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You couldn’t miss Team MRG at this fall’s Reebok Ragnar Relay Michigan, a 195.5-mile trek from Muskegon to Traverse City. And it wasn’t simply because our team of 12 women wore matching blue Michigan Runner Girl shirts. Fellow Ragnarians grew to learn, over the 2-day race, that Team Michigan Runner Girl traveled in the two purple-and-pink-and-blue Muscle Milk vans—handing out Muscle Milk goodies along the way.
MRG’s partnership with Muscle Milk was new this year, but logging the miles on country roads, through quaint coastal towns, and along the Lake Michigan shoreline was not. Team MRG was back again, after last fall’s inaugural Ragnar Relay Michigan event, to tackle the distance (and lack of sleep) together. On this week’s show: a rundown of race weekend with my Ragnar teammates Pam Carrigan, Erin Henshaw and Ann Eshleman. While Pam, Heather and Erin were part of last year’s Ragnar team, Ann was a Ragnar newbie and she shares how the experience exceeded her expectations in all of the right ways (she also talks about how she was apprehensive going into the experience and had plenty of questions for Pam in the days leading up to race day). {To listen to this show, click on the player at the top of this post. Or, download the episode on your favorite podcast app; simply search for the Michigan Runner Girl show}
During this episode, we break down how Ragnar relays work, how 12-person teams split into two “mini teams” with their own van, the challenges and rewards of running a total of three separate “legs,” including through the night, and how each van found ways to fuel (at a few delicious restaurants) and rest (a little!) throughout the race. Heather and Ann were in van 1 while Erin and Pam were in van 2. Our other team members included: Jennifer Kowal, Maia Turek, Belinda Smith Diment, Rose Coleman, Leah Doriot, Jessie Houghton, Amy Keizer and Erin Sorenson.
Whether you also participated in this year’s Ragnar Michigan (meeting up with fellow Michigan Runner Girls and Guys truly was a highlight for me!), or you’re thinking about giving one a try sometime, you’re sure to be entertained during this informative and, at times hilarious, episode. (While “what happens at Ragnar stays at Ragnar,” this episode definitely sheds some light on the silly and fun things that can happen when a dozen women team up to cover “200-ish miles” together.)
A few more photos from our epic adventure…(thanks to those of you who shared your own awesome Ragnar photos over on the Michigan Runner Girl Facebook page last week!)
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Thanks to Ragnar Relay and Muscle Milk for the awesome partnerships with MRG—we are so very grateful and we had such a blast taking part in this year’s race!
Did you run Ragnar? How was your experience? We’d all love to hear!
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The Michigan Runner Girl Show is made possible in part by the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa.
A special thanks to Mike Moran, Mike Youker and Jonny Tornga of Quarter After Productions in Traverse City, Mich. for producing the show. Check out this studio’s work here.
