McCarran airport to Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Las Vegas

Ok, forgive the formatting. This was originally a greentext post for all the /b/tards at 4chan. It's also a long read but if you can get past that then it is actually a quite interesting story that happened to me years ago.
be 22 active duty air force assigned to Nellis in Las Vegas not disclosing job, but no stranger to weapons and tactics get pulled in to supervisor's office one day told I've just been "voluntold" to participate in a training exercise with DOD no other information given other than reporting instructions pretty much any question I asked was answered with "I have no fucking idea " report to conference room at base hotel next morning per instruction see about 12 other guys from my unit also voluntold to be there five guys enter room in civilian clothes introduce themselves as the "WHITEBOX" Group Assume it's an acronym for something, but never explained told we will be upgrading our security clearances hours of paperwork, only told we are participating in a force on force exercise released back to our unit crack jokes about how the exercise is a lie and we will be experimented on return to regular job and time passes eventually assume that it was canceled and forget the whole thing
about 2 months later supervisor pulls me aside and tells me that I need to report to a briefing the next day says it’s about "some WHITEBOX exercise" has no idea what it is and doesn't seem to care. once again report to base hotel with the other 12 guys WHITEBOX guys show up and pick us up in a van driven off base to some random office building and escorted into the offices of the Department of Energy, WTF? mystery only deepens, what the fuck is happening? what if this actually is some evil experimental shit more hours of paperwork and security/safety briefings by random suits had to fill out and sign a non-disclosure agreement and that threatened arrest if violated required to turn in cell phones and any other electronic devices in our possession our cell phones get locked in a cabinet while the office phone in the room gets unplugged WHITEBOX guys finally return and fire up a power point briefing first slide just titled WHITBOX Exercise 0X slide also labeled in bold red letters "CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET / NOFORN / ORCON this is really starting to feel serious
WHITEBOX Exercise finally explained told that for the next two weeks we will be role playing as OPFOR (opposing forces) we will try to attack and penetrate a DOD facility and carry out a simulated act of sabotage facility is protected by a contracted privately owned security force security group is required by the DOD to carry out this exercise in order to audit their protection every couple of years if we succeed, security company fails the audit and looses the contract the exercise is the conclusion of a two week inspection of the security contractors and their procedures every exercise a random military unit is chosen as OPFOR "reminded that we are silent professionals and that this isn’t something we should be advertising shaving wavers granted and civilian attire only FUCKYEAH.jpg power point scrolls to a page with a google earth screenshot on it instantly recognize the picture it's Area 51 holyfuckingshit.exe are we are being told to break into Area 51? can't be real random unit bro pipes up out of nowhere "Is that fucking Area 51?" we are all fucking stoked later told not to call it Area 51 as that just makes you a total chode Groom Lake, Paradise Ranch, or Homey Airbase are the acceptable names many insiders simply refer to it as “The Base” also reminded of the possible legal action via UCMJ if we go around telling everyone about it One of the WHITEBOX guys is now our designated "insider threat" exercise is designed to simulate that someone inside has been comprised by a foreign government he will provide any information that we ask for that he has knowledge of or access to other WHITEBOX guys handle will handle exercise logistics they will provide any weapons or equipment that we request to carry out mission "within reason" told this is not a COD loadout screen
ground rules established... will only be provided with weapons that we are certified to carry weapons will be armed with blank rounds or completely empty also no vehicles will be utilized by us within the DOD property landmarkers simulating road chases are not authorized our insertion is simulated so we will already be escorted/processed through various checkpoints and dropped off near the base no impractical equipment requests, so no tanks, helos, surveillance drones, or scud missiles, lol any explosives we intend to simulate will be assessed by WHITEBOX so if we want to blow the perimeter fences we will tell them before hand, they will calculate the weight of the bang we would need, it would be simulated by rocks, and then someone would need to hump the weight number 1 rule established and stressed with a very serious tone we will be escorted by WHITEBOX evaluators at all times within the DOD landmarkers at no point are any of us authorized to be alone in the facility actual security is not laxed because of the exercise, nor is this a free pass to roam security personnel can still use real force in the event that we deviate from the established protocols shown various pictures within the airbase that most will never get to see a specific hangar is designated as our target building. we will need to gain access to that hangar and carry out an act of sabotage for our sabotage we will need to ///REDACTED/// obviously we won't be doing it for real so we will actually need complete a random task inside the hangar task will be designed to be as complex and time consuming as the real thing all while being hunted by the security force insider threat briefing continues, various elements of the base security procedures and day to day operations explained however, get the impression that the chosen source is someone with a generic admin position and is not actually involved with security we are also encouraged to do our own research and scour the interwebz for info about the base told to supply the URLs to WHITEBOX if we find anything of interest. sorry if we got your Alex Jones or Art Bell conspiracy blogs taken offline briefing finally concludes, we are reminded of our non-disclosure policy and taken back to Nellis and dismissed for the day
