ragnar florida keys part 2 - alligator alley

In case you need to catch up, part 1 can be found here.

So when I left you, leg 1 was done, and our van went off duty.  We drove over to Homestead, FL, to the next major exchange (after stopping for McDonald's breakfast, obviously).  The exchange was actually at the speedway!  And they had indoor toilets!  Seriously, it was the best exchange ever.

When I packed for the trip, I realized that I wouldn't be able to bring my big sleeping bag on the airplane.  So I instead brought my Soldier Field 10 mile blanket and another thick fleece blanket.  Not exactly ideal, but not terrible either.

I grabbed my blankets and headed under the grandstands for some shut-eye.  There was a nice breeze blowing, fighter jets flying overhead, and even some rain.  I slept for a couple of hours, and actually felt really refreshed, which is so hard to do during Ragnar.

Chillin' under the grandstands

My bed neighbor, aka an old pace car

I got up from my nap and wandered around the speedway.  It was my first time ever going to one of those, unless you count the lap I did around the Indy Motor Speedway this past May.

Finish line

Press box

This would have been cute if my eyes were open

After what seemed like a forever of waiting, we were finally ready for teammate Aristi to come in, so that our van could go on duty once again.

Aristi coming in!

Brett's off, and so are we!

We headed to the next exchange to wait for Brett, and that's when the reality of me running through the Everglades started to hit.  Omg, I thought to myself, I literally signed my life away.  I got this scary rock in the bottom of my stomach, and basically felt awful until like 5 minutes after I was done running.  Not gonna lie, I was shaking in my boots.  It didn't help that people on Twitter were teasing us with stories of pythons AND alligators.  Greaaaaat.

Oh, and have I mentioned before that all of this is taking place AT NIGHT?  Alligators are NOCTURNAL. Oh God.

Here I go, praying that I won't get eaten.

I start off feeling pretty darn good.  There's still a little light, and lots of people around me, and vans driving next to me along the canal.  I don't see any weird reflections, and things are okay.  I have my headphones on low, the Ragnar volunteer sprayed me down with bug spray, and I am trying to relax.

At about mile 4.5, I hear a rustling in the weeds that scares the shit out of me.  My stomach is in knots, and I would love nothing more than a smelly poo house to appear out of nowhere.  But I'm not that lucky, and I still have half of my run to go.  Also, it's really hot and humid, and I'm trying to ration my water, but I'm SO THIRSTY.  I've passed all of the people I saw at the beginning, and now I'm by myself.  No lights.  No vans.  Just me and my headlamp and this RUSTLING I HEAR IN THE BUSHES.

I start walking for a minute, telling myself to get a grip.  But my STOMACH.  And ALLIGATORS.  I basically feel crappy for the remainder of the run, and I do the run/walk thing.  Oh, and somewhere during mile 6, I hear something hissing, and I run away as fast as my legs can take me, for about a mile or so.  Thankfully this leg was a half mile shorter than they said it would be, so at 7.75 miles, I am done.  (1:20:19, avg pace 9:05).

Ok, so after we finished, we headed back to the van.  The van was parked next to a different canal.  Kelsey takes her headlamp and shines the light across the surface of the water.  It's then that we see an eye gliding along the surface.  An alligator.  Thank GOD I'm done running.  That was terrifying.  I am such a city girl.

About 5 minutes later, I felt so much better.  So there's that.

For our next trick, we run in the heat of the day and then hit the finish line in KEY WEST!  Stay tuned for part 3!