Just after midnight we started our 2nd legs. We followed a van out of the exchange that said "Never Nudes" on it....RACHELLE! So, I texted her and sure enough, it was her. Too bad her team was too fast and never wanted support :( They left us in the dust at the exchanges and I still didn't get to see her. I ran my 2nd leg feeling great! Since it was night hours we could shadow run with our team. Kimberly and I both wanted more than just our measley 14ish miles, so we offered to run with anyone that would take us. She got the girls, I got the boys :) The nice thing about this overnight route is that it was an out and back on Las Vegas Blvd. They closed the road (South of Vegas, so not IN the city) so it was only Ragnar traffic that went in and out of the 17 mile stretch. It was a little chilly when I started, but at least I didn't feel like I was going to barf again! I was passing people like crazy and loving the night run! Then above my ipod I heard a deep, strong rumble...what the heck?!? I looked over...a train. Just between the road and I-15 rumbled a train, made me smile. I blew a little kiss to my daddy in heaven who was watching over me and felt supported through the rest of the run. It will be 6 years next week since he has been gone. Too long...seems like just yesterday I would go on hikes with him and get big daddy hugs. I sure miss him. 4.68 miles - AP: 7:34 splits: 7:25, 7:38, 7:41, 7:17, 7:53 (last .68) - it was definitely uphill. Some rollers, but nice uphill for most of it. I passed off to Jeff and I was going to run with him. I wanted just a short drink first though. After I got done with my drink Jeff was gone! I ran fast to catch up with him and could hardly do it! DANG! He took off SO fast. Luckily I still had a sprint left in me and caught up to him. He settled into a perfect easy pace for me! I loved it. Jeff is deaf (and the team I was on was all interpreters, I'm not one, but know enough ASL to get through a conversation), and trying to sign while running isn't easy...especially in the dark. You can't look at the road infront of you and this road had a small shoulder and rumble strips on the outside of the white lines. You couldn't even really run next to each other - let alone sign AND run next to each other. So, I just stayed behind him off his left shoulder. He had been having some ITB issues (along with 2 others in the van) and after about 1.25 miles he was ready to throw in the towel. I told him he should try to go on. I would take over if he needed, but that I believed he could do it and just try. He did, and he finished with that same wonderful pace! I was really proud of his effort. He is a great runner that has just started discovering what he can do. 3.37 miles - AP: 9:04 splits: 8:05, 9:55, 9:16, 8:53 (last .37) Kimberly ran the next 2 legs (the reverse of Jeff's and mine) with Melissa and Hillary. They also are just starting their running journey, so it was a little slower with some walking due to ITB pain, but they finished in good style! Give me a minute for the rest of the story.... Okay, I'm back :) I know I had you on the edge of your seat! So, our last runner was my turn to shadow run again. Jason is a wonderful, gifted runner...but doesn't run! He hasn't run since Ragnar Wastach Back and we did 9 miles on our leg and he was pretty good about hitting 9mm the entire time. Kimberly and I now are riding him hard about training and actually RUNNING and not wasting his gift :) We had a good 80 minutes to just chat, he asked me how I got into running and well...he got the WHOLE story. He kept saying afterward "I can't believe it, she just talked and talked the whole time. I was dying and she was just chatting along!" He did have to answer some questions toward the end of the run after I finished, but that was probably only about a 1/2 mile worth :) Yup, I'm a chatter! We got a beautiful sunrise and view of Las Vegas in the breaking dawn. Oh, it was gorgeous! I love a good sunrise run!
