[Kona, HI, Oct 15, 2016]

And here we are, day 2 of this adventure! We spent the night in our van in the parking lot of major exchange #2. Van #2 has been running their 6 legs since midnight or so last night, so we were expecting Creighton to be coming in fairly early this morning.

Yes, we slept in the van! And this is not a big 12- or 15-passenger van. This was a small 6-seater, so we basically slept in our seats. I was armed with an eye mask and ear plugs, but that did not help when a teammate that shall not be named took her time opening a protein bar in the middle of the night. The crunching sound of the wrapping tore through the silence like an explosion! Well, I may be exaggerating, but just a little!

Most of our major exchanges have been in the parking lots of schools on the island, so we had the benefit of having access to real restrooms. Once we brushed teeth and grabbed a snack, we headed for the finish line, where we found coffee! Ahhhhhhh!!! It was a beautiful morning and we only had a few more hours of running! We could see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

Chillin’ waiting for the last runner from van #2.

Idly sitting around means it’s time for a selfie!

2 rounds of running done… round 3 about to begin. 🙂

Things unfolded pretty much like the day before. Laura started us off, then Mike, then May, then Lena (May joined her on her leg), then Camilla, then myself. We supported the runner on the course as usual, which came in handy as Camilla needed to tape her toes during her leg.

My last leg was mostly downhill, which helped a lot because I was running in the middle of the day again, like yesterday, and it was even hotter. As I approached the exchange, at Wawaloli Beach Park, the course took a turn off the paved road onto the sand by the beach. Boy, was I not happy! I was walking it home in the sand when Mike yelled at me to pass the person in front of me, so I hauled ass and passed them. Here is photo proof.

And just like that, van one is done!!!! Checking off that last leg felt awesome.

We took some time to enjoy Wawaloli beach, but we were ready to get home and get cleaned up and rest while van #2 finished the final 6 legs.

Van #1 is done. Find Mike in this photo 🙂

After a few hours of rest back at the house, we headed back to the finish line to meet up with van #2. We calculated that Olivia should still be on the course, so we decided to try and find her on the way to the Hapuna Bay Beach resort, where the finish line was. We did spot her, and she was definitely happy for the encouragement!

We sent her off and we crossed the road to get back to our van, when a Ragnar SUV passed us and pulled a U-turn. We were like, uh oh, what did we do? It turns out that we were supposed to park on the runner side of the road for this  portion of the course. This made no sense to us, since the runners run against traffic. In order to park on their side of the road, we would have had to cross into the lane for oncoming traffic and into the runners’ path on the shoulder to park. That seemed like it was more dangerous than crossing the highway like we were doing. The Ragnar official took down our team number and told us we had incurred a safety violation for this. We knew we already had 1 safety violation from earlier in the race, when  someone from the other van crossed the street when they didn’t have a green. Here we were, so close to finish, 1 safety violation away from getting disqualified! YIKES!

As we were heading back in the direction of the finish line, we had to stop again to enjoy the magnificent sunset that was peeking from underneath the clouds. It was absolutely beautiful.

We got to the finish line with plenty of time to spare before van #2 finished. We got some pizza and beer, then popped into the Ragnar shop. Again, we almost missed Creighton! When he finally arrived, we got to join him on his final stretch before the finish line. All 12 of us crossed it together, holding hands. Out of all 3 California teams, we were the only ones to finish within the time limit without having to resort to doubling up on legs or other Ragnar-approved strategies to make up time. We were so proud of ourselves! And the medals were awesome! Each team’s medals fit together like a puzzle to reveal a quote on the back. I don’t think we ever got around to making ours into 1 with all the excitement.

The running girls 🙂

The entire team. Standing, from left to right: Tawnya, Camilla, myself, John, Laura and Lena. Front left to right: May, Margaret, Mike, Olivia, Creighton. We are missing Wendy in this group shot of Californians II.

The inaugural Ragnar Hawaii is now officially O-V-E-R! Time for some rest and relaxation, woo hoo!