#its currently *checks clock* 9:30am

[stcries]

love how sleep deprivation is making me write more than I have in the last few days

[cootiekat]

The Best Medicine: Elvis

Warnings: None :)

Pairings: Eddie Munson x Fem! reader

Genre: Teeth rotting fluff

Summary: You aren’t feeling well, so Eddie plays you your favorite songs🥹 Blurb

A/n: I am currently writing a hella long fanfic retelling of the movie ‘10 things I hate about you’ so if you wanna be on the tag list lmk 🫣

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

You’ve been feeling down the past couple days, but today hit you like a truck. Usually in the mornings you are up cleaning and making breakfast before Eddie has to leave for work. Weirdly, Eddie woke up before you. He checked the clock to make sure it wasn’t super early and to see if he could get more sleep in before he really had to get up, but it was 9:30am. Which means not only did you not get up but he was running extremely late. Eddie went to give you a kiss on your head before he left and he knew something was not right because you turned away from his kiss and mumbled something about “not feeling well” and to “leave you alone.”

Eddie thought about you all day at work. Wondering if you got out of bed to take care of yourself, if you ate or showered, and if you needed something on his way home. Eddie called the house from the phone at work and you didn’t pick up. Eddie officially knew something was up, because you always picked up the phone for him no matter what.

On Eddie’s way home, he made a quick stop at the drug store to pick up some of your favorite snacks, a bouquet of flowers, and a new teddy bear. Eddie walked through the doors and didn’t hear you walking around the house, nor did he hear the TV. Eddie wandered back into the bedroom where you were still sleeping. He lightly shook you awake.

“Sweetheart? Are you feeling alright, I brought you some presents!”

You slowly opened your eyes to the soft sound of his voice. Your heart immediately warmed at the sight of your hardcore boyfriend holding a white and red teddy bear and a bouquet of roses. “Oh my gosh! Thank you, Eddie, I really was not feeling good today.” You explained to him.

“I know, Baby. That’s why I wanted to surprise you.” He says while brushing the hair out of your face.

“Thank you, Eddie , like seriously I don’t think you understand how much I love you.” You say getting teary eyed.

“Well, don’t waste those precious tears on this. I haven’t even played you my song.”

You were surprised at the fact Eddie was going to get his acoustic guitar off the wall, because despite him being an excellent guitar player you haven’t really heard him play just to you, he always wants to impress you so he never plays you anything unless he is 100% certain he won’t make any mistakes.

As he starts playing you hear the starting notes of your favorite Elvis Presley song, Love Me, you gradually start to hear Eddie’s sweet voice when he starts the lyrics.

“Treat me like a fool.”

“Treat me mean and cruel.”

“but love me”

“wring my faithful heart”

“Tear it all apart”

You start cheering for him as he hits the high notes. You love when Eddie plays songs like this for you because its his way of showing is love for you. You walk over the the chair Eddie is sitting in and place yourself on his lap and whisper in his ear.

“Elvis is the best medicine.”

Eddie smiles at you with his perfect teeth and kisses you passionately. You realize that you have everything you need right here.

[nowyouknowdano]

Fucked- Inmate Sweat x fem reader pt.2 (nsfw)

It’s been 6 days, and other than a few winks here and there inmate Sweat has honored my request to keep our distance. They say ‘distance makes the heart grow fonder’, and whoever they are, they must be clever, because he’s all I can think about. I’m missing his touch, his rough fingers squeezing and rubbing all over my body. I miss his voice, how he’d moan in my ear and tell me how beautiful I looked while bouncing on his cock. I miss him especially at night, when I’m all alone in my bed. I imagine what it’d be like to have Sweat with me out here in the free world. Would he still look at me with that deep carnal hunger? Would he kiss me with the same feverish passion he does now? Would he still fuck me hard like it was the last thing he’d ever do? Maybe he likes me enough to actually respect my requests, or maybe I’m just stupid enough to fall for his bullshit. 

