It has been nearly a month now since the infamous Wasatch Back, and a friend of mine just emailed some pictures from the race to me that made me feel strangely nostalgic. I guess it's time to make a record of my experience in the 180 mile relay. If you've heard this all from me already, feel free just to scroll through some funny pictures. For the rest of you, here is the play by play of a strangely rewarding, exhilirating and horrible life experience.
Here's the gist of how this race works. You have 12 runners on a team. Every runner runs 3 legs of varying distances between Logan and Park City, Utah. Van 1 takes the first 6 runners up to Logan...they run the first 6 legs, and then Van 2 meets them at exchange 6 and does the next 6 while Van 1 rests. You flip-flop vans at every 6th exchange, resting for a few hours when your van is "inactive." Your team has a runner on the road consecutively from the starting line all through the night until your last runner crosses the finish line. Sounds crazy? I thought so too, but still 545 teams of crazies managed to pay the $1200 entry fee and tie on their running shoes...including me. We christened our team "G.U.T.S." or "Girls Under Tremendous Stress" and at 10:00 a.m. on June 20th, runner 1 set off out the gate.
I was in Van 2...here we are (naive and uninitiated), waiting at exchange 6 for our first legs.
Because we were in Van 2, we met Van 1 of our team in Eden, rather than driving all the way up to Logan. We got there around 2:00 p.m. where we got our first taste of just how big this event really is. Essentially this is a 1000 car caravan across some of the most beautiful and scenic back roads of Northern Utah. We set the first of our runners (who by the way was 15 weeks pregnant at the time) out on the road at around 3:15--right at the peak of the heat on a blistering day.
There was plenty of beautiful landscape to see as we ran our first legs between Eden and Snow Basin...this was not part of it. But "Speedo Man" did serve to entertain us as we plowed through the heat...he passed his baton off to a guy over 6 feet tall wearing a Snow White costume, and their next runner had on a wig and Sleeping Beauty outfit. I told you there were a lot of crazies.
Look at that form! I was runner 10 and ran around 5:15...it was HOT, but fortunately only 3.7 miles.
Here is some of the beautiful country we covered.
We reached exchange 12 at Snow Basin around 7:00 and van 1 took over. We ate dinner, cleaned up a little bit in the bathrooms, and just enjoyed the beautiful view of the mountains for a while before we got back in our car and headed south to meet up with our other van at the next exchange. I would tell you where that was, but really all I can say is that is was in the middle of nowhere...outside of Morgan...and by now it was close to midnight and my memory was beginning to be clouded by drowsiness. At any rate, thanks to a little snafu in communication, we botched our meeting with van 1, but fortunately only lost a few minutes and were soon back on track with our first runner starting her second leg around the stroke of midnight. To keep runners safe, we were all required to wear reflective vests and headlamps from one hour before sunset until one hour after sunrise. One of my fondest memories of this race was how funny it was to drive along the route and see swishing reflective stripes every several yards. It was such a strange and alien sight.
Here are Heidi and Kristi sporting our late-night fashion.
Of all the things that I was worried about as I prepared for this race, nothing scared me more than the thought of my second run in the middle of the night. I was estimated to be in my gate at 3 a.m.! We made up time, and I actually got an early start at 2:30...this ended up being the highlight of the whole event for me. I can still vividly call up the pictures in my memory of this run...probably my favorite run ever. I ran along Pineview reservoir for a while--across a bridge with water on both sides reflecting a beautiful, bright, full moon. Then I ran through the quiet main street of small town Huntsville..where everything was closed up and silent. For nearly seven miles I was alone with the perfect night temperatures, the peace that belongs only to the wee hours of the morning, the occasional passing of another reflective vest and headlamp, and the cadence of my own breath and stride. When I finished, I felt the same kind of elation I feel post-labor. It was just amazing to me that I could do something like this...I felt so profoundly what a gift it is to have a working, healthy body.
And then I hit the wall.
Our last runner finished her leg around 5 a.m.; we exchanged with van 1 and drove ahead to our next starting point (Heber Middle School) to get a few hours of sleep. We parked, and hurried all the way around the school--now that I'd cooled down from my run, it was freezing. For the next few hours we lay down on the hard floor of the middle school hallway without a mat..(I had left my pillow in the car and was too exhausted to hike all the way back to get it. I scrunched up my sweaty running jacket and called that good.) I slept for about an hour and a half..two of the girls in my group didn't sleep for even 1 minute! And the best part is, the middle school charged us $2 a person for the privilege of NOT sleeping on their hard floor. Finally, at around 8:00, I gave up and went to the bathroom to clean off some sweat, pull my hair back and brush my teeth.
At this point, we were all ready just to get things over with...our last and final exchange with van 1 happened around 10:00 a.m. That put me on the Ragnar hill at around lunchtime.
*Ragnar (n) In mythology and legend, a man, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits and favored by the gods.
The hardest leg of this race is leg 34 (or the Ragnar leg)...my final run. It's only 4 miles long, but has a total elevation gain of 1678 feet...basically, you are running over the mountain that divides Midway from Park City....and you run it with the sun beating down on you...and oh yeah, it's a gravel road. I trained hills every week for 6 weeks to prepare for this run. By the time I actually put my foot on the trail, my body was spent, there was nothing left to draw from. There were sections of the "hike" so steep that it was no longer a question for me if I would be able to "run" them...I wasn't sure I could walk them! Four miles took 60 minutes...I wanted to do better, I trained to do better, but the truth was, there are plenty of healthy people who could not have done it that fast on a full night's sleep without having already run 11 miles. When I finally came to the "one mile left" marker I found the energy to run to it and kiss it. Someday, I want to drive up there and try it again fully rested...but not yet...I think if I went there today I would just throw up.
This is the gradual climb at the very end of the leg...the picture just doesn't convey how very steep this run was. Did you notice I'm smiling? I must have been delirious by then.
See how eagerly I'm passing the wristband off to Jill? I almost literally kicked up my heels and yodeled when I finished, I was so relieved.
Our last 2 runners came down the mountain and through Park City, where we met our fearless team members from van 1 and all 12 of us met our last runner and ran together to the finish line. Of course, Sara, our last runner who was finishing up her final leg when we met her there at the very end, thought she would be cute and sprint the remaining distance...where she found the energy we will never know. We crossed the finish line at 3:20 p.m. June 21st.
Here is our complete team at the finish line. We finished 2nd in our division!
I came into this run to begin with when my running buddy Jeni invited me along. 1 month before the race, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. We decided as a team to dedicate our run to her, and she met us that afternoon at the finish line. She had just undergone her second chemo treatment and had cut her hair very short that day to prepare for losing it altogether. I almost didn't recognize her when she called to me in the parking lot. The instant I saw her, the whole day was suddenly put into perspective...I felt ashamed of all my whining about the Ragnar hill...I was reminded again what a privilege it is to have a body healthy and whole.
Would I do this crazy thing again? You bet...next year I will take Jeni along with me though. Right Jeni?