next day we all meet at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada we will be using this location to build our plan of attack and do rehearsals/dry runs it's actually pretty cool because it's on us to plan our op, just a bunch of random Airmen periodically grill our insider with questions and start asking our other WHITEBOX guys for gear we tried to have our insider take pictures of the interior of our target hangar, but he got caught IRL he would be arrested and interrogated by the feds, and the whole op would be dead instead though the guys that caught him received kudos from the inspectors, and he just tells us nope have to rely on a whiteboard sketch of the inside decide to keep it simple, M4 riffles only however I am certified on the Barret M82 .50 cal. we decide that I will carry that heavy mother fucker as well as an M4 and provide overwatch from the distance kind of bummed out because im not going inside it will be on me to neutralize certain security positions that we have previous identified we remind our WHITEBOX guys that the M82 is an anti-material weapon with the ability to disable vehicles they tell us that I will just need to call my shots to the evaluator that I will be partnered with he will radio to the vehicles that they are destroyed and will need to stop driving guess I should mention that is also part of the disadvantage we have we will all be paired with WHITEBOX evaluators who will sort of act as referees during this simulated battle however they will all be wearing bright orange reflective vest identifying them as exercise officials that really fucks our ability to stay hidden and stealthy, but it is what it is also should mention that this is a daytime raid despite our objections sounds like they are setting us up for failure, but they remind us not to think of it like that this is all being done just so the evaluators can get a good look at the security's incident response procedures it's not an unannounced drill, the military doesn't really like to do that kind of thing especially with large scale exercises such as this everyone on the base know we are coming, there's no element of surprise here except with what kind of attack we prep it would be a real hot clusterfuck if the security contractors failed the audit heads would roll, people would get fired, and numerous officers would be relieved of command I still get to attack Area 51 so don't care as this is the coolest thing I've done in the military
our plan is starting to come together over the days decide to sacrifice one of us in a suicide bomb attack figure out which of us is the most "FNG" or lowest ranking and make him do it he will approach one of the ECPs (entry points to the base) on foot wearing a rucksack loaded with rocks (make-believe explosives) he will be wearing a uniform and will identify himself as Air Force and will franticly yell that he needs help we don't anticipate that he will make it that far or that the security will actually swallow this ruse however his goal is to get as close as he can to the ECP and yell allah ackbar and release his dead man's switch and try to take out what he can his evaluatoescort will drop a GBS (ground burst simulator) when he detonates GBS is a little miniature explosive device that just makes a really loud boom anyone who’s been through any type of military training is familiar with them, they are used to add stress and create excitement we are hoping this will be a distraction and will get as much security as possible to converge on that location the rest of us will assault from the other side of the base and try to breach the perimeter several of us will also be rucking explosive rocks for the breach chose a breach point that will have us crossing only a minimal portion of the flightline (place where aircraft operate) if we successfully simulate breaching the perimeter the exercise will be paused and we will be inprocessed through the ECP and brought into the base exercise will resume and we will continue to assault towards the target hangar I will stay outside in my sniper position and try to smoke what I can inside the hangar the team will cover the doors with simulated claymores and take up cover two guys will carry out the simulated sabotage act while the rest cover the doors WHITEBOX doesn't have any inert claymores to provide so the will be simulated with small weighted ammo cans the weight is really starting to become problematic so we abandon the claymores and decide to just cover the doors with firepower would really help if we had a vehicle, but not happening to be fair, vehicles wouldn't make it that close to the base if they tried to attack IRL armored or not
week one down, plan looking solid considering how much of our attack is simulated two weeks of planning is actually excessive not complaining though cause two weeks of hanging out and smoking and joking compared to normal work at Nellis only downside is the hour drive back and forth each day to Creech AFB casino right outside that base with awesome steak and eggs so not too bad though one of the WHITEBOX guys tells us he's actually employed by the Department of Energy he doesn't actually work at Groom Lake, he works at the Nevada Test Range the massive amount of Nevada landscape that is restricted and owned by the feds is actually impressive contrary to popular myth there is road access to Groom Lake via the adjacent test range, but not too many people actually make that drive. the 737 shuttle from McCarran Airport is how everyone gets there since the drive is long as fuck the main paved road through Rachel Nevada that all the tourist flock to doesn't really have any operational use anymore allegedly we will be driving there through the test range via a convoluted series of paved and dirt roads route is CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET, not kidding
DOE dude gives us a tour of the test range one day load cases of water in back of van drive to Mercury Nevada and stop at checkpoint inprocessed inside, get pictures taken and issued escorted visitor passes also required to wear radiation badges once inside get to see all that shit from The Hills Have Eyes, fake towns that were blown up with atomic bombs not as intact as they are portrayed in films though, they are pretty rekt or deconstructed show us a massive crater called the Sedan Crater in the 50's they experimented with using atomic bombs for mass excavation projects hoping they could just nuke the ground and build shit instead of fucking around with bulldozers pretty stupid and impractical but they didn't know any better back then they buried an atomic bomb a half a mile underground and blew it up Sedan Crater left behind as a result and the fucking thing is huge. they allegedly herded cattle down to the bottom of the crater afterwards to test the post fallout effects pretty fuckin savage, and it was actually stunning to look at two hour drive to Groom Lake though endless desert roads now see why we loaded the water, we’d be pretty fucked if the van broke down or got stuck get first distant look at the base without having to enter their checkpoints holyshit.mp4 very few people get to actually see what we are seeing to be honest though, looks like any other air force base I've ever seen except smaller besides the obvious fact that it is in the middle of bum fuck nowhere and its main runway is long as fuck also realize one of the reasons they didn't want us operating vehicles most roads are dirt and the entire lake bed is surrounded by "moon dust" everywhere moon dust is the ultra-fine sand found in certain parts of the desert with the consistency of flour it's also a total bitch to drive in and the security patrols getting stuck is a somewhat frequent occurrence told that they even have some of the AAFES fast food joints there that you find on any other base imagine working at a Burger King that you need a Top Secret security clearance for, how the fuck does that work??? noticed that despite being authorized to be here, we are still being watched by distant security patrols wonder if they know we are the bad guys that are going to be attacking the joint make some minor adjustments to the plan since the google earth pictures lack some detail conclude tour and take the 3 to 4 hour drive back home, most of us slept in the van
