Week 65 - 2,982 Miles

It has been a few weeks since I've updated our map. Admittedly I was distracted with Thanksgiving and a busy work schedule. But we're back, and are getting so close to our final destination - Fayetteville, Georgia. Keep up the good work, ladies! We are almost there. 

Week 62 - 2,982 Miles

We added 46 miles to our total mileage last week, for a total run of 2,795 miles. We are about the distance of a Ragnar Relay away from our final destination, and it seems so real and close now! We're going to need another challenge, and quick. Great week, ladies, and keep up the good work. We may just make it before the end of the year! 

Week 61 - 2,982 Miles

We had a better week last week, and added 44 miles, bringing our total miles run to 2,749. We are getting so close! We are just outside Montgomery, Alabama, and are excited to see what this week will bring. 

Week 59 - 2,982 Miles

We added 34 miles last week, and are headed north toward Montgomery and Atlanta. Good week, ladies, and keep up the good work!

Week 57 Update - 2,982 Miles

Last week we added 15 miles, and are north of Mobile, AL now. This was a lower mileage week for us overall, and I feel the need to document why. It was a recovery week for Lacy and I after the Huntsville Half on September 26 (that post coming soon), Kristen was sick, and Ami and her husband welcomed their second daughter to their family the first week of September, so she's in some mandatory rest time. Congratulations, Ami!!!! We'll all be ramping our weekly mileage back up soon.

Wasatch Back 2015 - Part III

After our second legs of Wasatch Back, it was time to drive ahead to our next major exchange and get some shut-eye. I don't remember what time it was when we got to Exchange 24, just that the sun was just starting to brighten the edges of the sky a little bit. I snuggled up in the front seat of the van and I was out like a light for a couple of hours. It felt so good to sleep, even if it was only for a short period of time. When I woke up, the sun was shining, and Ragnarians were everywhere. It was a beautiful sight! I do have to say that at that point, I just wanted to go back to sleep, and it took everything I had to get up, put on my shoes, and get out of that van. Once I had a couple of sips of coffee, I felt much better about the whole thing. We all got moving, and then it was time to hook up with Van 2 and find out when their last runner would be finishing. We got Matt off for his first leg of the race, only to discover that his leg was non-support. We parked in a parking lot, snuck over to him to refill his water and make sure he was feeling okay, and then we were off to the next exchange to get Lacy ready to run. Lacy's last leg was a "choose your own exchange" with the leg after hers (mine). She was awesome and ran almost a mile into mine because I had quite a bit of uphill at the beginning of my last leg. Here she is at the end of her last leg of the relay!

Quick picture pit stop before I headed out...

And away I went!

It was getting pretty hot by the time I started this leg, and I had 7 miles ahead of me. Turned out that most of it was on dirt road and single track mountain bike trails. I wished I would have known that and worn my trail shoes. Oh well, all part of the adventure, right? This leg of the relay did have some pretty stellar views, despite being hot and dusty.

I was so glad to be done with that leg by the time I finally shuffled into the next exchange. It was longer than it was supposed to be and the one mile to go sign was way further than one mile from the exchange. I was hot and dusty and out of water by the time I came in, and I was beyond happy to get in the air conditioned van and be driven through the rest of the course. Kristen took over when I came in to the exchange, and had a great next run!

Chris had the next leg, which was a trail run and completely non-support for him. Luckily it was about 3 miles, so he didn't have to be away from support for very long. Then it was time for Ami to tackle her third and final leg of the relay, which was a gnarly trail run behind Park City High School. Keep in mind that she was 7 months pregnant at the time. She crushed it! 

Once Ami came in from that leg, our van was done with our runs. Woohoo! Then we had some time to kill while our second van climbed up and over Guardsman Pass and into the Heber Valley. We went and had lunch at Squatters in Park City, then headed to Midway to relax at Soldier Hollow where the finish line was. We were there for several hours and then got word that our last runner was a couple of miles out. So we headed up to the chute area so we could all run through together. Brian was hauling ass when he came in at the end of his leg, and we all blazed through the finish together. 

Isn't that a fine looking group of people? I sure think so. While Kevin and I weren't in the same van for this Wasatch Back, it was definitely fun knowing he was out on the course with me. Here he is at the end of his first leg, which was a little over 7 miles, and all uphill. He did great, especially considering that he didn't have a ton of training time under his belt before the relay rolled around. 

And as proof that Kevin had a good time, he has already signed up to run again in 2016! 

As always, this is such a fun time of year for me with my bestie. We don't get to see each other nearly often enough, so Ragnar weekend is that much more fun because I get to spend two straight days with her. 

