Wasatch Back (more like sweaty back and armpits)

This picture pretty much sums up my Wasatch Back experience:

Just kidding....... but kind of not, haha.
Every year my family gets together and runs the Wasatch Back, which is one race in the Ragnar series. The race starts in Logan and ends in Park City, totaling 188 miles (It actually goes down by Heber and then back up to Park City). Teams can run in groups of 6 or 12 and can be either co-ed or same gender. My family has been doing this race almost since the beginning, and this was my very first year participating! When my sister Candice told us that she wasn't going to be able to come from Germany we were very sad... but I was the most sad because that meant that I started getting pressured to take her place in the race! (Jk Candice, I really was just sad that you didn't come because I love you!) Anyway, for 2 months I said a good solid "NO WAY JOSE!" but eventually I got so tired of being bugged about it that I finally caved in (I know, I'm such a sucker). I HATE running, with every fiber of my being! But I actually ended up having a pretty good time. The running part was not so fun, but hanging out with my family was of course :) In the past part of my family has been on a team with my aunt Jolene's family, but this year both families decided that we had enough people to do our own teams. We had a 12 man, co-ed team, because anything but that would be crazy and stupid! What happens, for anybody who is not familiar with the race, is there are 2 vans with 6 people in each one. Van 1 starts (obviously) and each runner completes their first run, one after the other. The runs vary anywhere from 3-9 miles, and also vary in difficulty. After Van 1 completes their first round of runs, Van 2 goes. Then van 1 rests, and then goes again after van 2 finishes, etc. etc. Each person will run a total of 3 times over the course of 20-some odd hours. I think it took us close to 29. It's a pretty crazy race!!! You pretty much run, sit, try to get some sleep at one point in the night, and run some more! When all is said and done, you're exhausted, uncomfortable, and vowing never to run again! But then as time goes on you start to get a little thought in your head that says... "maybe I can do that again" and then it comes and goes and you're left not knowing what you want to do! (that would be me) Anyway, here are some pictures of the race. They're totally NOT in order at all:

This is Bretton after he he delivered water to my mom during her first run. It was an 8 miler (I think) that was almost all downhill on a very dirty dirt road. It's a pretty tough one. You had to carry a flag if you were ever going to cross the street. If you got caught without your flag 3 times, your team was disqualified. It made for some funny memories.

Bretton and Dustin on one of the night exchanges. Poor Dustin has a IT band problem that hurts his knee really bad. He was originally going to run the whole race, but decided that his knee hurt too bad to do 3 runs. Lucky for me, this meant he could take one of mine, HURRAY!!!! So I did my first 5.1 miler, then he did my next 4 miler, then I did my last 4.1 miler. My last run was not supposed to be as long as it was!!!! They totally tricked me!!! I was livid! The run is almost all downhill, so I was cruisin'! Like running between a 7 and a 7:30 minute mile (WAY fast for me, haha). As you get down to the last mile, it evens out a little bit, but its still slightly downhill. So i'm like DYING! Because even to run that fast down hill, I had to really push myself. Not to mention, running down hill hurts my knees and gives me side aches. Anywho, I get to the bottom and I'm totally exhausted. The garmin is telling me that I don't have much further to go, but then... I get to where the exchange is supposed to be, and there is nothing! Nothing except for a giant surprise hill that I had to run up! It was probably only an extra .2 miles but holy cow, I cannot even tell you how crappy that was. Because of that hill, my average time on the run ended up being like a 9:30, haha. In .2 miles I totally destroyed my time. But it was cool, cause I had 8 kills on that run and only got passed once by some freak of nature girl who was running freakishly fast, which I was fine with. (Kills = how many people you passed).

The boys, just chillin


Annie, Mom, and Nicole. Our van consisted of me, my mom, Casey, Katie, Dustin, Christian, and Bretton. Van 2 consisted of my dad, Nicole, Luke, Annie, Jason, and Stan. Annie and Jason were Luke and Nicole's neighbors when they lived in Providence. Luke and Jason do a lot of racing, and have even done an Ironman together. NUTS! Stan is a friend of my brother Casey's, and also has done the same Ironman as Luke and Jason. They are all way nice, and we were way glad to have them on our team! Jason even had the flu and still dominated his runs! Like I said, nuts! At the big exchanges, where van 1 exchanges with van 2, you get to see the rest of your team and hang out and chat for a little bit. I wish you could see more of each other, but that's the name of the game I guess!


Hanging out at one of the exchanges which is at Snow Basin ski resort.


Bretton and Kate


This is my moms big downhill run. Bretton was the star water runner. Seriously! He was awesome, thanks Bretty!


Bretton just passing everybody. Cake.


Just gettin' some water!


Christian, Kate, and Bretton. We also had to wear reflector vests at night, and if you were running you had to have a flashlight and a flashing red light to wear on your back. Stupid safety regulations... don't they know that we need to look good when we run! Just kidding ;)



This is at the finish waiting for our last runner. Sweet, sweet Heather and her sweet sister Shawnee volunteered for our team! Each team has to provide 3 volunteers to help run the race (a SERIOUS issue for me, I think it's so dumb with how much they charge each person to run!). Their shifts were 6 hours long! Heather was also sick in the morning and still did her duty! Shawnee got to direct traffic which I can only imagine was a nightmare, haha!



