Every Race is an Adventure!

My legs were still pretty tired from running up Timp on Saturday. I was just going to run easy around the track while the others did speed work, like Larry did, but I decided I liked the idea of walking/jogging every half mile so I ran 1/2 mile repeats with Kent. Splits: 3:40, 3:40, 3:39, 3:32, 3:21, 3:04. You can see that my legs felt better as I went along. I didn't feel like pushing hard until the last interval.

I ran an easy six miles on the 2000 N route. Quads were still sore from the descent down Timp.

A slow run up the water tank hills, partly because we're tapering for the Red Rock Relay, and partly because my quads were still a little sore.

No running...resting the legs for the relay tomorrow.

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...

I think Grant started off our second set of legs a little before midnight. He ran through La Verkin and then handed to Deeks who ran through Hurricane. Lyle then headed south around Sand Hollow Reservoir. Kevin finished the loop around the reservoir and back to Hurricane. His 4.9 mile leg ended up being 5.6 miles, but he stuck it out despite the rain. I think all of these guys joined Jonathan and me in the "rained on" club during these legs. Jonathan's leg along the highway to Washington was also longer than advertised.

About 2:34am I began my 3.2 mile moderate-rated leg ran along Telegraph road to the rec center in Washington. My mile splits were: 7:40, 6:39, 7:19, and 8:22/mi for the last 0.2. There was a mix of uphill and downhill in each mile, with an uphill finish. I don't believe it was raining when I started, maybe a sprinkle, but it was raining pretty hard when I finished, so hard that everyone had fled from the exchange to their vehicles and Larry was not waiting when I came in. Matt, the race director, smiled as I yelled for Larry who, about 30 seconds later, finally noticed I was there and emerged from his dry truck across the street. (It's okay. I was exhausted, wet, and a little annoyed at first, but I quickly forgave my good buddy and awesome team captain. Nobody's perfect...especially not me.)

It was about 3:00am when we headed to the Elders Hostel in St. George. Deeks had arranged for us to have 3 rooms with two twin beds and a bathroom/shower each. It was awesome, but we only had about 2.5 hours to sleep before getting up at 6:00am.

We got up and out on time and headed to the next van exchange at Gunlock. It was along the relay route so we watched for our other van along the way. I started getting a little nervous when we reached the last exchange before the van exchange without seeing them. I was relieved to see Jessi, their last runner, about 2 miles into her 6 mile leg.

It was interesting to also see a bunch of bibbed runners running the opposite direction. Apparently, there was both a 1/2 marathon and 20 mile race going on.

As we waited for Jessi to come in, Jeremy explained he knew some members of the Do or Diers team. They started the same time as us and we had seen them all along the way. Jeremy said they were our rivals and we needed to beat them. As we talked with them we quickly discovered they were awesome people, but the friendly rivalry was definitely on.

Grant started with a tough uphill leg as we headed towards Veyo. The woman on the Do or Diers started just behind him but could never close the gap. Deeks continued the climb to Veyo. The young female runner from the Do or Diers managed to pass him, but he didn't make it easy and she didn't get too far ahead. Lyle then took on the tough climb up the Veyo hill and the climb through Dammeron Valley that are the toughest part of the St. George marathon. He lost very little time to the (once again) younger female runner from our rivals. Both Deeks and Lyle were probably 25 to 30 years older than their rivals.

Kevin then faced a long 6.1 mile run against Lex, the tall, young, fastest runner from the other team. Kevin ran strong and hung tough, but he didn't stand a chance. I think Kevin met his goal time, but Lex stretched their lead to about 10 minutes I think. We had our two strongest runners to go, but their runners were also strong. They went on to beat us by about 14 minutes I think.

The runner from a team that started 20 minutes after us passed Kevin just before the exchange. This was a new challenge for Jonathan and he easily distanced himself from that team as he raced down Snow Canyon, even though he lost some time trying to find the right way to go. The organization of the Snow Canyon leg needs some improvement in the future. We found out that we had to pay $5 to drive through else drive around. We decided to drive around but it was way farther than we thought. Luckily we had a Garmin to lead us there in time to meet Jonathan. Another team we talked with wasn't so lucky and their runner ran an extra two miles before his van found him.

I began my last leg, "Grand Finale", a moderate 5.6 mile leg from Snow Canyon to the finish, at 10:24am. It was about 3.5 miles of gradual downhill followed by 2 miles of uphill to the finish. I had been commenting on how I had expected the relay to be very hot but so far had run mostly in rain and cooler temperatures. I guess God heard me again and granted me a heat experience. I was fine for the downhill (6:38, 6:54, 7:09) but then the 80+ heat and the uphill combined to make me work for the finish (7:24, 8:42, 7:25/mi for last 0.5).

It was great to meet my team and finish together. We mingled with family, took team pictures, and finally got to talk to our team mates from our other van. We also took a combined team picture with the Do or Diers. It was great fellowshipping with them throughout the relay. It was definitely a friendly rivalry. We even gave ibuprofen to Lex (his hip was sore) who then went on to slay us on his leg. We hope to see some of them at the St. George marathon. I think Jonathan even set up to be Facebook friends with some of them.

We stopped at In-n-Out where I got a Double-Double cheeseburger (tasted so good!) before we headed home. Deeks and I shared the driving and both managed to stay awake. We made it home in time for me to watch BYU beat Oklahoma. What a great ending to a great couple of days.