****Time warp time***** Present DayJ
The best part about my most recent running adventure was
that it was not my idea. I give complete
props to my super speedy sister Sarah for bringing the challenge to my
attention back in late January of this year.
Sarah me called early one mid-week morning and asked me if I wanted to
be part of a team running the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay in
late June, hmm, I thought for a few minutes, ran the idea by Marion, and said,
“yes.” The next six months were plagued
with ups and downs of losing a team member to illness, trying desperately to
find another one, and amping myself up for not only running a whopping 38+
miles in less than two days, a first for me, but doing so with four people I
had never met, and one person who I knew a little too well. However, my insecurities were dashed when our
team, “We Are 6” first came together on the Thursday evening before the race. We
had runners in their 60’s, 50’s, 40’s and 30’s, they all were seasoned runners,
and remarkably good human beings. I knew
I was part of something special, and the next two days would be an amazing
adventure.
The Ragnar relay teams are typically made up of twelve
people, but as our name described, we were a team of six, which meant we each would
be running six legs of the race, verses three.
I was beyond thrilled to go into a race completely blind, I mean, yes, I
have run a lot over the past twenty years or so, but this race was a whole
different animal, and I was up for the challenge. I even got a good chuckle when I met two girls
behind me while boarding our flight from LA to Salt Lake, they were talking
about running at night, so I turned around and asked them if they were doing
Ragnar. They were adorable, and asked me
which van I was in, assuming I was part of a twelve person team, when I
replied, “Oh, we are an Ultra team.”
Their faces went white, and jaws dropped, “What? That’s crazy!” I asked them how many miles they would be
running throughout the whole race, about 15-17, meanwhile I would be running
over 38… good times.
I met up with Sarah at baggage claim at the airport as we
flew into Salt Lake City from two opposite ends of California. She ran and leapt in my arms, and it felt
like we were back in college again spending the summer choreographing dances to
Backstreet Boys and shaping America’s youth as Camp Counselors at Rolling Hills
Country Day Camp. Our relationship had grown distant the last ten years, but we
were now back on track, and I was so excited to share this adventure with her.
We quickly met up with two other members of our team, our
fearless Captain, Dave, and the king of the “tough” legs, Kevin. We needed a quick car change and traded in
our mini-van for a much more durable black Secret Service-esque suburban and
headed north to the race start in Logan.
We hit a bit of traffic, but it was probably the most scenic traffic jam
I had ever been in, and a bit of a tease as the gorgeous mountains we saw out
the window we surmised we would be running through the following two days back
down from Logan to Park City.
The remaining members of our team, Steve and Laura, drove
up from Salt Lake in the afternoon just in time to get in some quick bonding in
the girl’s room and we were off for a delicious Italian dinner at one of Logan’s
top rated restaurants, which lived up to its glowing reputation, ‘twas
delicious. We turned in early, because
even though our start time was not until 9AM we wanted to be up early, and
wanted all of our ducks in row before the clock started ticking. That is the deal with Ragnar, they give you
36 hours to finish the race, so we had from 9AM on Friday morning until 9PM on
Saturday night to run 197 miles from Logan to Park City. Each leg of the race
varied in distance and difficulty, Sarah started us off, while I would be the 5th
leg, which meant we would be running about every 5-6 hours depending on the
speediness of our teammates. We had two
cars filled with three runners each and would leap frog each other throughout
the course.
The logistics eventually worked out, but it took a little
while to get in our groove. We hit a big
snag early, because Steve and Kevin drove to the wrong exchange point to meet
Sarah, so she was a little bummed when I talked with her calling on a
stranger’s phone saying, “They aren’t here!” Well, luckily, after a few
sniffles, and a little positive reinforcement, “Sarah, you smoked that first
leg!” she relaxed and passed along the slap band “baton” to a harried and
sorrowful Steve and sent him on his way for the second leg of the race, his
longest, 9.2 miles.
My first leg of the race was 7.4 mile leg uphill on a
muddy trail named Avon Pass that was both challenging and fun. I was trying to maintain a steady, conscious
pace of 9:30-10min. miles that I planned to maintain for all six of my legs, so
I was not being a speedster for this first time out, I knew I had a long way to
go.
Laura ran before me and she was quick, so I had to be
ready to rock whenever she set off on her leg, and that was the real game of
the event, trying to get to the next leg in time to rest for a minute, prepare,
and blast off when she sprinted up to the exchange point. We all decided in our pre-race meetings that
we would bring six different change of clothes for each leg, and let me tell
you, that was a clutch move for me. I
made a complete wardrobe change after every leg, so that I felt as “fresh” as
possible with each new leg. I still
smelled horrible, but I felt renewed, and it worked. My second leg of the race was 7.3 miles up to
Snow Basin ski resort. I am sure you are saying “Wow, T, that seems like a
climb?” Yes, you would be correct in that assumption. It was long, steep, and even steeper, and
then I came the crest at the 2.5 mile mark to the most striking valley I have
ever laid my green eyes on, and down I flew.
