From 5K to 10K to half-marathon to marathon, it seems like runners are always chasing that next big feat. For some, that might be running a race in all 50 states or on every continent. For others, it might be hopping in a van and running a relay for hundreds of miles. Those looking toward the latter undertaking will find good company among the community of Ragnar runners, who rack up the miles and push themselves to the limit.
“It’s an accomplishment to have that above and beyond just your local neighborhood 5K,” runner Steven LaMar, 45, says of Ragnar races.
There are two types of Ragnar events: road and trail.
In a road race, teams of runners pack into vans and take turns hitting the pavement, traversing miles upon miles in a relay run. Not far from Chattanooga, the Road Bourbon Chase takes runners from Clermont, Kentucky, to Lexington, hitting up the state’s plethora of distilleries while crossing over 200 miles.
In a trail race, runners still log plenty of miles, but in a more contained environment, racing along an established route. Close to Chattanooga, runners will find the Trail Atlanta race, with teams covering over 100 miles along a loop course in the Georgia woodlands — while a van of their teammates drives along.
LaMar has run both types of races. His road race took him from Chattanooga to Nashville (a distance of “200-ish miles,” according to the website), while his trail race was the one outside of Atlanta.
For the road race, a team of runners loaded up into vans and started the relay in Chattanooga, with each runner completing about a half-marathon’s distance over the two days of the race, LaMar says. When not running, participants were either taking the van to the next relay point or were resting up for their next leg of the race. In one instance, resting up meant sleeping on the hardwood floor of a school gymnasium, LaMar says.
“It wrecked me,” he says of his nap on the floor. “It was one of the reasons I would think twice before doing [a Ragnar] again.”
The novelty of this type of race is what attracted him to the event, LaMar says. There’s also the community aspect. Running can be a solitary sport, something you do on your own, but Ragnar gives it “sort of a team flavor.” LaMar compares the trail race experience, hanging out at camp waiting for your next leg of the relay, to a Boy Scout jamboree.
Chattanooga runners go extreme distances while competing in Ragnar relay races
While a Ragnar race has its challenges, he says if you can run a half-marathon, you should sign up for a Ragnar.
After completing her first Ragnar, the trail one outside of Atlanta, runner Dayna Smith, 59, swore she’d never do another one again. And yet, she just recently completed her second race: the Road Bourbon Chase in Kentucky.
Looking back on that first race, Smith realized “it was actually a lot of fun.” The hard part was not getting a lot of sleep, but you just had to endure, she says.
Smith started running 20 years ago. Her doctor told her she could either get put on medicine or get up and move. And with a dozen half-marathons, one marathon and plenty of 5K races under her belt, you can surmise which option Smith chose. Running benefits the body, but Smith says it’s also good, if not better, for the mind.
“You don’t have to think about anything,” she says. “You just have to be comfortable as you’re running, or be uncomfortable if you feel like you need to push yourself. If you do have things going on, it’s easy — especially if you’re running by yourself — just to think about those things and get them out before you come home, so you don’t take them out on anybody else.”
In the lead-up to her Kentucky Ragnar, Smith was training more for an upcoming half-marathon than she was for the Ragnar, because she didn’t really know how to train for it — aside from making sure she could run the 21 miles she’d be required to run.
“At my age, it’s something different, and it’s fun, especially with good people,” Smith says of the run. “As long as you surround yourself with good people, you can’t go wrong.”
Reflecting on the Kentucky Ragnar after completing it, she says she and her team were tired and smelled bad, but they finished the race. It was a great trip with a great group of women, she says.
“I don’t know if we were delirious, or it was that much fun,” Smith adds. “It was one or the other, or maybe both.”
For those interested in trying a Ragnar, Smith says you should love running, get good friends to join you and make it fun. If it’s not fun, she says, why would anybody want to do it?
Learn more about Ragnar at runragnar.com.