This is my report on the Ragnar Relay - Wasatch Back and covers both Friday and Saturday.
Actually, the fun began on Thursday night when we met at my house to decorate both team vans. A couple of team members couldn't make it, but most of us were there to draw the team logos and write our names, team number etc. on the windows, and attach lights to the tops of the Suburbans. We also reviewed our plans and made sure everything was ready.
Friday morning Nathan and Steve met at my house a little before 9:30 am. We then picked up Kerry and Greg in Cedar Hills, met Cory at the 5400 South exit off I-15, and then headed to Logan. We stopped at the Subway in Brigham City for sandwiches along the way. As Runner 1, I didn't think I would have time to fully digest it before our 2:00 pm start, so I stuck mine in the cooler for later. I was still full from the Begian waffles I had eaten for breakfast. (The cool sandwich tasted awesome after running my first leg in the heat.)
We got to the start with plenty of time to get checked in and relax prior to the start. There were eight teams scheduled to start at 2:00 pm, but only seven were there. With only a few minutes before the start there were only 4 runners at the starting line, 3 young women and myself, and they all looked fast. I had this vision of me struggling to stay with them and ending up in last place in that leg. I felt a little better when two more men and another woman joined us, but they all still looked fast. They introduced our teams, we wished each other luck, and then exactly at 2:00 pm they started us.
Leg 1
I stayed near the front of the pack through the first half mile or so. I don't know exactly because when I looked at my watch at that point I realized I had pushed the mode button instead of the start button. I started my watch and tried to stay with the leaders for the next mile or so. The young woman from "Curves with a Kick" had started to pull away, followed by the shirtless young man with the headphones (don't know from which team). The course had a little more uphill grade than I had anticipated, the temperature was in the 90's, and I felt like I was going about as fast as I could. My estimate for this leg was a 7:11/mi pace, and when I looked at my watch it showed a 6:25/mi pace since I had started my watch. I knew I couldn't go any faster and had to let them go.
My focus then shifted to the runner from the Andalusia Bootleggers. His team was the only one that started at 2:00 pm that was in our Sub-masters Male division. He seemed to be nearer my age, but he too appeared to be a good runner and had pulled a little ahead of me, but not too far. I planned to just try to stay near him and hope I had enough left to catch him at the end, or at least be close enough for Nathan to be able to catch them on the next leg.
As I was crossing a street heading west near the 3 mile mark, I heard a honk and then Cory yell, "Left!". I looked to see Cory signaling me to turn left, then looked back and saw the sign I (and the three runners ahead of me) had missed. I stopped and turned left and gratefully continued on course, as Cory and our van headed on to tell the other runners they had missed the turn. I felt bad for the extra distance they would have to run in the brutal heat, but I was sure glad it wasn't me, and I have to admit that I enjoyed now being in the lead. I managed to continue on the final 2.1 miles in the lead and be the first runner in our starting group to reach Exchange 1. It was somewhat of a hollow victory, but my estimated time for this leg was 36:38 (7:11/mi), and my actual time was 37:04 (7:16/mi). Given the brutal heat, I was thrilled to only be 5 seconds/mi off the estimated pace.
I won't take the time to describe everyone else's first leg in much detail. I'll just say that it was very hot but everyone ran his first leg very hard and very well. We managed to maintain the lead, and were a little surprised when we started catching some of the teams that had started an hour before us. Greg's pursuit of the tall girl in the pink skirt up Avon Pass was especially memorable. This was a long, hot, grueling uphill run on a dusty dirt road. She was a strong runner but Greg was slowly gaining on her. Each time we stopped to give Greg water (about every mile) we gave her water as well, for which she was grateful. Some may have considered it aiding the "enemy", but we didn't think twice about it. Her support van must have felt as we did, because they offered us, including Greg, a Popsicle along the way. They were starting to melt, but mine sure tasted good. I was a bit surprised that Greg took one as well before he started off after a water stop. I asked them if they listened to KSL and knew Greg Wrubell. When I told them that's who they had just given a Popsicle to, they thought that was pretty cool. The Popsicle must have helped Greg as he ran great and finished strong, well ahead of the girl in the pink skirt.
