RAGNAR...We came, We conquered!

Wasatch Back came and went and I cannot wait for it to come again.  Yes, I know, I am demented.  BUT, I had a great time competing.  First off, let me explain-The Wasatch Back is one of many Ragnar relays and it is 188 miles worth of running, running, running!  Oh yeah, it's about 30ish hours of no sleep as well.  So, I was on team Rockstars and we ROCKED!  We are not the fastest, but we were not the slowest either.  We were out there to have fun!  I was runner 1 (out of 12) and my legs were as follows:

Leg 1 7.9 Hard

Leg 13 8.5 Very Hard
Leg 25  4.8 Easy
I finished my first leg and I just about passed out.  Not even kidding.  I was beginning to think I was going to be one of the 12-15 ambulance calls for the race!  I finished leg 1 just fine, but after about 15 minutes and drinking tons and tons, I got dizzy and nauseous.  Not a good combo.  However, I had smart teammates who brought pretzels with lots of salt. So I recovered and began thinking that maybe I was crazy and this was not going to be fun after all.  I.was.wrong.   After cheering my van-mates on and getting excited for them (and feeling bad at times-some of those legs were HORRIBLE!) I regained my energy, composure, and all around positive attitude.  We had a blast!
I rocked my second leg, which was all downhill (except the first mile).  When I finished that one, I was so excited.  I actually ran that leg one minute faster than my first leg.  ROCK ON!  Oh yeah, this was at 10pm.  I turned my iPod off and just looked at the stars... and all the other runners passing me...So my van-mates didn't start running until midnight, 1am, 2am, etc.  We ended up sleeping at a high school, in their gym for about, oh, 2 hours, before having to get up and finish our 3rd set of runs. 
My 3rd leg was supposed to be my easiest-but I think it was my hardest.  It was an incline (though gradual), there was a horrible head-wind, AND I am about dead/tired.  But I finished.  My van-mates finished.  It was awesome.
Since we were van 1, and had some hours to kill, we decided to rent a hotel for a few hours to freshen up.  Did you know that hotels don't really do that?  Well, we found one that did.  Let's just say that we are hoping we don't end up on the internet somewhere....I kept thinking Norman Bates was going to break through the bathroom window. Carla hated the shower curtain, our toilet didn't flush, and the exterior walls of the motel were pink stucco.  It.was.awesome! 
The entire experience was well worth the training, the pain (after), the hills, the heat, the dust, the stinky sweat, the laughs, the jokes, the giggling, the "woot woot's", the sqealings, and the pride we felt when each one of us finished and then our entire team ran across the finish line.  Awesome job Rockstars!!!!!

Our "van"

This was not a nice hill for Tia.

I nicknamed Carla, "The Determinator"

This dude ran in snowshoes, a teammate of his had a tent on his back, another one a kayak oar and life vest, and yet another had an air mattress on his back.  CRAZY!

Another non-nice hill for Lesa

The view from the top of Avon.

Getting ready for our night runs.

Here I go!

Last leg!

Me, Lesa, Sabrina-I personally love my hair!

Tia, Kathy and Carla.  Carla was scared to death of the gondola ride.  Sorry, I had to post the "fear"

Well, ladies, see you next year!!!!