Red Rock Relay

So, this post has been haunting me since September. There are so many pictures, and so much to say about them that are important and exciting to me, but super-boring to you. Feel free to skip this post if you would like! Here's an abridged version of the Red Rock Relay for me and my teammates:

-12 man (and woman!) Team with 3 legs each
- 186 miles from Cedar City to St George
- Almost two full days of running
- Almost no sleep
- Lost of eating
- A little bit of dehydration
-8 weeks pregnant=a little pukey
-My car with 4 fun gals I know and love PLUS two single guys. Oh Yea, baby.
- Delirious giggling and peeing on the side of the road

And now on to the long version. Settle in people:

We drove to Cedar City the night before the race, and we stayed in the cutest little KOA this side of the MIssissippi. That's Kamping with a "K" people.

Cute, no? I felt like Abraham Lincoln in this friendly little dwelling.

Our team was divided into two vans of six, and these were our lovely single BYU students (also brothers) who happened to get stuck for two long days with four married women with small children. Poor guys. They did happen to impress us with some amazing singing, and I believe they are doing "you're always a woman to me" by Billy Joel here. Awesome. Also, for those of you that read my post about my half-ironman the one on the left is the lucky man that received my text-message. Not embarrassing at all.

This is most of our team the next morning. I didn't know anyone before the race except the girls in my car.

THIS is the announcer to whom I gave my blanket because it was freezing at the start. We started at Brian Head which is about 10,000 feet above sea level. Let me tell you, it is HARD to breathe while running at that elevation. Yikes!

Jess and I rode the chairlift to the start of the run.

This is our first teammate finishing the first leg of the relay.

While we were waiting for the other van to finish, my group (the sun team) decorated my car in pirate garb, and we discovered that Tyler was quite the arteest, so he gave us all skull and cross bone tattoos.

John was on a police relay team, and Steve (the crazy guy on the left) wore a different costume for each of his legs. He was hilarious!

This is Travis finishing up his run. We lucked out having him on our team because he is FAST -like 5 minute mile fast. He was a rock star!

You can't tell, but Travis is handing me the baton here.

And I'm off on my first leg!

Jen and Jess decided to steal my camera and take some pictures during my run.

I actually ran this leg really fast for me, and felt really good about it, other than the fact that I had to go to the bathroom the whole time.

Not sure what you're doing here, Jen

Or here...but you're still adorable!

Coming in to my hand off!

I love this picture of Jen during her run. What a beautiful background!

Our group ran through the middle of the night, and things got a little out of hand party-wise in the car. Let's just say that we pretty much sweat awesomeness.

This is the only evidence I have of the night run. my leg was at about 2 in the morning, and we were all pretty exhausted, so not much was documented.

The next day was brutal. We got very little sleep, and came in to St. George with temperatures over 100 degrees. Unfortunately, the friendlies in our other van weren't really "runners," so they were a bit slow, and we started on our last leg later in the day than we were hoping.

Kathy did the first leg, and was a rock star!

Unfortunately, Tyler injured himself during the night run, so Kathy's husband TJ was our pinch hitter and ran Tyler's last leg. It was a tough run, but TJ did awesome! We were so grateful he was willing to help us out!

Jess did one of the worst legs of the day. It was really hot by this point, and she had a few KILLER hills. She did so well though. I'm so glad we were on the same team!

I was after Jess, and my leg wasn't exactly a cake-walk either.

Passing the Baton!

I got to do some of my run on trail which was a nice change. This part was mostly up-hill, but I loved the dirt under my feet.

This picture makes me laugh every time because- who is THAT guy?! and why is he so excited to be in this picture?!

That's me way down at the bottom of that hill. I was about ready to keel over and die at this point in the race.

Done!

Jen was up next, and I think she looks like a sports model here. Maybe some day I will have arms like her...



Travis (the fastie!) was the anchor, and he had the hardest let of all. It was long, and it was late-afternoon, and it was scorching hot. We were literally dumping water on him every half mile to try and keep him cool. He did awesome, and we were finally done!

Bottom line: The race was fun, and a great experience, but I will probably never do a relay like this again. I am a big fan of waking up after a full night of rest, eating my usual pre-race breakfast, doing my race, and then going home and eating a lot.

The best Part: Hanging out with Jen, Kathy, and Jess-some of my favorite gals

The Worst Part: Later humiliating myself by sending text messages to Tyler.

Thanks Red Rock Relay! Maybe we will see you again in a couple of years...or maybe not so much...