Trying to keep it all together: Ragnar Day 2

I didn't think that I would be able to sleep out on the field, but apparently I was out like a light. Anne said we had bum wars and that she tossed and turn. I don't remember any of it. When we woke up at 2:00 everyone was gone. It was really creepy. Kind of like Twilight zone. The night had turned really cold and no one wanted to get out of their warm bags. We were all fairly awake and chipper. This seemed to stun Tandy. He was still pretty dead to the world. Of course he was always the chipper one. Always very willing to get out and support and he was there for every exchange. Of course my favorite thing is he would talk to anyone so we found out a lot of things that were going on. He was like our little informant.

Preston with his happy grin and two thumbs up. He always had a smile when we passed. That kid was amazing.

Once we were packed up we headed up East Canyon. I was the first one on board and it was my shortest, but hardest run. Most of it was up hill. Only Anne, Tandy and I got out of the van. The rest stayed inside where it was warm. It was soon time for me to go. I had to run up a pretty steep hill and then it leveled out for a bit before it was another big hill. I started running really slowly, but my muscles felt frozen so I decided to walk the first little bit to get going. Once I reached the top of the first hill I started to run and immediately got a wicked side ache. I would run as long as I could before I would have to stop and walk. Nothing I did would get rid of it. I finally came to a good down hill and just went for it. I ran as fast as a I could. Of course in the process I lost my tail light. A girl ran past me and told me I dropped it. I stopped and went back aways to find it, but I realized it would take to long so I continued on. Lucky for us another team picked it up. The rest of the run was a blur. There was one final hill that I ended up just walking it. It was a monster. Of course because of this at the end I was able to kick it up a notch and speed past a girl at the finish. It was my first kill. I really don't know my pace, but I was only about 6 minutes slower than they had predicted so I didn't feel to bad. Still I wish I could have done a little better

Preston was up next and the poor kid froze and was overheated at the same time. It really sucks to run at night. Ann was up next with a long 10 mile run with no van support so we headed to the next exchange and fell asleep again. After sleeping for a little while I woke up and decided to put my contacts in. They went in pretty well, but my left one was giving me some problems so I took it out to rinse it. Unfortunately I used hydrogen peroxide to wash it off with. My whimpers or screams seemed to wake everyone up. Jeff quickly gave me some saline solution and Kim and I went inside to rinse them it off. When we went inside we ran into Stephanie from the other van. She had obviously just woken up and was really confused. She didn't know where any of her team was and then had a panic attack when she thought they should be running. We reassured her that she had at least a couple more hours. Poor thing I know exactly how she felt.

The next couple of exchanges were pretty much a blur, but Kim's exchange to Tandy. That is when we ran into Speedo guy. I luckily stayed in the car so I didn't have to see him, but apparently another girl was telling her teams about this really nasty guy with a speedo and really straggly hair that was running around. What she didn't know was that he was right behind her. He walked in front of her and so "Oh you mean me" and then mooned her. I was glad I didn't have to see that. Tandy wrapped up his run and we headed off for some breakfast at 11:00. Amazingly enough none of us were really hungry, but we all tried to eat something. We were able to find a nice park and just camp out. Everyone was able to sleep a little until John started to call. First they said because of the heat we could start earlier. This didn't make sense to us because that would put Anne and Jeff running Ragnar hill in the heat of the day so we turned them down. Plus we all needed some sleep. A little while later we got a call saying that van 1 was struggling and we could start before they finished so that we could get done it time. Everyone had had a good nap so we decided to go for it. This also took some pressure off of van 1 trying to get done so that we could get going. I was the first runner so I started off and it was hot, but not as hot as it was yesterday, but everyone on my leg was walking so I was able to breeze by them. I did have to stop a couple of times because my side still hurt, but I still finished under an 11:00 minute mile so I was happy, plus I killed 6 people. This was the start of our slaughter. It seemed that everyone was able to annihilate people on the course. Preston even did 9 for his leg. He was able to run up this hill that everyone was walking. He did awesome. We told him he could walk, but he ran most of it.

Ann at the start of Ragnar Hill. She is pumped and ready to go.

Jeff not so much.

Anne's knee had been giving her problems. We had iced it, and given her some Tylenol, but it still hurt. I finally gave her 4 ibuprofen and 2 Tylenol to help with the pain and she had her knee wrapped. When it was her turn to run she was feeling pretty good and took off. Her run was brutal and very hot, but she did awesome and kept chugging away. As we were following her up Guardsman pass we noticed the van wasn't idling very well. We were almost out of gas, but there was no where to get any. Or only choice was to keep going up. There was no where to turn around and we had to be there for Ann just encase her knee gave out and we had to throw Jeff in. When we got to the exchange we all got out to cheer Anne on. Ross left the keys in the car and went to talk to the EMT to see if they might have some gas or know the closest place to get some. Pretty soon Preston comes bee bopping over and Ross asked him if he locked the door. He said yes of course. The keys were still in the car.

The guys working hard to get us back on the road.

The guys immediately started working on how to break in while I asked the EMT if he had something they could use. They were able to pry open the back window a little bit. They managed to dismantle the window latch and were trying to reach in to unlock it when the window just shattered, all over Tandy. He had it in his hair, down his back and he hoped not down his shorts. They took him over and hosed him down, but he spent the next hour picking glass out of his hair. During this time Ann had come in and we had sent Jeff on. We had to first sweep up all the glass and then we were off. We were still worried about the gas, but now we were also worried about Jeff. We finally caught up to him and he was doing great. He got a quick drink and meet us at the next exchange.

The aftermath.

The next leg was Kims and man it was brutal. She had to start up hill and then had a ton of really steep down hill only to finish off with a monster hill at the end. We sent her off with Anne reassuring her that her friend thought this was the prettiest run and she really enjoyed it. Once again it was a non van support so we headed into Park City looking for gas. We finally found a gas station and pulled in. Ross and Tandy gave each other high fives saying they knew we had enough gas. When Tandy got out to fill it he realized Ross had pulled too far forward so he asked him to back up a little. Ross went to start it and we had run out of gas. It was really too funny. So we all jumped out and pushed the car. I am just glad we made it that far.

Both these girlds did amazing. They had crazy hard hills, but they never gave up. It was so fun running with them.

Look we are still smiling, even Jeff

We filled up the van and headed to the last exchange. We had Greg met up with us to put all the vaulables into our van and to transfer my stuff and Jeff's stuff so we wouldn't have to come back. Then we waited for Kim. Kim came screaming in and clollapsed on Anne. She was so tired and the leg had been so difficult but she did it and still kept up her 10:00 minute pace. It was really amazing. Tandy was soon off and we headed into Park City High School for the finish line. We met up with van 1 and they looked like the walking wounded. Everyone visited for awhile and then met up with Tandy to run or should I say limp to the finish line. Everyone was very stoked it was over. Most of our van got away without any major injuries. Ann's knee was the worse. My Achillas Tendon was really tight and I was sore all over, but Anne suggested an ice bath and it made the world of difference. Preston had one blister and Jeff was a little sore. So it was a succesful run, but man I am glad it is over.