Wasatch Back!

A couple of weeks ago I got the awesome opportunity to run in the wasatch back relay. It was probably one of the craziest things i've done! a few weeks before the actual race i got asked if i wanted to fill in by my cousin. I didn't really know what i was getting myself into when i agreed. I looked at the mileage of what each of my three runs would be. I saw 3.5, 7.7, and 4. I thought to mysel that that would be simple enough. boy was i wrong. It turned out that the 7.7 ,which was my second run, was a slight incline that was ran at about 1:30 in the morning with no sleep before hand. but my 4 mile which i tought would be a piece a cake ended up being one of the most difficult runs i've ever done. It ended up being up a mountain with a 8% grade incline....after running 5 steps i wanted to sit down and cry. For those that aren't familiair with the race. It starts in Logan and ends in Park city covering 188 miles. in teams of 12 or for those that aren't mentally well 6. each team has 2 vans our number 1 van left from logan at 7:50 am on Friday morning. Van 2 ,that i was in, met them at Eden that afternoon where we started our legs. my first leg was a pretty flat 3.5 miles which would have been a really nice run if it wasn't so hot. our van ended up in some mountains and then we sat and waited at that exchange while van 1 ran. Then we started running again about 10 pm. this leg i ran the 7.7 miles. It was a beautiful night and ran the whole thing with a lady that pushed me pretty good. this would have been my favorite leg of the day. Except for the fact that while i was running i got really really sick. Soon after finishing I started throwing up. which did not stop till later that morning. Our van continued running till about 5 am. when we were done we got to go to a school and change our clothes. We then headed to wait to start our last leg and get what sleep we could. That next morning about 7:30 our van started our last leg. This was my Ragnar leg which was straight up the mountain. the run itself was pretty difficult but the fact i had been throwing up since 3 that morning and got very little sleep made it seem like maybe it wasn't really possible for me to finish it. the first mile was pretty rough. but then my body warmed up a bit for the next two miles then the last mile was probably the worse of all. at the end i collapsed and cried like a baby. and i felt ok about it. I don't really know what time our team finished i was kind of out of it once i finished my last leg, but it definitely was an awesome experience and want to run it again now that i know what to expect.---wow that was a lot longer than i expected.

Amada, Mary ann, and Joyce waiting to start

Emily after her first leg and before mine

Getting ready for the first run

hand off of the baton

at the exchange wishing we were all sleeping


Van 2 starting our 2nd legs

I was kind of on a caffeine high during the night legs...might of had something to do with me getting sick

we had to wear the head lamp and vest on our night runs

real sick after my night run

Patrick was heling out with best buddies at one of the exchanges

Emily was done!

for some reason i got some crazy energy/excitement right before my ragnar run.

most of the team at the end