Whats up good people of the blogging world. I know it has been a hot minute and that is because I haven’t really had anything to say. Oh I have had a lot going on in my life and words upon words spinning through this here head of mine but I hadn’t figured out how to pen them… until now!!!
Aiight so a few months ago I signed up to run the Ragnar Relay race… again. Yeh that race that I said that I would NEVER EVER run again…yeh that one. This makes year three. ANYWAY yeh I paid a shit ton of money to do this 48 hour relay race(BIG DUMMY **in my Fred Sanford voice**) My friend Eve pictured below asked me to join the team again and I said ok. A few months later, the same Eve pictured below asked me to be captain of the regular team because she needed to lead the Ultra and couldn’t do both. Wait… What?? Me?? Why?? Her words and I quote “Why not you?? You were the first person I thought of to lead this team” I was like “Yeh but captains have great attitudes and are motivating… My attitude is straight STANK while I am out there and I have no desire to motivate myself let alone anyone else. You know what she did?? SHE LAUGHED IN MY FACE and basically said “So you are captain. Let me know if you need anything!!!”
SHIT SHIT DOUBLE SHIT!!! Ok so as Captain I did all of the captain stuff. Made sure that all of our laps were covered, volunteer shift covered, motivation chats via FB messenger every once in a while. Putting the word out if we needed a new runner due to injuries… you know official captain shit. **pops collar** I’m feeling on top of the freaking world!!! Like this captain-ing gig is pretty easy. I GOT THIS!!!
Lets fast forward to Thursday Oct 4 shall we. Its not even noon yet and the text comes through that one of our teammates is down with a crazy cold and won’t be able to make it out. Ok cool beanies. We gottchu boo!!! It’s covered. DONE. EASY. 10 MINUTES LATER… 10 GOSH DAMN MINUTES another text comes through that the girls boyfriend is cutting out but his reason was bullshit. BULL-SHIT!!! BUUUULLLLLLL SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!! There is no better way but to describe it and that is me being nice and censored. Ok so let the panic on the inside begin. I kept it cool through the messages and on the outside because as I captain I am not supposed to panic. I WAS LOSING MY MIND!!! WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!??!?!?!? HOW ARE WE GOING TO PULL THIS OFF?!?!?! Ok so I calmed my nerves, hopped in the car with 3 of my teammates and we mapped out a plan. It’s now just: Me, Bridget, Bo, Paul, Thomas and Kat. We doubled up on laps and came up with a strategy to get shit done. Ok some of the panic left. So we are driving… IT’S RAINING and not just any rain but FREAKING DOWN POUR!!!! For the love of God what else could go wrong??? Spoke too soon my friend. Spoke. Too. Soon. We get an official email from Ragnar that part of the campsite and course has flooded but not to worry because they are just going to tweek it a bit. **Bangs head on dashboard of car** WHY WHY WHY WHY WHHHHHHYYYYYYY MEEEE?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I am not equipped to handle this shit at all!!!!! So what did we do??? We laughed. We drove, grabbed pizza and laughed all the way to the camp site!!!
We arrive at the site, throw our tent up and get situated a bit. We look at the revised course map and get to adding. They made some of the loops longer. We are looking at over 130 miles. **insert blank stare here** We ran back to our tent and looked at our mapped out running plan. I was questioned over and over and over again about if it was the right plan, if we should let other people run our extra laps, and so on and so on. To the point where I was like “FUCK IT!!! Do what you want.” My friend Hershey who had her own team (GOD BLESS YOU HERSHEY) looked at me and said “Are you the captain?? Handle your shit girl. What you say goes.” Soooo I pulled up my big girl panties and said ” ALRIGHT PEOPLE!!! We are keeping what we originally mapped out. You don’t like it?? Tough titties!!! We are not adding extra runners because I believe we can do this!! Is it going to be easy?? Hell no. Are we going to hate each other?? HELL YES!!! Are we going to be miserable?? I GUARAN-DAMN_TEE IT!!! But guess what?? Shit is getting done!! WE CAN DO THIS!!!!” I know for me it was a matter of proving to myself that I could do this!!! I needed to prove to myself that I had this.
Friday
Everything is mapped out, we woke up semi happy and ready to get the show on the road. I was runner number one so I had to be up and ready to rock and roll. Every race that I do I run for Black Lives and for the innocent Black lives that are taken by racist white supremacist cowards. This race I ran for Botham Jean. I suited up prayed and was ready to GET IT!!!
