Part 3 of my Adventures at Wasatch Back Utah

Hello Friends!! I am finally getting to the end of my adventures in Wasatch Back Utah. If you missed my first three legs of the race click here, and if you haven’t met the team (and you need to, because they were/are amazing) click here.

I have been so busy lately, as I have started school and spent the last week tying ribbons on our wedding invitations and addressing envelopes. I have sent nearly 300 of them!! So sorry about the delay in posts.

Lets get back to the good stuff!!

My last three legs weren’t entirely hard, but I think the bird food, the lack of sleep, and the previous three runs all caught up to me. Every time I went to run, I felt like I was barely moving and my legs felt heavy.

We were all tired and glad to be half way done!! After a sleepless night I was up again, like it or not!!

Run four was at 4:36 a.m., and had to be my favorite. I got to run around Rockport Lake I could barely see it at first because it was still dark. As my run progressed it got lighter and lighter.

I didn’t know I was running by water but I could hear it and so started to look for it. I wasn’t paying attention and ran straight into a guardrail. Thank goodness the guardrail was there!! And I hope no one was watching. It was definitely a chilly run with a headwind, much cooler than the previous runs, so I was running with gloves and a long sleeve top. I guess it would only make sense that it would cool down in the mountains and at such high elevations.

I did a 5.55 mile loop around the lake in 42:00, another moderate run with 429 feet of elevation gain, and an average pace of 7:34. I had 19 roadkills. The course was definitely easier than the previous runs, but with my tired legs it was tough.

Everyone seemed delirious and tired. We were taking down more and more runners (roadkills) and checking off legs, closing in on the finish. It felt great!!

We were seeing so much of Utah and meeting lots of great teams. Our peanut MM’s were keeping us going.

Once the sun came up it started to heat up fast. Meghan wasn’t feeling very well and was having GI issues. She had a tough leg coming up with some climbs and she was dead set on finishing it, even though we offered to run some of it for her. She was one tough cookie.

As a team we wanted to support her. I ran with her up some of the nasty climbs to keep her company and make sure she was doing ok.

She was a rockstar out there.

Due to our support we got a violation. Apparently we were on a no van support part of the course, and couldn’t help our runners. STRIKE ONE!!

 Strike well worth it!!

At 9:48 a.m. I was up again for my last short leg. Only 2.86 miles, easy but hot!! I felt so slow, but finished in 18:44 with an average pace of 6:34 with 14 more road kills.

Even though it was a short run it had to be one of my toughest. I realized that in the last 24 hours I had already ran over marathon distance at elevation. We had reason to brag, all of us did!! Having one last run left felt awesome!! I think we were all ready to be finished. Not that we weren’t having fun, because believe me we were!!

All of us were getting to the point of running to the bathrooms every time we stopped the van. Those peanut MM’s were catching up to us. After Lisa finished her last leg, we all knew we were in the home stretch. I loved watching all the girls finish, because I knew I could do it!!

 (Rocking my Lunatik Athletiks compression socks, they got me through over 37 miles)

After the night legs, where we slacked at cheering as a team, we hit the cheer squad with full fervor.

My last leg came quickly at 2:12 p.m, after Lisa rocked a steep hill. We were aiming for 30 hour finishing and we were aiming for first. That gave me enough drive to finish strong. My last leg was downhill, starting at nearly 9,000 feet.

It was a severe downhill drop into Park City. I had 213 feet of elevation gain, and 2391 feet of elevation loss. I covered the 7.94 mile run in 59:45 with an average pace of 7:37 and 19 roadkills. I was hoping for a faster time downhill, but my legs were feeling the opposite.

I had to climb the first mile and I was so done with climbing hills. Then it was a steep downhill with one last climb and then back down again. I was nervous about running down hill because of my knee, but it didn’t seem to bug me until around mile 5.

At the end of my run the strangest thing happened to me. I had passed a man walking and as I passed him he said “Not today. Not going to happen.” He then took of sprinting. We were 1/2 a mile from the exchange zone and I knew the guy wasn’t going to keep up with that sprint.

I could see the exchange zone and my man. I began to catch up to him, and I kicked it into high gear trying to catch him. As I got closer and closer to him, someone yelled “She’s going to catch you.” The man obviously didn’t want to get chicked so he proceeded to clothes line me.

I couldn’t stop and he nearly knocked the breathe out of me. I fell into his runner and hit the exchange pole. My knee didn’t like this whole episode, and instantly I felt pain. I counted that as a roadkill though!!

My team was great and helped carry me to the finish. Once again I couldn’t have done it without them. Meghan returned the favor and carried me part way to the finish area.

It wasn’t long before Vieve was heading into the finish and we were finishing!!

(As you can see I was in a little pain, but I like how excited everyone is!!)

We finished in 30:02:13!! And we finished first in the women’s open ultra division.

We ate two free pizzas (Holly got us the second one working some magic) from Little Caesars. That’s probably the first and last time I will ever eat a Little Caesar pizza, but I have to admit it tasted so good.

Then we headed to dinner…..yes we went to dinner after eating two pizzas, but you have to remember we hadn’t eaten much for food for 30 some hours. In all honesty most of the food we ordered at dinner we took home.

Oh and I can’t forgot we received a lovely letter on our van after dinner.

It was a little sad being finished. Knowing I didn’t have to run anymore, nor anyone else, met that our time together was ending. Almost didn’t want it all to end.

We cleaned up our van, or Ned and Lisa did, and we headed back to the house.

That night we probably stayed up later than we should have, talking and recapping our adventurous runs. It was fun getting to know each other a little better.

It was finally time to the leave for the airport early the next morning. I couldn’t believe the trip was over. I felt like I had made such great friends in a short span of time. Each and every one of the girls on team #highnuun was amazing and inspiring. I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything.

All mountain climbs, GI issues, sleepless night, and hungry girls aside, it was the most fun I have had in a long time. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Staying with strangers in a strangers house, and spending more than 30 hours in van with strangers is highly recommended!! 😉

I couldn’t just end with this, so I have to do another post. There was so much I learned from this experience and I have to share it. This race was more than just my running and times, it was a race where I bonded with 5 other girls and even Ned in a way I can’t explain (ok that sounded corny, but it’s true).

I hope through these posts you can see how much fun these Ragnar Relays are!! Once you do one, you’ll be hooked. I am!! I am ready for a team #highnuun reunion.