We went up again, and again, but I have never felt so alive and thankful
during any run of my life, the sun was setting, the sky was never-ending, and I
was drinking up every bit of it. I had
no idea what time it was, I was deep in the zone, and nothing else mattered
except running to the top of the mountain.
When I finally reached the top I slapped the bracelet on Dave and felt a
wee bit delirious, Sarah asked me, “was it hard?” to which I replied, “I ran up
to a ski resort!” I was in an altitude induced state of bliss, and couldn’t
wait to run some more!
Sarah’s next leg of the race was 9.3 miles downhill,
which might sound fun, but actually downhills can be even more brutal the
uphills, and over nine miles of it was no joke, but she looked amazing as we
drove by her, and finished like the natural runner she is. At this point in the race, two rounds in, we
had our routine down, I would explain it, but I don’t want to give anyone a
headache. In essence, we would jump
ahead in time to rest for a while before we had to run again. Next up was the fun stuff, nighttime
running. Luckily, my toughest legs were
#1, #2, and #6, so the middle of the night stuff was pretty flat and chill, but
I did not fall in love with my headlamp, I prefer the sun please.
By far the biggest buzzkill of this event was the commute
between exchange areas. I understand
that we were driving on two lane roads most of the time, and there were over
1,300 teams, but honestly, we would spend over an hour between exchanges on
more than one occasion, once again making sleep a dream and not much of a
reality. I think I did fall asleep for at
least 30-40 minutes between 2:45AM-4:30AM sitting upright in our Secret Service
Suburban driver’s seat, but I was not expecting much, and I was happy with the
few minutes of slumber I had. I was in awe of Kevin being able to run 11.6
miles in those wee hours of the morning, but he looked euphoric at 5AM when he
finished, truly inspiring. We gave each other quick high fives then headed off
to my next exchange because Laura was licking her chops to run this leg fast, and
I wanted to be ready.
The 4th leg for me was a 5.5mile mellow sunrise romp that
I trotted along at my prescribed pace, feeling lucky to have made it to the
morning, but fully aware that we still had a very long day ahead of us. Unfortunately,
the drive to the next exchange to meet Dave was brutally slow. He only had 6.3 miles to run, so Laura and I needed
to hustle, but we were only able to inch slowly along the back roads to reach
our destination. We did have some
entertainment from a guy dangling form the back of his van changing in front of
us, nothing too scandalous, but it did help pass the time. Once we finally reached Dave’s exchange we
drove off to the Jordanelle Reservoir overlook to wait for Kevin to run in and
Laura to take off. The drive was
beautiful, but the climb to the reservoir was exposed, providing no shade at
all from the Midsummer Day’s rising temps, and it was a long climb of 7.7 miles
that once again Kevin would have to manage.
He had some truly tough legs to muscle through on this course.
We parked our suburban among many other vans and vehicles
overlooking this amazing scene of nature, and took a breath at how far we had
come in our journey. Dave and I had
given up estimating our finish time at this point because there were still too
many variables with the six remaining legs of the race, but we knew the end was
near, and that was enough to rejoice. I
met some wonderful fellow runners in my favorite meeting spot on the course,
the Port-O-Potty line, they were lovely and impressed that we were an Ultra
team, a fact that never seemed to disappoint.
When Kevin ran in to the exchange he did not have the
euphoric look on his face like he did after his long leg a few hours ago,
instead he yelled, “What the !@#$ was that?!”
We laughed and gave him hugs and high fives because once again he fought
hard for the team, and shared a bit of honesty in his review of the
course. Laura took off and ran nearly
all downhill for her 6.1 mile leg, which meant once again Dave and I had to
high tail it to my exchange so I could receive the slap bracelet from our
speedster and head out on my way.
After I received the bracelet from Laura I was off on a
hot, flat 4 mile run through the sleepy town of Midway. The highlight was I ran through a covered
bridge, but even though this was my shortest leg of the race, it seemed to never-ending. I felt fine, my pace was solid, but I just
wanted to be done. I still had my final
leg, 9.8miles ahead of me, and this little jaunt was messing with my head. Thankfully, before I knew it I rounded the
final corner and saw the orange balloons of the exchange up ahead and Dave
ready with his arm out for the slap bracelet; another leg down, only one more
to go.
