Erica Raggio
Primary Outdoor Sports: Running, Climbing, Skiing
Favorite Beverage: Chocolate Milk
Sunrise of Sunset: Sunrise
Non-Outdoor Hobby: Cooking
Trail Snack: Nerd Clusters
Favorite Season: Late Summer/Early Fall
Post Long Run Meal: Poutine
Fun Fact: I’ve Won Several Eating Competitions
Book Recommendations: The Great Alone and The Midnight Library
Three Words to Describe Yourself: Crazy, Passionate, Hungry
“In my early 20s, I just didn’t like myself anymore. I didn’t really have any aspirations. I didn’t like my body. And then, I just decided to start running one day. At first, half a mile was absolutely impossible and I was like, ‘This is garbage. I hate this.’
I still remember the first time I ever ran three miles. The neighborhood I lived in was just a three mile loop and I did it. I ran three miles and I thought it was the greatest thing I could ever accomplish. Then, I just kept running farther and farther.
One day I saw this turn into the woods and I took it. I was suddenly on a trail and I was terrified that I was going to be kidnapped or murdered or attacked by a wild animal in this little town that I lived in of 20.000 people. It was terrifying but still really exciting and pretty and so different than just running on a road. I kept running further and further.
One day I ran into ultrarunners and they were like, ‘You’re just out here running 25 miles?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah. It’s fun.’ And they’re like, ‘What race are you training for?’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean a race?’ They're like, ‘You’re an ultrarunner.’ And, then I got addicted and it was super fun.”
“My first ever race was a trail marathon in my hometown. I got heat stroke during it. I learned a lot. It was really tough, but then I started going out to the mountains and that's when I really discovered my love of running. I went out to the Appalachian mountains every weekend and would just run up and down the mountains every day. It was brutal and painful and I rolled my ankle so many times. I tripped and face planted learning the technique of mountain running. It was not intuitive at first, but I had to do it.”
“Running became this thing that made me feel independent and powerful. It made me feel strong. It made me love who I was. I had a very complicated home life. It was very restrictive. I was raised in a cult. I actually wasn’t even supposed to be running. I got in trouble for running because it was drawing me out towards the world. I think running gave me the freedom and independence to think freely and figure out what I wanted out of life. Running to me is freedom. It clears my mind. It makes me feel strong and capable.”
“I think my first couple years of running were pretty tough. It was just a lot of learning because I didn’t have a very athletic background. I never did any sports. I hated the outdoors. I didn’t do any strength training. I didn’t really know what I was doing and I was plagued with injury after injury. But, eventually my body kinda figured it out.
For a while I thought a 50k was the hardest thing in the world. It was brutal. It was so hard. I was sore for days afterwards. I needed two weeks of rest. But, your body adapts if you just keep pushing it and adding those stresses into your life.
Eventually I did a couple 50 milers and I was like ‘50 miles, that's the best distance. I’m never gonna run more than 50 miles. What kind of idiot would ever run more than 50 miles?’ Then I moved to Central Oregon and I met my best friend who is also an ultrarunner. A couple months after we met, we were still very new in our friendship, she asked me to pace her at a 240 mile race in Utah and I’m like, ‘This girl is crazy,’ But, you get there and you’re at these events, these big milage events, and just like the energy and community and the way people care about each other is really inspiring. I was like, ‘I love this community. I love just the feeling being here gives me. I really wanna do this.’ I did a 100 miler a year later and that was a learning curve.
I got injured. I ended up with a hip and a back injury right as my training was supposed to peak. I had to switch to just doing all mountain biking for my training which isn’t ideal. It’s a lot lower impact which was why I could do it, but you kinda need the impact training. I worked with a physical therapist and got the injury under control for the race. I managed to complete it. It was really, really hard. It was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
There's so many highs and lows. You hit these lows that you feel like you’re never going to get out of. It’s like you're out there running and you're feeling good and then suddenly it hits you and you're just like, ‘I can't do this. There's no way. I can’t take another step.’ But, you have to keep going. You can't just stop in the middle of nowhere and just lay down. And you just keep going and you feel like you’re never ever going to feel better and then suddenly you realize, ‘I’m ok. I can run. I can do a little bit more. Oh, I'll have a little snack now.’
It's exhausting. You get really, really sleepy when the sun goes down. I’ve grown very fond of dirt naps where you literally just lay down on the side of the trail and you just set a timer on your phone for like 3 minutes and you fall asleep instantly. You go into a REM sleep when you're dreaming and your alarm goes off and you just get up and you keep going. That was your break. There's no choice but to keep going.
At this particular race, it was like 3,000ft of loss in the last 5 miles. So it was a brutal downhill, but it felt so good. You could see the end of the race miles ahead because you were way up on this ridgeline and you’re like, ‘I can see that the finish line is there.’ And, you never really know what the exact distance is going to be. Based on what my watch said, I was at 102 miles but per the race map, I was only at 99 miles. I’m like, ‘This is garbage. I should be at the finish line by now.’
It’s pretty exhilarating crossing the finish line. I had a whole crew of friends there to pace me and be there at the aid stations to help me. Just seeing them at the finish line is the most rewarding thing, having those people there just to support you. People give up days to drive around in the middle of nowhere, to listen to you cry and whine, and tell you to get up and keep going.”
“At my last race, I literally sat down on a log and I looked at my pacer and I was like, ‘I’m gonna die in the next ten minutes.’ And she was like, ‘You’re fine Erica, you’re not going to die.’ And I’m like, ‘No, I’m going to die,’ And she was like, ’Well, if you’re gonna die, we're almost to the next aid station so can we get your body there?’ And I was like, ‘Fine, Ugh. We’ll die at the next aid station.’ Then at the aid station, the volunteers are just like the nicest, most friendly people. They're just like, ‘Have a snack, whatever you want to eat. Let’s refill your waters. Here's a blanket.’ And then you’re like, ‘Oh, this is great.’ and you forget. Running 100 miles isn’t hard, It’s just very difficult at certain points.”
“Your brain will trick you into thinking that you're dead, that you're done, that you have nothing left. But, if you just keep the motto just one foot in front of the other, if you just keep moving, eventually it will get better. You will find a second wind. The sun will come up. When the sun rises it's the most magical feeling in the world and it just instantly gives you life. You just have to keep going.”
“I think the idea that you always have more to give than you think you do, whether it be emotionally or physically or mentally, when you think you have nothing left, there's always something more. I think that’s the most important part.”
“With running, you kinda have to let go of your ego and your expectations for the day. I mean you could show up and say ‘Hey, I’m gonna run up and down South Sister in 3 hours and I’m gonna have this time and this is how it’s gonna feel’ And, you get up there and there’s 70mph winds or there’s ice where you didn’t expect there to be ice. I think your biggest competitor ends up being yourself.”
“My latest race was a 100 miler I did this year. I signed up for it last minute without really any official training, just a summer of adventuring. I was like, ‘I’m just gonna try to do this 100 miler. This sounds fun.’ I felt like I was able to almost unlock a new part of my brain where I was able to acknowledge the pain I was experiencing, but not let the pain control me. It was the coolest thing. You’re just running and you’re in pain and it's horrible and you want to stop but somehow you're able to flip the switch in your brain and push through it.”
