Ragnar Wasatch Back 2011

Yes, we did it for the sticker.

I heard about this relay 3 years ago. Kelli Davey, my bosses wife runs it with an all girl team called "Legs Breasts and Wings." I thought it sounded crazy. And all that running seemed impossible, I knew I could never do it even if I wanted to.
Last year Kelli organized a coed team so her husband and other family members could be on it. Kelli gave me Mike's training schedule and I put it on our work calendar. Each day I'd tell him what he was running. Sometimes it would be just downright funny to me. "Mike, it says here you have to do 50 minutes of hill running. Twice today."

Wasatch Walkers 2nd Place in Master's Division

Fast forward, I learned to run. Then the Ragnar Relay didn't seem so impossible. Through Cyndie I found out that the Wasatch Walkers, a walking club, was looking for a replacement runner for their team. I was planning to do the Shark Attack Triathlon that weekend and so I didn't jump on taking the spot or pay that much attention. It was Runner 11 and I didn't have the confidence to do that huge downhill leg. Or even "Ragnar." Plus it was not in Van 1 with Cyndie.
As the vacancy was still available after several weeks the adventure of possibly running Ragnar with Cyndie got to me, all the sudden I committed to the team when they did some rearranging so that I could be in Van 1 with Cyndie and take Runner 5, the one with the uphill.
Fast forward I really am going to do this! I go in to list making mode. You all know one of my favorite parts. (I will put my list in a separate post.)
Fast forward to the Wasatch Walkers Ragnar planning meeting. It was fun and informative. I got to meet all the wonderful ladies and see who was going to be in Van 1 with me. One of my  van buddies had driven our parts of the course and she handed out copies with notes to help us. 
Fast forward to the Thursday before the race. Van 2 ladies all met at Cyndie's house to load all our gear in her truck. 


Runner 1 - Cyndie Nell
Runner 2 - Marjorie Mullaly
Runner 3 - Leah Forster
Runner 4 - Madeline Quayle
Runner 5 - Marsha Monson
Runner 6 - Kristy Ames


Cyndie had decorated the truck with red lights and the walker. We drove to Logan and stayed in a hotel. We purchased some lighted flowers for our hair so we would all have something matching. Came back to the hotel in Logan to get some sleep. Set our alarms for 3am, we had to be at our safety meeting at 4am. 

Getting ready for the safety meeting at 4am.

Cyndie doing a grumpy face.

It was a very cold windy morning in Logan. The starting line was at Utah State University. Cyndie was our first runner and the first group left on time right at 5am. They promptly directed to run the wrong direction - never listen to cops! By the time the group of 30 or so got going the right way they had added an extra mile to their run.
Things got better after that. We went to meet Cyndie at Exchange #1. I saw Lance Brandow & Kimberly Wilde from the team "Snot Rockets!" Sounds like they let their kids pick the name. 

Marj Mullaly, she is an awesome race walker.
She has run 30 marathons all over the US.

Madeline Quale, another great race walker.

Leah Forster, our van captain she runs and walks, with
a cute style you can spot in the distance.

Things flowed well for our team and soon it was my turn to run my first leg, a 7.4 miles Very Hard leg up Avon Pass. It was dusty and the day was getting warm. 

Running up Avon Pass.

Up the hill I on my first leg I go.

Runner 1, 1st Leg, Leg 5.

Finally, the end of Leg 1. Avon Pass conquered.

