I'm Home-Ragnar FLK Part I

**written just I got home from Florida, jacked up on NyQuil and feeling quite awful** 

All I know is it is going to take several posts to put together my experience with the From Fat to Finish Line crew and the whole Ragnar experience. It was one in a lifetime I tell ya!! What an adventure.

We laughed.
We cried.
We ran.
We swore. A lot.
We got really hot.
We loved every single moment.

Where to start? I have no idea. My mind and heart are just flooded with the images and moments from the last 6 days in Florida; I am a little overwhelmed (in an amazingly good way) by the whole experience now that I have a moment to sit down and breathe.

Actually, the breathing isn't going to well at the moment as this little chest cold is the one thing I brought back from Florida that could stay there...but what else could I expect from staying up for nearly 40 hours straight, feeding my body "food" it wasn't used to and running a 197 mile relay in hot humidity? I knew I'd come home and get sick.

What I am walking away from this experience with is a full heart and 11 friends that will forever have a place in my heart. Doing a Ragnar Relay has been on my "List" for a long time, since I started taking running seriously, so when I got the invite to do this project it was an easy YES! I am so grateful that THIS was my first Ragnar! Yes, FIRST. You bet your running shoes I'll do more!! What an experience...LOVED IT!

I am actually struggling to put into words all that I experienced this weekend. I think I need a few more days to let it all sink in...so here is a little note from Team Capt'n, Rik, aka Captain Crunches. He says how I feel right now so much better than I do!

As we drive north, I am seeing landmarks from the run. And I am struck by how far we have come, in so many ways. 

First and most obviously, we ran a long, long way, doing something together that none of us could have done alone. And it was truly amazing. And so big, physically and emotionally, that I know I will be months processing it all. 

Then I think about how so many of us have never seen this part of the country, and how, if it wasn't for this team, we may never have. 

Then I think back about this team coming together: how we were all just acquaintances at first, then teammates, and finally, a family. We made that huge and wonderful transition in less than one year.

And then I go back even one more level, back before we knew each other. At one point, we were all sitting on our couches, fat and miserable, thinking this was our lot in life. And one day, each of us decided that wasn't going to be the end of our story, and we each got up off that couch and figured it out. We each found our own path, and we each found our way into a pair of running shoes. Then we found other runners, and a new community, and a new way of life.

And then, we were ready for all this to happen.

From Fat to Finish Line.