We left stealthily in the middle of the night, to make it to our first exchange with the other half of team Running Dirty in Miami. Being the excellent planners that we were (sarcasm), we made it there a couple hours early and were way too wound up to sleep, so some of us went for a run to get rid of the excess energy. (At one point, I'm sure we were all wishing we could have that energy back, but more to come on that later.)
Finally, it was time, and our first runner was off! The rest of us jumped in the van for some leapfrogging support.The first leg was easy, we were all so hyped up! We finished our first set (of three sets) of legs at the Miami Speedway, then got something to eat and headed for the next exchange point to get some sleep (at this point it was after dark) before our turn to run came around again. Did I mention that we had dinner at some local Mexican restaurant in Homestead that one of my teammates recommended? Well let me just say that eating Mexican food before going for a long run is SUCH A BAD IDEA! But more on that later. Okay, where was I? Right, we were at the next exchange point, trying to sleep on a high school gymnasium floor with a few hundred other people, no big deal. No sleep for me, try as I might. I was exhausted but I guess my adrenaline was still running high, because usually this girl can sleep anywhere, anytime without any problem. So a couple of sleepless hours later, we were off again.
At this point we were officially in the Keys, running along US1, next to the ocean, with a full moon reflected on the water, couldn't have been a more peaceful, beautiful run...or, could it? Remember that Mexican food? Yeah, let's just say I was...dehydrated, and leave it at that. By the time my leg to run came up, 8 miles next to the ocean, I felt pretty rough, but I did it anyway. Somehow we all made it through the night, finished our second set of legs, and drove across the 7 mile bridge around dawn on our way to the next exchange point. This time, I think I actually slept an hour or two. And then it was time to go again.
By now, we're all sleep deprived, our bodies are screaming at us to stop running, and we're all looking at each other, secretly wondering whose
idea this was to begin with, and why we ever thought running a 36 leg relay race was a good idea. But no stopping now. We managed to stumble through our last set of legs, and just like that, we're in Key West at the finish line! 
And it was all worth it. At this point, my teammates and I had been through a lot, and we felt like a (dysfunctional) family. By the next day, we had forgotten the pain and were wondering how soon we could sign up for next year. Ragnar 2013 or bust!
