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.
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