On the 7th day I broke. I gave in. I threw in the towel. Maybe I’m a bad person, maybe I’m an idiot, maybe I’m a weak woman or maybe… I’m just horny. I suppressed the urge to call Sweat to the back for the first 2 hours of work. I tried to keep busy checking up on inventory, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking over at him every now and again, and every time I did his eyes would catch mine. His hungry stare resembled that of a wolf stalking his prey, just waiting for the right moment to strike. I quickly finish up talking to another inmate about about his productivity and send him back to his work station.

“Inmate Sweat, can you help me take stock of this week’s shipment, in tailor 9 please?” I asked trying to act nonchalant as I glanced at CO Lambert to see if he was paying attention. He wasn’t, he’s currently checking his phone so hopefully he won’t notice Sweat and I gone for a few minutes. “Uh yeah, of course.” He utters in a calm and collected tone. He glared at a couple of inmates around him who watched him get up with a faint choir of childish “ooo’s”, as if he’s been caught stealing by the teacher in elementary school. 

I check the clock to see it’s 11:30am we have between 2-5 minutes before someone notices we’re gone. Once Sweat and I get into the cold dingy room he moves quickly and quietly to lock the door, before setting down his clipboard and unbuckling his pants, pulling them down with his underwear. I move as fast as I can to do the same so he can have easy access to where he wants to be most of all. Backing up to sit against the icy steel table, goosebumps form all over my body, I can’t tell if they are from the cold room, or the sight in front of me. I watch him pump himself while shuffling towards me, oh it’s a beautiful sight. Once he’s close enough he leans down to kiss me hard as his large calloused hand lets go of his shaft to desperately knead into the soft plump flesh of my hips. “Mmm, it’s been too long. I was beginning to think you found a new toy to play with.” He breathlessly uttered in between his rough sloppy kisses. “No, Its just I have every COs eyes on me right now Mmm and i- ooo do that again.” I barely breathe out the words as he kisses and bites all the way down from my neck to my chest, while his right hand is reaching around to squeeze my ass, his left hand is in between my thighs as he rubs his fingers through my wet folds flicking his middle finger over my clit. I run my hands up his strong arms, wishing he’d remove his shirt so I could feel the warm skin beneath it but we don’t have time for that so I’ll snake my hands up his shoulders and down his long hard torso, so I can begin to stroke his long hard cock. “Ahh fuck, don’t you worry about them baby. It’s just you and me now,” his words vibrate against my shoulder, soothing me with his deep voice as he digs his middle finger into my dripping cunt. God his long powerful fingers curling inside of me feel so much better than my own ever could. I only stop stroking his cock when he takes his fingers out of me and stops sucking on my neck to rub the wetness from me all down his heavy solid member. He wets his shaft and lines himself up at my soaked entrance before grabbing my soft hips and slamming into me as deep as he can go.

A/n: if ur reading this i hope u like it so far 1 more part🙊

[20smthngrp-blog]

                                         ( SEO SOWON, 23 )

Name: Seo Sowon Date of Birth: 1994/07/13 Occupation: maekup artist & stylist

SPARKNOTES:

born in seoul in july, to a family already too full of kids. her father is an architect and mother works retail part-time.

her parents are everything society taught them to be, in short, religious and strict. she tries her best at a young age to go unnoticed.

‘parents always fight,’ a cousin tells her ‘its better to just keep it a secret.’ most things are kept secret in their family. his infidelity and her drinking, all go swept under a rug.

financially the family begins to struggle. too many mouths to feed. her mother starts to work part-time in retail. sowon tags along from time to time, slipping into the dressing rooms in secret. its her first act of defying her parents.

middle school is when she first experiments with makeup. applying it for a girl friend for her first date.

high school plays out in a blur for her, memories hanging in the air, she can’t begin to place a time on each experience now.

she works in secret, most things are kept secret, applying makeup for girls in her class for dates at the beginning.

attends first party her senior year of high school. meets more clients interested in a personal stylist. the lesson is more parties equals more clients.

graduates high school, uses money she’s saved up to attend beauty school first.

a single year in beauty school goes by in no time. she works hard making enough to afford a place. the place, she decides, is shitty but it beats being at home.

being a ‘professional’ makeup artist now means she’s allowed to charge more. she spends her last years as a teenager saving up money to attend a cheap college. she only needs an associate degree.

enters college at the ripe age of twenty, it take’s her two years to finish. a degree in fashion merchandising looks better on paper to those hiring.

she’s currently twenty-three fresh her days of education seem far away. spends her days looking for work. her nights are more focused on partying. or client building.

