3 Girls and a Guy

THE AMAZING RACE

PART II

We headed to Brian Head Thursday at 3:30 p.m. We met at Nancy's house and loaded up. I met Melissa, Kiersten, and Emily on the way down. We joked around a lot with Blake and his pudgy pictures. He has lost 37 lbs. His old pictures were chunky!!! Poor Blake was the only man in our car with five girls the whole relay.

Nancy and I do not have long enough arms to take a picture of ourselves at the Pizza Barn in Parowan. We were loading up on pasta for our run in the morning.

That's much better.

Blake and the snuggly at the very nice cabin. We stayed at Tara's brothers cabin in Brian Head Thursday night. We didn't get much sleep. Maybe 4-5 hours. These crazies that were in our car ran a relay three weeks ago and a half marathon last weekend. Blake's sister has a four month old and is a tough gal. I was so impressed by their determination and love of running.

Watching the Ute game. Melissa and Emily(the tough one) are on the couch. Melissa is a mother of four and has lost a million pounds also. Emily is a mother of four, teaches at the gym and runs like crazy. They were all intimidating because of their experience. I had to hang with them.

More views of the cabin. Travis is Tara's oldest brother. He was in the other

van for the race. He has also lost over 30 lbs. running.

We woke up around 5 a.m. and Travis was making a breakfast for champions. Wheat pancakes, bacon and sausage. We ate a tiny bit so our stomachs would not puke while running early. Our team was first. I was the fourth leg. In the picture is me, Emily, Melissa, Nancy, Kiersten and Blake in back. We had no idea how cold it would be up there. It was freezing.

The other van came and met up with us at the starting line to get things going. HERE IS TEAM HALF FAST. You can pick and choose who is in which category. I will never tell. Melissa was the first runner. She got to ride the ski lift up the mountain and then run down it. Nancy took it from there. Our whole team is in this picture:back -Ty, Blake, Travis, Wyatt, Gary, Jared. Front: Kiersten, Emily, Melissa, Natalie, Nancy and Nicole. She was the only girl in an all boy van. Kind of funny.


Melissa rode the ski lift up in the freezing, cold, dark mountain air. Most of the runners got lost on the way down. Finally she found us and Nancy was off for her 6 plus mile run through the mountain back country. She was on a dirt road with lots of hills. The elevation kicked our butts. All of our lungs burned. Nancy had trained for this race last week only. She can pull determination out of her head and run like crazy. I don't know how she does it, but she does. She passed 4 or 5 runners. It was awesome.

While Nancy was running we decorated the clean car. The car didn't stay clean. It got mud, rain, dirt, and bugs all over it. Thanks for your car Nancy. I don't know if it will ever be the same.

Melissa (Blake's cousin) and Emily (Blake's sister) decorating the car. During this little stop Blake decided to go potty behind a trash bin. He did not realize there was a hole in the bin and some of the girls saw his THUMB!!!!

After Nancy, Emily headed up a hill for 2 miles. It was quite the hill. I was nervous because it was my turn. I thought six miles no problem. Wow was I wrong. Emily gave me the wrist band and I was off. They stopped every 2 miles for a water break. I needed it because my lungs were burning, needless to say I had and have a sinus infection. I had to breath through my mouth and my ears were plugged. At this water stop I asked them how much further and they said around the corner. They were wrong-IT WAS TWO MILES LEFT. I started sprinting and had to slow down because I never saw the end. I ran with ear phones for my first time and they were okay. I am not sold on them what so ever.

This is the only guy that passed me on any of my runs. He was really cute. He passed me running a 6 minute mile. Who does that. I was happy to see him run by me. I laughed. This is Kiersten in the picture with this guy. She talked a lot about midgets with Blake. I will never think of midgets the same again.

My only down hill. Blake told me that it was mostly flat. Boy was he wrong. I had so many hills up high in that elevation I wanted to die. I came to the realization that I never want to run a half marathon or marathon ever. My head is not in the game. Six was good for me.

