I'll try to record some of my awesome experience at the Red Rock Relay, but there's no way I'll be able to do it justice. Larry Marshall, my awesome running buddy who put the team together, was both the team captain and the captain of the Snow Van. The other members of the Snow Van, in the order they ran, were Larry, Kari, Ally, Jeremy, Liesel, and Jessi. I know Larry, Jeremy, and Jessi, but Kari, Ally, and Liesel are friends of Larry's daughter Stacia and Jessi. Like every other relay I've done, one of things I liked least was that we didn't get to spend much time with the people in the other van. They began the relay at 9:20am at the top of Brianhead ski resort. I was the proud captain of the Sun Van, the "old guy" van (all in our 40's or 50's). What a great group of old guys: Grant Skousen, Dave ('Deeks') Steck, Lyle Brereton, Kevin Jessop, Jonathan Crampton, and me. The best part of the relay was sharing it with these guys. Grant started our first set of legs off with a 6.7 mile descent from 8200 ft. to 6400 ft. Deeks, Lyle, and Kevin then climbed some serious uphill from 6400 ft. up to 9200 ft. The weather was cooler than we had thought it might be, but still pretty warm. The weather fun was just about to begin. Since it was getting into the hottest part of the afternoon, Jonathan started off his 7.6 mile hard-rated leg running shirtless. His leg runs on a rolling dirt road that eventually climbs to 9400 ft. before descending back to 9200 ft. The approaching storm we hoped would pass by us, did not. Cold torrential rain quickly turned the clay roads to sticky mud, with rivers of muddy water, and then the hail came. Before we could catch up to Jonathan his bare skin was being pelted by painful hail that left red marks on his body. We gave him a shirt, a jacket, and a dry hat and he trudged on through the awful mud up the biggest hill and on to the end of his leg. My 7.8 mile hard-rated leg continued along the rolling dirt (mud) road on the Kolob Terrace, ascending to 9300 ft. before descending to 8100 ft. at Kolob Reservoir. The storm continued, but since it hadn't caught me by surprise, I was able to be better prepared. I started with my jacket and gloves. The hail had stopped and it was just raining when I began, but with each step in the mud I wasn't sure which way my foot was going to go. The slipping combined with the weight of the clay mud sticking to my shoes made it difficult to generate much speed. My jacket and shoes were soon soaked through and feeling pretty heavy. The hail that had pelted Jonathan returned to dance with me for a bit, too. I had to stop 3 or 4 times to adjust my shoes and tighten the laces to keep my shoes on.
I had been looking forward to the 4+ miles of beautiful downhill. When I started the downhill I remember thinking how awesome of a run it would be if it was dirt instead of mud. I had a little talk with God around this point. I didn't really complain, it was more like sharing my thoughts. I said how beautiful the area was and how awesome it would have been to be able to fly down the hills. I expressed my gratitude for the opportunity to be there, and simply prayed that I (and the other runners) would be able to finish safely, without falling or turning an ankle or being struck by lightning. (We saw a lot of lightning on this relay, especially later on our night legs. It was actually quite exciting and beautiful.) I didn't expect to see dry roads again, but it wasn't long before the rain stopped and I hit solid dirt road again. My van mates took my heavy wet jacket. My heavy shoes didn't allow me to turn over my feet very quickly, but the last couple of miles down to Kolob Reservoir and the exchange were actually very enjoyable. I almost forgot to mention that when I started my lungs quickly noticed that I was running at an elevation of over 9000 ft. The weather quickly pushed that factor to the background.
After I finished, my team mates pointed out that my calves were caked with mud. Luckily, Lyle had brought a big package of wipes and I spent a number of minutes rubbing mud off my legs so I could get in the van. I did it with a smile on my face. I knew I'd remember and talk about this leg for years to come. My mile splits were: 7:36, 7:24, 9:34 (muddy uphill, stops to fix shoes), 7:54, 7:16 (dry road), 7:13, 7:08, 7:11/mi for last 0.6 miles. As I approached the exchange it was great to hear the cheering of my team mates and other runners that were there. I swear the nearby herd of cows also started to moo their encouragement as I approached.
After I was clean enough to get in the van, we headed to Hurricane and decided to eat at JBs. I changed into dry clothes in the van. Some of the others cleaned themselves in the JBs bathroom. It's good most of the other patrons were also running the relay and understood the partially undressed men in the restroom. I had some delicious french toast. We then headed back to the next exchange in La Verkin and an hour or two of rest on lawn of the nearby Church. I slept on the soft grass with only a pillow, caressed by the gentle warm breeze. To be continued in Saturday's blog entry...
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