FREEFORM:

2:04AM

“through god all things are possible.”

she repeats to herself. coaxing her mind with words sweet as honey. blood shot eyes are glued to the ceiling fan. somehow, she doesn’t find comfort in these words anymore.

not the way she used to. not the way mother insists they should.

somewhere in the rehashing of words the thought begins to appear. ( between “all” and “things” perhaps. ) it creeps into her head slowly. at first its fuzzy, distorted in her mind. it, the thought, sets in eventually fully fledged.

“there is something wrong with me.“

then all at once her emotions are full throttle. this thought gnawing deep inside her. it pours into her, filling her body instantly. this self-loathing seeping into her. her mother’s voice echoing the word wrong in her ears. blood shot eyes are glued to the ceiling fan. dust drifts down off the blades of the fan. the voice replaced with high pitched ringing.

sowon tears herself from her bed. returning only a second later. she stands on the bed, long limbs reaching up to glide over each extension of the fan just above her head. a voice hums through her.

“sowon this room isn’t going to clean itself.”

2:32AM

a chill kisses against her skin. a subtle breeze rushes past like the one that day. the smell of daisies that filled the yard outside her childhood home now occupies the room. and suddenly she’s seven again.

laying outside near her house. a fragile thing; soft, pink flesh stretched over rigid bones. awash with greenery as the sun beams down on her. sowon’s small body laid back, floating amongst the green ocean. it’s unusually quiet, sowon remembers, but that didn’t put her on edge then.

the familiar voice comes crashing down her. a string of the same muffled sound materializing from thin air. then the creator finally appears. creeping out from the shadows sowon hadn’t even noticed.

“did you not hear me,” her mother scoffs as sowon shakes her head in response ( she’s lying ) “i swear, sometimes i think you came out of me wrong.”

and in a blink of an eye her mother towers over sowon’s small body. tearing her from the mounds of grass. sowon’s eyes focus on her mother’s hand. it presses deep into sowon’s arm, nails digging into her skin, as she drags sowon back home.

it was from that moment that the idea ( ‘she hates me’ ) began to form.

3:27AM

the flicking of her thumb against the metal spark wheel of her lighter plunges her back into reality. the habit is so frequent at this time of night. the image is all too frequent as well.

sowon huddled up near the window of her apartment. window cracked open letting in a breeze. winter will fill sowon’s home in no time. her comforter and bedsheets thrown over her body to guard it from the cold.

the only light filling the room is red. the burning end of her cigarette and the numbers counting down on that fucking clock.

3:33AM

‘if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’

is this her punishment for sinning? being awake at 3AM with no chance of sleep?

if only she had gone to church more. her mother had always implied it would. that going to church would release the heavy weight of guilt. how much guilt could one girl contain?

forgive me father for i have sinned.

sowon lets the smoke fill her lungs. the crackling of the burning cigarette calms her for a moment. she feels the weight wither and fade. as she exhales, the smoke exists out the window. and once again like every other night, the habit works it’s magic, it’s cathartic.

4:02AM

“sowon, do you want to go out with me or not?”

a boy calls out to her. she is whisked away, again, lost in the pool of her memories ( her sins ). this time to the ripe age of sixteen.

she’s seated across from him. the table between them seems endless now. she feels miles away from him. books floating amongst the table. it’s after school, the setting sun pours a yellow light filling the library.

she remembers wishing she was anywhere else at that moment. she remembers how he helped her through her math class that year. she remembers how he bought her makeup and magazines that her parents wouldn’t allow her to have.

but for the life of her, now, she can’t even remember his name.

“no.”

