Ragnar Vegas

A couple of months ago I ran a race with my friends.  I came home and told my husband all about what we did.  I had a blast and he was jealous...he became determined within a few days to run a race just like I did.  So we started talking to other friends to see if they were interested in doing this race with us.  Vegas was our best option...and before we knew it we were there.  The team that we joined had a little ups and downs getting enough people together for the race.  We ended up with only 11 runners and that put 5 in the van we were in.  Luckily we a couple of really short legs, it wasn't ideal but we could make it work.  So in our van we had Eric, Pollyanna, Faith, Jon, and Jon from California.   We drove to Vegas on Thursday, dropped off the girls at my sisters, and went to dinner.   Jon found a pizza place that we could try.  It was amazing.  We decided to order the largest pizza on the menu called the OMG.  It was so good...points for Jon on a good choice to eat.  We didn't quite eat it all, so we saved some for breakfast.

The morning came and went and we were off to the finish line.  Driving up the mountain was beautiful.  We went up the wrong road, so we were a little later than we planned, but we made it in time to find our last runner and see him off.  After a few pictures at the start line we headed down to our next meeting spot.  

We had to wait for a little while so we decided to decorate the van and enjoyed a little of the Vegas mountain side.  I love the way every part of the world has its own beauty if you just look with the right perspective.  People told me that Vegas is ugly...you just have to look at it the right way.  Our team name was Hump DAYYY!!! so this is what you got.  

The race is a relay and we tried to make our exchanges a little exciting.  We hadn't coordinated with Jon for the first exchange so it was a normal hand off.  We decided we were going to chest bump each time we passed off the baton.  The only problem was when it was Faith and I exchanging...a little strange for two girls, so we did a shoulder bump...or something.  Eric seemed to fly every time he jumped when it was his turn to exchange...even after running over 9 miles.  My first run was down hill.  I did something to my arch which made it really hard to run my second one.  Eric decided to take my 10 mile night run.  I felt so bad...he had already ran almost 10 miles, but I am so grateful for his willingness to help me.  He did better then I ever would.

After we finished our 2nd runs during the night we tried to get a little rest.  It was cold outside they didn't have anywhere to sleep inside so we tried to sleep in the van.  It didn't work very well, but before we knew it it was time to run again.  We were so excited to be almost done...and to be able to take a shower.  My last run was hard...but I felt a little better.  Eric did an amazing job, by the time he was done running he ran a total of 26.2 miles.  He took one for the team...and amazingly enough he wants to do it all over again.

Our second van finished just before the sun set and we ended the day exhausted and ready to sleep.  I ended up with two extra medals and some really sore legs.  It was a great weekend.  We even made it to the strip for just a minute to drop off Jon with the rest of his friends.  The drive home was long but the girls did amazing which makes it so much easier.  Eric passed the time in the car by watching a little football.  We were making great time and we hit traffic so we got home a little later than expected, but we made it safe and that was most important.  I was so happy with the dynamics of our team.  It was a great trip.