Ragnar WB2011

2011 Wasatch Back Relay

Logan - Park City

June 17-18, 2011
192 miles

Team #301 "Risky Business"

We placed 189th in our division out of 823 teams.  Not too shabby if you ask me!

And even cooler, Devin ROCKED the second half of Guardsman's Pass, aka "Ragnar Hill", placing 54th on The Hill at 42:41.7.  Can we say amazing?!?!

Van 2 Runners: Brayden, Ashley, Devin, Rachel, Gordy, Sarah
Don't we all look so pretty?? :)

Legs #1

Sarah took the reigns as we headed into our first set of legs.  Sarah was running great as we jammed out in the car to the theme from Risky Business, "Old Time Rock and Roll" and other great songs.  We had three Ragnar first-timers in our van so we wanted to keep the spirits as high as possible!

While Sarah was running, the rest of decided that although the temperatures were starting to rise, it would be much more fun to run as many legs as possible in our costumes.  Surprisingly, the baggy shirts allowed for a pretty decent breeze.

At this point, Sarah heard someone comment that Devin looked like he

was running naked!  Haha, we knew our costumes would be comical...

As I started out on my first leg, I was feeling great!  It was about 1pm and the temperatures had yet to peak for the day.  About a half mile into my run, I turned left onto Trappers Loop and started the ascent to Snow Basin Resort.

Each leg has a classification of difficulty and this run was rated "Very Hard."  I knew it was going to be hard, but I definitely underestimated just hard it would be!  To add it the difficulty, this leg was also a "non-support" leg so my van was not able to stop and give me water or cheer me on.  Without the support of my team, it was easy to slow down and even walk at times.  However, I felt justified when I walked since I was still keeping pace with other runners.  Does that give you an idea of how difficult it was, that I could walk it as fast as many were running it?  Yeah, it was hard.

At one point, a passing van recognized my over-sized dress shirt and as they passed, they yelled out "Go Risky!"  I loved being a recognizable team!  It gave me some extra energy to keep running.  After my short, yet seemingly long, 3.5 miles, I was very relieved to see Gordy waiting for me at the exchange point so he could finish the climb to Snow Basin.

After Gordy's triumphant sprint into the major exchange point, he handed off to Travis who ran around the resort, including through some snow covered areas, and back down Trappers Loop.  While Travis was running, we hung around the resort for a little and chatted with the rest of the runners from Van 1.  We made sure to take advantage of this time for a quick photo op!

And then Van 2 was off like bunch of champs to Morgan High School for some Zzzzzs...if that is even possible at 3pm!

Yep, way too much talking and not enough sleeping.

...with the exception of the blue blob, aka Brayden.  He's clearly a Ragnar veteran and knows how to get his sleep

I must acknowledge just how beautiful all the terrain is in Utah.  Typically we drive the main highways and freeway systems to get from place to place.  Ragnar takes you through the back country instead.  Sometimes we miss all the beauty because we're so focused on our destination.  I love that about Ragnar.  I appreciate the opportunity to 'stop and smell the roses' if you will.

Legs #2

Our second set of legs put us into the evening hours.  At this point, we were required to wear our reflective vests, headlamps and tail lights.  It would be dark and only about 40 degrees throughout the night so we decided our regular clothes were the better alternative to our costumes for these runs.  I am definitely glad I changed!

My second run was much better than the first!  Last year, I realized I really enjoy running at night and this year was no different.  There is something magical about running alone, being with my thoughts only, and not being distracted by the end point in the distance. It is so very peaceful!  Sometimes these solitary runs can also make you question whether or not you are on the right stretch of road.  At several points of my run and for quite a few minutes each time, there were no vans passing me, no other runners in visible distance, no volunteers, and no directional signs to guide me.  During these times I had to trust that I had not missed a sign and would see some runners or vans soon.

Despite these questionable moment, I had to notice that this was probably the most beautiful run I could have had!  This specific night, the moon was about 15/16 full, the sky was clear, and the stars were shining brightly.  As I ran from one end of Rockport Lake to the other, I enjoyed the reflection of the moon on the water, the sounds of the breeze through whatever foliage was along the road (too dark to see it), and the sounds of nature undisturbed.  It was so peaceful.  I couldn't bare disrupting it with music from my iPod. 

At the end of my 5.5 miles, I was ready to be done.  Even though this leg was beautiful and not as difficult as my first leg was, nor as hard as my final leg would be, it was still cold.  My legs and arms had decent blood flow because of the movement, but my hands and face were extremely cold.

When I finished, it was 1am and we only had one more runner to go before we could hunker down at South Summit High School for an hour or so while Van 1 ran their third set of legs.  It was definitely not enough time to get good sleep, but it was all the time we had so we made the best of it.

Legs #3

By the time we started, we were still in the 'night' hours so Sarah had to wear her vest again.  But she sure looked cute anyway!
The sunrise this morning was beautiful with a tinge of pink lighting the sky.  Every time I run a Ragnar Relay, I am amazed by the beauty of this earth.  The scenery, the nighttime peace, the sunrises and sunsets, the cool breezes, the snow, trees, mountains, fields...  I could go on forever.  Running is by far the method of choice to see everything.  Slow enough to see, but more fulfilling than walking. I love it!

The final major obstacle for our runners is battling Guardsman Pass and dropping into Park City.  This hill is the most difficult hill of the race and is now also known as Ragnar Hill.  Because of its intensity, it is run in two parts  One runner tackles the first 3.5 miles followed by another runner climbing the next 4 miles.  Our team was surprisingly right on time with our anticipated paces so we were able to tackled it in the morning hours while it was still cool and crisp outside!  It would have been so much harder if it had been during midday heat, like our team did last year.

Brayden cruised past several runners and Devin rocked it to the next exchange, even running through 6 feet of snow near the top!

Right before the exchange point, Devin saw the following sign hanging from the trees.  He was so overcome with emotion (and exhaustion) that he broke into tears. But honestly, it is such a cool thing to feel like people are proud of how hard you are running!

I ran the next 7.5 grueling miles downhill from the peak of Guardsman Pass to Deer Valley Resort.  I was more nervous for this run than anything. What would it do to my knees?  Glad to report my knees handled it just fine!  Unfortunately, during this run I was battling more fatigue than anything else.  Unlike last year where I got about 4 hours of sleep throughout the race, this time I had only slept about 45 minutes and that was very light sleeping.  I was mentally charged, but my body did not concur.  It was so difficult to keep going.

You can see just how excited I am to be finishing my final run.  Oh SUCCESS!
 Only one more runner to go...

The Finish Line!

 I was so proud to have run it with my sister.  This is the first race she's done in years.  I'm so glad I was there with her!

Official time:  30 hours, 3 minutes, 53 seconds.