Sunday, June 27, 2010

Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat

We did it!  All our hard work paid off and Mind Over Mileage ROCKED the Ragnar Relay last weekend. 188 miles from Logan to Park City over the course of 30 hours.  Seriously, I couldn’t be more proud of our team.  We trained well and we finished strong.  I think everyone met or exceeded their expectations for this race.  And did I mention we had fun?  LOTS and LOTS of fun.  I wish there were words to express what a neat, inspiring, life-changing race this was.  I love my teammates, they inspire me to be my best, not only in running, but in life.  It was an honor to be a part of this team! I was runner #1 and it was so fun to be at the starting line.  I got to run 8 miles through beautiful Logan, and reminisce on all the fun memories we had while living there. I was having so much fun on my trip down memory lane, that I was shocked to see the “1 mile to go” sign! (which is a good thing). I’d been tailing this girl pretty close the whole way, and we traded leads a few times back and forth.  With about .75 miles to go, I gunned it and thought I left her in the dust.  But with about 100 meters to the finish line she came flying past me.  I yelled “NO” and started sprinting as fast as I could.  She beat me by about 2 seconds. DANG IT.  But, it made for an exciting finish.  My second leg was 8.4 miles straight down the canyon from Snow Basin.  My poor shins.  I ended with 5 miles near Heber. Did you add that up?  Yep, 21 miles. Whew.  I think the last run was my favorite.  It was at 6am, and we had to rush to get there because we initially went to the wrong place (after sleeping in a stinky high school gym and taking cold showers in the locker room). That had me flustered and not in the best mind set.  I was trying to justify to myself that I could go slow, it was my third run, I didn’t need to work that hard. But then I started running and the ENTIRE 5 miles was lined with red glow sticks in honor of Jeremy Kunz, a runner who was killed in the Las Vegas Ragnar last October. It was completely inspiring and motivating, and I though of how hard I trained to be there, and I owed it to myself to give my very best effort.  So I did.  And it was awesome, exhilarating, and liberating.

In true Tara form, I have a million pictures (ok 400 to be exact).  Here are some of my favorites:

decorating the vans 
Decorating our Vans at the Hampton Inn in Logan.  I could see our old townhouse on Penhurst Place from my hotel window. 

The Gals from Van 1
The ever lovely and energetic ladies from Van 1: Adrienne, Amy, Susan, Tara, Jarrie, and Natalie.

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Did I mention how cool it was to run with my sister?

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Van 2 gals: Carrie, Stephanie, Amy, Jen, Amber, and Sarah
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Van 1, tired after completing their second runs.  But we got free chiropractic treatments.  Heaven.

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Just completed my FINAL run.  Feeling STRONG. 

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We did it!  The finish line was a huge mess (way disorganized and crowded), and we were all exhausted. Proud, but exhausted. 
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Did I mention the real reason we ran this race?  SPA DAY!!  Here we are outside of the Zermatt in Midway.  We hung out by the pool and had spa treatments all day long.  Ahhh….much needed R&R. 

6 comments:

Susan said...

I kinda got choked up reading this. OXOXOXOXXO The countdown for our next one is ON!

natabird said...

It was awesome/inspiring. I am so excited for California.

Amy Brasier said...

You guys totally inspired me too! (I thought I was the only one in awe of all your awesomeness!) Can't wait for next time--whenever or wherever! Go team M.O.M!

The Cardon's said...

Way to go Tara!!! Yes you have inspired me too- not to run of course- oh no never, not me, but I am totally inspired to have a spa day! Hahaha! That really is a great accomplishment though! I'm proud to call you CUZ!

Carrie said...

I love your post! I'm glad you took so many pix, so when we're old and senile we can have proof we did this!!!

Adrienne said...

Your awesome Tara. Thanks for all your hard work. Just got back to AZ and I'm scared to look at how many photos I have on my camera. I think between the two of us we have a picture of everything. :)