Ragnar - Wasatch Back 2013

Wasatch Back. The hardest Ragnar to get into - as well as one of the hardest Ragnar's that you can run. We long dreamed of being able to run this Ragnar, especially after Vegas last year. Things weren't looking promising though as spots sell out before it's even opened to the general public. This, however, seems to have been our year. Because it was the 10 year anniversary of the first Ragnar ever (Wasastch Back, of course) they almost doubled the number of spots they allow by hosting a Thursday/Friday race as well. We were in as soon as I got the email.

That meant that we had to get together a team, though. We were pretty convinced that we knew enough people that would be willing to participate, and sure enough within a couple weeks we had 10 other people wanting to run with us. However, things change, schedules get in the way, and conflicts arise. There were multiple times of having a full team and scrambling to find someone right up until 2 days before the race - and to all those who can up and run a Ragnar, I am impressed and hope one day to be like you. We were able to do it though and had a full team excited and ready to run! Remind me though how much I didn't like this part next time I think it's a good idea to organize a team. haha.

On Wednesday, June 19th, our van (Van 2 - I don't know why we did that to ourselves again. We vowed after Vegas that we would never be van 2 again. Then, even being in charge, we both chose legs in van 2. I suppose we are glutton for punishment.) loaded up and headed to Logan to stay at one of our van member's Mission President's house. Can I just say - WOW! I have never seem a house and property as incredible as this one was. Everything was beautiful, well kept, and extravagant while still being welcoming and homey. 

We dined that evening at Hu Hut. I'm not even sure how to describe it except it was tasty and an experience I had never had before. We had smores for dessert - see the cute little fireplaces?

Breakfast the next morning was provided in the home we were staying at. We all carb loaded nicely on pancakes, eggs, and bacon. 

The boys even did the dishes for us!

Here is a picture of the entrance to the room Hunter and I stayed in. Incredible, right?

After breakfast it was van decorating time! Nothing better to put you in the Ragnar spirit!

...and the finished project! Well, one side anyway. The other side will make multiple appearances later on in this post. 

Then we loaded up and were on our way to exchange 6 where Brit would begin. Random side note: we actually had to drive all the way back through Ogden to get to our starting point. It might have been easier to just stay at our house the night before, but, then we wouldn't have gotten the amazing Bed and Breakfast experience that we did. I like to think of it as our little mini vacation pre-Ragnar. haha. 

We also all applied our Ragnar tattoos - which ended up leaving tan lines after the fact on at least 3 of us.

Brit got the bracelet from Catherine around 3 o'clock and we were off!

Cute little newlyweds :)

Jes handing off to Hunter for his first leg - the hardest leg of the course and the only one manned by EMTs. 

But, he survived it! He came in strong a couple minutes ahead of time. 

One of our lovely volunteers as well as our van captain from team one. Both of these lovely ladies have said they will run the next Ragnar we do - even if it is on the East Coast. 

In the midst of crazy sun and no sleep, pictures stopped for a while. haha. This is me checking off my final leg of the race. Hooray! Notice the little check marks associated with my name for baby? Cute, yes?

And Hunter making his final check mark....

We did it! Our final time was 32 hours 45 minutes. It was such an incredible experience and I'm just not sure how to describe it. It is fun and crazy and will make you more tired than you have ever been in your life, but once you are caught up on sleep and the soreness wears off the itch to do it all over again starts right up. 

All of Van 2. Some of our favorite people. 

More finish line festivities...

One of my favorite purchases of the day...isn't it soooo cute? 

Here are some couple shots from our van...

Brit and Andre, little cuties. They will definitely be doing another Ragnar with us :) Despite not wanting to, they loved every minute and felt the itch to do another one the very next day. 

Jes and Rendy post crazy, straight uphill legs. If you get a named leg you know it's going to suck. Both of them had about 4 mile long legs that were pretty straight uphill with very little to no relief. Of course they both rocked it.

And of course, Hunter and me. 

We decided that since the only purchases we have made for our baby up to this point have been running related that means we are going to have to run again. Oye. haha. It'll probably be a solid 8 months or so before I set out on anything too serious though. 

We are officially Ragnarians - again!

Beachy Days and 26.2

I'm a little slow catching up with it all, but here is some more from Hawaii! Here's to wishing we were still loving the warm, clear weather in Hawaii rather than this nasty 20 degree high inversion we are experiencing in Draper. This post is to warmer days. 

We had one day devoted to the beach. On our way out, we stopped at a Buddhist Temple that was really close to where we were staying. 

It was pretty fascinating and felt like we had been teleported to Japan. 

Do you see the perfectly maintained rock garden? Wow.

North Shore in December = HUGE waves, just in case you were wondering. It is a workout just playing in them for a while. Big waves are my favorite kind to play in. We were smart though and learned to surf in Waikiki with much calmer waves. 

 I don't think you can really say you've been to Oahu without hitting up Matsumoto's for some shaved ice. 

...or the Shrimp Shack for shrimp of course. Best food of the whole trip - and I don't even like shrimp normally so that's saying something.

Our final day in Hawaii started with the whole reason we went in the first place - so Hunter could run in the Honolulu Marathon. All of Oahu was invaded with people there so they could participate. All in all, there were 31,000 participants. We got to meet and talk with quite a few others. The ones we talked to the most were Benji and Amie Durden. Turns out Benji is a marathon legend taking 3rd in the Boston Marathon in 2 hours and 9 minutes at his peak. What?!? Small world it is, they know Hunter's Cross Country Coaches and are good friends with them. Even crazier - Benji finished this marathon in 3:46:14. Making him 792/31,089 - placing right after Hunter.

Here are Hunter's stats:

Time: 3:46:11

Overall: 791/31,089

Gender: 688/10,830

Age Group: 86/1,077

Pretty impressive for his first go at it, no?

Don't worry, the frisbee made it too. haha. 

We finished the day off with the swap meet at Aloha Stadium (where I got these glasses - here's to hoping they last for a while) and bumming it at the beach. 

We were so sad to come home. It was a quick but awesome trip. One we will definitely be repeating - with or without marathon involvement.

Ragnar!

The next few posts will highlight various reasons why I haven't had time to post regularly as of late.

Reason #1: Ragnar. I have spent a lot of time running - particularly in the final few weeks leading up to the Las Vegas Ragnar. Let me just say though - it was worth every minute!

Here is Van 2 waiting at the first major exchange for our first van to finish. Note: I don't do well when staring into the sun. But we already knew that.

This was actually taken after we finished our second run. Because we were in Van 2, the bulk of our runs took place at night - which happens really early in Vegas. We had to start wearing our night gear at 3:45 pm and it was actually legit! We started our second turn running around 2 or 3 am and didn't finish until about 7. Needless to say, sleep didn't really happen. We reached this sleeping area around 8, stayed until around 11 and were trying to sleep during marching band practice. 

This picture was taken right before my final leg. I was part of the lucky half of our van that didn't have wear night gear on all three runs. This was my longest - and definitely the hardest and hilliest leg - at 7.6 miles. 

For future reference: don't have your fastest runner be your last. Hunter beat us all to the finish line while we were trying to find parking. We were probably a solid 20 minutes behind him. But, we all got there eventually :)

Here is the after picture in our awesome new schwag. I think I can safely speak for Hunter by saying that neither of us have ever been so tired in our lives. The combination of running 15 miles and sleeping maybe 3 hours will wear you out real quick. 

This picture adequately captures our exhaustion. 

And the medals. We were all in it for the medals and the stickers for our cars. This was definitely a blast. We had so much fun and will definitely be doing more Ragnars in the future. 

Another check off the bucket list. 2012 has been a good year.