4:13AM

“i think that guy is checking you out.”

her sins are playing out like a flip book now. each passing quickly but still somehow feeling just as heavy as the previous. she’s eighteen now, it’s her senior year. the room is dark and loud. a friend is seated next to her pointing out a man at the other end of the sleek, black bar.

his eyes meet hers and he swims through the crowd to her in no time. he is quick to compliment her. to tempt her, to pull her in. and she is, it’s easier at that age to be. christianity always warned her about temptation.

“women always fall to temptation.” her mother warned her. and so sowon let herself fall.

he is older than her, but not ancient, and luckily he has money. she could tell by the tom ford suit. he isn’t stunning but what guy is really.

it isn’t till she’s at his apartment does she realize how much money he has. the room feels huge in comparison to her home. she feels small in comparison. the walls and floor are stark white. the furniture and bedspread are burnt orange, his favorite color.

it’s her first night and just one of many for him.

however, he is infatuated with her. ( he likes her legs. ) she plays with him for a little while. in return for presents.

he takes her to extravagant parties, where she meets most of her clients. she figures it beats doing makeup for girls from high school. but overtime she grows bored and he starts to look for something ( or someone ) more serious.

4:22AM

sowon lights another cigarette, she isn’t going to bed anytime soon. so, why not.

meanwhile, the flip book skips a couple of chapters. to her first day of college. she’s twenty, a more current sowon. eye bags and all. she hasn’t been sleeping. her hair in the early transformation stages of red.

she’s worked hard to get to this point. working with women who didn’t deserve her impeccable taste. who didn’t deserve all that time. not even deserving of a genuine smile.

for once in her life she is truly anxious. this was the beginning of that feeling.

she makes friends rapidly. sowon prides herself on balancing her grades and her social life. almost losing all contact with the child who previously hid away in the shadows.

4:39AM

it skips again, there aren’t as many sins that year. the memories stacking up one on top of the other. heavy like bricks on her shoulders.

her second year, her final year of school. college is boring halfway through her first year and even more bleak her second year. a montage of late nights and early mornings. the classes aren’t difficult but they are time consuming.

grades weighing down the balancing scale.

planner reading:

MONDAY lecture @ 8AM lecture @ 10AM ( organize notes ) TUESDAY lecture @ 7:15AM lecture @ 9:30AM styling appointment with mrs. kim 11AM lecture @ 12:15AM

WEDNESDAY lecture @ 8AM lecture @ 10AM LAUNDRY DAY!!!

day after day. so on and so forth.

life is dull. feeling almost as dull and brittle as her crisp brown hair.

and the girl is lonely, hollow.

4:43AM

cigarette pack is empty and she’s cleaned the whole of her apartment. eyelids heavy with fatigue. bedsheets and comforter are neatly applied to the bed. though she doesn’t remember when exactly she made it. the dishes, however, have still not been cleaned.

4:49AM

“you’re very bright ms. seo”

a clever smile stretches across his face. he’s charming, warm and inviting. and twice her age. the hum of his voice rings through her.

this man - she remembers.

the two of them consume the whole of his office. again she finds herself on the other end of a long, endless table. it’s a week before her graduation. the room smells like dated books and hot coffee; no doubt he’s had a few cups of them. the crackling of his voice pervaded the space of their container.

“thank you,” she doesn’t seem to notice, then, that his eyes flicker onto any piece of her that aren’t her eyes “it’s very nice of you to say that.” she’s uncharacteristically careful with her words.

“i think-” he moves abruptly out of his chair and makes his way over to her. her eyes watch him as he glides through the muted blue tones of his room. as he sits down next to her the mix of his cologne and after shave layer over the previous smell of the small office. “you really have a lot of potential.”

their eyes meet finally. he, unlike previous flings and relationships, is stunning.

sowon breaks the eye contact first, an unsure feeling plagues her. eyes landing on his maroon sweater and then his black dior loafers. he isn’t awful at picking out clothes.

“if it’s alright with you,” casually he moves his hand placing it on her knee “we could continue discussing your future, over coffee?”

forgive me father for i have sinned.

4:57AM

“fuck!”

the shattering of a dinner plate wakes her from yet another daydream. an aggravated sigh slips from her lips as she hunches down to pick up the pieces. every movement disagreeing with her body.

