I ran SOFAKING far... Ragnar Relay Florida Keys 2013

The first weekend of 2013, five wonderful people I work (and live with) at my boarding school job traveled down to Miami, Florida to take part in the Ragnar Relay Florida Keys Ultramarathon. The race is one in a series of 200 mile road races where teams of 12 split into two vans of six runners... leap frogging one another nonstop over the period of about a day and a half. Every member of the team runs three separate times for a total of 36 legs that span the length of the course. Our team's challenge was to run from Virginia Key Park in Miami, all over the city and across the Overseas Highway to Key West, a block from the southernmost location in the continental US!

The SBS crew joined up with a team that was first created by me when I was living in Washington, DC. The sixth member of the SBS van was a former grad school and teaching colleague of mine, Amy (who now lives in Colorado), and the other van was made up of runners from the running club Andrea used to be involved with in Washington, DC (DC Road Runners).

Our van ran a total of about 96 miles (split among six people) beginning on Friday afternoon, starting our second leg of runs before dawn and into midday and then finishing out the relay for the entire team at the finish line just in time to see the fiery orange sun set over the water. We slept on the floor of a gym somewhere outside of Key largo. We survived on bottled water, Gatorade, PB & J's, granola bars and potato chips. We had to use gross port-o-potties (known to some as honeypots). We endured running in the pitch black as well as the blazing midday sun. We experienced sore muscles, and pushed through the hurt to make our team a hell of a lot of roadkills (when you pass runners from other teams). We even got on National Television (look for us at the 3:57 mark)! It was an amazing experience full of funny costumes, ridiculous team names and van decorations, wild and crazy attitudes, lots of cowbell, tired legs and hilarious stories we'll be telling for the rest of our lives.

We had so much fun, in fact, that we're trying to put together a new relay team full of SBS faculty and alumnae to get more alums reconnected with their school in a fun way! We're also sharing our experience in a school newsletter, so at the very least maybe our experience will inspire someone to get out and do something fun and active as we start this wonderful new year. Take care!

Below are some of my favorite photographs of the event of our SBS team (Team 411, a.k.a. The Sofa Kings): 

The race course from Miami to Key West

Jess decorating our SOFAKING awesome minivan for the race! Window paint is a MUST! Next time we're also making magnetic decals and getting indoor twinkly lights!

Amy after her first leg at exchange 12

Karen and Tim ready to go at Exchange 6 

Liz ready to go for her first leg at exchange 7 in Miami

After Amy finished at Exchange 12, we drove ahead to Exchange 18 where we got to eat some pasta and sleep on the floor of a school gymnasium (or at least TRY to sleep, in my case!) 

This shot was taken at about 5:45am, as we waited in side our mini van for Tim to pass us during his second leg: a ten miler at the crack of dawn!

The SBS crew posing for a pic before we head off to pick up Amy at the end of her second leg

Karen and me fooling around with a palm tree while we wait for Amy to run by on her second leg

I hand off to Jess after my second run in a little more than 12 hours... I ran 8.1 in the high morning heat and humidity. 

Hanging out at Exchange 30, just resting as it was mid afternoon and too weird of a time to nap. This is right before our van embarked on our third and final leg

Jess finishing up her third leg of the race... her exchange just so happened to be in the parking lot of an "adult store"! Haha!

Amy, Karen and Jess showing off their Ragnar (temporary) tattoos as we waited for Tim to hand off to Liz at their third and final exchange (in front of Baby's Coffee near Key West!)

Karen finishing up her third (?) and final leg of the race! Looking strong!

Me at the finish with my finishers medal (on the left) and my double medal (on the right) that I got for completing two (actually I completed THREE) Ragnar Relays this year, one of which was FLK.

The SOFA KINGS after we finished the race at the southernmost point in the continental USA! We are SOFAKING cool!

We had to stop on our way back to the airport, so that we could dip our toes in the water of the keys! We were there two days and so busy running that we never even got to swim!

Our team before parting ways at the airport. Tim had a flight in a different terminal back to Bradley, and Amy (second from left) was flying back to Colorado from yet another airline. Thanks for some amazing memory, team! I can't wait to do this with you all again very soon!