1 Weekend, 12 Friends, and 189 Miles CRAZY

Carla was running leg 4 past my house.  This was our lovely van!

The team after our first run of the day.

Black girls

Pink girls

Tired driver!  Don't worry.  Collin and I helped out with driving.

Mother to son---almost done!

The end of our race!!!  It was great!

I am still wondering how I got talked into this one.   Actually it was dang fun, and now that it has been a week since we did the RAGNAR Wasatch Back Relay, I think you could talk me into it again.  Maybe:)  Every June my cute little part of Cache Valley gets to witness the most exciting little race as it travels over our dirt pass and on to Park City.  It is called the RAGNAR Wasatch Back Relay. 12 team members spread out in two vans who take turns running over the back roads from the heart of Logan to Park City, Utah.  Each team member runs anywhere from 13 miles to 18 over the course of 36 hours.  I really didn't think it would be bad.  My little gang of running muthers have run quite a few half marathons, and we do a long run every Sat.  This would be a piece of cake as Colette and I thought. 

Handoff from Colette to Lisa at the bottom of Trappers Loop.

 I wasn't quite expecting what all the adrenaline, lack of sleep, and not eating much would do to one little body.  It was hard.  Dang hard!

You become good friends really quick if you weren't all ready.  Talk about stinky, sweaty, gals.  We started our relay adventure Fri. morning at 7:10am.  Colette started us off.  I was next and then Heather, Dallin, Carla, and Erin. 

I love this pic!  1 down 2 to go!

 The other car was filled with cute girls from Payson who we didn't really know, but quickly became friends with.  The path led from Logan out to Avon, over the pass to Liberty, on to Snowbasin, down to Morgan, and off to Kamas, Heber and then Park City.  It is a beautiful scenic road, and it was fun to be a part of all the excitement.

  James made a great sign that hung on our pioneer house in our yard.  I love that guy!!  

The biggest question of the night from all the loved ones who called to see how we were doing was, "Where are you going to sleep?"  Well somewhere between Erin and Heather and Colette I figured:)  Actually it was on some soft grass at the Oakley Rodeo grounds.  There we threw our sleeping bags out and luckily had the first night without rain in a few weeks.  It was a bit chilly because nobody would "spoon" with me that night though.  I tried not to take it personal.  I'm still a bit irratated though with team #164.  It was about 1:30am and all I could hear was, "Team 164 we need a runner!!  Where is your runner team 164!!"  The runner for team 164 had reached the handoff before the team van and they were yelling over the loud speaker for the team to step forward.  They could have at least had some respect for all of those runners who were trying to sleep.  Oh well!!  There were some really hard runs during those 36 hours.  I was so proud of all of us though.  We made a rule that as long as the van did not see you walk, then you didn't walk even if you may have!  And guess what.....nobody must have ever walked.  We run our little hearts out.  A big thanks goes out to all the girls and 2 boys. 

 Carla's son Dallin and husband Collin were the best!  Collin was our "night time bike rider" to keep us company during the darker hours, and Dallin always made up the time that I'm sure I lost  when those runs were just dang hard!! 

Heather had the worst last leg.  8.1 miles uphill.  Way to go!

  Thanks girls and guys!!  It was a great weekend, and you all did so good.  I'm proud of us, and I'd stink up a van with you anytime!