The Strat Pack

Camille and I have had a dream to get our super active Stratford family to run a Ragnar together as a team.  We found Zion Ragnar, made a few convincing sale pitches, and The Strat Pack was born.  For the last year we have been planning what kind of awesome fun we were going to have.  We went with an old Hollywood theme.  Our team logo was an old script, we brought fedoras to the race, we had director's seats at the camp site, we had our Hollywood walk of fame stars hanging from our shade canopy, the Hollywood sign marked our territory and we even had a red carpet to top it all off.  As the race drew closer there were some quick hiccups that needed to be resolved; Lisa gave up her spot for Peter, Katie needed to leave to Mexico so David took her place, I had my arm still in a sling as wasn't even sure I could run, Hannah just found out she was pregnant and wasn't feeling well, Camille almost had to leave half-way through for her royal duties, and we decided for everyone's sanity we would rent a house instead of cramming into a tight campsite.  We thought we finally had everything under control and settled in to a weekend of fun.  

Our team didn't start until 1:30 so we had all morning to get our bearings and set up camp.  While the runners got situated, my dad and Uncle Bruce took care of the girls.  They went on a hike and found a feather, deer fur, caterpillars weaving silk, a cockroach shell, bluebirds, and a lizard.  Cambrie was in heaven with her new little pet.  She was disappointed when she had to leave it at the campsite while we went back to the house to eat lunch.  

Before we new it, our team was on the trail.  Peter was our first runner followed by me.  I had no idea if I could run or not with my shoulder, but we strapped me up as securely as possible and I hoped for the best.  Jeremy's advice: don't fall!  As I got started on my run it became very obvious that I hadn't run for a month, but my shoulder wasn't hurting so I kept going.  My first leg was the yellow leg and it was a hike!  I hadn't really thought about how much different trail running was from road running and I was surprised.  The trail and scenery was beautiful but I didn't dare take my feet from the ground for fear of tripping.  There were sections where the trail was so steep that most of the other runners and I had to walk to make it up.  I managed to finish my 4.5 miles and felt great.  I wasn't back at camp long before the rest of the team came down to get ready for their legs.  

Before our campsite was completed, but with everyone in the picture!

Camille making our Hollywood stars

As the afternoon turned to evening the wind picked up and clouds started rolling across the sky.  We had heard there might be some rough weather but we kept our fingers crossed that we would get lucky.  I have to say that spending our down time in a huge cabin with access to showers and real beds was so much better than being crammed in a van, especially with extra kids in tow.  My kids swam in the hot tub and roasted s'mores while everyone else was shuffling along the course and were perfectly happy.  

Kelton rocking a fedora and his team shirt

Static head!

Jeremy waiting for his leg in the comfort of home

Camille loving her favorite little nephew

I put them to bed and went out for my green route run.  It was super dark out on the course at 11:00 at night.  Every little green light was a comfort and each reflective sign brought a sigh of relief that I was still on the right track.  Even though it was dark as pitch, it was so much fun.  I was on such a runner's high after my legs.  The only thing that would have made it better was if no one wanted to sleep and we were all hanging out at the campsite laughing at ourselves because we were so exhausted.  

When I woke up for my third leg around 4:30, I knew that our care free race was about to change.  I could hear rain on the roof, torrential rain.  Peter and I hitched a ride to transition with Bruce and began to worry about our team.  The dirt trails were thick with super slippery mud.  We couldn't even walk on flat ground without sliding all over the place.  I didn't know how we were going to run up and down those trails without totally falling all over ourselves.  We couldn't find Camille or Alan.  We didn't know who was out there or if they were even okay.  Alan had stepped in for Hannah at the last minute and he didn't have the proper gear for the rain that was quickly turning to snow.  We scoured the village for him with no luck and kept waiting for an announcement concerning the rest of the race.  The trails were no longer safe and we assumed they would have to cancel.  At first they said we could start running our legs tandem at dawn.  That evolved to closing the trails for two hours to wait out the storm, and eventually to cancelling the race all together.  We went back to the house and found that Camille had passed us in the night and was perfectly fine, that Alan was on his way back up and was also okay if not covered in mud.  

Breakfast burritos and clean cousins!

All the snow-covered runners took warm showers and got cleaned up before the boys went to clear camp.  When they got there they found our tent was completely collapsed by all the snow and our amazing decorations were soggy red and gold piles of mush.  The village was crazy as teams tried to clear their sites, but our men made it back in one piece.  

We managed to get one pick of our team with our hard earned medals.  We were each able to run two of our three legs before they closed the course, so we wore our medals with pride.  

Even though the race was chaotic, everyone said they would love to make it happen again.  I agree, it was a lot of fun being able to do that with our family.  The Strat Pack will have to live again!