It was great to have Kristen in town for the relay weekend too. I would add that Lacy was here too, but she moved here a few weeks before Wasatch Back, so we get to run together all the time now! I love my running friends, and I absolutely love my relay weekends! I can't believe we have to wait 9 more months to do it all again. 

Week 55 - 2,982 Miles

We added 31 miles last week, and are closing in on the Alabama border. We have now run a total of 2,557 miles in our journey across the country. Every week I find myself wondering what will be next when we finally get to our destination. And I still don't have the answer. Ha! Guess we better do some brainstorming!

Wasatch Back 2015 - Part II

After our first legs of the race were done, we headed to Exchange 12 for some rest and food. We started off with our annual van selfie. This year's photo had 7 of us in it because we were spoiled and had a dedicated driver. 

We ended up not being able to get very much sleep at this exchange, because it was still pretty early, and a lot of people were up talking and walking around and not considering the fact that some of us picked a spot off the beaten path so we could zonk out for a couple hours. Rant over. But we really didn't get very much rest, which was a bummer because we got up so early and we were already pooped after one run. Plus, Matt still wasn't feeling well and really could have used some good sleep. We didn't start our second legs until it was dark, and as usual, I didn't get hardly any night time pictures this year. We did snap a few at the exchange waiting for Brian to come in from his first leg. 

This photo gives a good idea of what the chaos looks like at a major exchange during the night time hours. Flood lights, people everywhere, and a lot of blinking lights and reflective vests.

Our night runs felt longer this year, and I'm sure it was partly due to not getting much sleep after our first legs, as well as the heat sapping our energy. This was my 7th Wasatch Back, and it was by far the hottest year yet. I would even venture to say that it was hotter than either of the Vegas Ragnars I've done. In addition, the whole course had major changes made to it this year in an attempt to alleviate traffic problems that were not able to to be successfully addressed with the old course, and in an effort to just make it better overall. It was really fun to be on a different course, and it threw an element of surprise into the event as well. I had run the old course enough times that I knew where the exchanges were, how long the legs were, and what the terrain was like. So imagine my surprise when right before my second leg, I realized that I was about to run the same leg that I did last year. Last year I was runner 7 and this brutal hill was my second leg, about 3.6 miles. This year, I was runner 3, and ended up running that same exact 3.6 mile section. That just shows how major some of the route changes and leg changes were that this section of the course used to be Leg 19, and this year it was leg 15. That leg was tough, but I felt better on it this year than last, so I considered it a victory. 

We made it through our night runs successfully - and Matt was even feeling well enough to tackle his 4.3 mile run to start us off. Everyone did a great job and we made it to Exchange 24, where we were all able to get a couple of hours of sleep and recharge a bit. When we woke up, the sun was shining and runners were swarming everywhere getting ready to start their third and final runs. 

More on the final leg/day of Wasatch Back to come soon!

Week 54 - 2,982 Miles

We added 57 miles last week and are now in Mississippi! Not too much further to go now - hope we can make it by the end of the year! 

The One Year Mark - 2,982 Miles!

We have hit the one year mark of our journey to run 2,982 miles, and have made it to New Orleans! Our original goal/hope was to complete the mileage in 52 weeks' time. It would be easy to be disappointed by the fact that we did not reach that goal, however, we still ran 2,449 miles in 52 weeks, and that is quite the feat. We don't have much further to go to get to Fayetteville, and then this challenge will be complete. 

Then what should we do!? We are brainstorming another challenge for ourselves, and are hoping to bring awareness to a great cause through the challenge. Let us know if you have any great ideas for the next Sweat Sisters challenge!

Wasatch Back 2015 - Part I

In June, we participated in the Ragnar Wasatch Back, and it was amazing, as always. This year's team name was "It's Business Time," and we had quite a bit of fun with the theme overall. Especially with the window chalk on the vans. 

All 4 of us were in Van 1 this year, and we elected to try for a slightly later start time to allow us to sleep in our own beds on Thursday night instead of staying in a hotel in Logan. That part worked, but it added a couple of new timing challenges for us, but it wasn't too bad. We decorated our van at the Team Dinner on Thursday night (doesn't everyone look super stoked?!), and Lacy and I worked on the food prep for both vans Thursday afternoon/evening.

I also realized that I need more dining capacity in our kitchen. But that's an issue to be solved another day. 

