Keeping Pace: We Kicked RAGNAR's Bootay!!

Up until about a month ago, I wasn’t even planning on running Ragnar’s Wasatch Back. I did it last year and had fun, but with all the races I had planned to do this year, coming up with a $100 just to get in, then add van fees, gas, food, etc., Ragnar can become fairly expensive. Plus, the Wasatch Back sells out so quick you need you ante up way early to secure a spot. Then I got a call from my friend Liz telling me that a place had opened up on a team that both her and my friend Teresa were running on. The best part was, the team was being sponsored by the good people at Check City and all we had to come up with was $20 for gas! COUNT ME IN!!

Our team name was The “Loan” Racers. So our van (van 2) decided to do a cowgirl theme. I printed out a bunch of cute cowboy/cowgirl pictures and we taped them all over the van. It looked really cute! We only saw our other teammates (van 1) once the whole time, and they didn’t decorate their van (which at Ragnar is a no no- hee hee).

Our van had the coolest group of cowgirls ever!!! Ruth, Chris, Liz, Danielle, Teresa and myself met at 1-800 Contacts at 8:00am to pack our van and head to our first exchange. Liz had the great idea of pulling out the back seat of the van which made lots of room for our cooler of food, drinks, sleeping bags and bags. Once we got packed, we headed towards Ogden!

We got to exchange 6 just in time to get a good parking spot. Within 30 minutes, the place was a madhouse!! We were so glad to see a few friends there as well! Teri and the Marathon Maidens and Korey, Ele and Angie form Team Rush!

Me, Ele, Teresa, Korey & Angie

Super Heros!!

This year, the Ragnar folks paid extra special attention to safety. There were safety meetings, metal barricades lining the streets so people could not cross or fill into the street. Each van was given two orange flags which were to be used any time you crossed the street. These new safety precautions not only kept people safe, but I believe kept traffic running smoothly as well. There were 400 more teams this year, and while we hit traffic at some places, it was nothing as bad as last year. Well done Ragnar!

Teresa & Liz at the safety meeing.

Where's Waldo?

Our van’s 1st legs began around noon. Ruth went first, then Danielle, then Teresa, then Chris, then me, and Liz went last. It was HOT so even though we were all running short mileage, the heat made you feel like you ran more! Teresa had the great idea of keeping a separate ice chest filled with bandanas and ice. These were like a gift from heaven when running uphill in the heat!

Teresa's 1st leg!

After we all finished our 1st leg, we went to this high school in Morgan where we laid out our sleeping bags right next to a river, under some shady trees. We ate some lunch/dinner and took a little nap before we had to start running again. At 9:00pm, we loaded up our van and headed to our next exchange with van 1.

Teresa, Chris and Ruth relaxing before nap time!

Ruth started her run around 10:00pm. These legs were longer and we were running in the middle of the night. The temps had dropped quite a bit, so if you were not running, you were freezing! I think we all really enjoyed our night runs though. Running down a highway at 3:00am is quite exhilarating! Hats off to Teresa! She ran almost 10 miles at 1:00am!!

We handed off the slap bracelet to van 1 just as the sun was coming up. We stopped at another high school where a few of us took advantage of the warm showers. They felt sooooooo good! Then we all took another short nap, a quick trip to McDonalds and before we knew it, it was time to meet van 1 for our last legs.

Ruth headed out and we could feel the heat was going to be an issue. We revived the bandana cooler and after Ruth handed off to Danielle, we made a pit stop to 7/11 for ice. It was a good thing we did because next up was Teresa and she was hitting Baby Ragnar!! 3ish miles of the steepest hill you would ever want to walk let alone run! Teresa did AWESOME!!! Next up, Chris took over where Teresa left off and battled RAGNAR!! 4ish miles of that horrible hill!! Chris was actually running that bad boy!!!! I was blown away at the way these two got up those hills!! I would have cried the whole way! AWESOME!!!!!

Chris handed off to me and I took off on what I thought was a 5.5 mile leg. I was glad that this leg was mostly downhill, but I was not prepared for how steep it really was! The first 1.5 miles was very hard to run. I had to do like a shuffle down the hill so I wouldn’t land on my face! Then the course changed to trail running. I was in heaven! I was running through pine trees and it was shady. I loved it! At about mile 5, I was wondering why I hadn’t seen the “One Mile to Go” sign. I mentioned it to a girl running next to me and she told me that they added 1.5 mile to the leg!! I was a little mad at first, but I looked around and I felt great, and thought this is so beautiful, it would be fun to run a little more.

During Teresa’s leg, Liz who was sick at this point, got a bloody nose. We were all wondering if she would be able to run her last leg. We kept good thoughts, as the thought of running an extra leg was not something anyone really wanted to do! I was so glad when I got to the exchange I saw Liz standing there! Way to cowgirl up Liz!! She was sick and tired, but she did a great job bringing the team home! We battled the traffic and the crowds just in time to run with the rest of our team through the finish line together!!! It was AWESOME!!!! We got our bling, took a team photo and spent a little time at the finish area.