wasatch smawsatch

Congratulations - this is our 100th post. If you are reading this you are a winner. Feels good to be a winner huh!

Well, guess who else is a winner? Marie that's who. She's got a medal and everything.

Last weekend was the Wasatch Back. 188 miles. 12 runners per team. In the case of Marie's team - 29 hours 30 minutes of running from Logan to Park City. Ok, I admit it. I thought this was a really stupid idea at first. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? By the time it was over I was so jealous I had pretty much poached the event (i.e. participated as much as I could without paying.) The team consisted of a group of people from our neighborhood, and used to be in your neighborhood, and relatives of those people, and a friend or two of those people. For those of you who don't know how this works here is a description from their website:

Each team is responsible for providing two support vehicles, with six runners in each vehicle. During the relay, each team member runs three legs, each leg ranging between 3 - 8 miles and varying in difficulty.The first vehicle will drop off the first runner, drive ahead a few miles, cheer the runner on, and provide them with water, snacks, and plenty of love. That vehicle will then drive ahead to the first exchange point to drop off the second runner, and pick up the first runner when that leg is complete. They will repeat this pattern for six legs until they hand off to their second vehicle. This leapfrogging pattern will continue all the way to the finish line.

Turns out that it was a really fun event. Marie and I have had fun (you know - as much fun as running can be anyway) "training" for this race. Marie had to run a total of just over 12 miles for the relay and she had the easiest legs (but she also had the best looking legs if you ask me) . Her team started at noon on Friday and Marie's first run was about 5:30 that evening. It was an easy section for about 4 miles but it had gotten really hot so she was glad for some water when the run was over...but what added more to her joy was my surprise appearance at the finish line. After cheering her to the finish line I took off to scout out the area selected for rest, recharging, and really awesome spaghetti. (okay - there was nothing actually awesome about the spaghetti.) The van finished their first leg and headed into the town of Morgan where my fellow stage crew member and I had set up for dinner. Everyone ate and a few tried to rest on the grass of the high school until the call came in around 12:30 AM that it was time to get a move on because it was almost their turn to run again. We drove up to East Canyon where Marie started her second leg. This one was also about 4 miles but it was uphill, and it started ate 1:30 AM. She really did great. Despite being the middle of the night and up hill she ran strong. It didn't hurt that she was chasing a cute boy the whole time either. The only real low point of this run was when she saw lights up high and to the right and was worried that it was a car and that we had to run clear up there. Darkness has a way of playing tricks on you, especially when you are delirious. It was an airplane. We did not in fact have to run that high. Just for fun I also chose to get my butt kicked from about 3:00 to 4:00 AM. I was pacing another team member and she killed me. I only ran 4 miles - she ran 9.6. It was easily my fastest 4 mile run ever and I wanted to die when I was done. Time for some more training I think.

They finished the last leg of the van about 7:30 that morning having run all night. Stage crew back to work for breakfast in bed in Kamas and more sleeping on the grass....this time in the rain. Finally at 12:00 it was back to the pavement. The energy kicked in for Marie and she finished strong and feeling good. She really was amazing and I'm really proud of her. She had a blast with her team and there is already talk of next year.....and maybe one in Vegas this fall? We'll see......

When Marie got home Lainey immediately noticed Marie's participation medal (that doubles as a bottle opener) and said, MOM - DID YOU WIN? YOU GOT A MEDAL! For once in her life Marie realized the correct answer was not truth and she simply said yes.

This is one of those experiences that make you think.....if I can accomplish this....I wonder what else I can do that I had previously doubted?

(final disclaimer - her team was awesome. I didn't mention any of them because not everyone really loves having there names all over the internet and you know this blog is like world famous now so in order to protect the innocent we'll just call everyone Janet. Janet - good job. Thanks for finishing before the rain decided to get serious and really apply itself.)