check this race off the list

(I am posting this both here and over at The Moon House. For my two loyal readers who check both blogs, my apologies for the repetition!)

We came, we saw, we...um, finished? I'm not quite ready to use the word conquered. Oh, what the heck. We conquered! I can happily report completing the Wasatch Back this past weekend. And finishing is something indeed. What an adventure!

There is so much I could describe from the experience. Running in a Ragnar Relay is certainly something you have to do to appreciate it. And now I can say I've done it.

Would I do it again? If the opportunity presents itself... ABSOLUTELY!

The night before the relay we met as a team for some oh-so-tasty carb loading pot luck, and then took some very silly pictures in our Wonder Women attire. After worrying for weeks about running in this race, particularly doubting my ability to do so because of a running injury, I was finally starting to be excited about the race. Come what may, we were definitely running this thing, and that felt good.

The next morning we packed up the car, put our Wonder Women decorations in place, and made our way to Logan to begin the journey.

I'm not sure how well my running contributed to the overall accomplishment of our team, but I certainly had fun designing and putting together the car decorations for both cars on our team. Part of the culture of these relays is in the team spirit each team accomplishes. Everyone decorates their vans, and most teams have some sort of costume or coordinated running gear. Our team was a little over the top...I thought...until I saw some of the other teams out there. We were actually so tame by comparison!

Our start time was at 11:30, and for the next day and a half the 12 women who made up the Wonder Women team did their best to get us all to that glorious finish line in Park City. Imagine. 6 women in one van. The first runner begins, and we cheer. YAY! We drive a little farther down the road to cheer her on and giver her water. And we cheer. YAY! We do this two, three, sometimes five or six times during one runner's leg, depending on how far they have to run. Then we go to the exchange point, runner one give her slap bracelet to runner two. We cheer. YAY!

And then we do it all over again...18 times! We ran in the heat We ran in the middle of the night. We slept in the car, on the grass at Snow Basin, in the hallway of some school in some town...I honestly don't even know where we were, only that it was somewhere in Utah. I was just so happy to get a full 3 HOURS of sleep! Wahoooooooo! I felt like a new woman (okay, not really...I was still exhausted)!

My first leg of the race was my hardest...7.4 miles up Avon Pass. Before I even started, my pulled muscle - or whatever it is that has happened to my leg - was killing me, so I was kind of disappointed before even starting because I knew it would be impossible to run as fast as I once had during training. However, I really feel like I was blessed to be able to run and feel well. I made it up to the top with a time not too far from my training times. I was completely spent by the end of this race, but it felt AWESOME to have accomplished it. I even got 5 kills! (That means I passed 5 people on my trek...I know, amazing, right?)

My next two runs were only 4 and 3 miles respectively. They were actually my hardest because my leg injury had gotten the best of me. Nevertheless, I didn't walk, and I didn't stop. I just kept running...slower than I would have liked...but I kept running. Every woman on our team is a hero to me because we all fought so hard to run our best and stay positive. I got to know the women in our van better, and it was a delight to spend that time and share that experience with them.

By the time we cleaned up after our last leg (Thanks Bunderson's for letting us crash your cabin!), dressed up in our costumes, and made our way to Park City, we were all a little on the loopy side. I consider myself an expert in sleep deprivation. But this was taking it to an entirely other level!

I don't have any pictures that turned out of our group waiting at the finish line. The man I asked to take those pictures was a little wobbly with the camera, so they are just big blurs. But, imagine all of us striking a Wonder Woman pose and creating a tunnel with our arms for our last runner to pass through before we followed her to the finish line.

Was it exhausting? Yes. Was it just a touch crazy? Yes. Were there times in the middle of the night with a headlamp strapped to my head out on a dark road all alone that I asked myself, "What the @#%& am I doing?" Um, Yeah. Was it one of my most fun, memorable experiences. Yes indeed!

sidelined

Last Saturday I ran Suncrest for the 4th time. It was AMAZING (aside from it snowing on me...actually, I was kind of okay with that). Up near the top the fog was so thick I could only see about 40 feet in front of me, and around mile 4 I was thankful to not have a clear view of coming hills as I pushed forward to the top. It was like running inside a cloud bubble, and it was very peaceful.

I have now conquered Suncrest twice without stopping on the 10 mile round-trip. I've been up 5 times total. But I made a costly mistake on Tuesday. Sure, it was only three days after running it on Saturday, and I should have taken a short run that evening. But a friend was anxious to try the mountain on for size, so I decided to tackle it again with her. And it would have been fine, except I had the beginnings of a torn muscle. It didn't feel like much, so I plowed forward. At the top, however, I realized I would have to walk the remaining 5 miles because I was in a lot of pain. But running is pain, you know? So I didn't think much of it.