We got the van all squared away, everyone headed home for one more quality night of sleep, and then it was time for game on. Friday morning, I woke up at 2:45am to get the rest of the food for the vans prepped and packed in time for a 4:45am departure from my house to go to Logan. Just to back up for a quick second, Kevin (my husband, who was running with us, and running his first Ragnar ever) asked me if I would pack his bag for him since I knew what was needed for a Ragnar, so in addition to having all of my stuff staged on the pool table, his was all there too. And it really didn't take me that much longer to pack both of our bags than it would have taken me to do just mine. I just grabbed two of everything as I was checking things off my list (which was front and center on the table). 

We stopped in Clearfield to pick up Chris (teammate), and Tracy (our Van 1 driver for the weekend) on the way to Logan, and made it with plenty of time to spare. We milled around the start line for a few minutes, grabbed some bread from the Great Harvest booth, took a team picture (and one of us goofing off a little bit), and then it was time to send Matt off on the first leg of the relay. 

I always feel like the relay creeps up on me so fast, and this year was no exception. It takes forever for relay weekend to arrive, and then it's actually happening before I know it. There is such a sense of excitement and anticipation in the air when a wave of runners start out on the course. It is so fun to just be beginning what is sure to be an amazing weekend, and at the same time knowing the exhaustion that is to come is kind of daunting. At any rate, we cheered Matt across the start line, and headed back to the van to go to the first spot on Matt's leg where we would be able to support him, which was about 3 miles into a 6.5 mile leg. When Matt got to us, he informed us that he had been vomiting pretty much the entire time he was running, and wasn't feeling any better. 

Our main concern was keeping him hydrated at that point, and hoping that he didn't get any sicker. He wanted to keep running, so he left us and kept running. We checked in with him frequently, and although he was still puking fairly often, he felt like he could keep pushing through. It was with about 1.5 miles left on his leg that his body finally changed his mind for him. Lacy was next up to run, and she offered to take the additional distance left in his run and keep going for her leg. Way to push through, Matt, and thanks for picking up the extra, Lacy! We got Matt into the van, gave him some Phenergan, kept him hydrated, and he quickly fell asleep on one of the back bench seats (thank heavens for 15 passenger vans!). Lacy killed what ended up being about a 10 mile leg for her. 

Then it was my turn. My first leg was 6.7 miles, and it was difficult for me. Although it was mostly flat, it got really hot by the time I was out there, and I was not used to running in the heat. I got through the run with the help from my van mates, as well as other teams and locals who were out misting runners or full on spraying us with hoses. I also shouldn't have worn capris with as hot as it was, but I thought I had packed a running skirt in my bag and couldn't find it, so I didn't have much of a choice (I later found the running skirt tucked away in a safe place in my bag and kicked myself for not looking harder for it before this run). 

My handoff was to Kristen, whose first leg was 4.3 miles. She did awesome on her run, and even took a moment to pause and give us a gun show with a beautifully scenic backdrop. Go Kristen!

Kristen's handoff was to Chris, who had a gnarly 7.4 miles up the dirt road to Avon Pass. It was hot and dusty, and I don't envy him that leg. He did a great job and got us to the top of the hill, though! And if you can forget about all the dust getting kicked up everywhere, this is actually a really pretty route.

Chris handed off to Ami for her first leg, which was down the other side of Avon Pass and into Liberty where we would turn over the slap bracelet to Van 2 for their first set of legs. I have to give a special shout out to Ami, who ran this year's Ragnar 7 months pregnant with her second daughter. Isn't she a bad ass!? And did I mention she was passing people left and right? 

While Ami finished her last couple of miles of that leg, the rest of us high-tailed it to the park in Liberty where the first major exchange was. We met up with the other van, and I got to see Kevin and tell him good luck as he was about to embark on his first Wasatch Back. Doesn't he look thrilled? 

Once Van 2 took over, it was our turn to go rest, eat, and stretch our legs. I'll pick back up there on another post. I'm exhausted just recounting the first portion of that day!

~Linsey

Week 50 Update - 2,982 Miles

We added 18 miles last week, bringing the total tally to 2,360 miles. I have to remind myself that 18 miles is still a long ways, even though I know we all had bigger plans last week than what panned out. Ami is just a few weeks away from her due date with her second child, which has reduced her mileage, Lacy was out of town for work, Kristen had sick kiddos, and Linsey had a bike race that kept her out of her running shoes more than she would have liked. But despite all that, we still ran 18 miles. And that is a win. This week is a good reminder for me to celebrate the victories, whatever they may be. Great job, ladies!

Week 49 - 2,982 Miles

Somehow another week got away from me. Anyhow, we are 49 weeks into our challenge, and added another 42 miles last week. This brings us dang close to Baton Rouge. Before we know it, we'll be through New Orleans. 

