Tutu Fast

What an amazing weekend! I had the opportunity to be a runner in a team relay and it was awesome. Awesome and memorable and tiresome and difficult and smelly and wonderful. Here are some race facts for you:

REDROCK RELAY
team name: dancing with the tar
186 miles
26.5 hours
began Friday, 9/10, at noon
finished Saturday, 9/11, at 2:30 p.m.
1.5 hours of sleep
1 real meal, snacks, gatorade, water, and sports gel (basically starvation)
2 vans with 6 runners each: snow van #1, sun van #2
2 reflective vests
2 headlamps
36 exchanges
1 incredible journey with 12 amazing runners!

So the relay began in Brian Head, went across Cedar mountain and down into Cedar City, headed west to Newcastle/Enterprise, turned south to Mountain Meadow, followed the SG marathon course, went through SG into Washington, through Hurricane, and finished in Zion. Our 12 person team was divided into two vans: the SNOW van and the SUN van, because they called it the "Snow to Sun Journey."

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:

Great photo op: our team name was written on the back of the van, so when the back was up, it cast this awesome shadow on the TAR.

The race began at the top of the ski lift at Brian Head. Here is the gang with fresh legs! Notice the 2 babies who came along for the entire ride--they got tutus too. So cute.

Morning of. This pic is slightly out of place. Oops.

Riding on the lift to support our first runner. The ride back down was so cold!

Unfortunately, we didn't really get to see a lot of the van 1 girls, but they did an amazing job. And fortunately, I got to meet and become fast friends with 4 girls from SG who now have a special place in my heart. Here is a quick view of the van 2 girls. This is runner #7, Jamie Egbert, an amazing athlete with fabulous post-run snacks including boiled eggs, salty potatoes, and donut holes. She let me borrow her GPS watch when I ran, which was so nice.

Runner #8: Jamie Jeppson (formerly Beecher, for those of you who know Tonya or Chelsea.) She had a fabulously fluffy tutu and hilarious stories about her experiences as a workout instructor.

Runner #9: Haley Hammons, sneezed about a thousand times and remained perky throughout those 30+ hours together.

Runner #10: Heather Stout, with her husband Casey, who was on another team and who became our designated photographer. Can't give her enough props for being my marathon training buddy this summer (we missed you, Kaelee!). Her van got a lot of extra mileage this weekend.

Runner #11: Me. I will probably--no definitely--never run in these socks again. I'd run in the tutu first. I ran 6.5, 6.9, and 6.7 miles, totaling 20.1 miles. I would have rather run them all at once. Running 3 shorter legs is so much harder than you can imagine. Especially with little to no food and sleep. But I feel better prepared physically and mentally for the marathon because of it.

Runner #12: Camee Clark looked as fresh when she finished as when she began, I swear. Her quick wit kept things interesting, even at 4 a.m.

Required gear for night time hours. So stylish.

I felt like I was flying down Cedar canyon. My quads were so ruined from this leg--OUCH!

There were people and sleeping bags everywhere at the van exchanges. This is at the Washington rec center.

I was lucky enough to snag a chair.

My new best friends.

In relays, it's common to keep your "kill score" on your vehicle. The kill score is how many runners you pass (like roadkill). We got 60 kills! That's not even counting the other van's kills.

Always supportive spectators. Thanks for keeping the kids alive, Leif! Love you guys.

And done. Exhausted.

Our van also said, "Tutu cute," and "Kiss my tulle." :)

Such a beautiful finish line. I'm so proud of my team! Van #1 girls on the bottom row from left: Aimee Langston, Liz Danzie, Ty Clark, Mandi Beard, and Renee Rymer (not pictured: Michelle Peterson, who left after her second leg)

Texas Roadhouse finally filled the void in our tummies. And then I went home, showered, and slept for 11 hours straight. I could have slept longer. And then I took a nap after church. I'm hobbling around like an old woman today. I will not be running tomorrow. Thanks for the memories, girls!

(I'm sure I left something out; I'll have to edit as I remember.)