arrive at Creech next day and see that more WHITEBOX guys have been added to the mix, now there's like 20 of them for the past two weeks they have been inspecting the security contractors and its procedures you can tell a lot of them are ex-military based off of language and the people that are dipping and spiting in empty water bottles the mood is light, all of the exercise planning is finished, nothing to do the last two days we managed to borrow an empty hangar at Creech and used it as a mockup of our target hangar to run rehearsals no longer asking our insider questions about security, instead start asking completely ridiculous questions about conspiracies for lulz accuse some of them of being reptilians to see how they react, some of them get legit uncomfortable before you go sounding off, doubt they are hiding anything, some folks just don’t get military humor one does, however, and shows us a velcro patch that he wears on his rucksack it's one of those standard patches you spot on a pilot’s flight suit that has the name, rank, branch, and blood type his blood type seriously says reptilian it's obvious that they embrace and poke fun at the reputation this base has, in fact they thrive off of it
the day finally fucking arrives, time to attack this bitch wake up at 0400 and drive an hour to Creech dressed to kill decide to wear DCU "desert combat uniform" pants and a sand t shirt with my personally owned Blackhawk tactical vest to carry spare M4 mags sometimes the military issues some real shitty gear so our unit is somewhat lax and allows us to personally buy our own better equipment if it has command approved use and doesn't break SOPs also wear my empty gas mask pouch attached to my hip and use it to carry spare M82 .50 cal mags also wear a black turban for lulz that I bought off an ANA (Afghani Northern Alliance) dude downrange used to have a guile suite but it got lost on a deployment so that's a no go unfortunately arm up with an M4 with M68 red dot sight and attach a BFA "blank firing adapter" to the muzzle, and load six mags of .556 blanks also provided with my trusty Barret .50 M82 and five mags there is no BFA for the Barret that I'm familiar with so carry that with empty mags, guess I get to cheat with the weight load up in the vans with WHITEBOX team and drive another hour to Mercury get inprosscessed through security checkpoint and receive visitor badges for the test range drive another 2 hour on random roads passing more checkpoints /// REDACTED /// forced to surrender cell phones, personally owned electronic devices and CAC cards (military ID cards) again receive our escorted visitor passes for Groom Lake and now continue down some of the most forbidden roads in American history start unloading as close to our start point as the terrain allows and hump the rest of the distance on foot with our escorts suicide attack bro hangs back in the van with other escorts and is driven to his start point the terrain is favorable and allows us to set up out of sight hence why we chose the spot I break off and try to set up my nest at my chosen OP "observation point" as discreetly as possible not really stealthy cause I'm being followed by a guy wearing an orange reflective vest that says STAN EVAL and he's just casually walking he tells me to set up the Barret, but just simulate your shots by firing the M4 blanks now in a spot where I can observe base activity and provide cover fire for the breach, but I am also the most easy to spot sniper ever now wait for confirmation that our distraction on the other side has happened, taking a real long fucking time
my escort's radio chimes to life and starts talking "attention all WHITEBOX, we now have proper authentication via CASTLE ROCK for initiation of a detachment level exercise" voice on radio proceeds to spit out a long winded exercise safety briefing realize it's been about 40 minutes and we are just now fucking starting another 10 minutes and finally get word that suicide bro is approaching his target escorts all inform us that the security force is responding to reports of an explosion outside of the ECP later find out that suicide bro was stopped and challenged at gun point about 50 meters outside of ECP by a mounted patrol he then just fuck it and started sprinting towards the ECP until they opened fire with blanks and his escort set off the GBS he actually managed to take out the vehicle that stopped him and create several casualties (we gave him the heaviest explosive rocks loadout) overall our distraction was pretty fucking successful give it a another minute or two and finally start shooting and calling my shots to my escort/evaluator he's talking on his radio and relaying my simulated violence, "inform Merc-17 that they are dead from sniper fire" etc... I have predetermined targets to engage based off of what poses the biggest threat to the breach team I actually do some damage and get confirmation of casualties from my escort it's about a 600 meter run to the base perimeter in the open desert so it's on me to try and clear their path as much as I can the plan is to try to lure some security vehicles to our position then eliminate them with the Barret while they are en route the dead vehicles can then serve as points of cover for the breach team as they assault towards the base breach team was also aiming to see if they could snag any security radios from the dead patrols so we can monitor their comms didn't really work out that way however, in the end we simply didn't have all the info about the anticipated security response without giving away too many sensitive details, we all got ambushed by the security from unexpected locations forced to abandon my nest and the Barret to start moving towards another location to back up the breach team that was under fire trade some shots with security until my escort finally announces "ok dude, you're dead. go ahead and lay down" that's it, game over
play dead for about 20 minutes while security cleans up the area breach team gets rekt, we managed to get within 100 meters of the perimeter couple of security dudes approach me and perform a dead combatant body search on me it's a specific type of search designed to search a dead body while also checking for possible explosive booby traps pretend to be dead and let security dudes run my pockets finally one of the evaluators shouts "PauseEx" (pause exercise) we got fucking annihilated, no chance this attack was going to be successful our evaluators tell us that everyone did a great job, HOWEVER.... we are going to continue the exercise because they didn't get the chance to observe much of the internal security components we are going to resume the exercise assuming that we were actually able to get inside that target hangar this will give the evaluators the opportunity to observe the security's recap and recov procedures (re-capture and recovery) we all get magically resurrected from the dead I realize that I am actually going inside Groom Lake! Fucking Awesome...