I feel like my first lap was amazing!!! It was around 4 miles and my team told me that I did it around the 45 minute mark!!! HOLY SHIT thats grease lightning for me!!!I was so happy with that though. After I finished my first lap I had time to chill and hang out with team members and other teams while teammates were handling their laps on the course. I didn’t get pics with everyone and I feel bad because I totally should have.
My team KICKED ASS Y’all. We handled our first laps like CHAMPS!!! We were not the fastest but we finished our laps in good times. Thomas was our 2nd runner, Bridget was our 3rd runner. Katherine was 4, I filled in our 5th runner and then we had Paul and Bohan as our last leg runners.
Anyway as the day went on all I could do was try to keep track of everyone and chill and relax because my long lap was coming up. 7.2 miles of SUCK ASS RUNNING. Finally it was my turn again and I took off with my water pack. I kept a good pace and ran most of my 7.2 miles. About 3 or 4 miles from the finish line, I ran into the one and only HERSHEY!!!! I knew it was her because I saw red hair and Captain America pants. I stayed with her those last three miles. We were both tired but she was hurting. Hershey is one of the strongest people that I know and she won’t tell you that she’s hurting. She will push through and worry about pain later. She thinks of everyone first and then herself. I believe that God works in awesome ways. The spirit moves in amazing ways and something told me “Stay with her.” Hershey kept telling me to go ahead but I was like “NOPE!!! You are stuck with me.” We laughed, we talked, We cussed, laughed some more and I told her about what I really want out of my life and what not. At the last 3/4 of a mile I took her hand and said “We are running across that finish line. Whatever energy you need from me… Take it. Its yours. I have more than enough to give” Here is my thing. I will do ANYTHING for my friends. Its who I am. Im not going to leave you hanging. I know if I was out there hurting she would do the same for me. Hershey would look me dead in my eyes and tell me “I Gottchu. Lets go.”
Guess what??? I cracked up my music, held her hand and we ran across that line!!!!
We made it back to camp in time for me to change, grab a quick bite to eat and stretch a little. Thats all I had time for. Ok so the food… GOOD LAWD JESUS THE FOOD!!!! It was FREAKING AMAZING!!!!!
Ok so I threw on my head lamp and before I knew it, it was time to hit that 7.2 miles again for the night lap. SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT DOUBLE SHIT!!! Now see here is when in my mind I’m like “Why do I do this??? Who decides to run a trail race at night with nothing but a head lamp, flashlight, cell and water pack?? White people. Black people don’t do this shit yet here I am… DOING JUST THAT!!!!!” My teammate Paul came in hot and it was GO GO GO all the way. I ran 2 miles straight before panic started to set in.
Like I could feel my heart pounding and my overactive imagination started going and it was a quick mental downward spiral from there. Running through the woods… in the dark… BY.YOUR.SELF is a mind fuck like no other. HOLY COW!!! You would think that it would get easier being the 3rd year and all… NOPE!!! Still scares the crap out of me. So Im on the course letting my imagination rule my world when I stopped in my tracks and said “I need someone on the course beside me NOW. God please put someone in my path… PLEASE!!!” I picked up the pace from a complete stop to a trot and 5 minutes later a girl ran in front of me. I kept up with her until our trails broke off into different directions and then it was just me and my thoughts again. So I was at it again. “God. Please put someone on my path. I’m FREAKING OUT HERE!!!!!” Not 5 minutes later I ran into a 63 year old guy named Ramon. He was from the Dominican Republic and was taking his sweet time on the trail. “I’m tired of running so I am just walking and enjoying the nature around me.” THANK YOU RAMON!!!! So I trotted while he walked and I stayed in front. As long as I saw his light behind me, I knew that I was ok. Every once in a while I would call out “Ramon you there?!?!?!?!” And he would yell back. “Im here. I follow you my dear!!” COOL BEANS!!!!! Then after another mile my imagination took over “What if this ‘Im just an old man taking my time’ is just a schtick and he’s really trying to kill me??What if he’s FREAKING CRAZY?!?!?!?! Pick up the pace Khrys!!!!” So I picked up my pace and left Ramon. A mile in I asked for someone else to be put on my path. Guess what… 5 min later ran into a chick who took a wrong turn like me so we just stood together in the middle of the trail like two idiots. We didn’t care that we looked like idiots. We were just ready to get the fuck out of the woods!!!! We got back on the right trail and stayed together for a good 2 miles… Until my head lamp went out. WHAT.THE.FUCK?!?!?! Thats right people. 