Top of Zzzzion Relay - My First Relay June 12-13, 2015

 If you would have asked me if I would have wanted to join a Ragnar team, my answer probably would have been "No."  I know a majority of people don't do well with sleep deprivation, and that includes me!  Let's be honest... I like my sleep.  And when I get grumpy, you don't want to be anywhere near me.

But then I heard about this new relay from the Top of Zion which offered a new [sleep] option, in which you run most of the day the first day, everyone gets to sleep for the night (you skip the middle legs), and then you get up and run the next day.  Top of Zion was offering a few free race entries for team captains, and I happened to win one of those.  I was planning on running Boise 70.3 that weekend, but after talking it over with Ezra, we decided that I probably shouldn't.  After winning this race entry, how could I pass up the opportunity?  I'm so grateful I didn't.

So... put 6 people/family and friends together over 2 days, running 103 miles through 5 different national parks/forests, and what do you get?  An amazing weekend at the Top of Zzzion Combo Relay!

As team captain, I had to rally together forces to create a 6 man team who were willing to travel and run on some of the toughest terrain in Utah!  Somehow, I was able to pull from my family and running family to form the Tross Country Runners (my friend Barb came up with that and played on the word "Tross" in place of Cross).  We started chatting and planning, and let me tell you, that was one of the tough parts.  It's pretty hard when you have people from all backgrounds with different schedules that have to pull together to make this all work.  And I'm really grateful for my family and friends (my team) who were super supportive and excited to run this!  This was the FIRST relay for ALL of us!

We all headed down to Capitol Reef on Thursday morning/afternoon.  We got ready for the costume show and check-in.  Ruthie so generously put together our fun outfits!  We ended up being one of the few teams to actually dress up and coordinate at the Costume Show!

The Tross Country Runners

 

with the Waldo We-Appears

Start line of TOZ

 Once we got checked in and introduced, we headed back to decorate our cars, pack lunch, and get to bed!  I definitely got some good rest in that night!

Here's a look at what we ran this weekend (legs 1-12, 31-36):

Friday June 12, 2015

 Wakeup call was at 3:45am.  We got ready and headed out in time for Jason to get to the start line 2 minutes before he went off!  Sounds like a Tross type team already!  ;)

Leg 1. Jason headed off for 9.4 miles through Capitol Reef. 

 He killed that hill!  And came in strong.

Leg 2. Royce. Capitol Reef.

 Once again - straight champ!  That was a non-stop 7.1 hill for Royce!

Lindz and I stop for a pic

waiting for Royce

silly pic

 Leg 3. Lindsey. Dixie National Forest.

Leg 5. Barb. Boulder Mountain.  She reached the highest point at 9600 ft!

Leg 5.  Ruthie. Hogs Back.

Leg 6. Joyce. Hogs Back.

 Leg 7.  Royce.  Hells Backbone.

Leg 8. Barb.  Descent from Hells Backbone.

 Leg 9. (Jason, but due to a massive migraine and altitude sickness, Ruthie and Royce covered his leg).

Leg 10.  Joyce. Grand Staircase.

Leg 11.  Split by Ruthie and Royce (I only happened to catch a pic of Royce)

 Leg 12. Lindsey. Bringing us in for the night, descending Grand Staircase into Escalante, UT.

 After Lindsey finished, we had a team dinner and then headed to Hatch to sleep for the night.  Ahhhhh yesssssss.. glorious sleep.  I didn't get much restful sleep, but I was grateful for what I did get.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

We regrouped and once again just barely made the 8am start at Red Canyon this morning. 

With the famous, Wan!

Run Aways family:
Royce, Barb, Joyce, Wan, Jorge, Ruthie

Ruthie, Wan, Joyce

I didn't get too many pictures of the handoff as I too was fighting off a looming migraine.

Leg 31. Royce. Navajo Lake
Leg 32. Lindsey.

Leg 33. Barb.  At one point, I was worried about Barb because there was little delay.  And then I remembered the cattle herd that was passing behind me (in front of her) on the way to the next exchange.

Barb done! Royce on cooling duty!

Leg 34. Ruthie.  She tackled her last hill like a champ!  It was soooooooooo hot out there!

Ruthie handing off to Jason.