spend about 15 minutes policing up the area for brass which means wandering around and picking up spent cartridges board vans and get driven around to ECP. realize that only half of the security force is playing in this exercise the rest are still armed with live weapons and are still performing regular protection duties forced to show our visitor passes, names and badge numbers are compared against a master list that the security has /// REDACTED /// /// REDACTED /// notice a homemade sign hanging on the wall at the security center it’s got a picture of an alien with a red X through it that says "no extraterrestrial entities or relics beyond this point" like I said earlier, everyone enjoys the reputation this base has drive to our target hangar, holy fuck! I am now inside Area 51 use of blanks not authorized indoors, everyone is told to clear out weapons rest of the exercise will use simulated firing, the equivalent of pointing your empty weapon at someone and yelling bang sadly not the first time I trained like this, military does it all the time it’s ridiculous and awkward every time, looks like a bunch of kids playing backyard soldiers with sticks security has already reset its posture, they know we are attacking but doesn't know the building we are hitting we all enter the hangar, get the impression that it doesn't actually get used IRL anymore reeks of mildew and no power inside, dust everywhere in the center there is a pickup truck covered with a tarp and roped off with red rope and stanchions, signs posted identifying it as a controlled area told that this is a simulated military asset and this is what we are sabotaging WHITEBOX evaluator pulls a box out of the bed of the truck remember when I said we will have to do a complex and time consuming task to simulate our act of sabotage? it’s a fucking Star Wars Lego kit! I shit you not! evaluators tell us we will need start building it and reach page 12 in the instructions without errors or mistakes kind of wish we went with our earlier plan and brought claymores cause I spotted some sweet chokepoints outside the building to set them up also wish we had the idea of bringing padlocks and chains so we could lock down the hangar and make life more difficult for the security force set up our spots to cover the doors, we are well versed with building clearing tactics so we know what spots to cover to make it hard
WHITEBOX evaluator authenticates over the radio with someone by passing letters and numbers back and forth, process known as sign/countersign voice on radio announces that the detachment level WHITEBOX exercise has resumed showtime! Two unit bros start opening the Lego kit and sorting parts me and the suicide bro weren't supposed to be in this hangar or even on the base to begin with so we don't have points to cover inside come up with idea and ask one of the escorts if we can go out the back on to the flightline plan to walk to two separate buildings in opposite directions and see if we can create distractions evaluators approve the plan, but tell us we can't approach or enter other buildings, nor approach any parked aircraft decide to leave firearms and my tac vest behind for clever reasons if we are unarmed the security will most likely apprehend us, and search us this is more time consuming than just shooting us and will keep them away from the hangar longer exit the back of the hangar on to the flightline and just start casually walking down the tarmac with my escort eventually hear the sound of police sirens in the distance getting louder, hear they come! get the urge to start sprinting but decide not to since it would most likely result in me being tackled on the pavement, fuck that later realize distant sirens are actually responding to hangar after reports of a silent alarm being received so much for the distraction plan
decide not to return to hangar since there is not much I can do unarmed, and continue walking down flightline all the parked aircraft I see are just normal military aircraft, although some do seem to have “enhancements” or cosmetic features that I haven’t seen before ask my escort where they keep all the flying saucers, he smirks and just replies "underground" wonder if there are actually any subterranean levels to this base, suppose a lot of these buildings could support that ask my escort if there are really underground levels, he facetiously says “who knows” white pickup truck with police lights approaching fast pretend not to notice and keep walking voice starts barking at me over a loudspeaker "stop right there! do not move! get your hands up! security mercs climbing out of vehicle with rifles drawn, don't see magazines in the riffles, they are part of the drill they actually try to challenge both of us, escort has to remind them that he is out of play security goons bark at me, "face away from me NOW! keep your hands up!" they are actually pretty intimidating, I comply proceed to have me lay on the ground face down with my arms and legs stretched out yell at me to put my hands in the small of my back, palms together, fingers up big black guy approaches me and actually puts his knee on my neck George Floyd style "don't fight me, don't resist me, or you are gonna get hurt" he says puts me in zip ties and picks me up, see other guards still have weapons drawn on me overall whole thing similar to a gangbanger getting rolled up by the cops black guy puts me in some weird and uncomfortable arm hold tells me to start walking while he steers my body with the arm hold and walks me off the flightline taken to a grassy area, get put back on the ground and searched and questioned /// REDACTED /// I try to bluff and say that the hangar will blow if anyone goes inside, see if that stalls them he tries to question me about it, but I can tell he’s not biting, I decide to tone it down and stay quiet cause the dude really looks like he’s going to fuck me up actually overhear his partner talking on the radio, he’s telling others to exercise caution and beware of possible explosive booby traps lights out, realize that someone put a bag over my head evaluator calls out "EndEX" (end exercise) all portions of the exercise are terminated, it's all over
