The Back of the Wasatches

So back in 2009, my friends and I decided to run a little race called the Wasatch Back. This race is a part of the Ragnar Relay series and consists of teams of 12 running 192 miles from Logan to Park City, UT. And it's crazy. After our first race I thought, well that was insane, at least I can say I've done it. So then what happened? The time to sign up for 2010 came around and suddenly all my mind could conjure up was happy memories of those 28.5 hours the year before.

When the time came to sign up for 2011, my future was pretty uncertain so I decided to just leave the race alone. Well my friends, it seems this race and I are just meant to be together because a friend of mine sort of happened upon a team and then invited me and ten of my friends to be on it. And I just couldn't pass it up.

Wasatch Back 2011 happened this past weekend. And I'm here to tell you that I enjoyed it more this year than I ever have. And yes I would do it again in a heartbeat. We all had a great time, got an unprecedented amount of sleep (like we're talking almost 5 hours) and I ran relatively pain free and haven't even been sore since! So great. And since Shayla was there and she actually uses her camera instead of putting it in her bag and meaning to use it, I have some great pictures to share with all of you.

Brad and I at the end of the race. Please ignore my very

large-looking arm. And our tired sunburnt faces.

Maddie, me and Shayla after we'd all completed our first legs.

Leg #1: 7.5 miles on a dirt road, 1200 ft of elevation gain, 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Yes, in fact, it was miserable. But oddly, not as bad as I thought it was going to be. And don't be deceived by Brad's parka. He was just bringing me water and when you weren't running, it was a tiny bit cold.

At one of the exchanges this random guy was spray painting Ragnar symbols on people's calves. So naturally, we got one.

The rest of these pictures are from after the race. I love this picture. We all look about as dead as we feel. We were sitting in the only shade we could find, eating our free grapes, waiting for our second van to show up at the finish line.

This picture is the epitome of laziness. Maddie wanted a grape but neither of us wanted to move. Shayla wanted a picture of us doing this but she didn't want to move so she just ducked off to the side in the middle of the picture. And Ben was too lazy to actually take the picture so he set it up on a chair and put it on self-timer. Love it.

And the whole team after crossing the finish line. Our team name was "There's always money in the banana stand" (something that makes more sense if you're familiar with the show Arrested Development) so that's why I'm holding a banana. Just FYI.

So, moral of the story: Ragnar races are fantastic. If you're any kind of a runner at all, you should definitely consider doing one. Look 'em up! They have them all over the country!