Ragnar 2010

About 6 months ago a friend posted that she was looking for some runners to run a relay race. She said legs were about 3 miles long. I thought it sounded fun, and pretty easy at 3 miles so I looked into it a little more. Fast forward to June 18-19 and that's where you'll find us.......

16 miles later I completed my first Ragnar Relay! It was a wonderful journey of weeks and months of training. I stuck to their training schedule religiously. Like in 6 months I only missed 2 or 3 workouts. I started out not even running a full mile without wanting to die. I remember the night I ran 5 miles without stopping, I was on top of the world! It was a long, slow process and sometimes it was painful. It was hard to balance over an hour of exercise every day with my already busy life. There were times I felt selfish for adding another thing to my family's schedule. Once the weather turned warmer I'd put the kids to bed about 7:30 and run at night...that's when I fell in love with running. Before that it was a workout, a constant step by step fight to just not stop! But those night runs, watching the sun set and the pink and purple sky over Mt Timp, smelling the sprinklers and listening to the quiet of the fields, going on trail runs up in the hills over rough terrain, getting lost by a 'water tower' and having to almost slide down the mountain to get back to where I knew I was. I was hooked.

I was lucky enough to find 11 other incredible people who joined this journey. Team Motley Shoe-we were all so different, all running for different reasons and we all had a blast.

I was in van 2, we left Eagle Mountain about 1:00 Friday and headed up to somewhere South of Logan. Honestly I never knew exactly where I was but it was beautiful and I loved it. My first run was the last 3.1 miles up to Snow Basin. It was over 800 feet elevation climb in 3 miles. I was spooked. It was about 7:30pm, the sun was starting to go down and the temp dropped I bet over 10 degrees just during my run. It was tough, I ended up taking my earphones out so I could concentrate better. I thought a lot about Kayden on this run. I came to some realizations and understandings and was able to make some new commitments on how to be a better mother to him. It felt great to finish the run but my time came in at 33 minutes-11 minute miles. I was ticked to be quite honest.

My second run came at 7am the next morning. I had slept about an hour, wadded up in the back of our vehicle. I was tired but looking forward to this run. It was 6.5 miles through Oakley. It was the perfect run. I felt strong, not tired at all. Again, I found myself taking my earphones out so I could listen and enjoy the scenery. I thought a lot about Trace on this run and came to some new understandings about him. This was really one of my favorite runs ever. The sun was coming up and it was just peaceful. My time came in at 56 minutes. I had made up for it and averaged about 8 1/2 minute miles. I felt great.

My final run was the last 5.6 miles into the Canyons resort. Again I felt very strong, I was cruising that run. It was super hot, about 5 in the afternoon right on the black asphalt and the wind seemed to totally stop. I thought about little Brooks this run and how I'd never left him over night and was excited and hurrying to get home to see him at that point. I was so proud and excited to cross the finish line. My time came in at 45 minutes. Ya, just under 9 minute miles again.

It was a wonderful feeling to cross that finish line. I felt like I had set a goal, worked very hard to achieve it and was proud at how I had performed. We had an amazing team and I laughed, cried, and almost peed my pants multiple times (for various reasons) in only 36 hours. We finished just under 32 hours as a team, the top 45%. Not bad for a bunch of newbies!! Would I do it again? Yep...we actually are putting a team together for the Red Rock Relay in September and I can hardly wait!!!