So a few months ago I had heard about this race called Wasatch Back. I thought it was just a marathon lalala. Then I started hearing about this other race the Raganr relay. Hmm what is that. I soon learned (with some research) that it is infact the same race. (Ok I don't usually say race because I am not a racer but a runner and I don't necessarily run against anyone but myself so I call them runs). So I started readingabout it and checked otu their website and was REALLY wanting to do this. I didn't even know where to start. So early May I thought hmmm I do know a few people running it and if they know people that are running it maybe if someone gets injured or something I could take their place! (Horrible thought :( ) So I told one of my friends that
if she heard of any to let me know. and then I told my cousin if she knew of any teams looking to let me know. Well I posted it on her Facebook wall an someone else commented back to me asking if I was serious. They had a team member that might be too injured to run! So I said YES I am totally interested. He told me the leg so I checked it out and he would let me know within a couple days. A few days later he emailed me and told me he still wasn't sure and would let me know soon. a couple weeks ticked by. we went on vacation over Memorial day Weekend and That sunday as I sat in my trailer I came to the conclusion it was NOT going to happen I wasn't gonna find a team and I needed to let go of the idea. Maybe next year. That Sunday night I got a text saying my co
usin JaNae had sent me a message thru Facebook. My emails weren't really coming to my phone much and I couldn't get any webpages to come up on my phone. (not very good service where we were at) But I read about two lines. And I got the jist of it. They had an injured runner and were looking for 2 runners!! I imidiately texted back saying YES save me a spot!! I was sooo happy I could cry!! The next morning when i woke up my emails had come to my phone and I was able to read the whole message! Plus the other person had emailed me offering me a spot! I was dumbfounded. 24 hours before I had come to the conclusion Ragnar was not in my immediate future and now I had two teams to pick from!! I debated for 2 days which team to pick! I 
decided on an all womens team. One I could run with some one I knew! (plus it was $30 cheaper cuz we weren't renting a hotel) lol. I was sooo excited I could barely breathe! However I had to because I only had about 15 days to really train for this. School was now out for the summer and I hoped to get some longer runs in. The following summer I was struck with the stomach flu! I was out for 5 days! So the next friday I was able to run again and hoped to get two runs in that day but didn't. I didn't get any two-a-days in! The next week I did a run monday and wednesday and then was up bright and early Friday Morning to head off to Logan. Oh I love a good party and that is exactly what Ragnar is! It starts from the moment you pull into the starting area. looking at all the fun decorated vans! We parked next to the Bingham High school Seminary teachers and one of them took our pictures. we went over to teh starting gate and did our safety meeting got our goodie bags and wished Brenda a fond farewell as she headed off on the first leg of 36.I asked fro advise from a formal Ragnar runner and she said to jouran it so the rest of this is copied from my journal.
Leg 1 (#4) 5.1 miles=54.48 11 kills
I didn't stretch. I started out to fast. getting up at 4am and not eating much I did abotu 54.48. So by starting too fast it slowed me, I got stitches and it took a while to catch my breath& OH it was HOT! I have not run in the sun for a long time and it about killed me!
I drank two bottles of water before & probably sweat 3! It was so beautiful!! Cache County is so gorgeous! Rolling green hill with beautiful purple snow capped mountains behind!
After the race again I didn't stretch. we walked for a few minutes, jumped in teh can & was onour way. I am not satisfied with my run :( I hope to make up for it next run. I was beat when we finally met up with van 2. I didn't lay down but we finally got to Snow Basin & I changed my clothes, splashed some water on me! YAY! Ate some dinner. It was so yummy. Penne pasta with marinare sauce and steamed veggies and a diet coke! I had energy again! I went ans for me a Ragnar running jacket. I can't wait to wear it! Not sure how the weather will be tonight but I won't wear it while running. So we left from Snow Basina few minutes ago. we were there about 2 1/2 hrs. Runner #1 is Brenda, She is hilarious!! She never ran double days either.
Debra #2 is awesome! she is such a good motivater!
Melissa-#3 She is small & fast!
