This has been my favorite relay race so far! (Granted, it's only my second one but it was so fun and gorgeous!!!) This picture pretty much sums up the personalities of "Snow" Van #1: Dan - not going to run AT ALL, just do his 12 min. walking pace (which is a quick pace) and don't you dare "woot woot" me through the windows of the van; Heidi - even keel, no whining or complaining, give me the legs you don't want, I can handle it; Alicia - excited to be here, with or without a spouse, gonna shoot for 8-1/2 to 9-1/2 min. miles this time, where's the food?; Ryan - not sure how Misty drug me into this but I "think" I'm having fun and I "think" I trained for this race; Misty - willing to run even with pain, not sure about getting on that ski lift in 30-degree temp. to run down on a dirt trail, master photographer...
Misty heading up the ski lift to run the 3.1 miles down on a dirt trail. Unfortunately she got lost (not well-marked up there) and she added an additional .75 miles to her first leg! Plus, the altitude seemed to affect all of us as well...
The first exchange.
Dan walking his first leg of 4.2 miles up by Cedar Breaks--gorgeous! The great thing about Dan was he took all the yucky uphill legs since he's a great hiker. His legs were called "El Diablo," "Dirty Devil," and "Black Dog," so we nicknamed him "Devil Dog Dan."
My first leg was 7 miles and a lot of it was downhill--woot woot!
So happy to have finished my first leg in an hour.
The "situation": John found his meniscus was torn TWO DAYS before the race and we scrambled to find a replacement. Hillary was willing/able to come, but not until her classes were over on Friday so Dan and I split John's first leg of 4 miles. Dan walked UP the first 1.5 miles and I ran down the last 2.5. I would've enjoyed it more if his leg wouldn't have been immediately after mine...
The Replacement: John picked up Hillary in Provo and got her to Cedar City for the van exchange and she was ready to run. We started our 2nd leg from SUU at 7:15 pm and I ran the last 5.5 miles into Newcastle about 1:00 am. We drove to Veyo for the next van exchange and tried to get a couple of hours of sleep (I slept in the car from 2:00-4:30 am) before we were off and running our 3rd leg around 5:30 am.
Our 3rd leg was from Veyo to Washington and again, just beautiful, gorgeous country! (As I looked closely at this photo I noticed my pigtails are sticking straight out from my dried sweat--gross, I know...)
Hillary was excited to begin her last 5-mile leg. It was actually a good thing she came because her comment when she was done was "There is NO way dad could've done this..." I think he probably would've walked a lot, but he could've done it.
Heidi got to run down Snow Canyon right at sunrise. Can't ask for a more amazing run than that. She handed off to Hillary...
... and Hillary ran fast--much faster than John.
Hillary handing off to Ryan...
"Snow" Van #1: Alicia, Hillary, Misty, Ryan, Dan, Heidi
"Sun" Van #2: Laura, Steve, Mike, Kristen, Scott, Lauretta
Running across the finish line at Zion with the whole team... (notice my shoes--my toes were bruised and had a few blisters--good thing it was only 100 feet more)
The landscape almost looks like a painted backdrop. The scenery is what definitely made the race for me...
The end of the race for team "Run, Walk, Crawl" (which we definitely achieved in every aspect). New accomplishment for me--21 miles in 2 days. Farewell decorated van... until we meet again in 6 months or so!
The guys...
The crazy group...
The rest of the family got to take one friend to a SUITE at the REAL game where they versed the Colorado Rockies and tied 1-1.
Hillary brought her friend Will from BYU who hails from Colorado. Not a good mix with a suiteful of REAL fans... (is that mustard I see on John's shirt??? :)
We all had a SWEET/SUITE night!