Casey handing off to Bretton. The "baton" is a snap bracelet.



I titled these by names of people when I put them into .jpg form, so that's why there will be a few of the same person, and then a few of another. Just a heads up.



Casey helping Kate during her first run. We stopped to give her water and found out eventually that we had barely missed her, so she didn't get water for about 4 miles! Sorry again Kate! Good thing she's such an awesome runner.



Casey doesn't really look like this when he runs, I just caught it right at an awkward time, haha. Couldn't resist.








Me and Christian after his last run. He pretty much didn't train at all and did awesome! The shirt he is wearing was our team shirt. Our team name is "Jack Bauer for President." On the front of the shirts it has a big 24 and underneath it says "the following takes place between logan and park city" and then on the back it has a big "CTU" and underneath it, it says "later" Get it, "CTU Later!" Nicole was very cleaver on that one ;)



This was Christian's hardest run, and it was also his first. I think it was around 7 miles uphill, and all on a dirt road. crappy. I can imagine it was nice to get it over with in the beginning though.





Always posing for the camera ;)



THE SPRINTER!!! Lucky for us, my dad was able to borrow this van from his work and it was a gem! You can pretty much stand up in it (if you're in my family anyway). Its awesome to be able to stretch inside, even with everyone else and everyone's crap. We were so cool.



We ended at one of the Ski resorts in Park City (I think its the Canyons). You had to park down in the parking lot and ride this gondola up to where the race actually ended. It was pretty cool, but the whole finish line was another SERIOUS issue for me. We had to wait 15 minutes when our runner came in for the rest of the other van to get up there because the parking situation was so bad. We wanted to all finish together. They definitely need to do separate parking for spectators! Hopefully they'll figure it out one of these years.



Christian and my awesome mom. Last run for our van, woohoo!



Bretton after his first run, haha.



Christian during his first run.



Christian delivering water to someone.



When our van finished, we found somewhere to get some breakfast! We're so cute in our matching shirts!!! This is Dustin, me, and mi mam.



My cute mom and dad on the gondola. I sure love these guys, and I sure love to see them so happy. Glad running makes SOMEONE happy, because that is surely not the case for me!



Dustin tearing it up into the night!







Bretty and Dustin at the breakfast place.



Dustin doing some leg swings before his run!



Dustin and Mom



The finish line.


View from the gondola. This does not even do justice to how many cars and people there were.



Aww, love.



This was our team, plus a few friends in the back who were on another team that we saw at this major exchange.



Yay again for Heather and Shawnee!!!!!!! You girls are awesome!



Kate and Dad, just chattin.



Katie, looking good as ever after her first run. Barely even broke a sweat! Doesn't she make you so mad?! haha.



Katie and Casey at the breakfast place.



Kate's first run.



Discussing our vans kills. I tallied a whopping 11 kills between my two runs. Luke got 64 on just ONE of his. Yeah, I think that's called "getting served!"



Katie's 2nd run. Did not look like a fun one! I think total she ran 21 miles. Nuts. My mom was also up there, I think around 18 or 19. Bretton's was around that, Christian's was about 15, Casey's was 13, and mine was SUPPOSED to be 13, but since Dustin did my second one, I booked a solid 9. Killer.



Luke the dominator.



My cute mom :) The only person I know that actually likes running.



See! She's smiling!!!!!!!! Weirdo! Jk mom, I love ya ;)



Ok, now we get to the sick pictures. This is the end of my first run. I thought I was gonna die, and Christian thought it would be funny to start running before I got there. This is me yelling, "DON'T RUN AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!!" And him and the volunteers laughing.

Me and B-money.

Dustin, me and Bretty.

Starting my first run.

Dying. I was not super prepared. I had finals and was trying to graduate, and then right after that I got really sick for 2 weeks. So I pretty much took a month off right before the race. Don't recommend it!

I think i'm yelling and Christian here too, haha.

Mom and Christian

Here is my mom saying, "Oh Annie! I forgot I was looking for you!" Ok, she probably didn't really say that, but that's most likely what she was thinking, haha. I love my mom :)

My mom bringing our van home!

AHAHAHAHA. One of my favorites. Love their faces.

This is my moms sister, Julie. She was our other volunteer. Thanks so much Julie, you're awesome!

The best part about running in a race with your mom is that she watches out for you and puts sunscreen on you even when you're 18 years old. What a sweety!

Here we are with our medals at the finish line! All done, YES!

Annie and Jason were nice enough to get this room in Park City to relax in! Their van slept here for awhile, and when our van was all done, they let us use it to shower and rest! Yay for a shower!!!!!!! It was much needed! Thanks guys!

Here we are trying to get a few hours of sleep. I think we got in maybe 3. Or at least everyone else did, I couldn't sleep a wink!

Waiting at the finish line.

Stan handing off to Katie.

This is actually at the starting line, haha.

The real starting line.

Christian took this picture :)

Here are a few pictures of our van! Love it!

Van 2.

The inside of the sprinter.... very roomy :)



And those were definitely some exciting pictures to end on! All in all, like I said before, it was pretty fun. Will I do it again? That remains to be seen. Only time will tell I guess. At least it motivated me to stay in shape! Thanks family, for guilt tripping me into it! Just know that what goes around, comes around!!!!

CTU Later!