When Bryce Dolan signed up for the Ragnar Trail Relay, he thought it would be simple. Social time, scenic views of Mount Rainier, and a team of eight tackling 15.5 miles.

“I heard about it and said ‘Oh I got to run like two miles on the trail?’” he said, committing to the event. “It sounded kind of fun.”

A friend from college invited Dolan and his wife, Maggie, and they thought it would be a great way to travel. Then he found out everyone runs the path. The event called for 15.5 miles each.

“Itrytobeamanofmyword,so I said ‘Well here goes nothing.’” And he began training for not only trail running, but taking on longer distances than he had ever jogged before.

The Dolans began training, with Maggie as the reason he took up exercising in the first place. In the middle of 2022 she began working out, which Dolan said motivated him.

In 2023 he made a resolution to move more and make healthier decisions.

Shifting Habits

In mid-2021, Dolan was at his heaviest at 254 pounds on his 5’10” frame, a change he attributed to lifestyle choices, like soda and unhealthy foods.

That’s when he began walking a mile over lunch, sometimes longer. Then he began jogging; at first he couldn’t make past a quarter mile without stopping.

“It started with small choices and just staying consistent. I would say to myself, ‘Should I stop at the gas station and grab a slice of breakfast pizza?’ or ‘Should I have soda or should I have water?’ I didn’t have a diet or a grand master plan, I just decided to move and eat better.”

After two months of jogging at lunch, he set a goal to run a 5K and participated in the Piotique Fun Run in the fall of 2023.

“I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t stop training,” he said. “Those were my first official races. Then I kept signing up for more. A 5K in Salina, in Kansas City and Nebraska.”

Dolan said he was intimidated to run in front of people after exercising alone for the last six months.

“It was quite the change but I realized no one was looking at me. Nobody’s watching or cares,” he said.

“If I wanted to give any advice to anybody who might be concerned or embarrassed what they look like, you should be proud of yourself that you’re out there running, walking, or that you’re in the gym. Whatever you’re doing, don’t have any shame in it. Just be proud that you’re out there.”

Nearly two years after starting the movement journey, Dolan said he fluctuates between 190 and 195 pounds. It was at the beginning of 2024 when he said he began to enjoy exercise.

“Well for one I don’t want to die,” he laughed. “I wanted to get healthier for myself and my family,” adding that he didn’t necessarily think he’d like the process.

Running Mount Rainier

The end of August, Dolan traveled with Maggie and six others to participate in the Run Ragnar’s Rainier Trail Relay. Consisting of three loops, team members take turns making the 15.5 miles between Friday morning and Saturday afternoon. When not running, they camp in a nearby area to wait their turn. Shifts were completed day and night and in all weather conditions.

The entire weekend saw a high of 40s, especially cool for a Northwestern August.

The three loops included a stint of the yellow trail, a run of five miles, with 2,400 feet of elevation, finishing on top of the mountain. Runners then take a gondola back down. There was also a red loop and a green loop; team members passed a race bib between them, similar to a relay baton, he said.

“It was intimidating,” he said of the gondola, which he rode up the mountain late at night. “I know I’m suspended over a mountain but I can’t see anything, it’s raining, it’s cold.”

Then, it was time to run back down the mountain, he said.

“This is one part of the race I was most anxious about,” he said. “I was sure I was going to be eaten by a cougar or slide off the side of the mountain and no one would know.” He added that a two-hour wait meant watching others disappear into the fog. “I was already nervous about it then I just watched them fully knowing that’s where I was going next.”

Overall, it ended up being the most fun, he said. With all the hype – the long wait for his teammate to hand off the vest – he put that energy into the run. Finishing the eight-mile path at 2:30 in the morning, he walked back to their “glamping” spot.

He described trail running as a whole-body event with frequent falling in mud, using poles to help get up the mountain – relying on arm muscles as much as one’s legs – and using all senses to get through the event. Like listening when jogging through the pitch black. Though he did have a headlamp, he said it gave him tunnel vision at times.

Glamping in the Rain

Initially, Dolan said his team was geared in for a fun camping adventure of the glamp spot. People were playing music, sitting around the campfire, throwing a football, he described it as an all-weekend tailgate. But the night before he was to head on his first run, it began to rain and didn’t stop. With holes in their rented tents, he said anything that they hadn’t shoved into Ziploc bags became wet. Pillows, blankets, clothes, and with lower-than- average temps, it stayed wet for their entire glamping stay.

More than 50 teams declined to finish due to the weather conditions or injured runners.

During a run was the only time he stayed warm, Dolan said. Meanwhile, as Maggie became pregnant after signing up for the race, she volunteered as a guide rather than tackling trails.

“She’s a trooper, she’s amazing,” he said. “I can’t say that enough. For how uncomfortable I was, I know it was worse for her. She was camp Mom and really took care of everybody and got what they needed. I can’t give her enough credit.”

After his third trail loop, Dolan said he collapsed into a chair and grabbed a fistful of sour gummy worms.

“All I wanted to do was finish,” he said. “It’s miserable. You are most comfortable during this race because when you weren’t running, everything was wet, everything was cold. It was just absolutely miserable,” he said. “I want to do it again and I hate that I want to do it again.”

But for all the hardships, Dolan praised the views, the peace that came with them, and the sense of accomplishment he felt when he was done.

In total, he completed the three-leg circuit in about three-and-a-half hours and 36 hours for all eight members of the team.

“If I can do it, anybody can do this. It’s a mental battle and that’s what it really is,” he said. “I was expecting people to be ripped. We get there and it’s like any other race, people of all shapes, sizes, ages. It was incredible.”