Monday, June 30, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
2008 WasatchBack Ragnar Relay
I can't believe it's over already. Less than 5 weeks before the relay was to start, I was contacted by some Novell co-workers who had someone leave their team because of an injury. Since I had been poking around to see if anyone had any openings a month or two before that, I was still on their list of people to contact in case of an emergency. Secretly, I had been relieved that nobody could find a spot for me. But when the opportunity presented itself (in the form of Mike Elquist, our team captain), of course I had to accept, or I'd look like a total chicken!
So, I picked up on the training and tried my best to get ready in the short time I had left. I pretty much became a running fool for those 5 weeks. Let me just state: I AM NOT A RUNNER. I think the furthest run I had completed to that date was a mile and a half in my BYU Fitness for Life class (and that was not pretty) and I won't even tell you how many years ago that was! The only time I like running is when there is something to run towards, like a basketball, a child running into the street, or maybe a homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting...
I am proud of myself though. I ran 5 miles a day some weeks. It was sheer hell and I am no more a believer in the "fun" of running now than I was before. I am now, however, a believer in the fact that nothing gets you in better shape than running. Of course I didn't lose any weight over all this. That takes an act of God for me.
I got really involved in the team spirit stuff. I came up with our team name, "Geeks Gone Wild," and created a team logo for our t-shirts. I stayed up at night agonizing over how we would decorate our 2 support vehicles. Finally, the Saturday before the race, it hit me. Geeks love robots. So I built some robots out of boxes, bottles, a dryer vent hose, and some silver paint. They looked pretty cool. The head even lit up on one of them. That is geekhood at its best right there.
The night before the race, I didn't sleep a wink. I got up at 5:00am and took a shower, headed to Wal-Mart to get some last minute stuff like biodegradable soap for the tent showers I'd heard they had at some of the exchanges. Karl DeBrine and Terry Wong picked me up at around 9:30 Friday morning and we headed to Lindon to meet with the rest of our van-mates, Ian Robertson, Sara Robertson (no relation to Ian), and Jason Neuwirth.
We arrived at exchange 6 to take the hand-off from our Van One-mates, Gary Gillilan, Eric Gillilan, Cheryl Gillilan, Mike Elquist, Braden Elquist, and Scott Shepherd. The waiting was awful on my nerves. We had some free Noodles and Company, stood around, put the robot on the top of the suburban and put the signs on the sides. Then it was time for Jason to take off.
Watching those guys run didn't instill any faith in me that this was going to be fun, and that was nothing until I watched Ian run his leg. Four miles straight uphill to SnowBasin, in the hottest part of the day, and I was to follow right after him, for 3 more miles of the same terrain. About half way through Ian's run, a strange calm came over me. I realized I had to do this regardless of whether I wanted to do it or not, so I might as well get it over with and try to do it to the best of my ability. I took the bracelet from Ian at around 6:00 PM and started out slowly, because I'd heard each of the other runners say they started out too fast and burned out. I kept about a 10 minute mile pace up my 5% grade and finished in pretty good shape. I did stop and walk for about 20 feet once, but almost nobody saw me do that, so it doesn't count. :)
Leg two was at 4:22 AM around Rockport Reservoir. Before I started, I was terrified that the lack of sleep and exhaustion was going to make me hit the wall, hard, during this run. But as soon as I took that bracelet, I felt awesome! I could have run forever in those conditions. I was passing people left and right, the view of the water and the weather was beautiful, and I was enjoying running (possibly for the first time in my life!). I made it through those 5.2 miles in about 42 minutes. I think that is probably the fastest I've ever run any type of distance. I cannot believe how great I felt during that run. After I passed the bracelet to Eric, I was almost sad it was over. I cheered Eric and and could barely sit still as I got back in the van. I guess that is what some people call the "runner's high" and I better enjoy it because I'm sure I'll never feel it again!
Leg three was around 2:30 PM on Saturday. I was the last leg, so it was my job to "finish strong," as Ian put it when he slapped the bracelet around my arm during the last hand-off. By this time I was delirious and a tiny bit stiff, probably from lack of sleep more than anything. It was hot. I'm guessing it was probably 95 degrees. I took off and I was telling myself "you are so lucky this is flat or downhill in most places" the entire way. I honestly think they mis-labeled the length of this 5.0 mile run. It seemed more like 7 to me. When I came to the top of a hill and encountered a Ragnar volunteer reporting by walkie-talkie which team was coming in next, I figured I'd be able to see the finish line, but I couldn't. I slowed down and said, in an almost ornery voice, "where the crap is the finish???" and then forced a smile so I didn't seem rude. He sort of smiled and said "about a half mile up." That half mile seemed like two, but I made it almost there and Sara ran out with a bottle of much-needed water to run it in with me. I saw Erik and my girls waiting for me, trying to figure out how to run our new camera, and cheering me on. I gave the girls a big wave and I sped up a little as the rest of my team joined me and sped up even more when they split us off so I could hand in the tear-off from my racing number. I was finished and so were the other eleven idiots who did this with me. And we did the whole 180 mile trip in 30 hours and 30 minutes, which averages around 10 minutes per mile. Sadly, the winners did it in about 16 hours, but hey, nobody on my team had any delusions that we'd win anything. Our "winning" was making it through safely and pushing ourselves to our limits.
