recruiting team members for a two hundred mile ragnar relay running adventure, isn’t exactly easy. but recruiting for an ultra team is even harder.
did i forget to mention that little detail?
generally speaking, most people run the ragnar relay with 12 team members & 2 vans (6 runners in each van).
each team member (of a 12-person team) runs three legs, in rotation. for example… runner 1 runs his leg & then hands off the “baton” to runner 2, who is anxiously waiting for him (or her) at the first exchange. runner 2 takes off, while runner 1 rejoins his teammates in the van. the van then leapfrogs down the road to the next checkpoint, to drop off runner 3 – & so on, & so on… with each runner running every 12 legs. make sense?
but we aren’t most people. that’s why we decided to race the ragnar so cal as an all-women’s ULTRA team…

luckily, 5 of my best friends agreed to run ragnar with me.
we may not be the fastest, & we aren’t exactly what you would call serious runners (most of us have only run 1 marathon, we generally squeeze runs in-between school drop-offs, business meetings and baseball practice, & at least for me, running is more therapy than exercise), but we didn’t care.
ragnar so cal wasn’t about the competition – i wouldn’t even call it a race. from the very beginning, our ragnar was more about the adventure & the “unforgettable stories.” we wanted, no we needed to prove to ourselves, that even casual runners, like ourselves, could survive a 200 mile journey & live to tell the tale.
ready to meet the other members of team sparkle ULTRA?!
linda: runner 1, 7, 13, 19, 25, 31, with a total mileage of 40.2 miles. she’s a mom of 3 who loves to run, bike & swim.
kenna: runner 2, 8, 14, 22, 28, 34, with a total mileage of 37.3 miles. mom of 2, who’s a nurse in her “spare” time.
tamra: runner 4, 10, 16, 22, 28, 34, with a total mileage of 26.7 miles. self-pronounced cat lady, avid mountain biker, talented musician and she’ll beat you at any video game.
carrie: runner 5, 11, 17, 23, 29, 35, with a total mileage of 30.2 miles. mother of 4, with not enough time to sew, run, thrift, DIY, mountain bike & crochet, but she sneaks it in anyway.
elise: runner 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, with a total mileage of 29.9 miles. she’s the cupcake activist: fighting for the cupcake cause. as a triathlete she likes to burn calories so she can eat them.
so there you have it. team sparkle ULTRA edition. linda, kenna, me, tamra, elise & carrie. 6 girls on a mission to run 200 miles.
but a team is only a strong as their “support” staff. & luckily, we had some amazing people working behind the scenes.
julie: photographer, official facebook & twitter updater

mark: driver extraordinaire

images via angry julie.