black security guy cuts my zip ties, takes off the hood and sets me loose later find out that security retook the hangar with no problems my guys inside struggled with the Legos since it was so dark and hard to see instead of immediately going in, security tossed inert CS gas canisters inside none of us brought gas mask since it was something our insider failed to mention evaluator let us build legos for another 30 seconds then yelled “GAS, GAS, GAS” unit bros in the hangar were told to lay on the ground and pretend to be incapacitated security swarmed the place with gas mask and guns, kicked away weapons they got a similar treatment to what I received on the flightline and got hauled out of there we all regroup at the base's main visitor center for the AAR (after action review) overall security responded quite well, only some points were critiqued, nothing failing smoke cigarettes and crack jokes back and forth with the security dudes, finally get to see the human side of the guy who snagged me on the flightline tell him he’s one scary mofo, he smiles and we shake hands security dudes leave, head to base theater for full debrief WHITEBOX guys thank us for our participation, time to head home wait a sec, let’s see some fucking aliens WHITEBOX guy smirks and says he’ll give us the dollar tour another day drive back to Mercury knowing full well that we are not going to hear back from them, especially about a tour return radiation badges to the Mercury office told that if we never hear back from them that it’s a good sign told that if they do call us then our Tricare (military health coverage) will get put to good use whole experience was cool as fuck one of the evaluators hands out business cards for ///REDACTED/// and tells us to look them up when we separate from the military starting pay for the security force is pretty fucking dope and only certain military backgrounds are considered for it return to Indian Springs and hit up the casino for drinks with the original 5 WHITEBOX guys ask if any of the prior OPFOR units actually pulled it off and broke in told that a group of CCT guys from the 24th STS was the closest anyone’s ever gotten but even they still failed makes sense, I’ve heard that those dudes are legit operators tell war stories and get drunk actually receive a letter of appreciation from the Air Force Test Center Detachment 3 from Edwards Air Force Base, California about a month later it thanks me for my participation in an exercise but makes no mention of Groom Lake my participation in a vaguely worded “DOD exercise” actually gets mentioned as a bullet in my annual performance report mfw I attacked Area 51
tldr - me and my coworkers "broke" into Area 51 with automatic weapons so we could put together an X-wing starfighter out of Legos
Thanks for reading. I should mention that I have intentionally withheld a lot of details and even altered a few. I'm not trying to blow up anyone’s spot and compromise shit. Just wanted to share a true story about some cool shit I got to do in my youth. For example WHITEBOX is a completely fabricated name while the whole operation actually went under another random weird name. It still ranks as some of the most cloak and dagger shit I got to do in the military. I actually don’t really tell too many people because it is no one’s business and no one would believe me anyways. I finally figured that enough time has passed and like I said, I have specially tailored this story to avoid leaking any sensitive shit. Overall the base was actually kind of underwhelming. I didn’t really see any earth shattering secrets there. All of the alien and reptilian conspiracy theories were openly mocked and made fun of there. It’s really just a base that gets an extra layer of discreetness and physical security for more sensitive assets and projects to be kept there. The CIA, JSOC and other intel gangs from Washington even have offices out there because it’s just a quiet tucked away place to do business. I will say that their security is no joke and that they have some truly fascinating techniques to detect and deny intruders. Hope you enjoyed.

I ran with a team for the Ragnar Relay: Las Vegas 2015 this past weekend and I'd never seen a recap for a race like this, so I wanted to share with the rest of you to see if you had any similar stories and/or give those considering a Ragnar Relay an in depth (albeit from a probably unreliable first person narrative) recount of events and emotions as they unfolded. I had the idea to do this journal style recap a few days before I left for Vegas. Be warned it was mostly written stream of consciousness style in the notes app on my iPhone during the race (so feel free to berate my grammaspelling/punctuation).
For those unfamiliar with the Ragnar Relay series it is a 200ish mile relay race for 12 person teams. The race is then divided into 36 "legs" and each person is assigned a runner number 1-12 and then run in order. When Runner 12 is done with leg 12, Runner 1 is back up to complete leg 13 and so on. There's a little more to the process involving splitting the 12 runners into two vans and leapfrogging each other and so on, but for this it's not that important. For the bold, there is an option to run the race as an Ultra Team, meaning your team is reduced to six runners. Our team opted for the Ultra version. Conventional wisdom would recommend that for an Ultra, runners simply run legs back to back. This strategy was utilized by most of our team, but I'll get into that later.
