Ragnar Relay - Las Vegas 2010

This post will be a picture overload for some of you, but this post is more for me than anyone else. As stated in previous posts, I have always hated running and thought that people that would pay to run in any race were crazy. Well, Bump wanted to run the Ragnar Relay with my family and so I told him that I would train with him and be support for him, but that I didn't want to run. . . long story short - I ended up running and due to an injury he didn't. Am I glad that I ended up doing it? YOU BET!! Absolutely loved it and don't regret it for one second!

The thing that I like about the Ragnar Relay, more than any other race, is the support you get from running with a team. And in our case it wasn't just any team, it was fun, fun family. Our van #2 was wonderful! There was no pressure, just support and laughter and encouragement and FUN! I decided that I don't think I would love running this relay as much as I did if I were with a different group of people. For me, the people made the whole experience enjoyable, because let's face it, this is a tough race - twelve people running 197 miles for 2 days with very little sleep across some tough terrain. The people that you are with make it okay.

Anyway, here's a breakdown of our adventure. The race started Friday morning October 22nd. I had a math test the night before and so we couldn't leave Grantsville until 8:00pm to drive to Vegas. We had to pick up my niece Kaylea, then drop our kids off in Saratoga Springs at my brother's house, then pick up my other niece that stepped in for Bump at the last minute and then drive for 7 hours to Vegas. We got there at about 4:45am. We were all in the second van so we were able to crash for a few hours. The hard thing was that I didn't know what time we needed to meet the other van and everyone was asleep. In our room an alarm went off at 6:30am and I thought that someone had set it for us, so I woke up and started getting ready. When nobody else was moving I sent a text to my sister-in-law, Trish, to see what the plan was. She replied that she was awake but why was I? I explained what happened and she said to go back to sleep and that we didn't need to leave until at least 11:00am. So, I started the race with a lack of sleep (not a good thing in this relay race).

When everyone finally woke up I heard the movement and headed out to see what the plan was. I thought that we had missed van decorating because they were going to do it the night before, but the decided to wait and I helped them decorate Lee's Suburban. My brother, Dave, had a friend make these great decals that we could put on our vehicles and they turned out great!

We were running the race as the posterity of our Grandma and Grandpa Dickson to celebrate their 70th Wedding Anniversary, so the decorating was all about them. Our team name was the Dickson Scrubs, because our Grandma used to call us all "scrubs" as we were growing up.

These pictures are in random order, so just enjoy them as you scroll. My cousin Gina put together these collages after the race and I thought they were cute. Here is Van #1 in running order: Susanne (cousin), Dave (brother), Brent (cousin's hubby), Shayla (cousin), Dallin (nephew) and Gina (cousin).

Here is Van #2 in running order: Lee (brother), Me, Erika (cousin), Jessica (niece), Amber (niece who stepped in for my sister, Jamie, who hurt her leg and couldn't run) and Kaylea (niece).

Some great pictures of everyone even Jamie and Bump who were the best support you could ask for and had a great time in our van with us!

More vehicle decorations for our Van #2.

Here we are at exchange 6 before the hand off of van #1.

While I was running my first leg everyone was having fun trying to hand out hard boiled eggs to passing runners at a water stop. They got a lot of laughs and some very strange looks. People who participate in Ragnar know how to have fun and we were very mild in comparison to some teams.
The young ones waiting for their 3rd legs. It was a bit chilly that morning.
Bump and the girls.

Dallin, Lee and Dave after Dave and Dallin's first leg and right before Lee's.

At exchange 30 they said there were sleeping areas. No joke, this was the sleeping area - rocks and sage brush. I called the back of the Suburban and finally before my last leg got some much needed sleep. I can't sleep on rocks - I mean really??
We had to use these sweet flag any time a non-runner crossed the street (any street) so here is Lee and Bump coming across to meet probably me.
Bump, so glad that he was there, even if he wasn't running. This was taken after my first leg 4.6miles (which was my shortest, but toughest, by the way - lots of hills up and down).
Here are some pictures of some of the beautiful scenery that we saw. I definitely saw a different side of Las Vegas where we ran and it is lovely. Here is a picture of a donkey crossing sign. We saw these all over and didn't know why they were there until. . .
Yup, there are wild donkeys in the area and here was one just hanging out by the road when Amber was running.