I thought my leg went well. Yes, it was very hard and it was uphill on a dirt road. I benefited from a little shade from the bushes and trees along the road. There were full sun parts and I got pretty hot, but I had brought water. I also got a couple of "mists" from other teams driving by - that was NICE. I did run out of water, and so I kept watching a choose a van that was stopped helping their runner and asked for my water bottle to be filled. The girl says "I know you, didn't you just run your first marathon?" I was puzzled because I did not recognize her. She ended up being a Marathon Maniac know as the Italian Stallion and she had remembered me from the marathon in May. Small running world.
Soon we were finished with all six of our legs, 38.7 miles and meeting for our first exchange with Van 2 at Liberty City Park. They were on time and ready to run or race walk!
Now it was our chance to get over to the next exchange and have a needed rest before they arrived. By now it was getting pretty warm, so we cranked up the air conditioning and headed for Snow Basin. At this major exchange the traffic was pretty backed up. We drove slowly for miles to get up the hill to Snow Basin. All the runners were progressing slowly up the steep hill. I was so glad that wasn't my leg.
After reaching Snow Basin we hung out, rested, ate an overpriced dinner at the ski resort. Hey, I was just glad they had food. I needed a good dinner, although a spicy chicken sandwich and fries isn't really what I had in mind there was not much choice. We had a little longer at the resort than we thought we would as Van 2 was about an hour behind their projected time. Heat is not kind. They had 22.4 miles to run for the team.

Ready to run. Van 1 is rested. Go Cyndie, Go Cyndie.

Time to get the music on.

Here is the exchange between Cyndie and Shelly.

Cyndie took off on Leg 13, a Very Hard 8.3 miles. She is awesome. Her total miles for Runner 1 in Wasatch Back was 21 miles. With the course problem she ran 22. I ran 14.6. Quite a difference.

Runner 1, 2nd Leg, Leg 17.

By the time we got to me, Runner 5 it was late. Around 11:00pm. I had a short distance of 4.2 miles. There was a full moon. It was beautiful, the temperature was so much cooler. I was ready to rock the nighttime run.

Dressed for the night run.

By this time our team had fallen behind and so we had called up Ragnar and talked to them about the possibility of leap frogging to catch up. They said that would be fine, they would leave it up to us. So we began leaving before our other runner came in to save time. We did not want to get to the finish line at 10 or 11pm at night when everyone was gone!!
Van 1 finished our runs late and boy were we tired. We headed to a high school gym, I can't even remember where. We all found a spot in the dark gym where there were lots of runners sleeping on the floor. I told Cyndie that we'd sleep better if we took a shower. So after laying out our bags we went to the shower. At 2am. With no private showers and tiny towels it was like gym class. Only one pole shower worked. It was not pretty. But hey, that is a $2 shower and we were desperate women. At least most of the young skinny runners were done. Got some rest, got some sleep.
Since our team was going to leap frog the next day, we didn't set alarms. We just got up when we were ready. Some of us earlier than others. They had a nice breakfast in the cafeteria, eggs, ham and pancakes. $6, what a deal. It was really good.
We got the truck loaded and we were back on the road heading to the next exchange place. Cyndie again being Runner 1 was first up.

Cyndie taking off on her third and final leg.

I thought everyone did nice on their final runs. Everyone was holding up.

Dressed for final run.

My final leg was 29, which took our team into Heber. I started running along Hwy 40. It was hot, but I was actually thankful for a head wind that kept me cooler. I decided to mostly run, go for a good time. As I was running down Hwy 40 a big semi truck went past and the force of the air blew my visor right off!

Cyndie's gets me finishing Leg 3.

Coming into the exchange area.

Passing the slap bracelet to Kristy Ames.

The course took a turn up into a place called Coyote Valley Hills in a housing track. I had one last hill to climb. My van didn't support me because they were driving Runner 6 to the exchange location. But plenty of other vans gave me some "mist" and even a little girl in her yard with a hose. Finished running strong, just the way I like to. 

Runner 1, 3rd Leg, Leg 29.

Our team, 816 Wasatch Walkers finished in 38:13:42.3. Remember though, we did run all our legs but we did not wait to pass the baton to the next runner. Out of the two Women's Masters teams, we finished second.
We had fun.
We laughed.
We got tired.
Oh yeah, and some got sore. There is already an email out by Nancy Linky, team captain for this year that she wants to do it again in 2012. Several ladies have already committed. I know that Cyndie says no way, she's got it checked off her bucket list! I need to find her a new bucket with another Ragnar in it. I'd like to do it again.