Dirty Girls Do Have More Fun

Maybe one of these days I'll get to a point where I'm not 2 months behind on my blogging.

In September I was able to run the Dirty Dash with my little sister. We tried to talk our other sister into it, but she had just had a baby the month before and it wasn't going to work out for her. We did this race last year and It. Was. Awesome! This year they had promised more mud and they delivered! Leah and I were maybe halfway through the race and looked at each other and said we were already dirtier at this point than we were at the end of the race last year. The mud was everywhere!

I had decided that after this race, I was donating my shoes. It had been about 7 years since I got these shoes and they had long since passed their limit on mileage. Here's a picture of our shoes before the race. That's right, my sister bought Keds for this race. The sad thing is, those little keds had more traction than my running shoes on one of the mud hills we climbed up. And if you look closely, you can see the holes starting to form on my shoes. It was a good thing this was their last race. They would not have survived another race, probably would have fallen apart while I was running.


Here are our shoes. Notice how white Leah's are? Yeah, not so much after the race.


Here we are before the race. It fell on Courtney's birthday. We had to do something for her since she wasn't racing, so we made shirts!


And on the back, Dirty Girls Have More Fun. Because what fun is this race if you don't embrace the mud?


Here we are coming to the finish!


This was right before jumping into the mud pit.


And here we are after our leap in the mud! Covered, head to toe in mud. It was so great! The obstacles included: jumping over bales of hay, crawling through giant tubes with mud in the bottom, traversing over army walls, running through a swamp, climbing over a giant net, going through a ditch filled with muddy water with tubes across the top that you had to climb over or duck under, a rope swing, balance beams, running through tires, climbing up a muddy hill with a rope, the giant slip n' slide and of course the mud pit to finish it off. Would I do this again? ABSOLUTELY!! Hopefully my dirty dash partner will join me again next year. And maybe we can talk some other family members into the awesomeness.

My New Ride

I've been wanting a road bike for over a year now. I did my first triathlon last year and ever since I borrowed my friend's bike for the race, I've sort of had the fever. I had saved my little pennies and before my brother left for medical school, I bought this beauty. I had to have my brother, the avid rider, come with me to make this purchase so that I didn't buy something that was wrong for me. He sure helped me! A guy in his ward was working and I got hooked up with all sorts of stuff. It's just too bad I didn't get out on a ride with Jeff before he left. But maybe now I can get some practicing in and next summer I might be able to keep up with him. I love it! This is Ruby...



I haven't been out too many times yet, but when I have been out, it's been great. We were in Bear Lake a couple weeks ago, the last trip of the season. We were closing up the cabin for the winter. My dad and I took our bikes and we got out on a ride. It was beautiful! The fall colors, the lake, it was great. I had to send this picture to my brothers to prove that I actually ride my bike.



This was the view on our ride, love it!

Wasatch Back 2011

Wow! It's been a long time since I've posted. I guess I need to work on being better at keeping this thing updated. *Warning* This is the longest post ever.

In June I had the opportunity to run the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. I've done the Vegas relay for the past two years, but have never done the Wasatch Back. I was a little nervous about this because there are so many more hills than in Vegas. Correction: mountains, not hills. This is Utah after all. But I love the Ragnar Relay series and this year I had the opportunity to run it with my brother, Jeff, which was awesome! This was great, because just over a month after the race, he left for Missouri to start Medical School. This was a great opportunity for us to spend some time together before he left for his new adventure.

We began our journey by driving to Logan. We got to Logan around 9:30 or ten the night before the race, but had to stop at the store to get food for our 30 plus hour time together. We got into the store and this is what we saw:



Cache Valley was in the spirit of Ragnar

Our start time was 5:45 am! That's early. I'm used to starting around 11:30 in the morning and having plenty of time to get ready and get to the start in the morning. Well, we got to where we were spending the night around 11:30 and had to be up around 4:00 am in order to get ready, get to the start line and go through safety instructions. Our sleeplessness started a little earlier than anticipated. We got to the starting line the next morning and the fun was about to begin.


This guy had Ragnar spirit


Jeff with the starting line behind him, getting ready to start his first Ragnar Relay!


We saw this van on our way back to the car, after our first runner headed out. Boom Shaka Laka! We had to take a picture of this because it's a phrase used often in our family.

And we were off!


Me, getting ready to start my first leg.


Jeff getting ready for his first leg


And we can't leave out the infamous port-a-potty picture.

