2008 Ragnar Relay - The Wasatch Back

A group of friends and I competed in the Ragnar Relay last month. The race is a total of 178 miles, teams comprised of 12 total people, and each person runs a total of 3 legs (between 12-17 miles total) over 2 days. You hardly sleep and are stuck in a van of 6 stinky people who haven't showered either. Sounds fun yet? We actually had a great time but were VERY tired by the end, emotionally and physically. It is one of the hardest things I have ever done and yet we are signing up again for next year...My half of the team was comprised of myself, Krissa and Tom, Gerard, Cynthia, and Richard.

Me and Cyn with a lot of energy. We hadn't run anything yet.

Redling power-juice

Gerard - looks a little tired - it was over 90 with no wind the first day. Ugh

In order to keep our time, we had to switch this wrist bracelet at the exchange points. It was the same as those old slap bracelets that you used to play with as kids. Gerard looks a little confused below...

Go Tom Go

Cyn and Krissa prepping

This was one of the views from the road. The race started in Logan and finished in Park City. We ran past lakes and through mountains. It was beautiful.

Cyn and I ordered these outfits on the Ragnar Website before the race. We thought the shorts would be tight and short but not "camel-toe" short. We wore them anyway (and got lots of free water and drinks while running from other vans :)

Part of the race goes over Gardsman pass. We were waiting for Gerard and all of a sudden this snake (about 5-6 ft long) came across the road right below us.

The second bout of running started at about 2 AM and finished around sunrise. I ran a stretch through a small road in the middle of nowhere. Alex road next to me on his bike to pace me, which was nice because there was nothing around and it was pitch black. We wore a ton of glow-sticks all over us.

Cyn in the morning.

This was an important exchange point for our team. This was the point where we realized we had left one of our teammates behind. Richard, who only Gerard knew, had been sitting in the very back of the van the entire race and listening to his headphones a lot. He was a man of few words. At Gerard-Tom exchange, he supposedly got out of the van to go to the bathroom and take some pics of the exchange. Gerard came pretty quickly and was emotionally spent. I sat in the very back with the doors open to help him, Cyn was driving, and Krissa was taking care of Teya in the front. We figured Richard was in the van sleeping. Gerard and I even talked to him when we were in the back. At Krissa's exchange, Cyn went to get Richard up to have him join in and realized he was missing. We didn't know for over an hour!! OOPS :) He ended up catching a ride from another team but we didn't see him until 2 hours after we finished the entire race. Sorry Richard!!

Finish-line

Our spectators, Evan and Teya