My Ragnarly Weekend

We did it! We ran the Wasatch Back! And let me just say, it was amazing. Really, it was. Long, hard, exhausting and painful. But oh so worth it. I'll try and give you a quick run down of everything that happened.

Once we got there we realized that our undecorated vans were really lame. So we used our extra time to run to the local Walgreens and pick up some window paints. We were having a little competition with our names on the window.

Our van, van 2, got to our exchange about four hours before our first van finished running. We left Provo crazy early though, so we were prepared to wait. We just didn't really know what to expect, so we figured a little extra time would do us good. Anyway, when we finally started running, it was about 7 pm, Friday night. We had really quick legs, so I was running mine by about 9:45. 3.1 miles, straight uphill. It was dark, and lonely, but I did pass one really hard core looking guy, and I did it all in 31 minutes. It may not sound impressive, but I promise, it was fairly steep.

Brian and I before my first leg. Brian was our van driver and he did an awesome job.

Me running my leg. Can you tell I'm running up a hill?

The first van took over from there and we checked out all the happenings at our exchange. It was at this crazy nice ski lodge at the top of a mountain (yeah, I ran up a mountain). So we explored it for a bit and then decided to drive to the next exchange and try and get some sleep. We got to the high school (the next exchange) at about 12:30 am and found a bunch of people sleeping in the auditorium. It was silent, and carpetted, so we decided to try to get some shut eye in there. An hour later, we left. And this was the worst part of the race. It was 1:30 in the morning, my head hurt, my stomach hurt, and I was totally exhausted, and we were getting up to go run again? It was nuts. We didn't start running until about 3 am and my leg wasn't until about 8:30 Saturday morning. 5.2 miles, mostly uphill, but compensated with a fairly large downhill toward the end. I did it in 43 minutes. That's just barely over 8 minute miles. That

stretch, from 3-9 am, was awful. Our entire van was grumpy and exhausted. When we were finally done, all we wanted to do was sleep and eat. So we tried to eat some of the breakfast provided at the next exchange, but we couldn't really eat too much. Then we went to sleep--in the van since it was raining outside. So, van one, ran all of their legs in the pouring rain. We felt bad for them, but they weren't the only ones to experience that...

These are the breakfast burritos they gave us at exchange 30. That's a joke, right? It looks like an eggroll.

Mike and I after nearly an hour of sleep on a hard auditorium floor.

And the whole van. Oh so rested after all that sleep.

1:30pm Saturday--we embarked on our last set of legs. We were all exhausted. Not to mention, our diet of peanuts and granola bars was finally getting to our digestive systems (believe it or not, the line of port-a-potties available at every single exchange were necessary). But all in all, we were pretty pumped. The end was in sight! The two hardest legs of the entire race are in the last six exchanges. They are very appropriately called, "You've Got to be Kidding Me" and "Ragnar", to epitomize the hardness of the races in the Ragnar Relay series. They were straight uphill. After a mere 7 miles of running, we got from ground level, to the top of a mountain. No joke. I wish I could really convey to you how steep these things were but I just don't think it's possible. It rained off and on through everybody's legs but we were just grateful it wasn't hot. Our guys that ran those two legs were incredible--10 minute miles all the way up.

Mike running incredibly up the mountain. See how the road drops off behind him? Yeah. That's how steep it was.

Finally, it was time for my leg. The last leg. At about 5:30, I started running. By this time, the temperature had dropped to about 45 degrees. So I took off in long sleeves and long spandex--thank goodness. About two miles in, it started raining. No big deal. I was actually pretty excited. I love running in the rain. About a half mile later, it was pouring. I mean, monsoon-like weather. The wind was ferocious but luckily was at my back most of the way. So the wind was carrying me, and the rain was just pelting me in the back. It was hysterical really. Finally I just started laughing and asking myself, what on earth am I doing?! This is nuts! With about a mile left in the race, the trail took a u-turn and suddenly, that same wind was gusting against me. I felt like I wasn't moving. The rain had gone and turned to hail. Hail! So this hail is pelting me in the face, water is just dripping from me everywhere, my socks are sloshing around in my shoes and I'm thinking; oh my goodness, where is this finish line? Finally, it came into view. Apparently my teammates didn't see me or hear the guy yell our number over the loud speaker but about halfway through the chute, most of my team came running out into the pouring rain to cross the finish line with me. It was awesome. Those poor guys, I think they were wetter and colder than I was.

Not gonna lie, I kind of love the water spot on the lens covering up my teammates cheering me on. I just think it epitomizes the whole ordeal. And there I am, sprinting in for the finish.

We took a mandatory team picture at the finish line. It's the only one we have. Hopefully, you can kinda tell that it was pouring. We ran to the shuttles, went back to our cars, and all met up at the Wendy's in Park City for dinner. Glamorous, I know. :) Finally, we got home at about 9pm last night. What a weekend.

Brian's eyes are closed. But other than that, this is a pretty great picture.

I'd just like to point out that I was pretty spot on with my pace predictions in my previous post. Our team finished 99th out of 446 mixed (guys and girls) teams. Even better--in the mixed coed open division, we took 65th out of 330. 28:32:51 was our official time. Really, not bad for just entering the race for the fun of it. That means that our average was 9 minute miles. Holla! When you pass a runner on a leg, they call that a "kill". On the last four legs of the race, we killed 61 people (10 of those by me--the low end of 61 but I'm still proud)! That's 61 teams. Yeah. We rock.

So the Wasatch Back? A great experience. I reccomend it. Will I do it again? You betcha! Plans are already in the works for next year. :)