I passed it to Kiersten and she had 2 plus miles down hill. Who makes up these legs. I wanted her run. Not really I was happy to run my leg even though it was hard, it felt good.

The girls messing around in the car and waiting for the next leg.

Our team is almost done. The other car came and met us on our last leg. We got to joke around and talk. Nancy is leaning over and laughing. I'm not sure what was being said. Other teams would call us the pink ladies. We all had pink on the first leg and we didn't plan it. Blake would look at them like "And what am I." It was so funny. After Kiersten's run she got allergies so bad and had a panic attack. We had some interesting moments along this relay. This was the first.

We had the prettiest scenery running. We had beautiful flowers, moutains and Zions to look at.

Finally our team was done with our first leg. We only had two more to go. It was time to go eat more breakfast, shower and change for our next leg. We headed back to the cabin and cleaned up.

It had finally warmed up and we changed into shorts. When we caught up to the other van for our exchange this is what we found. The girls warned me. It was quite the sight. Wyatt is 18 yrs. old and ran a relay with our van three weeks ago from Logan to Jackson Hole. He runs in a singlet. He is a wrestler and funny too. I bet the other teams were a lookin.

We are off again. Travis passed the wrist band to Melissa and our van was on our way to our second leg.

Melissa wanted to prove something and she started running like a maniac. They all tried to run less than 9 minute miles when possible. It was at 4 p.m. and hot. She got heat stroke and on mile four almost fainted. Emily got out and ran the rest of her two miles. She was making fabulous time and couldn't finish. Good job Melissa. She was so bummed, but this was out of her control. It was scary for a second. This was another interesting moment. Melissa's nickname was foamer because she had foam coming out of her mouth at another race. After this incident her nickname because BFF (barf, foam, faint).

Nancy was off and got ripped off on this run. It was suppose to be 3 miles and it was only 1.8 miles. She did awesome again and this time she didn't have any accidents like the first time. After four babies, sometimes girls have accidents. LOL. She traded Melissa her next leg to increase her mileage since Melissa wasn't feeling too well.

We drove through Zions and took some pictures. The scenery was spectacular. During the race we had a cooler and snacks in the back of the car that we would eat in between legs. It was quite the set-up.

Along this drive, Emily was running and she had to stop and poop on the side of the car because there were no trees to hide behind. It was right in front of a little gated six house neighborhood. She was going to poop her pants and that's just how it is. Melissa looked at the wrong time and got a glimpse of everything. After we left, Emily had to do it another time on the side of the road. That's just how it is when you are running. You will go where ever, as long as it's not in your pants. Just ask RENN!!!! He has experience too.

I was getting ready for my second leg and Nancy happened to take a picture of me coming out of the potty. Those potties were gross, especially when I lifted up the toilet lid. Good thing these girls were experienced runners and they brought Lysol. That worked great. Emily finished her five mile leg and I was off. This was at 6 p.m. Friday night in Virgin. We were out of Zions and on our way down to St. George. I ran on a highway that was 65 miles per hour. I didn't like that so much, but it was flat and felt great.

Wow!! Look at those biceps. You only can see them when I am running or lifting weights. Why is that? This run was so much nicer. I have a problem with my hip flexers while I run longer distances. They started hurting, but I decided no pain no gain and people run all the time with hurt knees or other parts. This leg was also six miles. It was 89 degrees, but the sun was behind clouds and it didn't feel too bad. I didn't have any accidents.

After our second exchange with the other van, Nancy and I grabbed some Carne Asada from the vendors at the exchange. We didn't know it would cause such a fuss amongst our van. They were mad because we took five extra minutes to get our food. They wanted to sleep. That's why we went to a sit down restaurant and they ate for 45 minutes. I think Nancy and I's plan to get food in five minutes would have left us with more sleep. We headed to a hotel by St. George, showered, ate and laid on the bed for 30 minutes. We are waiting for Blake to come back with the car. We are heading for our last leg in the middle of the night. We ended aroun 930 p.m. and we are now starting again around 2 a.m. Crazy stuff. Talk about no sleep.