The race:
Google Earth kmz file of all 36 legs and more
Leg maps from the Ragnar website
The team:
Me (2nd Ragnar): High school athlete, post college runner (started with Spartan Races, then got into more traditional trail and road races), 1x marathon (4:30) that still keeps me up at night
Jane (7th Ragnar, girlfriend - we met on my first ragnar): Runner since high school (XC and 800m, 2 mi), 2x marathoner (4:13 and 4:06)
Carl (8th Ragnar, BFF of Jane): Post college runner, 2x marathoner (3:59 PR), triathlete considerer
Rachel (4th Ragnar, post college friend of Jane, SO of Buddy): 2x marathoner (sub-4 NYC i think)
Buddy (2nd Ragnar, SO of Rachel): endurance cyclist, got into running by *Rachel asking him to do Ragnar (i think
Captain (6th Ragnar, college friend of Carl): 2x marathoner (PR somewhere around 4:15)
Training:
Me: Almost none. was maybe running twice a week from the marathon (7 months ago) until about 3 weeks before we left. To be honest, I fell out of love with running after the marathon. I was dealing with some self diagnosed IT band stuff. My best 10K+ runs were lucky to sniff 9:30 in the weeks before we left
Jane: Ran a half the weekend I ran the marathon. Ran another half in mid september.
Carl: Hasnt run over 9 or 10 miles in 7 months
Rachel/Buddy: Claimed to of not do much training. Buddy had mentioned to me he and Rachel were running 9 miles in the 8:00-8:30/mi range. Its also worth noting that Buddy is very into the nutrient side of recovery. I’d later find out he packed enough powders and chews to open a GNC from the back of our van.
Captain: Probably the most trained. Did some two-a-days
11/5/2015
1730ish Jane, Carl, and I flew out together and have just arrived in Vegas. Rachel and Buddy we’re going to be arriving around 2200. Captain has been in Vegas for about an hour and just finished dealing with the car (van) rental. We meet up, say hellos, and get on the road. We get groceries/food/snacks/supplies for the race at an Alberstons near the official pre race hotel (Red Rock Casino and Resort). After grocery shopping we get the traditional night-before Olive Garden meal. Service kind of sucked.
20:00ish After dinner the four of us check into our rooms and go to bed. Jane and I take some Unisom and we’re out before Buddy and Rachel get to our room.
11/6/2015
0530 Everyone slowly wakes. Everyone quickly showers. Our start time is at 0830 and is about an hour or so away.
0655 Leaving the hotel. Another hotel guest tries to board our van thinking we're the shuttle to the airport - "Oh this is for the race? Good luck. Ya'll are crazy." Everyone in the van shares his sentiment. Except Rachel. For some reason Rachel is super stoked.
0658 Hotline bling is already worn out.
0739 Very close to the start now. We’ve started to pass runners that have already started. Where we are driving there's about 8 inches of paved shoulder, and 10 feet of stone/gravel shoulder that blends into the all surrounding desert. Runners are coming down off the mountain at us. We've passed two exchange points. Not sure what #s.
0748 6000' and climbing. We all just realized we didn't prep for any thin air. I had imagined more of running to and from casinos. Casinos have thick air pumped into them right?
0758 8000'. Fun fact: Nevada is Spanish for snowcapped. Makes sense.
0835 8500' and we’re at the start. We missed our 0830 start.
0842 Check in was kind of a pain. Waiting for the 0845 start
0848 I don't think there's an 8:45 start. Jane starts alone. Current temp 20F
0920ish Jane passes a spot a few minutes ago that we posted up at a few miles in. She's doing well. We go to exchange one to wait for our next sighting. I start warming up.
1015 Been at exchange two for a while waiting for Jane. Everyone else is very casual right now except me. Im about to run and I'm anxious. 7.8 miles ahead of me and the current temp is low 30s
1209 Been back in the van of a while. It wasn't 7.8 it was 9.8 (Part 1 Part 2 - Total pace 9:37/mi). Given my IT band history and the fact the first 5 miles of this double leg is straight downhill, I opt to run on the gravel shoulder off the road. I figured the gravel would provide some more give than the asphalt road. Turns out gravel in the desert is made up of small boulders. I roll my left ankle about 20 minutes in. I still think off the asphalt is the way to go. A few miles in a pass a woman who says “You’re awesome” “No you’re awesome!” is what I should have said, but instead I selfishly point out “I’m doing an Ultra.” I wish I hadn’t said that. I wouldn’t want someone to say that to me. I reach the midway exchange and Jane is there to cheer me on. I mention rolling my ankle. The exchange ends at the bottom of the downhill and makes a U-turn back uphill for about 100 yards and then turns onto a service road. The service road is laid with golfball/softball sized stones. More ankle rolling ensues. I must of rolled my ankles more times than realized because I noticed with about a mile to go my right ankle hurt. Blisters too. There was no water on leg 3 and only one unmanned water station on leg 4 with about two miles to go. I ate a pocket fuel (basically almond butter) from mile 3 until about mile 7. Very hard to eat without water. I finish fairly strong, given the limp, and hand off the slap bracelet to Rachel. The team asks me about the limp. I mention the boulders and ankle rolling. I have a quarter mile limp to the van.