8.31 miles AP: 9:23 splits: 9:03, 9:08, 8:58, 8:59, 9:04, 9:03, 9:46, 10:32, 10:51 (last .31) you can see he lost it a bit there at the end, but still...with NO training?!? yeah, Jason needs to run! With Jason finished we headed to the last major exchange to eat and sleep before our last legs. I was just ready to go run more! That last leg just made me SO happy and it was just a perfect run. I wanted more and didn't want to wait! The whole van wanted to punch me. They were tired and ready to sleep and be done! :) When we arrived at the HS I was excited to be able to change my clothes in a warm place and brush my teeth and wash my face and rinse off. Uggghh, nope. They were charging $1 to get IN the building. I thought using the bathroom would be free. I didn't want a full shower or to sleep...just a warm bathroom, but alas. It wasn't to be. Well, after eating I decided it was worth it. I was cold. So, I looked in my wallet...the only money I had left was change .98 cents. Yup, that was it. I just rolled my eyes. Well, Jeff went and got me a $1 so that I could go in. SO nice! But, he then made it known to all the team that he had paid me to change my clothes! :) HA! I guess it IS legal in Vegas. I went inside and used the bathroom as my personal changing/washing area and it was nice to have warm water and flushing toilets. I got all prettied up for my last leg of running. Rachelle texted me back at some point and told me she was in the gym sleeping! I told her to come in the bathroom to see me...and that I was just brushing my teeth. We had a good chat, I finished up and she got called to get out to the van....almost time. I did get to see her again and say good-bye, but it wasn't long enough. When I got done with the beauty session I crawled into the truck bed to try and sleep for a couple hours before our 3rd legs. The boys had decided to take sleeping bags onto the football field and Melissa took a bench in the truck, so there were only 3 girls in the back. SO much nicer...a little room to move. I smiled an evil smile when I heard the marching band start practice out on the football field :) It didn't bother Jeff, but Jason had a fun time trying to sleep through it!
After a couple hours poor Hillary was in SO much pain with her ITB she could hardly shift positions to sleep. So, we all kind of woke up and started chatting about our last legs. We finally decided that Jeff would take my 4.4 miler and I'd take his 9 miler. Melissa would take Hillary's 3.3 miler and Kimberly would run Melissa's longer leg of 7.5 AND her 6.2 miler. We had a plan and we were ready to run! Met with van 1 and watched their triumphant finish...then took off. Nobody was going to be a hero, but we were going to finish it! Kimberly's first leg ended up being completely unsupported and a mile long. But, she felt like I did at the end of my 9 miler earlier in the morning, so it was all good! Jeff took off, but as we passed him on the freeway he indicated that he was done. We found a way to sneak onto the course and I ran the remaining half of his leg for him since both of his ITBs were screaming. That last little uphill was rough! Yikes. Glad I didn't have to do it all. 1.45 miles - AP: 8:45 splits: 8:27, 9:27 (last .45) 
(taking off to finish Jeff's leg) ready to run baby! At the exchange I waited for the team to bring me my visor (I'd called them when I realized I'd forgotten it and asked them to meet me) and a drink. The lady there kept looking at me, then said "we called your team #, but got no answer!" I simply responded that my runner was close and waited for my stuff. As soon as I got it and thanked Jason I slapped the bracelet on my wrist and said "Well, here she is!" and I took off. HA! I would've loved to see that lady's face :) The leg that I picked up...holy wow. 1500 ft of elevation loss! I couldn't believe it. SO downhill it was crazy! I thought for sure something was going to break on me. There was a little uphill around mile 4 and I felt like all of a sudden I couldn't run. Gravity wasn't working with me anymore! I was tired, but just kept running. I thought for sure I'd gone at least 1/2 way...looked at the garmin and it was only 3.2 miles. Uggghhh. I was ready to be done. I just knew the faster I ran the faster I'd finish! I'd asked the team to try and find somewhere to pull over and give me water, but they never came :( Luckily, there were a couple tables with water cups on them, so I just grabbed some. I finally saw the truck and tried to flag them down...to no avail. I wanted a drink! They finally saw me and I was lucky I was on an ASL team! I signed "water, please." They drove down a bit and Kimberly ran it out to me. Perfect. I only had 2 miles left...I can do this. Well, I finally passed the "one mile to go" sign at 8.6....ugghh...really?!? Where the heck is the dang exchange?!? I was tired and done. I wanted to stop SO bad! But, I just kept pushing forward. I was glad my legs had held up and I didn't