“SHIT!”

before she can look at the cut on her hand she sees it drip. a familiar dark, deep red. she stifles out another sigh. exhausted she lets the remains of the plate fall back to the floor. applying pressure to the wound while scavenging the cabinets for a bandaid.

accidents happen when you’re slowly losing your mind through the night.

she flops down onto her freshly made bed, once patched up.

5:04AM

it’s now in the short segment before drifting off to sleep that she can admit to some of her mistakes. sleeping with her professor was probably a bad choice.

they met several times after that first coffee. eventually the coffee dates would end in drinks. longing gazes, flirtatious laughs and more drinks. he is gentle and soothing. and she is lonely.

in between the several strings of consistent dates, two days after graduation, she dyes her hair red. ( their favorite color. )

it’s dark out when they meet the night she does. hair in loose waves it pops agains her black cocktail dress. “do you like it!?” shaking her head wildly, showing it off. she always liked to imagine it looked a bit like fire. he kisses her then and there. it sends her over the moon.

she sleeps with him that night. and she doesn’t hear from him again after.

7:30AM

the deafening ring of her alarm startles her awake. the phone is nearly dead, the broken plate remains still exposed on the floor, and both sowon’s hand and head are pounding in pain.

the events of last night play out in her head, before she got home. the night out drinking with friends before she got home. her mom calling her at 10:23PM. and sowon drunkly, mistakingly answering the call. it only took a few slurred sentences before her mother was berating her.

“sowon, when are you going to grow up?”

each word spilling out of her mother’s lips pound in tune with her head now. long slender arms snake their way around the bed until capturing her phone.

12 missed phone calls.

perhaps, this really was her punishment for sinning.

[trigjoh]

Ragnaring it to the beach

You may have heard of the ‘Reach The Beach’ (RTB) running relay, the 200 mile, mountain to ocean run thru New Hampshire that has occurred each of the last 19 years.  This year a chance came up to join a group of fellow Medfield Soles as part of a 12 person team that was going to take on the 20th anniversary edition of the race.  I’ve had RTB on my bucket list for a while, and while true that I didn’t start 2018 thinking this was the year I was going to get Reach The Beach done, when the chance came, and knowing the people going into the run, it was too good an opportunity to miss.

The Inception

Some of our regular Saturday running group had done this Reach The Beach relay before, teaming up with a group out of New York and Connecticut who ran under the team banner of ‘Fox Chase’.  When young Adam Graber floated the idea of the 2018 edition as a challenge and started looking for a team of 12 from Medfield, a chance to bring us together with the New York/CT group arose.  Thanks to the coordination of Heidi Lusby and Matt Parnell, we were able to form one half (6 people) of a 3rd team under the ‘Fox Chase’ banner. It was the first time the ‘Fox Chase’ folk were putting in a 3rd team, and meant that 36 people needed coordinating and communicating.

This operation is efficient. As in, military precision efficient. Matt P is a man with the right tools, and communication brilliance to collect data, plan and distribute information effortlessly and in a timely fashion. We received detailed plans on leg assignments, shopping and packing lists, timings, expectations. Every time I sent an email back to Matt I got a response immediately.  Doing that across 36 people is no mean feat.  The fact, as you will see, that this went off smoothly is down to the efforts of Matt and his supporting crew.  ‘Fox Chase’ were the perfect guides for us entering this race and they left nothing to chance or the unknown.

The Basics

1 team. 12 runners. 2 vans. 200-ish miles (just a little bit more), 36 legs, each leg typically between 4 and 8 miles, though some are shorter, some are longer. You and your 5 fellow van mates take turns at running 6 consecutive legs. The other van waits at the end of those 6 legs and then takes over running the next 6. Lather, rinse, repeat.  When you and your van are doing 6 legs, you are either running or supporting - watering, cheering, getting your runner thru their leg and readying the next runner.  When you and your van are waiting for the other van to do their thing, you maybe get a meal, some sleep, some cleaning up. Time goes quickly.

