I am so glad we had the opportunity to run Ragnar together this year!
Originally I wasn't planning on running it since I would've just had a baby a few short months ago, but when I found out my Dad, Nate, and Tanner were planning on running, I knew I had to do it. I didn't know if there'd ever be another opportunity for us to all run together in the same van! So I signed up, and talked Jeff into signing up with me!
Unfortunately, Tanner ended up stuck in Portland on a job for work, on which he was the foreman. Plus he had just sold his car so he couldn't have driven separate and left early anyway. So we got Alex to run in his place, a week and a half after getting off his mission! We wondered how he'd do, having been close to sea level for the past 2 years without running. But, being the lean athletic build he is and walking/ biking for 2 years paid off, as he did awesome. And if he did have to stop and walk, his long legs/ huge stride made up for any lost time. Nick Cutler was our 6th van member. It was really fun to have close family and friends who all got along really well. Plus it helped that they were all men... no drama. ;)
I guess that wasn't a good statement to make before mentioning the rest of our team- a van of all girls ha ha. Cousins Megan, Mandie, and Jack, Karson (who was one our team the past 2 years as well) and a few friends I didn't know, Amber Quayle and Annette Adams.
June 27th-28th
We were Van 1, and started in Logan at USU at 5:15am. We used Jeff's parent's 'burban and stayed at Grandma's in Pleasant View the night before.
Runner 1- Alex
Runner 2- Nate
Runner 3- Dad
Runner 4- Lindsey
Runner 5- Jeff
Runner 6- Nick
3am came super early! We were all pretty out of it when we got to Logan... thank goodness for adrenaline! ;) I didn't get any pictures of Alex taking off but I have a bunch of pictures from the rest of the race. Plus Ragnar came through with some great shots!
Alex finishing his first leg
Nate finishing his first leg
The weather was awesome this year! It was cloudy and rainy for our entire first set of legs. Even though I got the brunt of the rain (i.e. drenched on my first leg) it was still better than blazing hot.
Waiting for Dad to come in
Dad finishing his first leg
Dad handing off to me
(I've really debated whether I would post many pictures of me from this race, as I am really self-conscience about my post-baby body, but I figured it was still worth documenting, and remembering that I am a work in progress!)
One of the best aspects about Ragnar- it's a TEAM event! It so fun to support each other.
Handing off to Jeff
Goofball.
Jeff handing off to Nick. Notice the amount of mud on Jeff's shoes and legs, and what had already collected on Nick's, just from walking from the Van. Thanks to that storm that had just dumped on me, this uphill dirt road was a mud hole. Jeff felt like he was running hiking through cement. I don't know which is worse- super hot and dusty like it was for me 2 years ago, or muddy... Probably trudging through mud...
Nick handing off to Megan
After our first set of legs we went to John and Nannette Powell's house to rest. They live in Eden, UT now, which is where we finished! Way convenient. They were actually out of town at the time, but were ok with us using their house to bathe and rest. Due to Tyce only being 4 months old, I had to pump throughout the race to keep my milk supply up. I was really fortunate to have somewhere private to do this each time we stopped, since I did end up with the van full of guys instead of girls! (First time we stopped was at Powell's, second time was a Jake and Jaime's, and third was at the hotel room Kathy rented for Van 1.) Lucky for us the sun waiting to come out till we were done running. We laid out all our shoes and clothes on the van and asphalt to dry out. Worked like a charm!
Our van:
Alex finishing his second leg
Handing off to Nate
Nate finishing his second leg:
Handing off to Dad
Dad finishing his third leg:
Handing off to me
I'm not really sure why Nate is here... he probably brought me water, but I don't see any water... and I'm especially not sure why he looks like he's almost sprinting since I DEFINITELY was not moving very fast... ;)
Finishing my second run and handing off to Jeff
I posted this picture below because it just shows a little piece of what this race is like- just living out of a van and sleeping wherever you can find a spare spot/ minute...
Jeff finishing his second leg
Handing off to Nick
Everyone at the major exchange at Pine View Reservoir except Nick who was running.
I was excited to have gotten here as early as we did- I've never been there in the daylight before!
Nick finishing his second leg
Handing off to Megan
Catching our other van as they took off to follow Megan
We went to Jake and Jaime's in Heber to sleep. We got there around 11:30pm and had to get up again around 4am. Plus I had to pump first before going to bed... still worth running it though!
We got to Oakley in good time. Annette handed off to Alex and he took off just before 5am.
It was a GORGEOUS sunrise! I remember thinking, "It's too bad I'm not a morning person. It would be awesome to see more sunrises..." Ha ha. Maybe someday?
Alex, Nate, and Dad all ROCKED their legs- I don't think we got to any of their exchanges in time to get pictures, only to drop off our runner!
My last leg was my longest- just over 6 miles. But luckily the first 2/3 of it was downhill, so my pace was awesome, and balanced out the slowness of my last 2 miles.
Finished!
Jeff taking off for his last leg
Jeff finishing his last leg!
Handing off to Nick
Nick finishing his last leg!
Handing off to Megan
And we're done!
Van 1, just before Alex left.
He had plans with Jake Christofferson who he hadn't seen yet since getting home from his mission, so unfortunately he had to miss the finish line with us.
This was at the hotel, where Van 2 slept during their break. Luckily we got there in decent time to also enjoy the continental breakfast, take showers, and pump. Worked out perfectly!
Our team coming crossing the finish line!
Run Like the Winded! (Sans Alex)
(I designed out t-shirts this year and thought that the bright blue would be awesome and really stand out among the crowds... until we discovered that the Ragnar race shirt this year is almost the EXACT same color! Oh well...)
This was just the design pre-printing. The colors didn't turn out exactly the same, but I wanted to include it anyway since there aren't any real pictures of the shirts.
Run Like the Winded originals. We're the only 3 who have run it every year!
Van 2
Nick went home with Leah who came to the finish line. Van 2 gave the rest of us a ride back down out of Park City to our car. It was fun to hang out as a group, even if just for a few mintues! Dad and Nate went home with Van 2 to South Weber where their car was parked, which worked out great for us so we could just go back to Lehi to get our kids.
We finished 362nd out of 717 overall teams that finished, and 309th out of 641 teams in the co-ed open division. Above average at least!
No comments:
Post a Comment