This weekend was so amazing. Out of this world. It was very similar to Ragnar, in that we had next to no sleep, were super smelly and sweaty the whole time, ate too much junk food, listened to too much music, ran so many miles, and yet ended up having the time of our lives.
Thursday night: Didn't leave Provo until around 11, finally got to little Torrey, Utah where the start was around 3 or so in the morning. Slept on the ground by the van in our sleeping bags and woke up in time to see Brooke off for her first leg at 7:30. FYI- there were several start times, depending on how fast your team was. The faster ones started later, hence why we were in the middle of the start times. Average is best! Haha.
Friday: Watched Brooke begin the race! She killed everyone who started at that time, I think there were 5 other runners that started at that time? She ran those hills like it was so easy, she's amazing! She came in first on that leg, and Adam took it away for the second leg. He had the hardest leg of the whole relay, and he did great! Then Matt took the third leg, and ran so fast he was 2 miles down the road before we found him. Then again, the view at the top where they exchanged was so amazing that we couldn't leave for like 15 minutes, haha. Then Catherine rocked her first leg, and she actually had to run through the highest part of the whole relay, around 9,600 feet. Holy cow! That elevation definitely took it's toll! Then, it was my turn. And the elevation that Brooke, Adam, and Catherine had worked so hard to climb was my job to run down. And man, did that hurt. Steep, 12% inclines for most of the 6 miles. My quads were shaking by the end! But I love downhill running so it was so fun. Then Theresa ran her first leg, and also did a great job. Our team was shaping up to be faster than we expected!! We passed on the baton (a slap bracelet) to Van 2 so they could do their legs, and looked forward to a nap and relaxation for several hours. We quickly drove to Escalante, where we would wait for Van 2 to finish their legs. We ate lunch and attempted to take a nap in the heat. And holy crap was it hot!! Probably around 90 degrees. I slept in the van and kept waking up because I was sweating like crazy. Needless to say, the nap did not turn out how I wanted. Ha ha!
Before we knew it, it was 6 o'clock and our Van 2 was coming into the exchange. Brooke took it away again and did a very hot, very hilly second leg. We had to stop every mile and pour water over her so she could cool down. But she still kept going like the rock star that she is! Then we continued through our legs again in the same order. Adam threw up on his run, Matt passed another runner on his, Catherine tackled a pretty big hill, I Ran late at night by the light of the moon on a highway in the middle of nowhere, and Theresa ran through a quaint little town. We finished our 2nd legs around midnight, then again quickly drove forward to the next major exchange in Hatch.
Here's where it got a little crazy. We only about 4 or 5 hours to really get some sleep. The exchange was at the stake center in Hatch, so we though we would set up camp in the grass by the van. Me and Matt found a little patch of grass that looked perfect to sleep on. The sprinklers were on on the front lawn of the stake center, but since our little patch of grass was so small we figured they wouldn't even have sprinklers there. We were proved wrong about 2 hours into our sleep. In my sleep, i heard the steady tch, tch, tch of the sprinkler by my head and felt the water hit me in the face. Cold water+wet sleeping bag+wet pillow and hair+45 degree weather= cranky Leesh. So we quickly grabbed our stuff (I was holding back some choice words by this time) and looked for somewhere else to put our beds. We noticed that the grass right next to stake center was still wet from the sprinklers earlier, so we decided to put down our tarp there and try to get back to sleep in damp bedding. It seemed like we were safe, since the sprinklers had already gone off there, right? Nope. Hour and a half later, I hear it and feel it again. This time it took me longer to figure out what was happening. I rolled out of the sprinklers, still in my sleeping bag, into the cold hard concrete sidewalk next to me. I yelled out "You have got to be effing kidding me!!!???!!??" I debated for a second about staying there and attempting to sleep, but I was so cold and wet! I look over at the tarp, and see that I left my pillow. Whoops. Sopping wet! I also see Matt still laying there, getting more wet, and curled up inside his sleeping bag. In my half-asleep and angry state, I just assumed that he was gonna tough it out and sleep through it. I decide to go use the portapotty and when I come back ten minutes later, poor Matt is standing by the van, in shorts and a t-shirt, dripping wet and shivering. He says sadly, "Why did you leave me there?" I just started laughing and told him I didn't even think about waking him up, I was so delirious! We got back in the van and Catherine laughed at us for not getting in after the first time. We were so cold and wet and shivering like crazy, so she gave us her blankets and sleeping bag. We turned on the heater and wrapped ourselves in the blankets and sleeping bag until around 6:30, when it was Brooke's turn to start running again. Luckily, we didn't feel too stupid for getting hit by the sprinklers because Brooke, Adam, and Theresa all did too, although we were the only ones to get hit twice. Haha!!
Saturday: Anyway, after a horrible night of sleep for all of us, we were off again! Since it was our third and final legs, we were ready to get done. We all had relatively short legs this time around. Mine was only 1.7 miles, so the whole time before I was to run I was like, yeah I totally got this! Whatever. The 14 miles from the day before had caught up to me, and I felt like someone was holding me back with a rubber band as I was running, my legs were so sore and my hips were so tight and I was so tired! I eventually made it through that laughably short leg and handed off to Theresa, who commenced on her hardest leg. Very hilly, and on a slightly busier highway than what we had been on previously. However, the scenery was so gorgeous that it made up for it. We stopped every half mile for her this time, because we knew the hills would be pretty hard on her. She took it like a champ and finished off Van 1's journey like a boss. There was even a girl a half mile behind her who tried so hard to catch her, but couldn't! It was awesome.
Van 1 was done!! We were so excited! We also felt bad for Van 2 because the last 36 miles of the race were on this super gnarly dirt road. We know it was gnarly because I drove the entire thing with our giant van. Definitely and interesting experience but I'm glad I drove because I'm used to driving on dirt roads and also driving big vehicles. We finally got to the finish and they had free showers and food. Uh, did we make it to heaven or what?! The finish was at a resort/lodge just outside Zion National Park. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the actual park, but I'm going in August so I won't complain too much :) Still, they had a pool so we just relaxed by the poolside. I really wish I had brought my swimming suit, because I ended up sitting on one of the pool chairs and sweating and being miserable. They should have had more shade! But, I had a shower and felt refreshed, and we got to talk to and get to know some other runners on other teams, so that was pretty fun. I got a pretty sweet sunburn at the finish, I've had worse.
Van 2 made it to the finish around 3:45, I think we made it in around 32 hours, and ended up getting 5th or 6th out of 18 teams. Not bad at all!! Van 2 was made up of one family, and they sure were troopers! They had to run in hottest parts of the two days, middle of the night, and on the entire road road at the end. Just awful. But they still great, even the two younger kids.
All in all, it was a GREAT time. There were so many great moments that it's impossible to recount them all. I will definitely be doing at least one relay race a year (or, you know, as many as I want. Ha ha). It is just such a unique and crazy experience! There's so much I love about relays like this, but this one stands out because of the amazing scenery! I couldn't get enough of it, which is probably why I was so happy the entire time. Anyone that knows me, knows I am at my happiest when I am either running or in the mountains. This combined both, which is why I was on cloud 9 the entire time (minus the sprinklers part, but it made for a great story).
Next on the agenda:
Finish out the summer semester (only 4.5 weeks left!!)
Havasupai August 2nd-4th
Relaxing for most of August
California with family sometime in August
Zion National Park with the ward
School starts again Aug 29th
Big Cottonwood Canyon Half Marathon, September 22nd.
Life is good!!
