Ragnar Rainier 2021
The flight to Seattle was shorter than expected thanks to Southwest’s in-flight entertainment. Kevin, Karissa and Andrew met us at the Baggage claim. We all happily took advantage of packing more than we needed to into the over-sized checked bags.
Mark was ready and waiting for us. He shuttled us to the mandatory poke stop – not as good as Hawaii but close – and sent us off with camping goodies and his car.
When we got to the camp it started raining. A lot more than we expected. The team threw the tent and canopy up as fast as they could. Everyone was happy and dry… for now. Morgan regretted not bringing a hoodie.
It was a 9:30 AM start for our lead runner and cold enough to see your breath.
“Should I wear a sweater and pants??”
Last minute wardrobe change.
No pants no problem!
Avery ran like the wind, probably fueled by collective team cheering and cowbell sounds. She flew through the short loop and into the finish line in no time and sent Andrew off to conquer the medium loop. Time to relax!
We snacked and napped. Oh and Avery volunteered with Ragnar organization and saved us a ton of moolah!
Then it was long-loop time for Morgan. We took the gondola to the top and enjoyed seeing Rainier peek through the clouds.
But the happy feeling soon faded. Morgan probably did more tumbling than running at some points. One face-plant, a lot of stumbling, and a cramped leg later… he finally made it to camp, groaning about his wounds suffered on the battlefield. It wasn’t long before Avery’s turn to do the same loop. She stormed down the mountain like a bear chasing dinner. In no time she was at the finish line, gleefully confirming that her time was faster than Morgan’s.
Ahhhh time to recover with leg compressors.
We ran our next loops at night (at least it wasn’t raining). It would have been pitch dark without headlamps. The fear of cold motivated Morgan to run/hike harder to stay warm.
morgan hiking up yellow 
return lane for green and red
They hobbled around camp and snacked on everything, including frozen pizza Avery magically conjured. Then the Ragnar team advised us to hurry up due to rising smoke levels from nearby fires. So we doubled up on the remaining runs until everyone on team Pie finished.
Then we packed everything up and soon it was time to go… to the HOT TUB!
Ahhh. Bliss.
We spent the night at Mark and Joanna’s. We learned the triangle hold, and that it’s ok to submit before you get broken in half.
The next day was gorgeous. Morgan couldn’t turn down the opportunity to fish at lake Washington. We even met up with Leah!
Finally it was time to go home. We enjoyed catching up with Mark and Joanna, and our feet were still feeling more like stubs than actual feet. Thank you Mark and Joanna! 🙏 😊
Our final view of Rainier as we head to the airport:
Bye Seattle!