We met Van 2 at Exchange 6 as planned and gave them their numbers and shirts as we waited for Cory to finish his leg. I visited the port-a-potties there and as I came out I was surprised to run into Kurt Gassman. He is my son Adam's 18 year old friend from across the street. I've run with him and his dad Kent with the neighborhood guys, and stayed with them when we ran Boston this spring. Kurt was running in Kent's spot on Steve King's Novell corporate team. He seemed in good spirits and ready for his first leg.
We followed the course as we headed to the next major exchange at Snow Basin. As we passed Exchange 7 I stopped briefly to talk to my sister Liz who was working that exchange as one of our team's required three volunteers. We saw her again at Exchange 27 the next morning as she worked again as another one of our team's volunteers. She was still in good spirits then, even though she had driven all the way home from Eden to Spanish Fork in between, sleeping only from about midnight to 3:15 am before heading back to Francis by 6:15 am. Like we usually do for our volunteers, we gave her a team shirt and some money to help compensate for her gas expenses, but we can never adequately thank her for cheerful sacrifice and service on our behalf.
Our third volunteer was Tom's wife Kim. She was at Exchange 35 so we didn't get to see her. Tom told us after the race that he was going to have to wait for her to finish a second shift at that exchange. Apparently it was a dangerous exchange and she could tell they needed additional volunteers to keep the runner's safe, so she was staying for an extra shift. What awesome volunteers we had!
Back to the race. There was a lot of activity at the major exchange at Snow Basin. The high school teams that were only running part of the relay were waiting to start at 9:00 pm. We also met up with Rod and Tyler here for them to start accompanying us on our night legs on their bikes. They served us in van 1 very well, and I can only assume they served van 2 equally well.
In the parking lot at Snow Basin a young female runner came around handing out free ointment and foot cream samples that they had too many of. I recognized her as the runner who was leading Leg 1 until she missed the left turn. She said she ended up running an extra 1.5 miles on that leg. As I was waiting to leave Snow Basin and begin my second leg, she was standing nearby and good naturedly said something about this being the leg where they catch up and pass us back. Since she had averaged a 6:10/mi pace the first leg, this was a distinct possibility, depending on how far back her team was.
I also talked with Steve King and former neighbor Joe Ware at this exchange. They were from different teams, both very fast teams with runners about to do the same leg as me that were capable of sub-5:00 miles down those hills. I had not been passed by anyone yet. It was inevitable that their teams would eventually pass us, but I hoped they were far enough back that it wouldn't be on my leg.
Leg 13
At 9:53 pm Will came into the exchange very strong and I began Leg 13, a 7.8 mile run down from Snow Basin, with Tyler at my side. I don't think he knew what he was in for when he volunteered to ride for us, but to his credit he kept his word and did an excellent job.
This leg began with a climb then headed downhill. I knew there were a few short uphill sections on the way down, but they seemed to be more frequent and longer than I expected. Nevertheless, the cool weather, the downhill, Tyler's company, and the thought of three very fast runners maybe catching me at any time, combined to keep me moving along. I ended up finishing in around 51:44 (6:38/mi), just 2 seconds/mi off the estimated pace of 6:36/mi. I didn't see any other runners until I managed to catch and pass my first "road kill" near the end of this leg. There was another runner that finished not too far behind me, but he was not one of the three fast runners I had feared. I had managed to remain unpassed.
During all of our night legs, everyone in the van once again ran great legs. We all much preferred the cool night weather to the heat of our first runs. Tyler and Rod provided a great service accompanying the runners on their bikes so the van could move on to the next exchange and rest.
After the our second legs we ate Fazolli's spaghetti at East Canyon then headed to our hotel in Park City to try to get a little sleep. Cory told us to eat while he was running his leg supported by Rod, so we did and were ready to head to the hotel when Cory finished, even though the spaghetti tasted so good I had three servings.
