Wasatch Back Relay

Hey guys! Coming at you from Las Vegas! We arrived yesterday afternoon and met up with Brents family. More on that later though, I want to make sure I get my recap out there before it becomes a thing of the past.

Wasatch Back is one of the largest relay races in the nation. It seems to get bigger and bigger every year. This year there were 1200 teams.

Our team was called 3 legs=loose stool. If you have ever ran ragnar you have probably experienced this. TMI? My team consisted of 6 girls and 6 boys. Brent (my husband) was on our team as well, but we split up this year into a “girl” van and “boy” van. Girls were van #1 and Boys #2.

Anyway, Our van had a start time of 2pm. Which is the latest I have EVER started a relay race. We don’t really know why our team was selected to start that late. We may all be good runners but we started with some little high school cross country kids and a few crazy fast ultra teams that cruise 6 minute or less miles!

When we got to the safety demo/packet pickup, the place was a ghost town.

Not Cool.

I was runner one and as we were driving up there I contemplated taking on that mileage because of my quad. Running \downhill kills it, and flat hurt just as much.

Also, not cool.

After some shuffling we decided to switch a few legs. Chels took my leg like a champ. –> Chelsea just qualified for BOSTON! Woot!

She shot out of the gate, but within 3 miles she wasn’t feeling well. It was 2 pm and almost 90 degrees outside! This was rough… She had tackled the big climb and down hill, so I switched her back and decided I could finish this leg out and see how I feel. I used KT tape on my quad and I made it to the exchange but really hurt. I’m not one to complain and can fight through it but I didn’t want to risk it. Running is much more enjoyable injury free… just sayin’. I took some IBU and jumped in the car.

The rest of the girls in the van were amazing and completed their legs in the heat. It was very strange to be running this and not seeing ONE other van.. It seemed almost as if we were just doing this on our own. To bad, we even had costumes…

By the time my leg 2 came around 12:30 am.  It was scheduled as a 8.4 hard. It started at the Snow basin Ski Resort and took a pretty gnarly trail run up and lead to a crazy downhill (Trappers Loop) that I knew wouldn’t be to smart for my quad. This was a “no van support” leg and once I got started I knew why… I was all by myself in the forest in the pitch dark with nothing but my knuckle lights, following a rocky trail that was marked  with little red lights, which normally I would be fine if I had people out there with me, I really love trail running, but being by myself in the dark I kind of freaked myself out a little. I hit the road and started the descend, there were cars flying past me and glancing back I thought I recognized my vans lights so I flashed them down and it actually ended up being a sheriff. He asked if I was okay, and I told him I was but just nervous running by myself. So he gladly said he would follow behind me. Which made me feel better but what I really wanted was to just get in my van and be done. I literally had mixed emotions on that run and I wouldn’t admit it at the time but I was almost in tears. My leg hurt so bad and I was terrified of the dark and being alone right next to  forest. But at the same time I was so frustrated with myself because I have never NOT been able to finish my legs. Relays are supposed to be fun for me.  I had so many thoughts go through my head.

I felt defeated.

I was just not letting myself down, but letting my team down as well. I made it to a rest station and saw my van and just jumped in. They were all really supportive and understood. After talking to race officials we were given the okay to skip ahead to the next exchange in hopes to catch up with a few other teams anyway. They give you a paper you turn in at the finish with a given time penalty if you are unable to complete your leg due to injury, heat exhaustion etc.. I’m not exactly sure if we really turned it in or not? (We took off after Brents last leg to make it to a family wedding).

We made it to the next morning after a sleepless night to head off our last and final leg. We met up with the boys at the major exchange to switch off and Brent could tell I wasn’t doing well. He asked if I was going to run and I told him I was going to try and he just looked at me and said I was done. He reminded me it isn’t worth further injury if I want to be 100% for my half marathon I have coming up in a month. I agreed. This was NOT easy for me to do. I didn’t run my leg at all. I had a pretty could limp and was starting to feel pain not only in my quad but my hip again .  We moved to the next exchange and my team finished it off. I wanted to run a little bit with our last runner, which was a short 2.8 and I think I made it maybe a 1.5 before jumping back into the ship. Why I tried again? I don’t know.. realization? embarrassment? To get some sense of accomplishment?  I don’t know, but that was dumb.

After our last big exchange with the boys I jumped in the back of the truck to hang out with the boys and support Brent on his last run. It was about noon and pretty hot. He killed it!

And by support I mean I sit in the back of the truck and take pictures because I couldn’t jump out fast enough and run across the street to give him a drink.

Overall, I had a good experience just because of these amazing ladies in my van. They are all rock stars! This was my 5th Wasatch Back Ragnar and I think this was my last. Its fun and usually is something I think everyone needs to do. I recommend however, not starting at 2pm and don’t go into it injured. Relays to me are just plain fun. They are relaxed and everyone is just there to have a good time. No pressure, no stress, and no sleep .

 

This team was a blast to be with for 24+ hours. I admire each one of these ladies, I couldn’t ask for better friends.

WB Ragnar. Peace.