 Leg 35. Jason.  He stepped up and ran part of my leg because he felt bad for being sick yesterday. Silly Jason!

 Leg 36. Joyce.  Bringing it in to Zion.  I was tired, winded, and hoping to get through my short leg after my headache and tummy issues earlier.

But we all crossed the finish line together!  It felt so good to be done!

We're done!  TZR Warriors!

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What an incredible journey this was!  It was one tough race, but it was worth it!  We were able to come together, enjoy each others' company, enjoy the scenery, see places some of us had not yet been, create memories, work together, have fun, and accomplish a huge feat!  I never thought I would do this kind of thing, and I didn't expect it to be as successful as it was (for a first relay for the 6 of us)!  I'm grateful for my team, because I sure as heck couldn't have pulled this off without them!  Thank you Lindsey, Jason, Barb, Ruthie, and Royce for an unforgettable experience!

(Btw... Happy Anniversary Ruthie & Royce!)

Thanks Ellen, and the TZR staff for putting on such a well organized and awesome event!  I enjoyed every moment of it!


I can't wait to run this one again!  :D

Dino Half 05.16.15

I know I know... this is a month later than when the race actually was, but I'm just now getting to it.  To be fair, I was finishing up a really tough semester and got a little side tracked.  But I did want to document this pretty awesome race I ran out in Vernal, UT.

Can I just say that Runtastic Events puts on some pretty spectacular running races?  They really do!  So the Dino Half took place out in Vernal, which you may or may not know, is a huge area for Paleontology.  Lots of dino bones and excavation sites are out there.

I drove out on Friday night and camped overnight at a campground, and happened to run into my friend Erin, who I met volunteering for the Runtastic Salt Lake Haunted Half last October.  It rained most of the night, and I couldn't sleep from hearing a guy snoring in the tent-site over.

Saturday morning was cloudy and cold, and the buses weren't in sync with the rotation of shuttling the runners to the start line.  That's okay, because it gave me the opportunity to chit chat with my fellow runners.

When I finally got on the bus, we headed up Dry Fork Canyon.  It started to rain, and even drizzle with snow!  I was just ready to get up there and get this race started!  When we got to the start line, you could see snow capping the mountains.  It made it really cold!  On the upside, it was very pretty too!

Starting line porta-potty line. Snow capped mtns in the back

It started to drizzle a bit.  As long as we got moving, I knew I'd be okay.  I wasn't up there long before the race started.

I'm in the left hand corner

Once I settled into a rhythm, I stuck around the 2:40 pacers.  Cevan was one of our enthusiastic 2:40 leaders that kept us going!  It was fun!  We all chatted and were just silly!

My new buddy, Cevan

The canyon was absolutely beautiful!  Most of it was downhill, but the course was a little deceiving with some rolling hills thrown in there.

There was a steep hill at mile 4.  They did the "Sprintasaurus" mile from mile 6 to 7, in which people could try to run as fast as they could (fastest mile).  I opted to just keep my same pace.  The sun started to come out from behind the clouds.

At mile 7, I had to run to the bathroom.  Shortly after, I knew that wasn't the end of my tummy troubles.  My feet started to blister from being on a crowned road, and there was a wicked, gradual uphill starting around mile 9 to about 10.5.  At that point, I needed to find a bathroom. I knew I wasn't going to make it.  Then the weather couldn't make up its mind... it was between sunshine and hot and cold and rainy. Mile 11 brought some much needed relief, with a porta-potty just where I needed it.  The release felt good, but I knew if I wasn't careful, there'd be another accident.  So I walked most of mile 11 to 12.  I didn't mind.

I decided to walk-run mile 12 to get me to the finish.  Some of the people that were behind me had already passed me, but I ended up catching up to them.  One of the guys from Phoenix (that I had met after the start) I caught up with.  I encouraged him to run with me through the finish, and finish strong.  It started to drizzle as we started to run in to the finish, and then it just started to pour!  I finished at the perfect time!

My time wasn't great... no PR, but that's okay.  I was exhausted from the night before, and the tummy issues didn't help.  But I thoroughly enjoyed getting to explore and race in Vernal (in which I had never been to before) and the cool T-Rex medal made it so worth it!  I'll definitely be doing that race again in the future!