For those of you who don't know how the Ragnar Relay works, I'll give you the run down. Each team has 12 runners and each runner runs 3 legs. Or, if you are an ultra team, you only have 6 runners and each runner goes double the distance. We had a team of 12. Each team has two vans, with 6 runners in each van. Van 1 starts the race and each runner runs one leg and then van 1 passes off to van 2, so you go through all 12 runners and then start over. While van 1 is running, van 2 can rest, eat, sleep and vice versa. So, van 2 was able to sleep in and meet us at exchange 6, where we pass off to them and then we can rest. While you are running or in the van that is running, the van plays leap frog with their runner. The runner lets the van know how often they want support; food or water. The van sends their runner off and then drives up the route a mile or however long the runner wanted to go until they need support. Someone gets out of the van and gives the runner water and it continues with each runner. I was runner 3 and Jeff was runner 5. So, we both got to see the other run and give support to them. Well, I had warned my team that my brother was an animal when it comes to running. He. Is. Fast. Apparently I didn't put as much emphasis on this warning as I should have. His first leg was 7.5 miles of uphill, uneven, rocky terrain. We sent him off and it took us a while to get back in the car to get on the road and be able to support him. It was a good 10 minutes after he left that we got in the car. By this time I was stressing because I knew he was already a good 1.5 miles into his route and we were going to have a hard time getting ahead of him. Well....it was more than difficult to do this. Like I said, it was a rough road, even for driving, let alone running. It was through Avon pass, a dirt road, barely wide enough for one way traffic as well as runners. There was a line of cars in front of us, trying to support their runners. So, when one car stopped, the entire line of cars was stopped. I was getting so worried as we were creeping along in the car, thinking my brother was going to hate me because I talked him into doing this race and then his first and hardest leg, he got no support. He was probably thinking he had the worst sister ever. Needless to say, Jeff beat the van to the next exchange. He went on a 7.5 mile leg, listed as very hard, with an incline of 1200 feet, with no support! He's a machine! We were about half a mile from the exchange and we finally had to tell the next runner that he better just get out and run to the next exchange or Jeff would be waiting for 20 minutes. And this is what we saw when we finally made it to the exchange:


He was so happy to see the van finally coming up the trail.


Back in the van.

We passed off to van 2 and this was the view we had. So great!


I love Utah!

And then we were back to running.


Getting ready to start my second leg


During leg 2


Brotherly support


Jeff getting read to start his second leg. If you were going to be running between 7:30pm and 6:30am (If I remember correctly), you had to don your reflective gear; vest, headlamp and tail light. Here he is with his reflective gear, ready to go.


Speeding through his second leg. He doesn't even look tired.


And he's done with leg two. Beat the sunset, didn't even have to turn his headlamp on.

After our second leg, we were able to get some rest. One of the people in our van had relatives that lived semi-near the course. They let us crash on their floor and we were able to get a solid 2-3 hours of sleep. Much better sleeping on the floor of a house than on the grass or in the car. Then it was back out for our final leg. Our final leg started around 3:30 in the morning.


Jeff paying me back with the port-a-potty picture.


In my reflective gear for my last leg.


My last leg was my hardest and there were plenty of hills for me. This was one of them.


This is what I ran up. Doesn't look steep, but it was!


Jeff getting ready to start his final leg.


Waiting for the hand-off.


And he's off, on his final leg.


The final steps of his last leg! That guy behind him, back in the distance....Yeah, Jeff blew past him. He's so fast!


The exchange. They did leap frog for their exchange.


And he's done with his first Ragnar!


Our first Ragnar complete.


Passing off to van 2. Our exchanges were pretty much the best.

After passing off to van 2, we had a few hours to wait till we all crossed the finish line together. We drove to the finish line and enjoyed looking at all the cars and their creative names and decorations. Here were a few of them.







Here we are with our matching tatoos.


The Power Ragnars!


Morphin time!


We made it! 192 miles. Run, Drive, Sleep? Repeat.

This was a great race and I was so glad I had the opportunity to run it with my brother! Thanks, Jeff, for coming with me and making it a great experience. Everyone was in awe of him and his mad running skills. At one point my friend Jessica (in our van) got a text from her sister in van 2 that said, "I cannot believe Melinda's brother. Holy shit he is fast." I think that sums it up quite nicely. And it's very true. I'm excited to run the Vegas relay in October and get my Saints and Sinners medal for running the Wasatch Back and Vegas relay in the same year.

