I DID IT!!

Well prepare yourself for a long post, because this was quite an adventure. I wont be mad if you don't read it..... ( I will post more pictures later when I get them from other cameras)

All last week I was doing little things each day to prepare myself for my race. Wed. night we had our last meeting with the team to go over loose ends and get ourselves ready for Friday. The course changed a few times and running spots got switched around and I ended up being runner 11, which meant I was in Van 2. The girls who put this all together, Carrie Jones, her husband owns a dealership and donated the use of 2 vans for our team. It was so nice of him. We got to enjoy the luxuries of a 12 seater for like 36 hours. It was nice having all the room. Our Team name was "Sol Sisters" and we had shirts made and decorated our vans.

Stacy and Barbie-Dee waiting for our second runner to come in

Anyway this is how it all working. Runners 1-6 were in van #1 and they left at 3:30am on Friday to get up to the start line and check in. Runner #1 started running around 7am and ran to exchange 1 and handed off the bracelet (our "Baton" was one of those slap bracelets) to runner #2 and she ran until her next exchange and handed of to runner #3 and so on. They had a total of 30.1 miles.

So our van got to sleep in a bit and we didn't leave until 9am. We got out a little slower because we had to get gas. We got out on the road and everyone was just chit chatting with each other. I was sitting on the first back bench and was watching the GPS and noticing that our driver was paying a little too much attention to the conversation instead of where she was going and I spoke up too late, because she took the wrong exit. Her sister was running the race with us and fired her from driving and put me in charge. So I took over captains seat and started our way up to Congress, AZ. We were already cutting it a little close and with our detour I just kept praying that we would not get a speeding ticket. We made it to Congress, but then had to drive another 30 miles to get to where our exchange would be. We finally made it and got there with about 10 minutes for our first runner (runner #7) to prepare for her run. So now Van #1 has about 6 hours to relax, eat, sleep - do what ever they want (they got a hotel room instead of camping out in the van)

Waiting in the Van

So now that we have our first runner out it is our turn to drive, cheer, support and exchange runners. (It is about 12:30pm) None of us really knew what to expect, so the anticipation and nerves were pretty high in our van. I think we all peed at ever exchange we were so nervous and were drinking so much. Anyway, our first runner (Barbie-Dee #7) had 4.4 miles for her first run. She wanted us to stop at mile 1 to see how she was. We would just track our miles on the car and park on the side of the road and wait for the runner to get to us and have water or whatever they needed. We cheered them on and the moved on to the next cheering sport or to the exchange. Barbie-Dee had a few hills, but knocked it out of the water. She did awesome and had her first leg (run) under her belt. So our next runner (Carrie Jones #8) started out. She was a little nervous because she had a 5.5 miles and a couple pretty big hills. We meet her at her 2 mile and then again at the top of her first hill. She did awesome. Then at the next exchange our superstar started running. (Jenese Sparks #9) She was so fast, and just plowed through the run. She had 6.7 miles and was pretty much up hill the entire time. She did awesome, and was was probably our best runner.

We are checking to see if our runner is ok

Our next runner, (Stacy Anderson #10) had 7 miles and was all on dirt roads. So while she was running, I was getting ready to run. I got all my gear on and tried to stretch in the van. We got to my exchange and had to wait about 10 minutes until she came. We saw her coming and they announced out number (156) and I got in the runners shoot and prepared for the hand off. She slapped the bracelet on and I was off. I started running around 4:30pm and had 8.6 miles to run. This portion of the race was up in the desert "mountains" so it was beautiful. I had a ton of Adrenalin and had to keep telling myself to slow down a bit so I would not get burned out. My van stopped at 2 and 4 miles to check on my and cheer me on. I was feeling great. Other team's vans were stopping too and it was nice to get little cheers from them as well. Two people passed me and then I passed 2 people, so I pretty much ran by myself the whole time. I had a GPS watch on and that helped me know when I was at my mile points and what pace I was going. I got to my exchange in 1 hour and 18 minutes and slapped the bracelet on Rachel Durling (runner #12) and she was off and I stretched out a bit before jumping in the Van to start all over again. Rachel had the sunset run, which meant she had to be all geared up with her reflective vest and head lamp because it got dark fast. We got to our exchange spot where van #1 was waiting with their runner #1 to start when Rachel got in.

Me starting my first leg

Carrie's in-laws lived about 30 minutes away from our next starting spot, so we all decided that it would be much nicer hanging out their for a few hours instead of in the van or in our sleeping bag on the side of the road. It was so nice to use a real bathroom and lay on a bed. I think I probably only slept for about 1 hour before we had to pack up and head to our starting line. Our first runner started running around 1:00am. We just did the same thing all over again, but the night made it a little difficult to pick out our runner. My run started around 5:30am (i think) and it was soooooo windy and cold. The wind had stared and picked up with in the last 1 hour, so I got the joy of having it for most of my run. We were now starting to get to civilization, so I had to cross some main roads and really pay attention that I was going the right direction. This one was 6.4 miles and was up hill for the first 4.5 miles and then a gradual down hill for the rest. It was a great run and in my last 1/2 mile I got to watch the sun come up. It was awesome. I did that one in just under a hour.

We just got done with out 2nd leg.

Our next waiting spot was in Fountain Hills at a LDS church. We stopped by a grocery store to use a real bathroom and get some food other than peanut butter and bagels. It was nice to be able to walk around and stretch our legs. At the church we tired to find a shady spot to sleep in between all the other people sleeping. I probably got about an hour of sleep. The sun was starting to get hot and we were all very anxious to just be done. Our Van #1 runners were struggling so it was pushing back out start time by an hour. But after a long wait and multiple trips to the port-a-potties we are starting out last Leg. We all had short ones except for Jenese who had 8 miles. Everyone did an awesome job and survived the hot sun. When we got to my starting point. Nate and Carter were there ready to cheer me on. It was so great to see them and have them see a little bit of what I was doing. My last leg was 3 miles and I think it was my hardest, because I knew the end was so close, I was pushing so hard to finish and it was all through busy neighborhoods. I finished that one in like 25 minutes. I was so glad to be done.

At the finish line our van #1 ladies were waiting for us and we met up to welcome our runner 12 and then all ran in together. We all got a metal and are so proud of ourselves for finishing. We finished after 35 hours and 10 minutes. This really was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I did it. I would probably do it again, but not any time real soon.

We got some take out because I was so hungry for real food and then came home and I pretty much crashed. I was asleep with in two seconds of me laying down on the couch. I didn't get the opportunity to stay home from Church because I had to say the closing prayer in sacrament meeting and I had sharing time. - Life just keeps moving on. I am so thankful for Nate supporting me in this and glad him and Carter had a fun guys weekend.