Blakes got his night gear on and we are ready to go. He was an excellent driver. He always knew where we were going, unlike Nancy. One time while Blake was running, Nancy was driving and getting lost. The girls were all yelling to stop here, turn there, pull over and Nancy was frazzled. It was so funny. We almost drove down a ravine. That would have been nice. Nancy did just fine when all the girls weren't being back seat drivers. I have to admit that during our drive through the canyon, I would tell Blake to get away from the cliffs. That is one major fear I have and I had to close my eyes. I hate drop offs.

I'm ready for my last leg. Nancy ran through the town at 3 a.m. and it was scary. Blake didn't stay very close and who knows what could happen in the middle of the night. She was suppose to run through a parkway, but Blake traded her because it was dark and who knows what creepies could have been lurking. When we got to the parkway to pick up Blake they had called the cops out because someone saw a guy around there. I'm glad Nancy didn't run the parkway. Running through the night was scary to me. I ran out past Santa Clara in no man's land. I found a toad along the way to keep me company and I had to pick it up and stop for pictures. We were all so tired and exhausted and I had to make the run fun. I made Blake stay close and honk for coyotes. I didn't want any to run across the street. I would clap and make loud noises and I didn't see one. At the end of my runs I learned that I could hang with them. I don't run those crazy distances and so forth, but I could still do my part.

On our night run, we all tried to sleep in between legs when we weren't running. We didn't take very many pictures because we were sleeping. We were finally done. It was around 6 a.m. Blake ran last and this guys ran up to him and told him he would run with him for awhile. Blake is competitive and wasn't going to let him pass. He never did. He kept up with him and got to the exchange before him. Good job Blake. We were done and this is our DONE picture. We were so happy to hand off to the other van. We were off to the hotel to shower, eat breakfast and return to the finish line. We got about 30 minutes of sleep again. By the way I'm so glad no one was rapped and plumaged on our night runs. We talked about that a lot.

The finish line was at a Junior High in St. George. It was hot and I'm glad we finished in the night. The other team was sweating. We all ran the last 100 yards to the finish line together in our matching shirts that Travis gave us all. We got our medals and other gifts. We were all clean while the other car was sweaty and needed a shower.

We gave our thanks and hugs and pretty much left. It was hot and we were tired. We stopped at Chilis on the way home for lunch. I was having bowel problems and didn't feel like much. These races do a number on your system. We traded drivers a couple of times so everyone could get some sleep. We also had to stop so we could stretch. I couldn't believe how sore one could get runnig only six miles at a time. We popped some ibuprofen every few hours. My hips were a mess. I think I slept the whole way home except for when we stopped. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was so happy to accomplish my first relay/race. I know what I like and do not like now. It was so fun to be with Nancy and talk about old times with Blake. I know I was quite the mouth and kept people on their toes. I hope I didn't offend anyone. Thanks for a fabulous relay. I might think about it again someday, but not today-I was too tired and sore.

I came home to a clean and empty house. My family and kids were at the neighbors swimming and eating. I drove over, because I was too sore to walk and visited. Then I fell asleep at 930 p.m. and didn't get up until 9 a.m. Sunday morning. I woke up not sore and felt so much better. Renn did an awesome job with the kids. He made sure they all did their spelling and homework Thursday and then took them to a movie and pizza Friday night. I called him at 10 p.m. and he texted me and told me he was at a movie with the kids. He never goes to late night movies. He wanted to prove to the kids that he could be funner than me. Not!!! Then they all went swimming on Saturday. It's nice to know I can leave and come home and all is well. This will be a memory I will have and love forever even if I never do it again. Thanks for all the good times.

I ran a total of 16 miles in 20 hours. MY MOTO DIDN'T CHANGE AFTER THIS RELAY.

I STILL "RUN TO EAT," not because I love it.