What an accomplishment. I am glad I did it, and I would do it again. I don't know if "fun" is the word to describe it. I can't really state how I feel about it at all. It was a milestone in my own personal fitness level and I did it all with a group of complete strangers. They are an awesome group of crazy, self-torturing people and I hope to be able to do something like this again with some or all of them.
So, I picked up on the training and tried my best to get ready in the short time I had left. I pretty much became a running fool for those 5 weeks. Let me just state: I AM NOT A RUNNER. I think the furthest run I had completed to that date was a mile and a half in my BYU Fitness for Life class (and that was not pretty) and I won't even tell you how many years ago that was! The only time I like running is when there is something to run towards, like a basketball, a child running into the street, or maybe a homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting...
I am proud of myself though. I ran 5 miles a day some weeks. It was sheer hell and I am no more a believer in the "fun" of running now than I was before. I am now, however, a believer in the fact that nothing gets you in better shape than running. Of course I didn't lose any weight over all this. That takes an act of God for me.
I got really involved in the team spirit stuff. I came up with our team name, "Geeks Gone Wild," and created a team logo for our t-shirts. I stayed up at night agonizing over how we would decorate our 2 support vehicles. Finally, the Saturday before the race, it hit me. Geeks love robots. So I built some robots out of boxes, bottles, a dryer vent hose, and some silver paint. They looked pretty cool. The head even lit up on one of them. That is geekhood at its best right there.
The night before the race, I didn't sleep a wink. I got up at 5:00am and took a shower, headed to Wal-Mart to get some last minute stuff like biodegradable soap for the tent showers I'd heard they had at some of the exchanges. Karl DeBrine and Terry Wong picked me up at around 9:30 Friday morning and we headed to Lindon to meet with the rest of our van-mates, Ian Robertson, Sara Robertson (no relation to Ian), and Jason Neuwirth.
We arrived at exchange 6 to take the hand-off from our Van One-mates, Gary Gillilan, Eric Gillilan, Cheryl Gillilan, Mike Elquist, Braden Elquist, and Scott Shepherd. The waiting was awful on my nerves. We had some free Noodles and Company, stood around, put the robot on the top of the suburban and put the signs on the sides. Then it was time for Jason to take off.
Watching those guys run didn't instill any faith in me that this was going to be fun, and that was nothing until I watched Ian run his leg. Four miles straight uphill to SnowBasin, in the hottest part of the day, and I was to follow right after him, for 3 more miles of the same terrain. About half way through Ian's run, a strange calm came over me. I realized I had to do this regardless of whether I wanted to do it or not, so I might as well get it over with and try to do it to the best of my ability. I took the bracelet from Ian at around 6:00 PM and started out slowly, because I'd heard each of the other runners say they started out too fast and burned out. I kept about a 10 minute mile pace up my 5% grade and finished in pretty good shape. I did stop and walk for about 20 feet once, but almost nobody saw me do that, so it doesn't count. :)
Leg two was at 4:22 AM around Rockport Reservoir. Before I started, I was terrified that the lack of sleep and exhaustion was going to make me hit the wall, hard, during this run. But as soon as I took that bracelet, I felt awesome! I could have run forever in those conditions. I was passing people left and right, the view of the water and the weather was beautiful, and I was enjoying running (possibly for the first time in my life!). I made it through those 5.2 miles in about 42 minutes. I think that is probably the fastest I've ever run any type of distance. I cannot believe how great I felt during that run. After I passed the bracelet to Eric, I was almost sad it was over. I cheered Eric and and could barely sit still as I got back in the van. I guess that is what some people call the "runner's high" and I better enjoy it because I'm sure I'll never feel it again!
Leg three was around 2:30 PM on Saturday. I was the last leg, so it was my job to "finish strong," as Ian put it when he slapped the bracelet around my arm during the last hand-off. By this time I was delirious and a tiny bit stiff, probably from lack of sleep more than anything. It was hot. I'm guessing it was probably 95 degrees. I took off and I was telling myself "you are so lucky this is flat or downhill in most places" the entire way. I honestly think they mis-labeled the length of this 5.0 mile run. It seemed more like 7 to me. When I came to the top of a hill and encountered a Ragnar volunteer reporting by walkie-talkie which team was coming in next, I figured I'd be able to see the finish line, but I couldn't. I slowed down and said, in an almost ornery voice, "where the crap is the finish???" and then forced a smile so I didn't seem rude. He sort of smiled and said "about a half mile up." That half mile seemed like two, but I made it almost there and Sara ran out with a bottle of much-needed water to run it in with me. I saw Erik and my girls waiting for me, trying to figure out how to run our new camera, and cheering me on. I gave the girls a big wave and I sped up a little as the rest of my team joined me and sped up even more when they split us off so I could hand in the tear-off from my racing number. I was finished and so were the other eleven idiots who did this with me. And we did the whole 180 mile trip in 30 hours and 30 minutes, which averages around 10 minutes per mile. Sadly, the winners did it in about 16 hours, but hey, nobody on my team had any delusions that we'd win anything. Our "winning" was making it through safely and pushing ourselves to our limits.
What an accomplishment. I am glad I did it, and I would do it again. I don't know if "fun" is the word to describe it. I can't really state how I feel about it at all. It was a milestone in my own personal fitness level and I did it all with a group of complete strangers. They are an awesome group of crazy, self-torturing people and I hope to be able to do something like this again with some or all of them.
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