Cory took us on a dirt road through the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, but we eventually ended up in Park City. At first we had the wrong address and had some trouble finding where we were to pick up our late check-in key for our hotel. We eventually found the right address and the check-in building. We went to room 312 in that building, but the key didn't fit. If someone was staying in that room, they were probably quivering in their beds wondering who was trying to open the door to their room. We then realized that there were multiple buildings that made up this hotel, and we needed to find building 3, so we loaded everything back in the Suburban and tried to find building 3. The map was terrible, but we eventually found it. A few people showered but I opted to try to maximize my sleep time. I think I managed to get in a solid 1.75 hours before the alarm went off at 5:00 am. We got a call from Van 2 giving us their status. They had been making great time so we hustled off to Rockport to make sure we were there before the Will finished his leg.
Leg 25
At 5:50 am Will once again came in very strong to the exchange for the handoff. Even though this is the time of the morning I normally run with Larry, my legs were a little sluggish as I began this 5.6 mile uphill leg. It was also pretty chilly and there was a pretty strong headwind. I had to focus pretty hard to keep my legs turning over. I felt like I was doing pretty well, but my mile splits kept getting slower and slower as the uphill got steeper and steeper...7:52, 7:57, 8:25, 9:15, then 9:19/mi for 0.51 miles to the "one mile to go" marker. At that point the course leveled off then went downhill so I pushed hard and managed 7:13 for the last mile. I finished in 45:46 (8:14/mi), well off the estimated (I think) 43:10 (7:44/mi). (This is the leg they added 0.8 miles to shortly before the race so I'm not certain if I have the lastest estimate.) Even though I was slower than the estimate, I feel good about my performance on this leg. I gave my best effort, kept my legs moving up the hills, passed 4 or 5 other runners, was not passed by anyone, and was totally spent when I finished. It felt so good to be done.
While I'm not commenting much on other people's legs, I need to say something about Nathan's leg that followed mine. He ran into a long string of runners that had started before us and passed so many runners that he couldn't count them all. It must have really pumped him up as he passed one after another, and he ran an awesome leg. It took him a minute to catch his breath after he finished, but when he did he looked me in the eyes, and with a fire that is hard to describe, said, "That was awesome!"...and I could tell immediately that he had had one of those special runs that a runner never forgets.
Once again, as on their previous legs, everyone else in the van ran great on their final legs. Greg was especially pumped as he averaged 6:30/mi on his downhill leg, beating the estimated 6:33/mi. He had been watching for the KSL team along the course. I noticed their van at this exchange and they were just getting out. I mentioned that Greg was on my team and on his way in. They were excited to hear that and were waiting to cheer him when he finished. I think this added to Greg's well-deserved elation over his stellar performance.
After Cory handed off to Van 2 at Exchange 30, we went in for breakfast at Rocky Mountain Middle School. It was awesome! Scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, juice, a clean and comfortable climate-controlled room to eat in, and all for only $4.00. After breakfast we headed back to the hotel. I managed to get another of couple of hours of good sleep before we had to head to the finish line. I think this was important and helped me stay awake on the drive home after the race.
We got to the finish area with plenty of time to spare. The other van had a little trouble finding parking but they eventually all made it to the staging area before Will got there. As expected, Will came in very strong and we celebrated as we ran together to the finish line.
We finished in 23:16:16, well under our primary goal of sub-24:00:00 (which we've never done before), and not far from our stretch goal of a little over 23:00:00. We finished 1st in the Sub-masters Male division, finishing nearly an hour ahead of the 2nd place team, and finished 21st out of 296 teams overall.
This was by far our fastest performance ever, and we maintained our primary goal of everyone having a positive, awesome experience. I don't think we had any injuries or mishaps, just my near miss at getting off course in the first leg (from which I was saved by my awesome van mates). We had a number of new team members this year, and both veterans and rookies alike came through, as quality runners and quality team mates. Even our bike pacers and volunteers gave stellar performances worthy of gratitude and praise. I feel very grateful to have been a part of it all.
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