If you've never done a Ragnar Trail Relay yet... do it! Why? The VIEWS! You just can't get this kind of running route anywhere else! You're running through the heart of the mountains and the scenery will literally take your breath away! Although so will the elevation :) This race is perfect for everyone from trail running veterans to the newbie. I'm an intermediate trail runner, and had no issues with the trails themselves.

However, I didn't train for the elevation! It starts at around 8,000ft! If you're not used to training in elevation, I suggest getting at least one or two high-altitude runs in before tackling this course. Nevertheless, the spectacular scenery was worth the burning lungs.

The hotel packages were very affordable. And I flew in from Denver and drove about 3.5-4 hours to Aspen/Snowmass. That helped save a lot money, so you don't have to spend a fortune on this race.

Major differences between Ragnar TRAIL and regular Ragnar Relay:
--Camping in a tent vs riding in a Van. Ideally, this would allow you to get more sleep. But it ended up dropping to 29 degrees! So we got very little sleep, but this is pretty common with ANY Ragnar Relay.

--My "regular" team was made up of 8 people instead of the normal 12. Ultra teams were only 4 members. Other teams had a member not show up, drop out b/c of injury, etc... and they just split up the extra loops among existing members.

--Every runner ran the same 3 loops. Just in different orders. The loops varied in distance and difficulty. It was nice sharing the same experience with my entire team, but we still had different experiences b/c some would run one loop at night while yours may have been during the day. And that can completely change your perspective on the route! Each runner ends up doing approximately 15 miles.

---Food!! Friday night dinner was included in your "entry fee". And it was an awesome carb-a-licious spread! But they also had lunch and breakfast available for purchase. That breakfast buffet was the best thing ever! For those who've done a Regular Ragnar Relay, you know you end up living on energy bars and GU for 24 hours. So having this food available (and GOOD food too!) meant a world of difference! Also, FREE S'mores and FREE coffee and hot chocolate from 10pm-10am the next day! Can't beat that!

The only "cons" with this race were the COLD! Our multiple weather sources said it would get down to 45, but what we didn't realize is that it got much much colder down at the bottom of the valley where we were located. It dropped to 29 degrees according to our camping thermometer!!! PERFECT warm weather during the day, but freezing at night. So bring warm layers! Fortunately, there was a bonfire going all night and they started up a couple more smaller fires to get us through the night. That, and the awesome hot chocolate!

Also, the phone-charging station was somewhat of a nightmare. Sometimes it would work, others it wouldn't. I fortunately had invested in a mobile battery pack and a teammate had brought a solar-powered charger so I made it through.

Additional advice, know your team and be ready at the transition! They had screens to watch for your team members to see when they were were nearly done, but half the time the screens were glitchy. My team was good about judging how long each of us would take on each loop... but while standing in transition I was surprised by the amount of times a runner would come in and their runner was no where in sight. So either get to transition early, or at least know your team members well!

All in all, it was an amazing adventure that I'm still raving about! Hopefully my review will help convince you to do a Ragnar Trail, and specifically Snowmass! You won't regret it!

Full a more detailed review, check out my blog for tons of pics and a detailed recap of the race! http://confessionsofanamateurathlete.blogspot.com/2014/06/ragnar-trail-relay-snowmass-race-review.html