We had a super-awesome team. And that's what makes it so fun. Our "van" consisted of 3 seminary teachers and their wives. They were well trained. Dave and I weren't.
My mom took the kids, even though they had to bring Mari and the baby home from the hospital that day. She had one crazy weekend! But we were so grateful she did it. And we LOVED our little mini-vacation from responsibility. We went to bed the night before the race with no kids in our house. We've never done that before. It was weird. But cool.
I haven't been on a team in awhile. Not really since cheerleading I guess. I love being on a team. That was my favorite part about the Ragnar relay. You are all cheering each other on. So much so that it seems like every team is cheering all the other teams on. We started calling it the Spirit of Ragnar.
There were 1050 teams this year. There are 12 people on a team. You do the math. That's a lot of people. It seemed like everyone I knew did it. And one of my friends who didn't do it said it felt like he missed out on something big.
We learned some valuable lessons. When van 2 was running we went to Wolf Creek and enjoyed a lovely lunch in the shade. We lounged around, but I started panicking that we were going to miss our exchange. I was shot down a few times, but eventually we mobilized and boy were we lucky. As we drove up the hill to Snowbasin, we watched for our runner. We couldn't see him. We knew we were in trouble. Less than half a mile from the exchange, we finally saw him. We BARELY made it. We tried REALLY hard to make each exchange because it would be pretty deflating to run your hardest and get to the exchange only to sit there waiting for your teammate. We watched lots of people do that, and always felt bad for them. For our next set of legs we drove to the exchange and hung out there. It took 2 hours to go 40 miles. That's why you go there first, you can never estimate how long it will take you to get from place to place.
If you were wondering, the item that you pass off for the relay is a slap bracelet. As you approach your exchange you take the bracelet off and slap it on their wrist as they run away.
Dave's first leg was 6.7 miles. He didn't think he could do it. He ran the whole way. He made pretty good time. 11 minute miles. I fell even more in love with him. I was so unbelievably proud of him.
My first leg was ugly. For me anyway, I thought it was hard. My second leg was quite nice. And my third was fantastic. Although the third had a rough start. I had asked over and over, best case scenario when will she show up. 8:20. Best case. At 8:05 I heard my number called. 695! She totally exceeded our expectations which was awesome. Later I was proud of her. But in the moment I started panicking. Yelling, "You said Best Case Scenario!!!" I did make it in time for the exchange, but I was not ready. I hadn't even used my inhaler for my asthma yet. I think I'll put the video of that exchange on here. As I turned the corner of that mountain I saw around 7 hot air balloons. That was my tender mercy. I loved it.
We already signed up for Ragnar next year with our same van. I can't wait. I hope I can do it.
Our team at the start line
Me. Just happy to be a part of the action.
Celebrating at the finish line
My favorite leg and surprise exchange
1 comment:
Stinking amazing. I can't see myself ever doing something like that, but I admire those of you who have.
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