Women of Steel

After coming back from St. Louis, it was only a week until the Women of Steel triathlon. The weather had been nice back in Utah and as the day grew nearer, the realization that the swim was not going to be canceled due to inclement weather was bearing down on me. I hadn't been swimming like I should have. Okay, it had been a good month since I'd been swimming. I told myself that a thing called life got in the way of my training. But let's face it, it was my own fault. But again, I was fearful of the swim. The bike and the run, I wasn't too worried about. But the swim...Oh the swim!

Here are the three competitors the morning of the race. I should rephrase that. Here are two competitors and that other girl on the right.


This was a new experience for me. The swim was in a pool. Granted I've never done a full triathlon before, because last year it was changed to a run-bike-run event due to cold weather. But this year, I had to endure the swim. Well, they have you line up based on your estimated swim time, faster swimmers going first. So, the race began, but I was just standing in line, waiting for the swimmers in front of me to get in the pool. It was a very different experience for me to have a race start and I don't start for another hour. But I got in the pool and it was actually warm! It wasn't freezing cold, which is what I was expecting. I was behind someone that was a little slower than I am, but I wasn't confident in passing her because there were women swimming on both sides of the lane and I didn't think I was fast enough to pass and not cause the swimmer coming toward me to have to stop or me run into her. So, there were parts of the swim that I was walking behind this other lady. Finally, on the last lap, I was able to pass her. Mel and Holli were both out of the water by then.

I got on the bike and headed out. Keep in mind I hadn't been on a bike since this time last year. That's right, I didn't train for the bike portion of this. I'm that awesome (please note the sarcasm). Well, when you haven't been on a bike in a year and you borrow your friend's bike for a race, you kind of forget how to change gears. Somehow, as I was approaching the hill, I put myself in the most difficult gear. It was ridiculous. I ended up getting off my bike and walking it up the hill because I couldn't pedal and I was going to fall off the bike. You would think that I would have figured it out by the second time around and been able to make my way up the hill. Oh no, I did the same thing on the second loop. Putting myself in the hardest gear. It was not my finest hour.

Then it was time for the run. I wasn't too worried about the run. I had been running. But I'd also just swam and biked. My legs were tired. It's a weird feeling getting off the bike and starting to run. You use different muscles and to go from one to the other so quickly is hard. I finished. I was last out of the three of us, of course, but I finished. Here I am coming to the finish line.


And here are the finishers. Chambers woot woot!

The Midwest

Last month I had that great opportunity to go out to visit my brother and his cute little family. He was also graduating from medical school, so it was a double bonus, I got to see him become a doctor. I went with my parents and we made a trip out of it. Flew into St. Louis, saw the arch, went to the St. Louis temple. Then drove to Illinois and visited Nauvoo and then onto Bloomington to meet up with my brother and his family for the graduation and festivities.

We got off the plane in St. Louis and you could immediately feel the humidity. You could feel it, but I didn't think it was too bad. I mean, it was only May. It could have been much worse had we gone 3 months later.

Our first stop was the famous arch. We parked the car and headed over to get on a little pod that would take you to the top of the arch. As we were walking over, we saw this priceless photo-op. A tour bus. But it gets better, check out the name of the tour bus. That's right, Lamers. Would you want to be on that tour bus? Didn't think so.


Here is the famous St. Louis Arch


And you can't really tell by this picture, but this is the little pod you get to ride up in. It can fit 5 people to a pod. We were lucky enough to only have the three of us on the way up and down. If there had been five, it would have been a tight squeeze and a little claustrophobic. Here are my parents in the pod.


Here I am at the top of the Arch. I don't know if you can see at the top of the arch in that picture, but there are tiny little windows, that is what is behind me, one of those windows to look out from.


After the arch, it was time to go to the St. Louis temple.



I was messing around with my dad's camera. I just like this picture.


After St. Louis, it was on to Nauvoo. We stayed in a little hotel right across the street from the Nauvoo temple. We were able to go to that temple two days in a row. And let me tell you, that temple is absolutely gorgeous inside! I loved it!


We went to the visitor's center. Saw a performance called Rendezvous. I would recommend it if you go to Nauvoo, very cute. Then we headed to Bloomington to meet up with B-rad, Mel, Chloe and Ezra. Here he is with his family after graduation. Such a cute family.


On our way out, before we headed to the airport, we were able to tour Carthage Jail, where Mel served her mission. It was a great opportunity to be there and learn more about what Joseph Smith went through and where he stayed. This is the actual size of the jail where he was held.


It was a great trip and I was glad I had to chance to go out and see B-rad and his family. Thanks mom and dad for letting me tag-along on your trip.