Seeking a better country...

My running buddy woke up early puking, so I went alone.  (she's better now)  I left around 6:30, temp around 60, with cloudy conditions; even after sunrise there was no sun.  Knowing this, I headed for Legacy, mainly to enjoy the blooming russian olive trees.  They didn't disappoint.  There was no traffic anywhere getting to the trail, which is a pleasant thing about being up on Sunday morning.  After I got to the trail, I saw a runner 2 minutes up ahead.  I got the itching to catch him.  Usually I can catch people, but today I couldn't.  This guy was going hard enough that I could overtaken him, given enough time, but I just wasn't hungry enough.  The first time I timed the gap, he was 1:45 ahead.  At the next turn, about 1/2 mile later the gap was down to 1:30.  A mile later, 1:15.  By now, I had been running pretty hard for 4 miles, and was getting sweaty and thirsty.  He showed no signs of slowing, so I gave up and had a few pulls of powerade.  He probably didn't even know we were racing, but it got me moving faster than I would have otherwise.  I turned back at Glover, and for fun ran down the Davis Creek trail, cavalierly giving back the climb for a few minutes by a stream and enjoyable downhill.  Reclimbing 1340 S made me have second thoughts about the water course.  

In summary, I came in 11 miles in 88 minutes.  Not great, but acceptable.  It's hard to go all out on Sunday morning.  I got home before anybody was leaving for 9:00 church.  All my kids were still asleep.

I woke up this morning early enough to go pick up my wife's car at Kmart.  I didn't know how far the distance would be, but my estimate was 5.5  I did a little extra in the cemetery, so my guess was right on target.  (someone should pay me $100)  Usually I run north, and it's much better that way.  There were too many cars.  I'm nervous about wb, and proud of all the marathoners.  

After last year's WB with a family and fill-ins team, I wanted to do the relay as more of a challenge, so this year I put together an ultra team.  Originally, we were destined to be the winning/only mixed ultra, but one our runners pulled out with a stress fracture.  SteveP of the blog graciously and capably filled in at the last minute, and prevented us from having a really tough weekend.

I was runner #1.  For reasons unknown we got assigned a 4:00 p.m. start time.  We arrived in Logan to find scores of Ragnar volunteers sitting in the shade doing nothing.  There were no other teams in sight.  After completing exhaustive safety training, we went to the start.  Nobody was there.  A 3 year old said "On your mark get set go" into a microphone and our saga began at 3:30.    These two legs run through Logan and other small Cache County towns.  Normally there are vans and people on the course.  I didn't see another runner in 13.6 miles.   It was kind of warm and running through various sprinklers felt pretty good.  I spent quite a long time wondering how many legs we'd have to run before we caught up to anybody, and how long we could hold off the teams that started after us.  (it wouldn't be long)

Earlier, I strategized running these legs with no iPod.  I wanted to give myself something to anticipate on subsequent legs (say it with a long e).  In hindsight, I wish I used the headphones.  It would have broken up the monotony of this solitary, sucky training run in the heat of the day on busy streets that I missed work for, and drove for an hour and a half to get to.  Off to a great start...and not exactly the Ragnar experience I was looking for.  Overall pace was 7:59. 

