slow and steady

Wasatch Back Relay ~ Logan to Park City
188 miles ~ June 18-19

What an incredible experience! I am so glad I was able to be a part of this. Some things I learned:
*Utah is super green after such a rainy spring. The scenery was amazing!
*You shouldn't expect to get a tan on your legs when you haven't had them out in the sun for a few years; instead expect to get burned really bad on the front thighs and calves.
*My body shuts down at 10:30 p.m. - like I felt it all. over. and took it out on my team by hogging the back seat of the suburban for the majority of the race.
*Morgan at midnight is DARK. No street lamps, nothing. I had a 2 ft diameter beam from my head lamp and that's it for my second run. (Also: even when I'm freaked out from darkness I don't run faster than normal)
*A single blister can cover the entire ball of your toe, reaching down towards your foot and can actually form *around* your toenail. (Plus: I have no idea how to use mole skin)
*The aforementioned blister can make the last 6 miles of a run really long (luckily a guy named Andy came along and asked to run with me - I laughed when he said he had been pacing me the entire time because I was alternating running and walking up the freaking huge hill so much.)
*When my body is so tired and I start running up a steep hill I laugh out loud and silently swear (probably Tia's influence) because it hurts so bad.
*Water stations every 2 miles aren't enough - thank heavens for my van who brought me gatorade regardless.
*Hotels that you think are for those reasons because they are so cheap are really that crappy inside - but paying $7 for a super painful shower where I thought my aforementioned calves were bleeding whenever water ran down them was super worth it. So was holding my bladder until we got to a toilet that worked.
*I cried twice - once when Lesa got to see her husband and kids, and once when I saw Boualay in Park City and she was going to Cafe Rio and I had 3 more hours until my team came in. So, apparently I love my family and Cafe Rio. (Also: I don't push myself *that* hard)
*Speaking of family, Delena is a wonderful babysitter and Adam is a wonderful Dad. I was gone so long and my kids were very happy the entire time.
*Ragnar is kind of like giving birth. I remember very clearly during the race that I had no idea why I had signed up, and there's no way I would ever do it again because it was so uncomfortable. But now it's over I'm so glad I did it and kind of want to do it again.
My stats: Runner 3 - 18.4 m total
1 - leg 3 - 5.6 m, 61 min, ~10:45 min/ml, start 2 pm (HOT and SUNNY)
2 - leg 15 - 4.9 m, 56 min, ~11:30 min/ml, start 11:45 pm (cold and BLACK)
3 - leg 27 - 7.9 m, 1 hr 48 min, ~13:30 min/ml, start i don't know because i was so nervous and delirious by then. but it was in the middle of the day and hot and windy and the hill climb was a 'beast', or so people told me who got to drive up it.
And here are all of us Rockstars: Trina, Lesa, Tia, Lisa, Kathy, Carla, me / Amanda, Lori, Erin, Celeste, Kristin. Thanks for the good times.