The Rust-ee Joints running in the Wasatch Back 2009

|This past weekend (Friday and Saturday) Ian and I were able to run again in the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back. This race goes from Logan to Park City through the beautiful Wasatch Mountains, covering 188 miles total. The miles are split between 12 runners, in 2 vans. Each runner has 3 legs of the race ranging from 3ish-10ish miles.

For more info. you can visit this site: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/wasatchback/index.php

We ran on Biomet West's team(where I work), the Rust-ee Joints, with our slogan very fitting-"Go ahead and wear them out, we have replacements."

Ian did a great job decorating our "Van" while we waited for Van 1 to finish their first legs. We decorated with skeletons who had joint replacements.

Here I am getting ready for the hand off from Lori (my teammate) to do my first run-
an easy 3.4 miles. But, it was a hot one! Each exchange looks similar to this one.

This race attracts ALL kinds of people. I was fortunate enough to have some entertainment ahead of me---until I passed him! :)


Ian saw this little creek in front of someones house and decided it'd be a nice place to soak his feet--the water was nice and cool.


Ian is always a good supportive teammate who will do anything for anybody. Everybody loved it when they saw him on the side of the road! Especially me! :) This is Lisa-one of our teammates.

Ian and Lori hanging out.

Ian ran straight up a hill near Pineview reservoir and into this beautiful valley. He did such a great job---3.8 miles considered "very hard" in like 35 mins, or something crazy and fast like that!

Ian decided to get a little warm-up running Brad in to the exchange before he started his run up a mountain. Like I said--he is very supportive of his team.

Ian running up a mountain-the pictures don't do it justice. This hill was STEEP! See image below for an idea:




Lori and I had a great time squirting people down. It was hot and some of them looked like they REALLY needed it!


Our van's second runs were when "NORMAL" people are sleeping---between 1:00 & 5:00 a.m.
I loved my run, even though it was around 3:00 a.m.. It was mostly downhill and I was able to do it pretty fast! Ian did AWESOME on his second run. He was running so fast, we could hardly keep up with him driving---and he sped by soooo fast that by the time we realized it was him (to give him water) he was already gone and we had to drive up a mile to meet him. He pased a total of 54 people---that is HUGE!

After my run I was feeling really good--until I drank too much Gatorade, heard a lady puking right outside our car, and got car sick. That night/morning, I got pretty sick and became famous for my puking! :( (A guy who was on our team last year said he saw me leaning out the car doing my business---how embarassing!) After a few malfunctions, and Ian running an extra leg because our other van was at the wrong exchange, we made it to the house in Heber where we got a little bit of sleep, took some showers and ate(except for me) some food. We are a VERY SPOILED team! Most teams spent their time in a high school gym.

We met up with our team to finish our last runs. I am SO thankful for Ian, Lori, Brett, and Steve who all even though they were exhausted, were willing to run for me. I appreciated SO much!
The last runs went well, and everybody did a great job. The day was a little cooler and rainy, but it seemed to be enjoyable for most of the runners.

Ian did the "ragnar" (hardest) leg of the race and this is why it is the hardest:



He basically ran straight up this!


This sign seemed VERY encouraging...NOT!


Ian had to keep tradition and run in his flamingo suit. Many people enjoyed seeing him run with it. He got many compliments---and he was also a target that people wanted to pass!

Ian did a FANTASTIC job! I am very proud of him!

We were all quite happy when Brad handed off to Sam at the last exchange! I think we were all ready for some sleep!

We made it to the finish line-and we got a metal!

This race is totally different from any other race I have ever done, not only because of the extreme lack of sleep, but because it is unique. I always enjoy it. It never ceases to amaze me as I look around and see the thousands of people who all have something in common-everyone comes together for one CRAZY event, to run their best, to make lasting memories, to do something hard and challenging(maybe not so much for Ian :)) and to have fun all at the same time. This experience is one I will never forget!