Teeny and I were talked into doing this by one of our friends, Larry (&Ang), last September and at the time we were totally stoked to do it. As time got closer and closer we became a little more nervous and then we just wanted to get the sucker done! We were a little turned off by all the 'rules' that Ragnar was laying down and it turned out to be more than we've spent on any race before, but holy crap what a friggin' great time we had! Totally worth it! Our van, or truck generously donated by Melynda's husband Adam, was chuck full of good times. We didn't know each other until the night before we ran the race. We all met up in Logan. Miles and Kristy and us went to the temple figuring if we were going to die, we'd best go out on a good note right? After a little Cafe Sabor (best salmon pasta ever!) we headed back to the hotel to meet up with the other groupies (Larry, Melynda and Carolyn). Right off the bat we could tell that this was going to be a blast. Finally we had to get to bed and TRY to sleep for the next day's adventures. Even though some of our team was all doped up on drugs, none of us really managed a 'good' nights sleep.
Our Team (Truck 1) Soul ASSylum:
Carolyn, Melynda, Larry, Miles, Kristy, Teeny and me.
After breakfast at the hotel it was go time. We got down to the start line and got Carolyn lined up in the chute, and just like that we were off. Being the novice's we were at this, we took our sweet time getting to the first exchange and when we realized how fast Carolyn was we were sure she'd be waiting there for us. Luckily, we caught her at about her last mile and had a successful first exchange.
The Rag tent
Sorry, Teeny, I had to put this pic in. She lost her lens to her giant sunnies and this was the result.
Carolyn passed up all these slow-pokes.
Each of the runners in our truck was awesome. Seriously. We all did runs that the rest of us wouldn't want to do and we all kicked it in the butt. After rolling through some of the most beautiful parts of Northern Utah we headed up Avon Pass. This was Teeny's grueler. Her first run was dusty, uphill and a mere seven miles, not to mention hot. She was amazing! This was probably the run none of us wanted to do and she cruised up that hill like she owned it. With dirt on her teeth and everywhere else she handed off to me and I took off down the hill towards Liberty. We met our van 2 there and headed for the next exchange to rest before the next set of grueling runs hit.
Blacksmith Fork Canyon and the ladies
There was a mattress in the back of the truck bed which made a great resting spot for us!
Larry finishing up run numero uno
Miles looking fast through Hyrum.
Teeny kicking Avon Pass right in the a%&
Me on the way down.
Our next legs began at Solitude Ski Resort....could have fooled us! We ended up at the wrong exchange and when we finally realized it, our runner from van 2 had been there waiting for a couple minutes for us. Ooops. We started our second legs at about 6pm or so and we figured there would be some night running. Our awesome night gear kept us safe and well lit (worse than a tinsel Christmas tree). Teeny ran through Morgan and then my leg was a quick 8 mile jaunt up to East Canyon Reservoir. We finished up at 11:30 at night. During my night run the thought came to me, more than once, "Why the h%$! am I doing this?!". It was uphill and dark, but I just kept plugging along. It had to be one of the more challenging runs I've done. It's always great though running into your support truck, and ours was the best. We all took turns cheering each other on and dishing out water and powerades to our runners. Larry was by far the most energetic (surprise, surprise) of us all and coined the phrases, "Go Runner" and after that got old, "Go Sexy" and "No diggity" (why you yell this to a runner is beyond the rest of us). After meeting up with Kristy (who was driving in the dark with bad vision, but she did mention she'd graciously take out a car before a runner) we headed to Oakley rodeo grounds to attempt sleeping before the final legs of our runs began. It took us a good while to get there, and once there Teeny and I threw out the tarp, sleeping bags zipped together and we were out.
Miles gearing up for night duty.
The ladies in our group were solid.....poops and all.
Teeny all lit up.
A whole three hours later, we were all up and at it again though plowing through our last legs. The last day did provide us some moonings, some from our team and one not, chapped nips (Miles and his nurples) and a shower, which never felt better. Teeny and my last runs were through Heber. Flat and easy, well kind of. Teeny's 'Easy' was pretty hilly, but she took her anger out on those poor hills. Finishing up felt great. I didn't care to run for at least a week, if ever. With tired legs we showered, got lunch and headed to the finish line. Our truck finished up at 11am and got to Park City (The Canyons) at about 1pm, figuring our team would finish around 3pm. That didn't actually happen until 6pm which was kind of anti-climatic as Carolyn put it. Our communist medals were gathered, passed out and our final pics taken before we all headed our different directions.
Melynda hitting the road for her last leg. There was a mooning in the forecast.
At Jordanelle. It was nice passing lakes during the day so you could actually see them.
Sprinting to the finish. Check out Larry - what a running diva!
Teeny, me and the medals. We have to get these from our runs so our boys think that we won!
Truck one - in all our awesomeness!! Soak it in!
Soul ASSylum. We came, we saw, we kicked it!!
For Teeny, Miles, Kristy and I those directions were back to Park City to a condo we'd lined up through someone Miles knew. The condo was truly just what the doc ordered. After ordering in some pizza we soaked in the hot tub, and what a soak it was. Nacho Libre tucked us all in for the night and we were out. Sunday was Fathers Day and we headed back home to our kiddies and fams. Teeny got me this awesome Brazil shirt, my new favorite....she dresses me a lot better than I do. It was a great day.
Miles, Kristy and us at the condo. So nice to relax before getting back to real life.
Overall, we really couldn't have done this with a better group of people. It never got boring or slow. We have made some new friends that will last a good long time.
VIVA Soul ASSylum!!