One of Lee's uphill climbs. This was his first leg. It was tough, but his last leg was longer and harder. What a trooper!! Glad they weren't my legs!
Amber did great filling in for Jamie when she really isn't a runner. Hopefully she surprised herself and had fun at the same time. She was great and had some very beautiful runs.

Here's the end of my first leg and I am handing off to my cousin, Erika. She had a tough time with shin splints, but kept on going and did really great!

At the end of my first leg with my man.

Lee and the nieces: Amber, Jessica and Kaylea
I did it! Glad my first leg was complete and I did good! I ran about 10 minute miles, which wasn't bad considering I hate running and haven't done that good before. Overall our team finished 1 hour and 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Yay Dickson Scrubs!
Jamie was devastated that she wasn't going to be able to run. She had been training so hard for it and then tore a ligament in her calf a month before the race. She wasn't going to let that stop her from coming from Nauvoo to participate. She volunteered at the start point for 8 hours and then came and rode in our van for the entire race to really be a part of things. I can't imagine the experience without her - she was the best support (next to Bump) and I am so glad that she was there!

Some members of van #1 waiting to go on their 2nd legs. Left to right: Dallin, Gina, Susanne, Shayla, Erika (from our van) and her daughter Maison (a fan).

Shayla and Susanne ready for some sleep when they were handing over the baton after their 2nd legs.
We added some Christmas lights to our van for our night legs. It made it easy to spot them while I was running.
This is when I handed off to Erika after my second run. I think it was around 2:30 or 3:00am? My second leg was my absolute favorite! It was the perfect run. It is so peaceful running at night. The first part was running through town and then I headed out to the "country." I felt great and could have kept going more than my 4.7 miles.

I was worried because when everyone was finished with their first legs and we were on our way to my cousins house for a break I started getting a really, really bad headache and actually ended up throwing up in the Suburban before we got there. It took about 4 hours to get feeling better and I wondered if I was going to be able to finish for awhile. I figured out that it was probably just a lack of sleep and not eating ( I had eaten an orange and 1 hard boiled egg in 22 hours, plus ran 4.6 miles - go figure). Once I had food and medication in me I felt great and had an amazing run!
If you could see my face you would see a grin. I was just happy and feeling good on this whole run!

Jessica, my niece, was so great! She only had 2 weeks to train for this and fill in for Bump. She ran cross country in high school, but hasn't really run for 2 years now and still did so great!! Thanks Jessie!!!

Lee was so happy to be finished wit his last run (6 miles straight up and 4 miles straight down - no kidding!!) that he got up and danced on the car to encourage Amber to keep on going and finish her final leg!
Here's Bump running along side me at the finish of my last run 5.7 miles. It was a good run too, but it was a non-support run and I really missed my teammates as I ran. It was good to see them again at the end. I had the best kill of all on this leg when I passed a University of Utah runner. Woot woot!!

Here's Lee giving hard boiled eggs to the team "Revenge of the Mullets" They were great!

We all crossed the finish line together with Kaylea (our final runner) wearing hospital scrubs for our Dickson Scrubs team.





What a great experience!! I loved it all and would do it again in a heartbeat. The only thing that I didn't love was how little interaction you have between the two vans. It was so great to see them on the big hand-offs, but overall I didn't feel like we got to spend time with them. We ended up in 88th place overall, which isn't bad when you have over 500 teams competing! We all met up at my cousin, Susanne's house for pizza and birthday cake afterwards - Dave's birthday is the 24th, so we had to celebrate that with him! Susanne has a nice pool and hot tub that felt heavenly as my legs started to cramp up that night. I slept like a baby that night in a real bed and we headed back home the next morning. It was a great adventure and I am so glad for the experience! What great memories!