After epic legs by Amy and Andy, we reached the exchange in Liberty.  We made good enough time we were catching up to the event.  The exchange wasn't mega-crowded, but there were people around, and ENERGY.  Van two took off for their short legs around the lake, and we went straight on to Snowbasin.  Van 2 rolled into the exchange around 11:30 p.m., and I took off.  The first mile was uphill over terrain.  Blinking lights marked the "path", and due to the dearth of runners, I had to pick my way over snowbanks and across small streams to follow the lights.  Eventually the lights led back to the road, and I descended Trappers Loop.  It was dark, but for the pale moonlight filtering through the clouds.  I was happy to see a few blinking tail-lights in the distance, and thought I might finally pass a person or two.  I could judge the distance by cones placed in the road, and with mounting excitement, I closed the gap two just over 2 cones.  It took me a mile to shrink the gap to 2 cones, another 1.5 miles to get to 1 cone, and finally I passed a runner.  The downhill was working for me; I had several miles in the high sixes.  I reached the bottom and started thinking nervously about my 3rd leg.  I slowed down and tried to take it easy going into Peterson.  There were a few people on the course, and I was thrilled to see my parents and son at exchange 14.  They had been filling volunteer shifts up the road at 15 and stopped by on their way home.  I finished this leg around 1:00 a.m, loving the cold, night running.  I liked seeing my breath, snot and spit in the headlamp.  The temp was great for shorts and long sleeves, except at little wallows where the temps felt 5-10 degrees colder.

Andy finished strong legs into East Canyon, where Ragnar was in full swing.  We had an uneventful handoff to van 2, we decided to head for Oakley to sleep for a while.   After finishing her legs, Amy made a bed in the van and was sleeping.  When Andy and I got in after the handoff, we just assumed she was back there still.  We drove for about 20 minutes before it occurred to me to actually check if she was there.  She was, thank goodness.  It was 3 a.m., and I was beginning to nod off driving around Rockport, so Andy took over.  He took a wrong turn and got jammed up at the Rockport exchange, but eventually we made it to Oakley.  Amy slept pretty hard in the back the whole way.  She did overhear us wondering if she was actually back there.  It was pretty funny, like 3 a.m. funny, not actually funny.

So we were finally in the thick of the Wasatch Back.  Oakley rodeo grounds were crowded.  We parked, and tried to get some sleep.  As luck would have it, we parked next to the morons who had huge speakers rigged on their van top, and as soon as the sun came up, they started blasting Beastie Boys.  What a bunch of morons.  We moved to a new parking spot, only to go exit the frying pan and enter the fire.   We were a captive audience, regaled with intense, over-loud, epic tales of legs, exchanges, roadkill etc...  So the chance to sleep was missed.   Besides the sun was coming up, and I can't sleep in my bed when it's light, let alone in an uncomfortable car.  We had some pancakes, and waited for Van 2 to show up.  

Continued from yesterday...

So Van 2 was about 1 hr ahead of expected.  We'd been waiting at the exchange, and had word Warren was 2 miles out.  After soaking all the fun in at the exchange and washing my hands with real soap and water, I was ready to finish off my legs.  I was walking down to the exchange, and decided I better detour into the ball diamond restroom.  It was a good call, unfortunately, Warren arrived a little sooner than nature's final call.  Our only exchange foul-up was my fault; we lost 2-3 minutes.  Feeling bad, I downed a 5 hr. energy, and vowed to make up the time.  I passed lots of runners, but didn't make up much time.  After the 4 legs the night before, my left foot and calf were somewhat unhappy with me.  I responded by running these miles around 8:15 pace.  When I got to the "One mile to go" sign, I turned it on and ran a 7mm to finish.  There was a stream running right by the exchange, so in a Ragnar highlight moment, I took my shoes off and put my feet in for 20 minutes.  That water was COLD, but it numbed my foot down and felt fine for the rest of the day.  

So that's about it.  Amy and Andy finished their final legs in similar fashion.  We all decided to skip the finish line, and headed home.  I made it to my driveway by 3:00, cleaned up until 4:00, and went to a BBQ at 6:00.  I checked my weight before the BBQ, and was down to 144; the relay cost me 7 lbs.  I'm back at 149 this morning, after hoovering everything in sight last night.  I don't know when food ever tasted better.  

Results aren't up, and I haven't even spoken with any of my Van 2 peops, but I'm very pleased with our performance.  We clawed our way from solitude into the thick of the event, and had a great time.  Hats off to Amy, Andy, Natalie, Steve and Warren.  It was a great time;  I'm looking forward to next year.  It's hard to imagine not spending the third weekend in June on the backroads of the Wasatch.