This week several of our Endurance regulars are going to tackle their first Ragnar Race.
A Ragnar is a team relay race that covers around 200 miles. In this case from Cumberland MD to Washington DC. Our race starts at 6:30am Friday and ends sometime Saturday afternoon/early evening. Each runner tackles 3 legs of varying difficulty and distance. Total distance covered per runner can be between 14 and 21 miles.
We have 2 vans with 6 runners in each van, and there is only one runner on the road at a time. A large part of any competition beyond the physical ability is the mental strength and will to not give up and push on. This is often bolstered by the spectators support, whether it’s something like Superfit or the Monument 10K. Knowing there are people out there encouraging you can be the huge push you need to lift bigger or go faster. This is one of the things that makes Crossfit in general different from just going to work out, and I think it’s why Crossfit works for people who’ve never found the motivation to stay healthy.
A Ragnar is a lonely run. Many of the legs have no van support. When you’re exhausted and on a dark fire trail at 3am with a headlamp lighting up about 10 feet in front of you and only your thoughts about how horror movies start and your breathing to keep you company , it’s very easy to lose that motivation to go on.
So I’m asking our Crossfit RVA family. If you see either myself, Tere, Erin Barclay, Jill Parcell, Eileen Geller, Audrey Trussell or Billy Carranza around the gym this week. A friendly word of support may be what we carry with us during the rough spots.
If you are friends with any of the runners, you can send some encouragement on facebook or follow them on Instagram for photo updates. Can’t sleep? Text us. Someone will be up.
There’s not a public Endurance group page, but we all check the Crossfit Group regularly and may post stuff there ourselves.
RVA Endurance classes are Tuesday mornings at 6am and Wednesday nights at 5:30pm.
You can find the wods posted on Mondays and Wednesdays on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/RVAEndurance
or on Twitter: @rvaendurance
If you want to know more about Ragnar, or want to throw a team together for a future event, you can check here: