On Friday and Saturday, Mike and I ran in the Ragnar Relay also known as the Wasatch Back. It is a 12 person relay that goes from Logan to Park City consisting of 188 miles. The team is split into 2 vans of 6 runners with each runner completing 3 legs. I am so glad Mike and I did this. It was very challenging but one of the funnest times I have ever had.
Our team was named Hooligans On The Run. Mike and I were in Van 2. Van 1 started at 10:30 on Friday morning. Our Van met around noon to eat lunch and do a little prerace bonding since we would be crammed into a vehicle together for the next 24 hours. I was runner 7, Dave (a friend of Dana's) was 8, Mike was 9, Mike's brother Matt was 10, Shad was 11, and Natalie was 12. We also had an awesome van driver named Dana.
We got to Liberty around 2pm and waited to hear from Van 1. I was the first runner from our van to start and the adrenaline kicked in. Brooke passed off to me around 4pm and it was Van 1's turn to rest. I don't have many pics of myself because I took all of the pictures so naturally there aren't many of me. The ones others took I can't seem to get them to download on my computer. Anyway, my first leg was 4.0 miles and I ran it in 36 minutes. I was very proud of myself. I wasn't planning on 9 minute miles. The weather was in the low 80s. I'm glad it wasn't any hotter or we would have struggled.
Mike was runner 8 and went an easy 3.5 miles which he ran in roughly 23 minutes. You can see my hottie with his shirt off making his move past the other runner.
Matt had just finished his run and we sent Shad off on his extremely difficult run up the old Snowbasin Road.
Here's Shad running his 1st leg up the old Snowbasin Road. Mike is running along side him giving him water and encouragement. Shad is a fighter pilot for the Airforce and is in great shape. He cracked me up the entire race because he had no idea how long or hard his legs were. Right before Shad would run, he would ask how far it was. He did great. His wife Natalie was next and had an extremely difficult 1st run finishing up where Shad left off. She did awesome.
After our Van 2 finished, we passed off to Van 1 a little before 8pm. They weren't too happy because they had less than 4 hours to rest. We ate dinner at the Snowbasin lodge and then went to Morgan High to sleep outside on the grass. We probably laid down around 10pm and got the call around midnight from Van 1 to start moving to our exchange point. I don't think any of us really slept. I know I didn't. I just kept thinking about the cold night run that lay ahead of me.
I started my night run around 1am Saturday morning. Look at my night gear. We had to wear a running vest, head lamp, butt lamp, and our running number. The temperature was in the low 40s and I was nervous about being cold. I had on running pants and two shirts. I warmed up pretty quickly once I started running.
This picture is a little blurry but it shows me waiting for Brooke at exchange 18. This run was 3.8 miles and labeled moderate in difficulty. For me, it was a lot harder than I had anticipated. I had done no hill training and there were 3 large hills that didn't look hard on the website's map. I ran this in roughly 42 minutes averaging just under 11 minute miles. I was just glad to get this one over with. It was pretty cool running in the dead of night with no one around. I did loose my butt lamp at one point and someone came up from behind me and returned it. She scared the crap out me.
Here's the rest of Van 2 hanging out while I was just starting my run.
Here's Mike waiting to start his 9.6 mile run labeled very hard. He also had on his running pants with two shirts. I told him not to wear all this clothing because I knew he would get hot. He ended up stripping down while on the run. I don't know how he did it but he took off his running vest and top shirt while hanging onto his ipod, head lamp, butt lamp, and timing slap bracelet. He made awesome time at 1:11 which averaged under 8 minutes a mile.
We finished around 6:30 am Saturday morning and passed off to Van 1. We went to a friend's house and showered. We laid down for maybe 2 hours and headed off for our final runs.
Mike and Matt. Aren't they cute?
I started around 11am on Saturday and ran a 4.6 mile run labeled easy. I was extremely tired at this point and the first two miles were really hard for me. Finally, my adrenaline kicked in and the fact of knowing I wouldn't have to run anymore after I finished. I completed in 42 mintues which averaged 9:30 minute miles. I finished just in time because the first round of rain started.
Our entire team joked about the fact that Mike had his pick of legs and somehow managed to pick one of the hardest legs. His final run was 3.6 miles labeled Very Hard. You can't tell from this picture but his 3.6 miles was straight up a steep hill. Our van stayed pretty close to him making sure he had water and encouragement. It was still raining at this point and a lot of the run was on dirt roads.
I'm so proud of Mike. He did this run in 36 minutes doing 10 minute miles straight uphill. My Dad was volunteering at the end of this exchange where Mike passed off to Matt. Thanks for volunteering Dad!
Matt picked up where Mike left off. Here's the two brothers running together. Mike was trying to teach Matt his milking the cow technique to help him run up the hill.
Our team finished in an amazing 28 hours and 55 minutes around 3:30pm on Saturday. We took 124th out of 334 teams in the mixed division. We did better than anyone expected. Our team had so much fun we have already signed up to do it next year.
The Hooligan Girls. Apparently we had too many cameras taking pictures at once.
The Hooligan Men.
Hooligans On The Run
On Friday, Mike and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. I honestly cannot believe we have been married for 10 years. It seems like only yesterday we were walking down the isle. Ok, so maybe not yesterday but certainly not 10 years ago. Mike and I had visions of celebrating our big anniversary on a romantic vacation getaway, but financially it just didn't happen. I also didn't know who would be willing to take our three angels for an entire week.