have any aches and pains from the crazy downhill, but I was done. The view flying down into the Lake Mead Valley was breathtaking! Sun was breaking through the clouds at certain points, and well, it was just gorgeous. The view was the only thing taking my mind off the pain and suffering. Yet, even at the end I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to be done! I finally spotted the exchange point and at 9.73 miles I was finally done with "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger" on my ipod. Fitting, huh? :) 9.73 miles - AP: 7:07 splits: 7:06, 6:54, 7:00, 7:30 (uphill bit), 7:04, 6:59, 6:47, 7:00, 7:12, 7:41 (last .73). You can see I died at the end, but I was still pleased with my splits and AP for how much I'd done the previous 24 hrs. My team was happy to see me exhausted. They kept saying I was the "Olympian" on the team. I would laugh and tell them they had NO idea how far from the truth that was! But, it was a nice compliment still :) So, the team was happy to see me cussing my creative cuss words and ready to finally be done and not have that chipper positive attitude any more! Driving to support Kimberly on her run we took a detour to an overlook at Lake Mead...SO beautiful. I wanted a 'peak jump' shot...so I got out and attempted to jump, twice. Well, I got a decent picture anyway :) 
(my 'peak jump' attempt at Lake Mead) During the drive to the exchange from Kimberly to Melissa we realized it would be night hours (3:45PM - 6AM) and that we'd need safety clothing (head lamp, tail light, reflective vest) AND that we could shadow run. My legs were SO stiff and sore and starting to stiffen and cramp. Since after 5 min my bad attitude wore off and I was Miss Positive again, I remarked that I was ready to move my legs again! Well, Melissa was worried about this one, because her knee and groin we bothering her really bad. She said her goal was 13mm if I wanted to come along. I figured I could probably keep up. So, I threw on my gear and we took off together when Kimberly came in. Holy Smokes, it was probably one of the worst uphill stretches in the whole race. But, it had rollers and the downhill was really hurting Melissa. We probably ran a mile or more of it, but the rest we speed walked. Our 14mm was well earned and it really helped me move out the lactic acid so I wasn't SO horribly sore. We also had a really good, uplifting, personal chat along the way with a few tears shed. Then, we were treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen! Made the whole trip worth it. Even though it ended up 4 miles instead of 3, it was still perfect. 4 miles - AP: 14:26 splits: 12:21, 14:38, 16:18, then the garmin died. Yup. But, Melissa had Edmondo on and it tracked it just over 4, so I'm going with that. Jason had the task of finishing up the last leg. We drove to the finish and after forever finally parked and walked down to the finish line. About 100 yds from the finish Jason passed us. We cheered for him and tried to run after him...nope, didn't work. We were cold and had blankets around us. THEN they had the runners go through a sand volleyball pit with the net STILL up! What the heck?!? are you trying to kill people?!? It was dark and hard to see the net too. ugghhh. Anyway, so we said "Jason! Wait for us." he replied "hurry up!" Then I just laughed and said "did he just tell me to hurry up?!?" I'd just run 37+ miles and he was telling ME to hurry up. HA! Good times. We all finally made it to the finish and did our ceremonial finish line photo, got the big medals, some got their saints and sinners (I was just a sinner) medal, and then we went to dinner. Jason's Deli again for dinner. Oh, I'm in love (we all were) with their baked potatoes. Those things are monstrous! The broccoli and cheese one...divine. I ate one all myself and had a small cup of veggie soup and a few chips with salsa. A well deserved meal after Ragnar. We all headed back to the condo to sleep and take our 5 min max (nazi lady from the other van would nearly pull you out naked if you went over time!) shower. Well, I started looking for my purse to pay for gas etc....and I'd left it at the Deli!!! Uggghhh! It was clear on the other side of town. A good 30 min drive away. Jeff offered to take me, because when I called they said they had it and would be there until 11PM. I was SO grateful that it had been picked up and not stolen! Total blessing! Then Jeff was nice enough to take another hour to drive me there and back. We had a good chat and I was happy that I was doing so well with my signing that I was understanding everything he said and I could communicate my stories too. He is good people, and I really like him!
Finally got back and everyone was asleep. I crawled onto the air mattress with Kimberly and I was cold :( I just couldn't warm up. When the other van left at the crack of dawn I took over one of the real beds and finally slept well.
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