1240 I ate a peanut butter banana and strawberry jelly sandwich. I'm laying down, elevating my foot. I'm not sure if it's the ankle. It's more the foot. No swelling yet. Jane tells me she rolled after her two legs. I've barely stretched. The blister on my arch is in the perfect spot to get to know the thong of my flip flops. Rachel is running now. One 9.5 mile leg instead of running two legs back to back in typical ultra fashion. She'll be handing off to Buddy, who is undertaking the same strategy-no back to back legs. I'm not sure what their reasoning is, but it seems like they're going to run every four hours or so. Not a lot of rest time. We'll see how this works out. I would rate the team moral as apathetic. It’s early.
1306 Van decorations have been completed by adding our names with six adjacent boxes and the mileage under the six boxes. Rachel should be finishing in a bit and Buddy has started stretching. He’s ready to run. I tried to ice the left foot with an instant cold pack. Wouldn't call that successful. Jane is rolling more. I’m laying down. Captain is at the wheel not really interacting. Carl is on his phone.
1324 Rachel is in. We're in the van moving to the next leg. She feels fine. "I just need to hydrate." We'll see how she feels in about 20 hours.
1338 We're kind of lost on the way to exchange 6. Buddy might beat us there.
1347 We’re at the exchange before Buddy. That’s the good news. The bad news is the medical tent at the first major exchange was a joke - I tell the EMT/attendant my symptoms "Could it be your tendons?" "I don't know that's why I'm here" "Do you want some ice and ibuprofen" "I guess"
1401 Buddy handed off to Carl a bit ago. Buddy and Rachel are getting swag from the merch tents. The five of us are going to subway for a proper meal when they return. I’m curious what Captain will do for food, as he'll be running in about an hour. We have agreed that the attitude in the van is very subdued by comparison to the Ragnars done previously. We agree the focus is survival. We’re 6 hours in and most of us have run two thirds of the regular ragnar distance. Buddy wants to stop at Walgreens for coconut water and pickle juice. Buddy is very into the nutrient side of recovery. He has enough chews and powders stocked to open a GNC from his trunk. While he's inside Carl texts us that he's a mile from the exchange. We're 6 minutes away by van.
1505 We should focus less on survival/self preservation and more on getting to the exchanges on time for teammates. Carl had to wait. Side note Captain had a quarter of a bagel with cream cheese right before his run.
1518 We're stopping at a Starbucks. I’ve assumed driving responsibilities in Captain’s absence and need coffee. Jane wants green tea. Carl is being very vocal about the poop stuff he's going to do in the nearest starbucks. Morale seems higher. Poop jokes = morale. My achilles (both) are also starting to ache. I should start to roll. Carl is out of the bathroom and is heading for Del Taco, an endurance running food staple.
1634 We recently met Captain about 2-3 miles before he ends. He’s going strong. I think we're delirious though. That tired type of delirious.
1645 Captain is in Buddy is out. It’s night hours. He's running 5 miles and Rachel is running the next 4 miles. I don't know when they're going to sleep. My right foot is still stiff, but feels better. I have a moleskin on the blister but it's not helping like i expected.
1720 We're waiting for Buddy in a church parking lot. People are singing fetty wop and drake songs. There's no music playing. Delirium.
1731 Buddy is in. He crushed it. We have to hustle to the next exchange to meet Rachel. So far they seem to be doing better mentally than the rest of the van.
1811 1/3 of the way done. Officially. We need batteries for tailamps. Plenty of time to waste. Jane just left for a 12 mile run.
1840 Everyone is trying to nap. Hard to tell if it's self preservation or if energy is low. I haven't slept and I run after Jane's double leg. Plus I'm driving so I can't nap.
1851 Weather: Low 40s, strong breeze. Feels sub 30. Just got back from watering a cactus. Everyone seems to be resting. I’m trying to meet Jane when she gets to the midway exchange.
1910 The first half of Jane's double leg is down. She's drained emotionally. Physically I think she has plenty. I brought her gatorade, clif bloks, and a tiger tail. She really only went for the gatorade. Moving this crib on wheels to the next exchange to get ready for my run.
2146 I'm writing this at 0211. But I finished my legs (Part 1 Part 2 - 7 and change miles - 10:30 something/mi). Another woman and I finished together "I won't walk if you don't.” We finished strong. I went to high five her after the run, but she was busy so I let it go. I guess that’s what i get for being a jerk to the other woman. The rest of the leg was fairly uneventful. Was passed by a lot of people before the first midway exchange. Not so much after. There were some eyes on the mountain side reflecting from my headlamp. I really hope its not a mountain lion with a taste for human. At this pace it’d be on me in a flash. I try to keep my headlamp pointed at it as I run forward. Like a “I see you seeing me. Let’s be cool” kind of way. I finish and Jane asks me how I feel. I complain briefly about my sore quads, the sharp pain in my left foot, and the stiffness of my right foot. I went to sleep immediately. No stretching. No rolling. Probably not the best strategy. - - - You're never totally asleep in the van. I hear Buddy and Rachel finish their legs and relish their mile splits. Their approach of doing one leg at a time instead of back to back legs seems to be working. That or they are much more prepared than I am. Carl gets back from his legs and Buddy drives as Captain heads out. I’m still trying to sleep. Buddy turns the radio on. He either doesn't know I’m asleep or doesn't care. My quads feel as pliable as iron. My right foot feel like it's bound in chains, my left ankle feels full of glass. The bench seats have seatbelts in all the wrong places. Everything is hate. I sit up in my seat. I stare off in annoyance and Jane tries to console me. Futile effort, but not for a lack of care. We've been driving on the highway for what seems like at least 15 miles. This is weird considering Captain only has 11 miles to go.