Our Setup

Our 6 Medfield-ites (actually 5 current Medfielders and 1 ex-Medfielder) left the ‘052 at 6:30am on Friday to get to Bretton Woods, the starting point, and the rendezvous with the rest of the Fox Chase crowd, by 10:30am. We had a race start time of noon, and needed to ensure we had time to have our safety equipment checked, watch the Ragnar safety video, get t-shirts, numbers and vans pimped out.  A quick swing off 495 to pick up our ex-Medfielder, and a stop in Tilton, NH to pick up breakfast, and we were in Bretton Woods in plenty of time.

‘Hit The Mountain George!’

There is of course an app to show you the various legs of the relay and allow you to spend hours thinking about what you are stepping off into.  Our runner #1, George, knew what was in front of him when he toe’d the start line - run up the slope of Bretton Woods ski mountain before coming back down to hand off number 1. Never. Any. Doubt. Crushed it! And with that we begin the process that would define the next 26 hours.

Load up in the van

Get to the next transition area (or ‘TA’ but now known forever in our van-speak as a ‘trannie’) or an intermediate spot on longer legs to check in with the runner and offer water or words of encouragement/harassment. All in good humor (rarely in good taste).

Watch. Wait. Watch. Cheer

Line up the next runner

Hand over the ‘baton’

Repeat

Every 7th trannie, get the other van started. It’s simple, it’s exciting. You are never in the van for long. 

The Running Bit

OK, so this is my running experience. Everyone has their own set of stages, temperatures, challenges, sights, running ‘partners’ and goals. Those who’d done this before knew where the tough parts lay, their strategies, and what they had set out to conquer for themselves.  

I was representing the ‘Clyde army’ in van 1 (I often represent the ‘Clyde army’ in the runs I do with others). The others are all stellar runners - awesome form, strong, steady. Great people to be around, learn from, and great encouragement for one another.

(If you want to follow along in the next part, you can find the course description, and details of each leg here)

My first leg was leg 4, 2.9 miles. And most of that downhill. Like seriously downhill. Like brakes on the whole way down, downhill. My running app, Strava, reckons I clocked my best 1 and 2 mile runs ever; the power of gravity! I felt great, though knew all that downhill was likely to show up later in my legs.  And passing a guy, whom I’d had in my sights for about a half mile, as we got to ‘trannie 4′ made me feel fabulous.

My second leg was my nighttime leg. And I had the privilege of running from Friday into Saturday, starting around 11:45pm and finishing at 12:45am. So I’d been prepping myself for this section.  6.2 miles was the distance. No problem. I knew the leg was rated ‘HARD’ which given the distance meant one thing - challenging hills.  And it didn’t disappoint.  Straight up right out of the start area. Climbing 400 ft over the first mile & a bit.  The top of that hill was a long way away, broken by a group of neighbors partying 3/4 of the way up and handing out water.  That was a real lift.  Then 2 miles of steady downhill. And then another mile of a similar climb.  That 2nd climb was brutal, but from that peak it was straight and downhill all the way to the finish.  I loved getting to this finish line.  So much so I busted out my ludicrous dance moves with some dude dressed as Prince. That is now forever enshrined on the internet.  And I’m am happy for it.

My third leg, on Saturday morning was leg 28.  It was also rated hard.   This time 5.7 miles, so again not a massive distance. And elevation netted out from start to finish as a drop.  But the trick in this leg was the rolling nature of the run.  My legs at this point were garbage from the prior runs and the miles along this stretch were hard earned.  Getting over the finish line, to the cheers of the guy dressed as ‘Santa’ plus those awesome teammates cheering me up that final rise, was a massive lift.  Plus now I know that all the elves in Santa’s workshop will be called ‘Johnnie’ this year; Santa promised it to me.

Being done with your running is a great feeling.  There is still work to do getting your friends to their own finish lines and cheering on the next runner.  But the healing of your body can begin.

The In-Between Bits

Time flew. 26 hours just melts.  Sure you maybe running for around 3 hours in total, but those other hours are not a time to catch up on your reading, or meditate.  You’ve got work to do.  Get out and rally your fellow runners, across all the teams.  Get your van to the next TA. Catch up with the other van, other teams at major changeovers.

