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.
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