Adventure Report

Warning: This is a long one. I wanted to fully document my experience of the last adventure…

I don't know if I have ever really talked about this but I have, over the last few years, developed a HUGE desire to try new things. I label them adventures. It started back in college with one of my roommates. While she had an amazing confidence and was absolutely fearless, I have always been very conscientious and cautious in what I do. I believe it’s because I have always lived in the fear that something could go wrong. In my adult years, thus far, I have come to find that I need to change my thinking. It shouldn’t be “things could go wrong” but “things will go wrong.” I am continuously learning that NO MATTER how hard I try, life happens. Things do go wrong. I have come to learn that it has always been fear that has held me back from doing so much more than I thought I was capable. As I was thinking about this one day I stumbled across this scripture. In Doctrine and Covenants 88:91 it reads “And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people.” When I read this it struck me that I don’t need to be scared of what could or might happen. Press on, and things work out.

I have also come to find that, as life goes wrong, it’s the goals and ambitions I have that get me through it. It’s these adventures that I involve myself in, that help me find joy in the journey. Since this realization I have graduated, bought a house, got married, started a career (lost that position, but no worries… I’m getting back on track), ran some 5k’s, did a triathlon, tried out and performed in Hello Dolly, ran Ragnar: Wasatch Back, and am signed up to run Ragnar: Las Vegas! (I think there are probably more adventures, but I can’t think of them right now… I caught the big ones though.) Sometimes I can convince Preston that these are a good idea, and sometimes I can’t. The twin usually talked me into adventures too.

Here is what Ragnar is. It's an approx. 200 mile relay race that involves a team of 12 runners in two vans. Each person runs 3 legs and the race lasts somewhere from 18 (for the BYU XC team) to 40 hours.

Well, onto my experience of the latest adventure, Ragnar: Wasatch Back! This seemed to be a huge undertaking. I don’t think I realized the magnitude of it till I was in the van and trying to stretch for my first leg. Anyway, I was asked about 10 weeks prior to the event if I would like to join the team of a friend. I said yes. It was really hard not to. Her company was paying for the registration fees, and providing the vehicles. I only had to pay for food, gas, and a bed to sleep in for a few hours. I paid $30 for the whole thing! Anyway, I started training as much as I could and dragged my mother in law along for it. Looking back, I could have trained more. Anyway, here’s how it all went down:

6:45 am- Woke up

Packed my stuff and got ready for the race

7:30 am- Picked up Mikelle and drove to her work

8:00 am- Met up with the other 4 people in our van

Drove to Logan

9:45 am- Decorated our van upon arrival (we didn’t do that much… it was definitely lacking)

10:00 am- Checked in and got our swag and numbers

Completed the safety orientation

10:45 am- Started to completely freak out inside, and wanted to scream with all available energy, but didn’t

11:00 am- The race was on and Runner 1 was off

The Starting line

Really started to freak out inside, and wanted to scream with all available energy but still didn’t

11:55 am- Started my first leg – a “6.7” mile run (GPS tells me it’s 7.49 miles, and it sure felt like 7.49 miles)

(Not completely sure on the finish time but it took longer than hoped. This is when my phone died too, and I forgot my charger. Classic.)

I took this while I was running. It's hard to tell in this picture, but this little 150-200 yard switchback was oober steep and a rough one to run. It came around mile 5 of the first leg.

The rest is all more of a blur… hahaha. Not really, but much of the same stuff. The Ragnar slogan is Run. Eat. Sleep? Repeat. How true that is. After all of us finished our first legs we went to Quiznos in Ogden and got dinner. Once we all thought we had enough time out of the van (possible? Probably not) we got back in and met up at Snowbasin for our second legs.

My second leg started around 10:00 pm Friday. It was, BY FAR, my favorite run. It’s not because it was the shortest either. Promise. I loved it because it was the one that was cool. I trained in cold weather. I hate running in the heat. It got hot outside on that black asphalt too. Anyway, this one was SOOO much easier than the others because of that. I think I even beat my pace on this one. It was all surreal though as I was running down the side of a freeway with a headlamp, and following the white line and the little red lights in front of me. We were required to wear the headlamp, a safety vest, and a tail light (the little red lights I followed). There have been a few deaths in previous years, so they are really cracking down on safety now. I appreciate it. Anyway, I also liked it because I made the most kills on this one. (Kills, meaning I passed people and they never caught back up to me.) I also was only killed once. I stayed right with that guy too till the end, but never had enough to pass him… The other two legs I was killed a lot.

Since no one else could stay awake for our second legs, the driver and I were it. It’s mandatory that two people stay awake at all times besides the runner; the driver and the safety officer (or person in the front seat). We finished our legs at about 2:45 and then drove to East Canyon Condominiums to sleep. I ended up with about 3 hours of sleep before it was time to get moving again. {Insert quick shower here.} We met up at the final exchange around 9:00am just in time for our first runner to hop out of the car and start running. We passed his predecessor with less than a mile to go and she was quick!

I ran my last leg around 10:00 and I’ll tell ya, my body was feelin’ it. I blame my shoes. They were cheap $30 shoes that I used to train for the Triathlon last year. The support that they did have, I could tell, was DEFINITELY gone. The pain alternated from one knee to the other to my left foot and back again. I took a lot of ibuprofen 30 min before that last leg, but it didn’t kick in till my last mile and a half. I am sad to say that I did end up walk/running the first 1.5 miles because of it. Then I just decided that I wasn’t anymore and pushed through to the end. My foot still feels a little tender, but not bad. That last leg was 3.6 miles. In total I ran 13.3 miles or 14.1, depending on what you trust. {I'm gonna pat myself on the back here since that is WAY farther than I have ever gone. Some people in my ward couldn't believe that I ran Ragnar having only done a few 5k's and not even a 10k!}

After our last legs, Mikelle and I were able to go home and shower and relax before it was time for the second van to come in to the finish line in Park City. Mikelle didn’t end up coming back out with us, but Preston and I went and he took this little video on my phone of us crossing the finish line. (Sorry about the quality – it’s not even close to HD and the sound won’t load for some reason…)

The Finish.

Me in my goofy sunglasses and medal at the finish line

Our team {minus Mikelle...}
My van was Mikelle, Mr. T on the right end, and the two guys behind me
They were all really great, and really fun to run with!

We finished 15th of 45 for coed corporate teams, and 277th out of 823 out of all coed teams! I would say that's not bad... :)
Our total time: 30H53M35s