We had a couple of folks in our van with some good local area knowledge. At the end of our first set of legs, this allowed us to

Jump in the river at Echo Bridge. Man that felt great. Nature’s ice bath was just what I needed

Get a quality dinner & a beer at a Mexican restaurant. No one said you needed to be on an Olympian’s diet.

We got to the next major changeover (TA12) in time for some folks to rollout sleeping bags and lay under the night sky for some rest.  A couple of us decamped inside the high school to sit in comfortable chairs, chat and listen to the country and the western music of the Crunchy Western Boys.  Slipping into sleep would have been sooooo easy.

Now more driving - it’s the overnight legs.  We were running legs 13 to 18 from 9:45pm to roughly 2:30am. This is a key part of the Ragnar experience; overnight running. Again we would ensure every runner could check in with us every couple of miles, able to get water and for safety.  On my leg, it was great just to hear my teammates voices at the top of each hill.  As hard as my leg felt, seeing Sarah M power thru leg 17, barefoot, which felt in the van like it was 6 miles of one long climb, was jaw dropping. Our team was crushing this course and at night when the temps were cooler and ‘Quiet Zones’ were in effect, we made sure our runners knew we were there for them every step of the way.

The handover back to van 2 at TA18, again at a HS, delivered the spectacle of runners lights & a mob of people who shouldn’t be as happy and chatty and full of encouragement at that crazy early time of the day.  Everyone was buzzing.  But now we motored to the next major trannie to get some rest. Again local knowledge prevailed as Jodi motored us thru the countryside to maximize our rest time before we were running again. We were the first at TA23 and took advantage to spread out on the ground and get some sleep.

Sleep of course is subjective. Some got 2-3 hours. I got maybe an hour, but just being laid out was rejuvenating. It had to be, because by 7:30 we were rolling again. Breakfast was ‘on the fly’. People grabbed from dishes prepared by locals at the TAs. Or what they had brought.  We were going and the end was in sight.  

The handover to van 2 at TA30 was the last major one. For us it was the end of running. And the one where the local HS had opened their locker rooms for runners to be able to shower and change. A $5 charge felt like the best $5 I’d ever spent.  We’d of course been sweating and running and then ‘cleaning up’ in the van with little to no more than time to change into dry clothes between runs. The ‘Dude Shower’ wipes helped keep the ‘race funk’ down, but nothing cleans like warm, soapy water. Oh sweet, happy, funny soap and toothpaste. Such simple pleasures.

Van Life

You get the right people, van life is awesome.  Van life in Fox Chase Team 3 Van 1 was awesome. From the time we loaded up in Medfield on Friday morning, to the time we unpacked back in Medfield on Saturday evening, van life was fantastic. I had gotten to know 3 of my van mates over the last couple of years (thru running). Two of the folks I barely knew.  Not a problem. I can now count all 5 of them as good friends. Banter was natural. Stories shared, laughs spread throughout.

A 12 passenger van carrying 6 people and all their stuff may sound like its plenty of room for everyone. And sure, no one was on anyone else’s lap. But with sleeping bags, food, changes of clothes, towels, water, trash (be environment friendly - carry it with you), there was a lot to keep moving.  Folks had to change in the van at discrete moments. Jokes, stories, van humor, van speak all develop thru this continuous experience you are putting yourself thru. Don’t think about your next leg. Share the story of those who’ve gone before you. 

We joked on the way home that we should rent a van every weekend and just drive around together for 26 hours, just to repeat the laughs and stories and events that had entertained us so thoroughly. Maybe every weekend might be pushing it, but go into this experience with an open mind and readiness to be a part of a team, you’ll have no problems and nothing but laughs.

Other Thoughts

Volunteers - make this race.  Throughout New Hampshire, the folks who staffed the trannies, waved flags, served food, helped at first aid stations, counted people in and out, were phenomenal.  They were out for huge numbers of hours, day and night.  They came to cheer, to support. They came with food, with music. They came dressed as Santa and as Prince. Every TA was well staffed. Had a full set of portapotties. This race would not function, nor be as popular or as ‘easy’ to do without these generous and warm people giving of their time so completely. Thank you NH!

