Red Rock Relay 2013 - Brian Head to Zion - 2 vans and 12 runners combined to form the legendary "Run Walk Crawl" team (team name lives on as runners consistently change per race). "Snow Van" 1 consisted of John & Alicia Tebbs, Lauretta & Scott Sechrest and Laura & Steve Gardanier.
Ready to get running Friday morning at 6:15 am from Brian Head, Utah. Temperature: 42 degrees.
Lauretta took the first leg which was SO fun--running 1-1/4 miles to the ski lift, riding to the top and running 3-1/2 miles down.
Steve was runner 2 and was lucky to get "The Diablo"-- 3 miles uphill at 10,000+ feet with a small downhill at the end. Funny how all of his legs had the word "devil" somewhere in the title...
Marathoner Laura took the long 8-1/2 miler because we knew she'd run it fast--and she did.
At this point you may be asking, "What do the other runners DO while they're waiting for their turn?"
I had the next 7-miler which was pretty much downhill most of the way--LOVED IT!
John took the next leg. He's really a good sport about these races since he doesn't care for running but is good to support one of my passions. (That's why I give him the shortest, easiest legs so he is happy :D)
I wanted to document this for John... If you look closely, he is behind the guy in the red socks and then goes in for "the kill" and passed him. I secretly think he loves to run but doesn't want to admit it or he'd be registered in a race a month with me!
Scott was the final runner in our first 6 legs...
... BUT, these studs ran the first leg for "Snow Van" 2 splitting the almost 6 miles since Van 2 had a few extra miles and novice runners and just because we said we'd do it for them.
"Snow Van" 2 - Mordue Family - So glad they were willing to race with us!! We turned the next 5 legs over to them, headed to Cedar City for lunch and then started up Round 2 around 4:30 pm.
Van 2 Karen passing off to Van 1 Scott. Here we go again...
Scott and Lauretta both hauled on their next 2 legs, posting some of their best times.
We're always happy to see the next runner waiting for us at the exchange.
At this point the weather started getting nasty and both Laura and Steve got rained on at some point during their legs.
See the top of that dirt trail? That was the end of Steve's run entitled "Dirty Devil."
After John took the next leg it started to pour and the mud was so deep and the van was fishtailing, that we pulled John out of the clay sludge and drove him to the next exchange where we waited until the rain and lightning stopped.
I took the last leg of our second set from there and had pure highway for my 5-1/2 miles. It was great.
When I finished running at 8:30 pm, we then got to sleep (NOT!) until I started our final set of legs at 1:45 am. The good thing about running in the absolute dark, middle of the night is that a 3-mile hill is hard to see so you actually run faster as you try and keep your normal pace.
Here are some photos of our middle-of-the-night handoffs:
We were done running at 6 am Saturday morning and we headed to our house in St. George for a SHOWER and quick nap before driving to Zion to meet Van 2 when they finished their last set of legs and crossed the finish line at 12:45 pm, exactly 29-1/2 hours from when we started. Yay for us!
And really, if you ask him, John enjoyed every minute of it and will be doing it again...