Week 47 Update - 2,982 Miles

It's hard to believe that we are just several weeks shy of a year since we started this challenge to run across the country together. But here we are! It's been 47 weeks and we have logged 2,232 miles to date. Last week's miles also took us across the border into Louisiana. Just three more states to go. Keep up the good work, ladies and we'll be there before we know it! 

2015 Drop 13 Half Marathon

On June 13, 2015, Lacy and I ran the Drop 13 Half Marathon in Salt Lake City. To be more accurate, the race is actually held down Big Cottonwood Canyon, not in Salt Lake proper. It is a beautiful course, and the canyon is one of my favorite training runs of all time. Lacy and I ran the canyon a couple of times prior to race day, and we were both glad we had done that. Running downhill can take quite a toll on your body if you aren't trained for it. It is just as important to train downhill for a race as it is to train for distance and uphills in a race. It all requires different muscle groups, and your body needs to be prepared.

Back to race day. This half starts at 6am, which means there is a very early bus loading window. Lacy picked me up at about 3:50am and we headed to the bus loading area. When we parked to go board the bus, it was about 60 degrees. I knew it was going to be colder up the canyon, but given how warm it already was at 4am, I made the decision to leave my running jacket in the car, and go with just my tank. We did have survival blankets to take up with us, so I figured that would be sufficient for hanging out at the start area, and then I would warm up nicely when we started running. That turned out to be a bad decision. At any rate, we boarded the bus for the ride up the canyon, and were dropped off at about 4:45-5:00am (I think). 

It was SO cold. I immediately regretted leaving my running pullover in the car. And at the same time, I was so happy that we at least had our survival blankets. We claimed a little square of asphalt as our own, and settled in for the hour wait before the race would start. As a little side note, the survival blankets, although not quiet, do keep you surprisingly warm. Here we are up the canyon, in the dark, snuggled up in our foil blankies.

Once it got a little closer to the official start time, we ditched our space blankets and made our way to the start line. It only took me about 3 miles to warm up and be okay without having a warmer layer on top. And at the end of the day, I was glad that I didn't have to finish the race with a jacket tied around my waist, so it ended up being okay. 

I started off feeling pretty good, but my stomach quickly let me know that things were not copacetic. I won't go into any detail about it, but once I stopped at about mile 3 to use a restroom, things got a lot better afterwards. I didn't have to stop anymore after that, and didn't need any walking breaks either (which is a notable achievement for this runner). The rest of the race was pretty uneventful and beautiful. The finish line was closer to the mouth of the canyon this year due to some construction, so it was nice to be done sooner than I thought I would be. I came through the finish around 2:14, and was pleased with that result. My A goal was to be between 2:00 and 2:10, and my B goal, which admittedly was more realistic for how I trained leading up to this race, was to be between 2:10 and 2:20. Nailed it. Overall, I was happy with my performance at this half marathon, and will definitely be back to run it again next year! Finally, here's Lacy and I at the finish in our matching outfits.

If you're looking for a fun and fast half marathon, check out Drop13. It is a very well organized race, and very reasonably priced.

Week 46 Update - 2,982 Miles

I have missed several weeks of updates on the blogs - guess life has been busier than I realized. At any rate, last week we added 34 miles. With the other weeks totals that I have missed, that brings our total miles run to 2,203. We are well east of Houston and about to cross the Louisiana border. Great job ladies, and hope everyone is having a great week of running!

Week 42 Update - 2,982 Miles

We are 42 weeks into this crazy journey, and we have run a total of 2,072 miles, leaving us just 910 miles from our final destination. This sparks two questions in my mind. First, do you think we can complete the last 910 miles in the next 10 weeks so that we can reach our goal of arriving in Atlanta one year from when we left California? And second, what should our next challenge be!? 

2015 Ogden Marathon

On Saturday, May 16, I ran the Ogden Marathon in Ogden, UT. This was my second marathon ever, and also my second time at the Ogden Marathon. It has taken me a couple of weeks to decide to sit down and write about my experience, and to decide what to say. It was a rough day, and I needed a minute to process all of it and decide how I really felt about everything.

I set a goal this year to finish a marathon in 4 hours and some number of minutes. In all of my training leading up to the marathon, I knew it would be close whether I could come in under 5 hours, but I thought that the adrenaline of race day and having well rested legs would give me a little bit of an edge on race day. I felt confident in the training I had done, and I had managed to stay healthy all the way through my training cycle, which gave me a lot of confidence going into the marathon.