Perhaps I should have. Sigh. I have not been out for a run in 4 days now, and though I can again walk up the stairs without crying out in pain, I'm not exactly stellar Ragnar material right now. I'm taking the full week off from running in hopes that I can be back in business for the race in just a few short weeks. I should have been off running mile after mile today, which is my most peaceful moment of the week. Instead, well...I'm not.

Here's hoping three or four more solid days of rest will fix this mess so Baby G and I can hit the roads again soon. I'll keep you updated!

still running

Well, here is a little update on my running goal. I'm still running friends. I have shin splints. I am earnestly trying to keep a recurring ankle injury at bay. I haven't lost a single pound after running for a full month (boo.). I am battling bronchitis. (as usual). However...I am still running, and it feels great to be in the process!

We met as a Wasatch Back team a few weeks ago to choose our routes and talk a little bit about the race. It looks like I will be runner #5, which means I will be running legs #5, #17, and #29. One pretty hard run (#5), and two really easy ones. I'm beginning to feel pretty jazzed about this. Nervous, but positive.

Many of the ladies on our team have been running our local behemoth known as SUNCREST. This is a road that takes you from Utah Valley over the mountain to Salt Lake Valley via the Suncrest neighborhoods on top of the mountain. Mountain is a relative word...I know. To us, it's really just a hill. In other parts of the world, it is a mountain. Be it hill or mountain, it's a tough little run folks! 5 miles from where I started to the point on top where you can see to the other side of the mountain/hill/really big pile of dirt. All uphill. And when I say uphill, I'm not joking. It is ALL uphill.

So when Saturday came, with its snow and rain and fog and wind, you can imagine the excuses I came up with to NOT run this bad boy. I wasn't looking forward to doing it all alone, and the weather was crumby. However, after stretching, and humming and hawing over whether or not I should do it, I decided to just jump in and see how it goes.

And I did it! I had to walk 5 times (I'm not even embarrassed by this...you should see these hills!), but I never walked more than 30 or 40 yards before I started up again. It took me 63 minutes to get to the top, and it was AWESOME! Not so much the gasping and crawl-running, because I had to tell myself repeatedly that I wasn't going to die. But definitely awesome when I called B from the top and said, "I'm at the top! Come pick me up!" (Let's face it...I'm not ready for the 10 mile round trip just yet! I have four more weeks before I attempt that one.)

I plan to run Suncrest once a week to prepare for my first leg of the relay, and if I can run it without stopping and cut my time down a wee bit, then I know I will be able to tackle leg #5 with confidence. B plotted the Suncrest run over the leg #5 run, and though it covers a similar elevation change, it does it in two less miles than the relay run does. See (the top line is the Suncrest road run) . . .

Anybody want to come with me for another s-l-o-w run on Saturday?

see amy. see amy run.

So I have had this goal brewing for a while, but I've never quite decided to bite the bullet until now. I stepped on a scale yesterday (something I don't do all that often) and realized I weighed only 5 pounds less than when I was 9 months pregnant with Mags...7 years ago. Yikes!

I used to do a bit of running back in the day, but I pretty much stopped about 5 years ago when I injured my ankle while running. But I'm ready to get back to it. I have to. So yesterday B and I discussed what race I should run. I suggested that I should just train hard and go straight for a marathon. That way my family would only have to suffer through my training schedule once. I could run the marathon, be done with it, and check it off my "before 35" list.

But we both know me running a marathon in 6 months is a long shot. Not impossible, but a long shot. We agreed it would be better to see how it goes with a half marathon. I mean, 13 miles is nothing to giggle about, right? If that works out well, then I'll continue training and see what happens. So I signed up, plunked down the cash, and am now registered to run the Top of Utah Half Marathon in August.

Then at church yesterday, several ladies approached me about being on their Ragnar relay team this summer. My first thought was, "Have you looked at me?" It's not like I'm the epitome of running prowess. I can't imagine that when someone sees me waddling down the street that they think, "She's a runner." Quite the opposite. Sigh. I thought about it all afternoon and evening. I thought about it all morning again. And after a phone call with the group's compellingly persuasive leader, I said these three words. "Okay, I'm in."

Gulp. Wasatch Back...ready or not (emphasis on the not) here I come! I'm actually really excited but very nervous. I only have 2 1/2 months to train, and that's really not enough time. I would have preferred 6. But I don't have 6. I have 2 1/2 and plan to make the most of it.

So I would say this goal is three-fold: 1. Run in the Wasatch Back 2. Complete a half marathon 3. Don't die.

I'll keep you posted! Or not (refer to goal #3).