ragnar relay

TEAM FEARLESS

"LIVE BY FAITH...NOT BY FEAR"

2 vans
12 people
1 mountain
180 miles

____________________
all adds up to one insane time!

Last fall when Tara asked Todd and I if we were interested in running a 180 mile relay, I was on board. By the time March and April of this year rolled around and I had already run 2 half marathons and injured my knee, I was not all that thrilled about the upcoming experience. But I continued to do my best at training without hurting my knee anymore. The last several weeks before the race we all began reporting our weekly miles to Tara. She then sent out an email telling us how much we had run collectively and who ran the most miles. The boys on the team{Brian, Gary, Brad, and Todd mostly} became really competitive about it. They each took turns winning the weekly miles. During that time I was lucky enough to wake up to Todd saying, "I hate running" almost every morning. But he was so determined to win the weekly miles that he kept going. He's a nut! He swore he was never going to run again once the Ragnar was over. It's been 2 weeks since the Ragnar and he's still running!

{Spencer and Ethan chowin' on some carbolicious fetteccini.}
The night before the race we went for the traditional "before the run" meal...italian carb loading. We met up at Robintino's in Bountiful, Utah.
There were 500 teams all made up of 4 to 12 people. We had 12 people on our team. There were six people in Van 1{Brad, Sarah, Liz, Todd, Ethan, Alexa} and six people in Van2{Gary, Tara, Brian, Julie, Brady, Spencer}. We were there bright and early for our start time. Alexa stepped out of the van that was parked next to the curb of the street. She didn't look down and she stepped into a puddle{a not so very clean puddle} of water up to her knees, literally. Oh, what a way to start this race. It was yucky but it was pretty funny. Even Alexa could laugh about it later. It seems like that ended up being the theme of the entire race. Kind of yucky while it's happening...but oh so fun and fun to laugh about.
The starting time for your team was based on your average minutes per mile for your team. This was a number that we had to give the Ragnar people before hand. The very first teams started at 7AM. Our team started at 8AM so we weren't the SLOWEST team there!! The team that came in first ran the entire race in 17 hours. Our team ran it in 32 hours. Our average mile ended up being 10:45 which is not too bad considering we were a team that was really in it for the fun of it all. So when all of the really fast track and cross country runner were passing you by you just had to keep that in mind.When we got there that morning we put our awesome car decorations on...vinyl lettering...hooray! Tara sells vinyl lettering so she made it all for us. The "insane-o-meter" was our favorite! {Todd's idea...he's a creative genious!} We got tons of comments on it and people wanted to take pictures of it. So we think other teams might try to copy it next year. So we decided that next year we'll have to put "the original insane-o-meter".




Sarah was our first runner in our van. She smoked the first leg of the race by running 8:30 minutes per mile. Good job Sarah!

Alexa kicked butt on her first leg too. You should have seen the hill she ran up! By the time we came to the hill{sitting in our nice comfy van} she had already passed it up. I couldn't believe it! Oh...I wasn't ready for what was in my future.

This picture gives you an idea of the exchange point that Brad and I were running to. We're running in different directions to the crowd on the left. The picture was taken from our van that dropped me off as soon as we were next to the park.
Brad took off after Alexa and had one of the most beautiful routes{there were lots}. He ran next to a lake almost the entire time. It was gorgeous! While Brad was running, we were hangin' out getting food for some people and rearranging our van. We got going and then we got behind a van that was going really slow. Brad was getting closer and closer to the exchange and we weren't there{so we didn't get any pictures of his awesome run}. We pulled up to the exchange just when Brad was starting to run in. So Brad and I both started sprinting to the exchange point. Okay...can I just say...Brad's legs are about 2 feet taller than mine. Holy run!! We exchanged but then realized that I didn't have a number bib on so he quickly took his off and I put it on while I was running. What a way to start running! It was funny! The crowd started cheering for us as we met at the exchange. Important lesson learned...don't waste time in between legs, get on the road so you can cheer on your runner, and don't be late for the next exchange.

{See my big red flower?}
During my first leg of the race there was a field of beautiful flowers right next to the road. I did that little game in my head, "don't do it!" "oh, just do it!". Then I remembered that this race was for fun and it would take me all of 5 seconds to pick the flower, so I did. I stuck it in my fuel belt and kept going.

During Todd's first leg of the race, there was a beautiful creek with really nice cold, fresh water. We all decided to stop and soak our sore legs since we had already run...well, everyone but Ethan so he took the picture.
While Todd was running, we stopped to wait for him to catch up to us so we could cheer him on and give him more water. While we were waiting, we started getting Ethan ready for his leg of the race which was after Todd. We were all standing at the back of the van, taking care of Ethan and talking. Suddenly we hear a voice yell, "Whoa, way to go Todd". It was Todd running past us. Oops! Sorry Todd!

