Mile 80 was a beast. But 60 miles still remain. It’s the middle of the night and singletrack blurs past in my headlamp beam. The Ragnar Trail Tahoe is more than halfway done. I run toward the transition area. Cowbells clang. I rip the bib from my waist and pass it to my waiting teammate who takes off in a blink.
My leg done, I waddle from the transition area through an all-night party of runners and crew. I collapse into a tent for a few hours of sleep before rising to get up and do it all over again.
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The Lake Tahoe race was just the third trail event hosted by Ragnar, an organization specializing in long-distance road relays that has recently begun offering trail races. Team GearJunkie this past weekend (July 26-27) completed the 140-mile course with four people in about 25 hours.
As an Ultra team, we each ran three legs for a total of about 35 miles each over steep, rocky trails. Regular teams ran the same distance but with eight runners.
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Equipment was critical for the race. Runners crossed challenging terrain with rest stops in the campground home base to recover for a few hours between each leg.
Party credentials were also relevant — special belt buckles are awarded for best costumes and campsite decoration — so this opens another whole division of “gear.”
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Once the dust settled and we got a good night sleep, our team of four — including two readers who won spots on the team through a GearJunkie sweepstakes — packed up and looked over our gear one last time to reveal what worked. —Sean McCoy
> See “Run Gear for Ragnar” on page 2 of this post
> See “Camp Gear for Ragnar” on page 3 of this post
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