JaNae #5 She is my cousins wife. she is fabulous
Laura #6 is the leader of our van! she is so fun and knows all the answers!
Oh ya. Joe found me at Snow Basin and came and chatted for a few minutes. He said we would catch them but I don't think so.
Leg 2 (#16) 4.1=42.35 6 kills
I wanted to write before my 3rd run but it was dark & I couldn't. So this leg was rated easy and it was beautiful again!
So this leg was fun My Mom, Sisters: Wendy and Bridgette, and all the kids: Mary, Michelle, Melanie, rachel, Tommy, Adam, Jacob, Cora, Owen and Sadie came up to cheer me on! It was soo fabulous to have BIG cheering section. They all made signs and yelled and hollered.
(written a little later )
This was the leg I was most excited for. I knew I would see my kids and not to long I could see Don. After I finished I was so happy because I knew I was 2/3's the way done. YAY! JaNae ran and then handed off to Laura. It got dark so fast! As we
drove along the dark mountain road looking for her she was easy to pick out. She had butterfly wings on that lit up so we looked for the person with blue and pink lights on. She said everyone was saying "nice wings Tinkerbell!"On to exchange #18. I had talked & texted don so I knew right where he was. There was soo much traffic. we only drove by, Said "Hi" and "thank you" I said "I love you!!" He was down the exchange a little bit calling in the runners #'s to the exchange lane so I could go see him. We quickly exchanged runners & drove to Debra's brothers cabin where we got a full 3 hrs of sleep. Not really. Right when I fell asleep Don called it was 2 am & we got up at 4:40. I did sleep inteh van on the way to the cabin for a little while too.
So at 4:40 we got the call Runner 12 was on the road running so we quickly packed up & left. Leg 3 (#28) 4.01=39.11 7 kills. I was excited for this run. It was mostly down hill. debra let me use her watch. It is a Garmin 305 which i LOVED and NEED! haha! It tells your pace, your time, your distance run and the date and time. It was so awesome!. I ran 3 miles downhill from the top of jordanelle Dam to the bottom. I was pacing about 8:30 miles!
I got to the bottom & knew I had 1 mile left. As I turned at 1/2 mile left I was shocked to see an up hill! It wasn't on my map & i was not expecting it. I couldn't get my mind & body set to run uphill & ended up walking!! I was so sad & dissapointed. But guess what i finished! Oh at the waiting areaof this leg I saw one of Owens friends mom & she started 3-5 minutes before me! She walked almost the whole way down hill since I could see her. (she was my target) I passed her! YAY!! haha!
Oh I love when I remember stuff! Exchange #24 (from van 2 to van 1) we ran into Joe again! We had passed them at some point too.
So it felt so fabulous to know I was done but sad too! When everyone was done running from our van we decided to drive the course on the way to the finish line. The last few legs looked horribly difficult! I felt sorry for our team members who had to run those. We pulled into The Canyons (finish line) between 11-12. We got some food, shopped, had massages at waitied finally at 2:30 we got the call! Lisa, the team captain & runner 12, had about 2 miles left. We all gathered and went to the finishing
chute. we finally saw her at the bottom of the hill. YAY!! she got to us & we waited till the other van finally found us and we all crossed te finish line together. I'm not sure what our exact finish time was but it was about 3:00. so it took us from 7:30 am to 3pm saturday to run 188.2 miles 31 1/2 hoursthis was such a neat experience. I really truelly hope I can do it again! And if I do I hope I have more notice so I can really train for it!
As an after thought I feel so blessed with my team! It was great to be ona team with all the same values and sooo thankful for their families and their support. we got a good nights sleep because Debra's brother let us use their cabin and Laura's DH came up to the finish line to take pictures!
Thank you to the best team ever!!
Our team name was Legs, Breasts and Wings (a take on KFC)
We got our results!! We were #54 in our division (womens)(99 womens teams) They also have the womens submasters, (women over 30) we were 13th out of 25! 32:11:30.2 was our finishing time! I can't believe I didn't get apicture of myself in my shirt with my medal :) I am gonna have to do that :)
