Two weekends ago, Judy and I participated in our first Ragnar relay run. Over the course of 31-plus hours, our motley team of 11 (one short of the standard 12), calling ourselves the Twisted Blisters, tag-teamed for 306 km along the shore of Lake Ontario from Cobourg to Niagara Falls to complete the Reebok Ragnar Niagara. Our team was split between two vans; while one van-load was running the other van-load was resting. For those 31 hours—plus travel time from London to the start line in Cobourg and back home again from Niagara Falls—we did everything together: we cheered each other on in the heat of mid-day and in the middle of the night, we navigated together to the next exchange point with only a few wrong turns, we camped out together on an arena floor for a couple of hours’ sleep before our first runner started her next leg, we ate A&W burgers and onion rings together when we finally arrived in Niagara Falls. And even though we scarcely knew each other when we set out from London, and ranged in ages from 19 to 64, and ranged in abilities from ultrarunning to barely recovered from an injury (me), we went through the experience with generous amounts of patience for each other and an overarching commitment to have crazy amounts of fun while engaging in a physically challenging experience.
The first Ragnar relay took place in the mountains of Utah in 2004, and the concept has now spread to include over 30 road and trail races in the United States in 2018 with other events in Canada and Europe. The name derives from a mythical king and hero of 9th century Scandinavia, but knowing the origin of the name doesn’t explain the culture. Yes, there most definitely is a Ragnar culture, which includes such features as the team names (some of my favorites from Ragnar Niagara were Cirque du SoreLegs, Endorphriends and The Tragically Unfit), creative costumes and elaborate van decorations. But the most distinctive aspect of the culture is the bonding that takes place when you throw six people in a van for a minimum of 24 hours with no sleep, no showers and very little real food. By design a relay race is a team endeavour, and intuitively everyone understands that if you’re not running your job is to support the other runners and cheer them on. At the end, our team received twelve medals which fitted together to make the statement, “We are Ragnarians. We believe… Together we can accomplish anything.”
It’s a bit of a fantasy to imagine that the same 11 people who completed the 306 km relay run could accomplish anything we set our mind to, but some of the elements that made our Ragnar experience so memorable apply equally well to other team activities:
- Every team member has a valuable contribution to make. Some of us ran our legs at a sub-5 min/km pace, others of us struggled to maintain a 7 min/km pace, yet every runner was cheered with the same enthusiasm when they arrived at their exchange point. And the success of the team didn’t depend only on the runners, as there were other vital roles: driver, navigator, safety captain (ensuring that we all wore our safety gear from dusk to dawn—reflective vests, headlamps and tail lights—when outside the van). There was no place for prima donnas or slackers; when a runner from our van was on the course, everyone had a role to play.
- When you embark on a challenge as a team, you’ve got to be ready for anything. Every runner ran three legs of the relay of varying lengths and difficulties (e.g., runner #1 ran legs 1, 13 and 25). Once your order is determined, you lose most of your control over what you’re going to face further down the course. It could be a section with a long uphill grind, it could be a night-time section through the industrial area of Toronto where the course markers are few and far between, it could be a section in the mid-day heat. No matter the conditions or the course, it’s up to you to summon your internal resources to push through to the end for the sake of the team.
- Encouragement really makes a difference. Before each runner set out, we would arrange where we would meet up with him or her for drinks and fuel. There were times when a leg was marked “no van support”—meaning that the course was inaccessible to support vans and runners were completely on their own. Yet, even then, we would use Google Maps and our ingenuity to triangulate points where we could intersect with the course to offer our runner a cold drink of water and moral support. Even if we were just driving by, we’d honk and cheer, knowing that our encouragement would boost our teammate’s energy level.
As an ENFJ (according to the Myers-Briggs typology), I derive satisfaction from working as a member of a team. Ragnar Niagara was one of the single best team experiences of my life, and yet nothing compares with the fulfillment I find in seeing my International Justice Mission colleagues achieve near-impossible things all around the world. Like our recent collaboration with the RCMP and the Philippines National Police that led to the rescue of 12 children from online sexual exploitation. It’s hard, heartbreaking work but as Cpl. Jared Clarke from the Saskatchewan ICE unit says, knowing those 12 children (and others in their neighbourhood who were vulnerable to exploitation) are safe “keeps you driven to keep doing the work.”
Knowing that billions of women and children in our world are not safe drives me to keep doing the work that I do with International Justice Mission. IJM helps governments in the developing world step up to their responsibility to protect their citizens, when without our help they may lack the professional or technical capacity to enforce their own laws. Right now we’re working with the Philippines National Police to end cybersex trafficking, the live-streaming sexual exploitation of very young children for paying customers in places like Canada and United States. It’s a heinous crime, but we’re possessed with that Ragnarian optimism that “Together we can accomplish anything.” We can end it, and end it soon!
We believe… Together we can accomplish anything.
Beyond what I already do to win this fight through my leadership role with IJM, I’m also seeking to raise $15,000 in sponsorship dollars for the marathon I’m running in Perth, Australia in August. Will you help me reach my goal? Maybe one day you and I will run a Ragnar relay together, but until then, you can make your contribution to the success of our team in the Philippines through your financial contribution on my donation page: https://ijm.akaraisin.com/pledge/Participant/Home.aspx?seid=15826&mid=9&pid=3869405&sgid=
