Brandon and Connie: June 2009

Call me craZy, but the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back was the funnest running event I have ever done! My initial intentions were to wait for my team to send me all their pictures and then post them all, but I can't wait any more. I am just dying to tell you all about it. So, I will put more pictures up as I get them.

(We were Team 249, The Pacemakers. There were 650 teams total at the race.)

(This is the team shirt that we designed. Love the EKG and night and day runners.)

For those who do not know what a Ragnar Relay is...
1) 12 runners on a team (I lOveD our team, The Pacemakers)
2) 2 vans
3) 188 miles (Logan, UT to Park City, UT)
4) Run.Drive.Sleep??Repeat.

(This is Van 1 at the start area: Brannick, Emily, Jan, Marian, Drea, and Connie)

(Drea, runner 1, on the starting line. Some people are crazy and get super dressed up. We had a rival team called 'No Pants' that we played leap frog with for a while.)

The Wasatch Back started up in Logan, UT at 11:30AM on Friday, June 19, 2009. I was runner 6 in van 1 so I got to run down Avon Pass. Poor Jan, runner 5, had to run up the long hill in the heat and she RocKeD it. After I ran my 6.7 miles down hill I passed off to Rick (Angel's Dad), runner 7 to start up van 2. While van 2 ran, van 1 went to Subway for a bite before our next run. Uuuugghh is all I have to say about Subway: long line, only 2 workers, food not stocked, and lot's of sick runners, including myself. The come and go nausea was beating us down, but we still went on.

(This is in the beginning and we are all still pretty fresh hanging out in the van.)

(First set of legs: Drea, runner 1, passing off to Brannick, runner 2.)

(Emily, runner 3, getting some water from Brannick. We were our own support. The team was responsible for providing water and such along the course for ourselves.)

(First set of legs: Emily, runner 3, passing off to Marian, runner 4.)

(Marian getting some water support from Jan. Everytime we drove by each other we would scream, honk, blast music, etc. We were the most supportive team there:))

(Someone got this picture on my camera. It's of me at the summit of Avon Pass on my first leg. I like it because it gets a small glimpse of the gorgeous scenery we ran through.)

(Rick, runner 7, passing off to Katie, runner 8.)

(Randy, runner 9, passing off to Curt, runner 10.)

(Curt, runner 10, passing off to Chris, runner 11.)

(This is Chris. I think he is just starting to run his first leg up Snow Basin.)

(Van 2 waiting to cheer on teammates.)

Van 2's runners had to run UP Snow Basin. It's a jaw dropping hill, but they did great. So van 1 started our second set of legs at Snow Basin. It was starting to get dark at this point in the race so we put on our reflector vests, butt lights, and flashlights.

(First set of legs for van 2: This is Angel. She made the summit up Snow Basin. Tough hill!)

(Team shot minus 2-Drea and Brannick. Back row: Jan, Rick, Chris, Randy, Emily, Curt. Front row: Connie, Marian, Angel, and Katie.)

(Van 1. We have just started our 2nd round of legs here.)

The second set of legs was by far the most grueling for our team. It was in the middle of the night so that may have been a factor. However, we had some other interesting issues...
1) Drea, runner 1, had shoved the Subway down her throat so she could be ready to run in time. Her 8 miles down Snow Basin didn't like the Subway, so van 1 came to the rescue to scope out a good open spaced bathroom on the side of the road (isn't this what running is all about:), it's not called the 'runs' for nothing:)). We all had a good laugh, including Drea. She is sUch a good sport.
2) Marian hurt her knee in the middle of her 4 mile leg. She toughed it out to get to the exchange and she did awesome, but then couldn't walk on it at all afterwards. So now we are one runner short for the third, and final set of legs.
3) After I finished my 8 miles up East Canyon Reservoir in the pitch black (besides my flashlight), van 1 spent the night at North Summit HS in Coalville, UT while van 2 carried us along the coarse. Van 1 likes to refer to our 2 hour stay in the HS gym as a 'concentration camp': muggy, stinky bodies all over the gym, snoring, people showering in their skins, and only 1.5 hours of much interupted sleep.

Please excuse the complaining. This really was a BLAST and the scenery all along the way was GORGEOUS and we all LOVED it, but we loved it more because of all the hard parts and challenges we overcame.

(Wasatch Back is the MOST GORGEOUS course ever. Especially this time of year, it's all green. So pretty!)

(Check out that sun! Friday was actually really warm and beautiful. Saturday was rainy.)

At 5AM on Saturday, Angel called to tell us van 2 was almost finished with their set of legs and it was time for van 1 to get to the next exchange so we could take over. It was starting to get light outside and it was gorgeous scenery. I couldn't help but smile as I watched our fellow team members running. Someone was always carrying the team the 188 miles. Even at 3 o'clock in the morning.

The last legs were pretty running down into Heber Valley and then up into Park City. I ended up running Marian's 3rd leg since my own 3rd leg was fairly easy. It was funny to pass the baton to Jan, runner 5, and have her go 2.5 miles and then get the baton right back and go my 3 miles.

(This was Marian's last leg that I ran instead. It was 4 miles down hill into Heber.)

Anyways, while van 2 took us the rest of the way into Park City, van 1 went and ate some delicious tri tip at the finish in Quinn's Park City finish area. Then, we all ran the last 300m together in our team shirts. We ended up finishing at 4:06PM on Saturday, June 20, 2009. I haven't found what our official finish time is but it's safe to say that it was 28hours 36minutes.

(Here we are crossing the line. Finishing around 28:36:00.)

(Team shot cheering our successful finish. Back row: Brannick, Emily, Drea, Jan, Marian, Randy. Middle row: Katie, Angel, Connie. Front row: Rick, Chris, and Curt.)

Like I said, this was the funnest running event I have ever done. It was challenging, but great and I look forward to doing future Ragnars!