This last round of our race was in a word, hard. Not only
were we dealing with heat, but also a healthy dose of sleep deprivation. Sarah and Steve’s legs were fairly flat, but
hot, and dreadful. While Kevin’s leg
started the first 4.4 miles up a ridiculous climb lovingly named, “Ragnar
Hill.” We drove our Suburban up the hill
to the exchange where Laura would take the bracelet from Kevin and run another
4 miles up to my exchange, which wasn’t even the top of the hill! I would need to run another mile up before I
crested the hill, but more on that later.
We parked along the narrow, crowded road in the shade, and really let
the toll of the day sink in. I ate a
little, and closed my eyes for a few minutes, when I suddenly stirred myself
awake with the burning feeling Kevin was not far away. I climbed out of the car and started to pace
up and down the hill cheering on fellow runners who were nearly finished with
most likely the toughest 4.4 mile run of their lives, it was awesome. I was proud of every single one of these
strangers, but then I saw Sarah and Steve walking up the hill, and ran down to
meet their embrace. They had both
finished, their mission was complete, which I was thrilled about, and slightly jealous
of, because I still had a ways to go.
Then, like the swift slight spirit of Hermes, Kevin came charging up the
hill and we yelled and screamed for him to finish strong, this was it for him,
too. He passed the bracelet off to
Laura, and she was off like a mountain goat gnawing away at the hill like it
was a treat and not the massive meal it felt to the rest of the runners around
her. She ran it beautifully, Dave and I
stopped various times along our drive up to my final exchange and marveled at
how well she was handling the tough climb, to say I impressed would be a massive
understatement, Laura is a gifted runner.
I waited for Laura at my exchange with a light-headed
anxiety never felt in all my years of running, would be descending over 2,100ft.,
which is a lot of downhill to absorb on a good day, but careening downhill that
far over nearly 10 miles on less than one hour of sleep and over 30 miles of
running in my legs was unchartered territory for me, and I was nervous. Once I started running up the first mile
which was the finale of “Ragnar Hill”, my nerves began to ease, because I was
doing what I love, and what my body finds second nature, running. The next few
miles were filled with glorious twists and turns of steep descent, but I was
careful to maintain my measured pace because running too fast was just plain
dumb, and I wanted to feel good most of the way. The best word to describe the way my mind and
body were feeling would be “weird”. I
felt overwhelmed by exhaustion, and took to squirting water into my face just
to stay alert, which felt slightly disconcerting. Then the downhill leveled
out, which was a welcomed sensation for my quads, but what came next was not…
we had a short, steep climb. I had
already run up thousands of feet, I was over it, so this hill did not get a
smile out of me, nor tears. Instead, I
just ran up it like any other, and sped away as fast as I could down the other
side when I reached the top. At this
point in the race my Garmin had lost all of its juice, so I was using my good
‘ol Timex to get me through, and the time I wanted to hit was 90min. I told Dave that was my target, and I did not
want to let him down. It took about
40min., but I finally found my legs again, and they were having a ball cruising
down the winding road to Park City, I was making great time, and was
thrilled. Once we reached the bottom of
the descent they had us run through Deer Valley, which meant more uphill, my
head and heart were sick of running uphill, but my legs were up for the
challenge. When I made it to the top of
the climb the arrows pointed us down a steep, shale laden bike/ski trail that
put needless minutes into my time. I was
more annoyed than anything else because I just wanted to be done, and I did not
want to fall, or roll my ankle on this last mile of the course, then I saw the
road, and was shortly on pavement again.
We had ¾ miles to go when I picked up the pace and read
1:33hrs. on my watch, I was devastated, I missed my time, and let my team
down. I made the last turn through a
crowd filled park that was home to the final exchange of the race, and finish
line area, I nearly sprinted in to slap the bracelet on to Dave, and fell into
the arms of my cheering teammates. I had
never felt so exhausted at the end of any race, not even an ironman could
compare to the mental and physical exhaustion I was feeling, and I did not keep
it to myself. “That was awful!” Sarah
was surprised to see me upset, especially because she thought I looked good
running in, but I felt like a failure because my time was longer than I planned,
because the course was much more difficult than I anticipated, which at that
moment, made me angry, but really I think my exhaustion got the better of me.
We all walked around for a while, and waited for Dave to
round the final turn so we could all run through the finish line together, a
very cool experience, one that made me happy, and sad. I had just met 4 out of 5 my teammates less
than two days before, and now we were bonded by this journey through Utah that
will live on forever in my memory as one of the greatest events in my life. I know that if I can run 10 miles up and
downhill on only minutes of sleep and 30 miles into my legs, I can handle
anything. We finished in 34:18, which is
pretty decent for our first time out. “We
Are 6”, more like “we are an Amazing 6”.
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