2 miles before the finish line my headlamp decided to say “Good night. Peace out. I’m outta here” That left me with my handheld flashlight and my cell phone flashlight. Y’all I thought I was going to die!!!I don’t know how I made it out but all I know is that when I crossed that finish line there were some pro runners that looked at me and said “HOLY SHIT YOUR LIGHT DIED ON THE TRAIL?!?!? THATS INSANE!!!!” Yeh I felt like a bad ass for minute. HAHAHA!!! Then my body started to shut down and I hobbled to my tent to change out of my sweat soaked running gear and into fresh gear… just to go to sleep. I crashed only to wake up 2 hours later to pee!!! That also gave me a chance to pick up my head lamp that I had left at the community charger area. I put everything together outside my tent, crawled down as far as I could into my sleeping back and said a quick prayer “Please don’t let me have to wake up until after 5am. Amen.” Bridget came in shortly after, we shared a few jokes and then both died for a few hours. HAHAHA!!!
6a Saturday Morning
6a rolls around and all of a sudden I hear “Khrys!!!! Bo is on the course doing his green lap. Get up and get ready!!” SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!” It was freezing, I was sleepy and my legs were locked!!! ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!?!?! I DON’T WANNA!!!!!! I threw off my sleeping bag in a huff only for Bridget to roll over and say “At least its after 5. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz” Really??? By this point all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and die. My body hated me. The slightest movement had my legs seizing up in cramps or extreme pain. Everything hurt!!!! There was not one part of my body that didn’t hurt!!!!!!
I got up, and could not find my head lamp. So I borrowed someones and went to the runners tent to stretch and be somewhat ready to take off for my last lap. Bo came back right before 7a. He handed me my MY HEAD LAMP, the bib and said “GO!!!” I could barely trot you guys. Everything was hurting!! My body basically flipped me the middle finger. So what did I do?I walked. Thats right I granny walked 98% of my last 6 miles and gave NO SHITS ABOUT IT!!! You know what I did while granny walking?? I took pictures!!! Why?? Because thats what you do when your body says “Fuck you” but you need to keep going.
Over an hour later I CROSSED THAT FINISH LINE for the LAST TIME!!!! I hobbled off the course with tears in my eyes so damn proud of myself. I FINISHED!!! I didn’t die!!! A team near by congratulated me and offered me a piece of bacon. Do you know what I did?? I sobbed. I walked up to them, accepted that wondermous piece of bacon and sobbed on that woman’s shoulder. That last lap was hell for me. I was running on NOTHING!!! I had nothing by adrenaline fueling my body. There were times that I had to slow my granny walk to a complete stop because I was dizzy and seeing spots. The few jolly ranchers that I swallowed on the course did nothing for me. When that team offered me that piece of glorious bacon I literally had a mental meltdown right there… and then I SWALLOWED that piece of bacon!!! LMBO!!! My AMAZING Team finished up those last few laps. They doubled up on runners and KILLED IT!!!! Bo and Katherine were our last two runners. THEY.KICKED.ASS
I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people. This wondermous dream team trusted me to lead them. I don’t know how great of a leader I was but I did my best. They made my job so damn easy. That hug at the end of the race meant EVERYTHING to me. 6 people KILLED over 130 miles. We didn’t plan on running over like 15 miles each. Uhhhhh We all did over 20 miles. We were tired, our moods were not the best, and our bodies hurt BUT WE DID THE DAMN THANG!!!! You do not understand how PROUD I am of what we did out there. We each ran a freaking marathon!!!! Would I do it again??? HELL NO!!! NOOOOOOOPE!!!! N.O.P.E. NO-PE!!!! I say that and then Eve will call me “Hey we need someone on our ultra team… You in??” And I’m going to say “I HATE YOU!! Where do I sign up?” Ragnar thank you for showing me that I can accomplish ANYTHING!!!! This race showed me just what my body can do. We EARNED those medals baby!!! EARNED THEM!!!
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