Todd, Ethan, Gary and Brady all ended up with the dusty road legs of the race. Oh, I'm so glad that wasn't me! I felt so bad for all of the runners having to run behind cars that were stirring up all of the dust. Todd had a thick layer of dust on his glasses not to mention the rest of his body.

After the first 6 legs, we met up with VAN 2 and Julie started off their six legs. Van 2 was off and we took it easy resting under the big trees and eating some lunch. Then back into the van to find the next location that we would exchange with Van 2 again. The Ragnar t-shirt says"run.drive.sleep?repeat". Notice the sleep has a question mark next to it. These are pictures of us trying to sleep while we were driving to the next major exchange to meet up with our other van.
{Sarah trying to sleep.}
{Ethan trying to sleep. }
{Me trying to sleep.}
{ Alexa trying to sleep.}

The time in between runs seem to go by so fast and then you were back on the trail. The next exchange was at Snow Basin resort which is just beautiful. There was a great place to rest, get cleaned up and a restaurant that had cafeteria style eating. Yum! Then it was Van 1's turn to go again.
Oh, then the real adventure began. Sarah started us off again and had an 8 mile downhill. Killer! Without permission from Sarah, I better not go into any great detail. This part is the part where we say, "what happens on the ragnar, stays on the ragnar". But Ethan is on the video saying, "the Ragnar is disgusting". He was mortified!
During Alexa and Brad's next legs we could be found doing the funky chicken or the macarana. Even Ethan took a break from "cha cha-ing" to dance with us as we cheered on all of the runners.

My second leg was the best. 3 miles! Not too much uphill. Not too much downhill. It was in the evening so it was cool and the sun was just about down. In other words, it was an Arizona girl's kind of run.

After our van finished up our six legs, it was Van two's turn to take the middle of the night shift. Some of them said it was horrible and some said their runs went pretty well. Any way you look at it it's got to be a challenge to run in the middle of the night.

In Van 1 we were all so tired and ready to get some sleep. Brad gets a little goofy late at night so we had a great time laughing at all of the funny things he was saying. And to be honest, I was so delirious I couldn't tell you any of the goofy stuff we were laughing about now. We had a hard time figuring out where to go. Another lesson learned...go straight to the next exchange and camp out there. That's what we finally did but we had lost a lot of valuable sleep time. So after sleeping for about an hour and a half we got up and started running again. I felt really bad for Sarah because she had to run first. Wow...that's a tough run! She did it and by the end of her leg she was dancing to the exchange point. At the exchange point Brad was still being silly. He came out of the "honey bucket"{isn't that the greatest name for the porta potty?} and told the people in line, "get that one(pointing to the one he just came out of), the seat is heated". Everyone in line started cracking up. We were all running on very little{NO} sleep!

Alexa ran after Sarah and did what we called her "morning time shuffle". Poor thing! She is a teenager who likes to sleep in the morning. So getting up at 5:00 to go run 5 miles is not exactly her idea of vacation. So she woke up 10 minutes before she had to exchange with Sarah and started shuffling her way down the path. Too cute!

This hill was my moment of truth for the race.

My last leg of the race just about did me in...really! I live in Arizona and could not have prepared for the hill and the altitude of my last leg. The air was so thin and I could not fill my lungs enough to get a good breath. And I did not train on hills like I should have. {I know you can't tell but I'm about to die in this picture. Thanks for supporting me Brad!}

My last leg was really hard for me but it was nothing compared to the legs that Brady and Gary had to run. Both of their legs were roughly 3 miles at an 8% grade incline on a dusty road. They were amazing.

At one point, Brian threw a football to Brady to get his mind off the road. They had so much support during those miles. Both of our vans were there, my mom and dad, and my sister(Miralyn) with all of the kids. Everyone was cheering for them, spraying them with water, running with them, walking with them. It was so awesome and so fun to do something so hard together!

(check out the back of our team shirt that Grandma is wearing "live by faith...not by fear" we were "team fearless")

Mom, Dad, Nanny McPhee{Miralyn}, and our children were all at the finish line. Brenna, Emma Grace, Eliza, Callie Rae, and Ashlyn all got to run to the finish line with us. I was crying at the end of the race. So exhausting and emotional!

The best part of the Ragnar is though it is incredibly hard, you help each other and cheer each other on. I was able to bond so much with Brad, Sarah, Ethan, Alexa and Todd(of course). It made all of the ridiculously hard parts of the race all worth it.