part of the first Sweat Pink team at Ragnar Trail Los Coyotes! It was an amazing adventure! In case you missed it, here are the tips I followed to recover. I’m sorry this is so long. Just when I think I’ve finished writing, I remember something else that just must be in the race report!
Have you ever done a Ragnar Trail Race? Now that you’ve read this do you want to? I’ll be on your team!
And Now It’s Time for the Running Coaches’ Corner!
Linkup with the #RunningCoachesCorner with @loramarie03, @MarcPelerin, and me! Bring your best #runningrelated posts, find new blogs to follow, and share your love of #running!Click To Tweet[inlinkz_linkup id=803798 mode=1]
Weekly Linkups
My weekly linkups! Please stop by and check out all of the great recipes, workouts, and information that all these awesome bloggers share every week!
Meatless Monday with Sarah and Deborah
Tuesdays on the Run with Marcia, Erika, and Patty
Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie, Jen, and Nicole
The Running Coaches’ Corner with Lora Marie, Marc, and Me!
Friday 5 2.0 with Rachel and Lacey and Meranda
Weekly Wrap with Wendy and Holly
Judy @ Chocolaterunsjudy
Looking at the post, it looked long. Reading — no, not at all! Thank you for taking us with you cause I’m never going to do that. ๐
You are definitely a bada$$ grandma! I wish I was so slow!
Debbie Woodruff
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed my recap. And I think bada$$ grandma is a great nickname! Thanks for that too!
Wendy
Congrats! It looks so hard! I know I couldn’t do it. Heck, I don’t think I could do a regular Ragnar. The whole running during the night thing would do me in. Fun that you got to meet all these people–you know Kristina and I ran Big Sur together, right?
Debbie Woodruff
Kristina’s a doll!
Honestly, I walked (power hiked) a lot of the uphills. I think it was as fast as my running would have been. And running at night is somehow exhilarating! Even though I was cold and exhausted. ๐
Laura Norris
Congrats! The races sounds hard in a fun way and that scenery looks beautiful! The set up of trail Ragnars sounds more enjoyable than road Ragnars.
Laurie
I have never done a Ragnar, but after reading this, I want to. I did a 24 hour relay this May and it rained for 20 of the 24 hours. The course was a muddy mess, but we had so much fun. I loved it! If you get a team together, especially for a trail Ragnar, please keep me in mind!
Deborah Brooks
Ragnar relays are so challenging but so oh so rewarding. I agree it’s the team mates that make the experience so amazing. Those trails would terrify me at night. Congrats on your hard earned bling
Kim G
Congrats Debbie! Wow, this sounds like such a hard and intense course. Kudos to you and the entire team!
Kimberly Hatting
What an epic adventure! I am SOOO jealous! (and temps in the 20’s? Ha! that’s nothing LOL). Seriously, this really looks like quite the challenge, and I’m all about that. I met Kristina (and ran with her) a few years ago when we were on a trip to California ๐
Debbie Woodruff
I always think of you when I complain about the cold. Still, 20s when you’re not moving is challenging. No body heat being generated!
Jamie King
You are so strong, Debbie. I am always impressed and inspired by your strength and positivity – I am so glad I get to know you and run with you! I am so lucky to have been on two teams with you and see you almost every single year! ๐