Food - you need to bring your own. You’ll likely have time with your team mates to have at least one meal before the end of the race, whether dinner or breakfast. So bring portable, run friendly foods with you. But don’t overload your bags with food. Know what is good for you before a run. Know what you need post race. My teammates who’d done this before had sensible, portable options beyond cereal bars and protein drinks. Hard-boiled eggs. Fresh veggies. Nut butter.  Pepperoni. Share, learn, I know I did and would pack some different options for the next time.

Water - bring lots of it.

Communication - you have to communicate not only within your van, but also with the folks in the other van.  For us the other van consisted of people most of us didn’t know. They were from the core of the ‘Fox Chase’ team and among them had some veterans who shared many tips and stories between major changeovers.  It would have been great to spend more time with these fine people who had extended a warm welcome to us, as well as a chance to spend the night before the race and the night after the race with them at ‘Fox Chase’ back near Sunapee.  Another time we will likely take them up on their offer.  Communication via text made things straight forward .... apart from when the cell coverage was poor.

Finish & Home

We’d headed to the town of Hampton Beach after leaving TA30 all showered (well most of us) & ready to celebrate. We had time for a relaxing lunch, a beer and a walk down the beach to the finish line.  Now we represented one van (6 people) of one (12 people) of three teams (36 people) running under the Fox Chase banner. That is 36 people running over 200 miles over 26 hours. Just getting those folks organized before the race was an operation on the same level as organizing a major military campaign.  Yet Matt Parnell from the Fox Chase group did this effortlessly. With weeks of planning he’d devised team rosters and leg assignments to get each team as close to finishing at the same time as possible.  Then throw in last minute withdrawals and then in-race retirements due to injury, and surely timing was out the window and we’d see who finished when.

Not a problem. People stood up and took on extra legs. Our own George Mix picked up an extra leg and did 2 legs back to back on Saturday morning, basically banging out a half marathon after running and driving and waiting for 20 hours.  Phenomenal. Others did similar. And the net result? All three teams coming down the beach to the finish line at the same time!  That was an amazing sight.  All the runners across all the teams getting into a group and running those last 100 yards thru the finish line, celebrating, being pictured, shaking hands, hugging all together.  

We were done. Bling collected. Friendships established, plans for next year starting to come together.  We departed Hampton Beach leaving the rest of Fox Chase to enjoy their annual dip in the water before heading back to their compound and celebrate the completion of another RTB relay.

We loaded back up in our van and headed south. The spirit didn’t fade. Yeah, everyone was tired, looking forward to seeing family, your own bed, and stretch out. But also with a tinge of sadness that such a great adventure and experience was done.  

Done, but not to be forgotten. Pictures were exchanged. Emails, contacts, social media profiles set up. In the hours immediately after the race, texts flew back and forth. In the next few days laughs exchanged at the expense of folks and their inability to walk/run/sit down/handle stairs.  The photo exchanging between us and between the wider Fox Chase group continues. It’s great to see such a wider view of the relay thru the eyes of the others.

The Big Questions

Would you do it again?

YUP ... I’d do it with the same people, in the same setup. Or bring some new friends to the experience. I’d even volunteer to do the same 3 legs. Why? I want to get the challenge of those hills down cold. Then I’ll look at other legs.  I don’t know if the others feel the same, but I am all about getting those legs (16 and 28) done better, faster, stronger.  That may take the entire next 12 months of hill work and leg workouts and dieting. But I’m going to get those bastards.

What I recommend it to others?

YUP .... if you are looking for this sort of challenge.  Endurance. Distance. Hills. Discomfort. Close relationships. I’m no adventure seeker, but this for me was a chance to break out of suburbia and put myself out there.

Would you try another Ragnar event?

Think so. Have talked with some folks of a destination race. Maybe a Ragnar event would be the one.

Done

So that was me and my first Ragnar experience.  Hopefully you got a taste for 26 hours of running, laughing, living and traveling. Running for me is all about the challenge and all about the friendships.  Ragnar Reach The Beach gets you both in greater amounts than you may find in any other experience. 

Go try one!