11/7/2015
0217 The radio is off and we're at an exchange. I want to get out and roll but were parked on a gravel cliff side. It's so windy. You can hear the wind whipping outside of the van. I need to get away from my team and cool down. I dont think they did anything to offend me, I just need some me space. I opt for a portopotty.
0320 The van whips me awake as we take a fast corner. We're at the wrong exchange. Go figure. Buddy is running next. We pick up Captain. I offer him some $2 cup o noodle I picked up at the exchange. I pray he doesnt take it all. Prayers answered.
0346 Back to the exchange we were just at. On the way Rachel says to me "do you want me to take your second leg" (meaning the 6th of my 5th and 6th legs) "not even a little" "ok. Just I don't want you to injure yourself and I really feel fine" "I'll crawl if I have to" Jane pipes in "thanks though". She knows me better than Rachel.
0432 Buddy should be arriving any moment. He texted in his one mike warning. Looking around the parking lot I notice a lot of people limping. This is exchange 24. Meaning everyone at this point is 2/3 of the way done. The majority of these people's mile count is where I was 16 hours ago.
0642 Jane is in from her last run. She’s done. She got lost during the second half. The directions weren’t very clear and she listened to someone else. She was about a mile off course, the opposite direction. We put her back on course. As she hands the snap bracelet off to me, we hug. I think I congratulated her. I’m off on my last legs. Physically and for the race (13.8 mi total - Part 1 Part 2 ). Things seem as expected going into it. After about 10 mins I remember Jane was telling me how she opted to walk the .15 mi of every mile. I decide to run for 10 min walk for 2, similar to the 5:1 ratio I’ve read about for typical ultra marathons. This goes one for another 10 minutes cycle before the 10 minute run portions become 8 and then 5 and then just walking with little jogging. My feet are in terrible pain. Everything is uphill. At least its a gorgeous sunrise over Lake Mead. Around 6.5 miles in (1.3 mi until the midway exchange) things seem downhill. I decide that I’m basically a 10K away from finishing, if I can gut out a 10:00/mi pace I can be done in a little over an hour, plus after the midway exchange its all downhill, according to the map. This last mile or so seems good. I’m reminded of a Haruki Murakami passage when he was describing an 100km ultra “I’m not human. I’m a piece of machinery. I don’t need to feel a thing. Just forge ahead.” I get to the midway exchange and Jane and Buddy meet with with an energy chew and gatorade. Comcast calls me while I’m at the exchange “Can you call me later. I’m in the middle of a 200 mile relay race.” Buddy and Jane find this amusing. I hate Comcast, so I dont. I turn to head out for my last bit of Ragnar. The last leg doubles back on the leg i was just on, which was downhill, so i know I’m going uphill for a little. But i’ve seen the map. I know its downhill after. 9.6 miles in since i started my Nike+ watch dies. I immediately turn the Nike+ running app on my phone on. Not because i think im gonna PR. Just because i need to know my time when I’m done. The Murakami passage seems like a bad joke at this point. I’m back to a lot of walking. This machinery feels the glass and bound chains pain in my feet. The pain mile 23 marathon pain my quads. About 2 miles to go there is a water station with clif/kind bars. I take my sweet time. A woman passes me. She did an Ultra Ragnar two weeks ago. She seems to be doing great. 1 mile to go. I text my team. I try to give it the Murakami push. This works until I get to more hills. Everyone i pass/that passes me asks wtf is up with this “downhill leg” Finally i can see the exchange. One thing about the desert of Las Vegas, you can see for miles. I give it everything i have. About 200m from the finish i feel myself on the verge of tears. I’m not sure if it’s pain or the joy of accomplishment or just being so happy to be done. I hold them back on the pretense I don’t deserve to be happy with my performance. Anger replaces the near-tears as i think of all the workouts i skipped, the cheat meals i induldged upon, the idea that i could have tried harder or pushed through more pain. As it would turn out the map on the last leg was entered in reverse so it was all uphill. 500 feet of gain for the total 13.8 miles (Part 1 Part 2 - 14:06/mi)
1000 The self loathing subdues. At least I’m done. If i don’t want to feel this way i should try harder next time.
1001-1730ish I dont really remember anything specifically after my last leg. I was out of it. We ended up finishing in 32 hours and change.
The only other highlights that come to mind are, in no particular order:
The second to last exchange had a proposal (as the fiance to be approached the exchange several people held up “NAME” “WILL” “YOU” “MARRY” “ME” with the M drawn as the ragnar double R).
Rachel and Buddy didnt seem to be in much better shape, physically, than the the runners that did double legs. I, in my un-board-certified-medical-opinion, believe that any advantage they had was from Buddy’s diligent post run nutrition and supplementation regimen.
Captain, Jane, and I agreed that the quad pain was similar to that of finishing a marathon.
I think i was the only one that came away with a real “injury” (orthopedic appointment scheduled for Friday)
Everyone agreed this would be our last Ragnar Ultra at dinner. By brunch we all decided that a regular Ragnar seems like a bore and we should do an ultra again, but with more training.