Everything went according to plan during race week, and Friday evening I headed up to Ogden to pick up my race packet. I got home, ate a healthy dinner, set out all my gear for the next morning, and went to bed. I didn't get to bed quite as early as I would have liked, but since I never sleep all that great the night before a race anyway, I wasn't hugely concerned about it. My alarm went off at 2:45 so I could get up, have breakfast and coffee, and go to meet my girlfriends who I was carpooling to the start with. We got to Ogden and parked near the bus loading area around 5am, and boarded a big yellow bus for the 26.2 mile drive up the canyon and into the mountains. I tried to eat most of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the bus ride up to the start line, but my stomach was a little uneasy, and I couldn't manage as much food as I would have liked. We milled around the start line for well over an hour prior to the start, used the honey buckets a couple of times, and right as we were about to start, some black clouds started rolling in. So we put on our trash bags. Ha! Then we were ready to run.

The gun went off, and thousands of runners funneled through the starting line. Seconds after starting, rain started falling, and it didn't quit for the entire race. If you've never run 26.2 miles in the rain, I don't recommend it. And if you have run 26.2 in the pouring rain, then you feel my pain. The combination of the cold and wet was probably the most disastrous combination I could have imagined. At least running in the snow, you can keep your body temperature warm, but running in the rain, not so much. Everything gets soaked through, and you are just soggily squishing along to the finish line. I had sore joints from the cold and wet, and by about mile 15, there were times when I was just shuffling along to try to keep moving forward. 

At mile 17, my amazing friends, Ilya and Aubrey were waiting for me with smiles and hugs. And boy did I need that right then. It was so nice to see friendly faces who believed in me, and believed that I could finish this thing, even in the crappiest of conditions. I got a couple of hugs, and was on my way down the canyon for the remaining 9ish miles of the course. 

At this point, the downhill was a huge help. A lot of people have a hard time with the downhill getting steeper at mile 17-18, but I train a lot of downhill (because it's fun and I like it), and that came in handy when my legs were still holding up for me in that section of the course. The most brutal part of the canyon was the wind I encountered. It was raining and blowing so hard that I had to put my head down so the bill of my hat could shield my face from the blowing rain. And my trash bag was plastered to the front of me, making arm movement nearly impossible. I was happy to reach the mouth of the canyon and get out of that wind.

Once I was out of the canyon, I only had a few miles to go, and I was able to get into a rhythm where my legs felt pretty good for the last part. I was beyond ecstatic when I turned the final corner and saw the finish arch in the distance. Granted, it was a lot further down that street than I would have liked, but knowing I was almost there made me want to cry tears of joy. As I approached the finish chute, I took off my trash bag so I could run through the finish in a more respectable fashion. And promptly dropped it. Stopping and bending over to pick that up hurt like hell, but I got moving again and crossed the finish with a smile on my face (although I'm not smiling in this picture). 

As I mentioned earlier, I had a goal of 4:??:?? for this race. By the time I hit the half way point or so, I knew that goal had slipped away from me. It was so disappointing to have to run the second half of the race, knowing that my goal had already been missed. I tried not to beat myself up about it too badly since finishing a marathon is still quite an accomplishment, but I didn't succeed all that well. And I still haven't totally processed it and let go of the way it all ended up. 

I guess this means that now I just have to do another marathon and prove to myself that I am capable of a 4-something finishing time. Maybe I'll let Ogden go and try a different downhill race like Big Cottonwood next year. I suppose time will tell. 

I also have to give a huge shout out and thank you to my husband for all his support leading up to this year's marathon. He drove me up the canyon at all hours of the morning on the weekends, he put up with my early bedtimes, and afternoon naps when I was tired from long runs. And he listened to me complain about long runs when I needed an ear as well. And then he drove to the finish line and stood in the rain with more awesome people - Bethany and Weston - and cheered me through the finish and drove me home. 

Congratulations to everyone who finished the Ogden Marathon and Half last month! You are all champions in my book. 

Week 40 - 2,982 Miles

Last week we added another 58 miles to our total, and will hopefully cross the 2,000 mile mark this week. Keep it up, ladies! We're headed due south into Houston now. 

Week 39 Update - 2,982 Miles

I missed posting our update for last week, so this week is doubly awesome! We added a total of 94 miles over the last two weeks, and have reached Ft. Worth, Texas! In the next couple of weeks, we will drop in to the triple-digits-remaining in this journey. Woohoo! 

Week 37 Update - 2,982 Miles

Last week we added 68 miles, and as expected, passed through Wichita Falls, TX. We have less than 350 miles to go until we reach our next major stop along the way to Atlanta! Nice job ladies, and keep up the good work.