Wasatch My Back, Year 4

(Technically, the first year I ran this crazy thing, our team name was The Goobers, but we'll let that slide.)

Here we are at my house before we took off for Eden, UT to meet our first van:

(From L to R: Sarah (amazing last-minute replacement #1), Abby, Crystal, Brooke, me, Melanie (amazing last-minute replacement #2)) How smiling and optimistic, how excited we all were! How naive...

When we arrived in Eden, we clambered out of the car and were immediately accosted by some guys who RagTagged us:

And then, for some reason, all the pictures I have are of Crystal:

cute and sassy, as always

happy to begin her third and final run

yep, that's my leg. too lazy to take it down.

Here's our team at the finish. 3 of our girls had to be home early and one had her husband pick her up right after her last run. Out of the 6 girls in our van, 3 got the runs that you don't want when you gots to run. Made for an interesting Ragnar this year.

Along with the Ragnar slap bracelet, we passed along this:

 

One of our friend's daughters has SMARD (Spinal Muscular Atrophy with Respiratory Distress). She sells these bracelets to raise money and awareness for this disease. On the other side it says, "PRES ON" because the little girl's name is Presley. Here is a link to their blog. It was a nice reminder for us -- when we were sleep-deprived, when we were in pain, when that hill was just too steep, when we felt to sick to move -- to press on. Thanks, Presley! 

Every year I sign up for this race. Every year I get to a point when I wonder why. Every year I can't wait to do it again. I love the girls in my van and on my team! I met some great people while running who were such an inspiration to me. I got passed by an egotistical guy whose team offered me $100 to beat him to the finish. And what was better than, three days after the race, to hear Brooke say of him, "Ragnar this, fishpad!" But seriously, Melanie --15 weeks pregnant who power-walked her legs; Sarah -- who started feeling sick at 6AM but who ran her last leg anyway at noon; Abby -- whose first Ragnar this was, and definitely not the last. She kicked butt up Ragnar hill; Brooke -- who began the sickness and had the hardest runs and texted us in the middle of two of them. She's "super awesome!" (even if she doesn't recycle); Crystal -- who had a baby 6 months ago, got sick, and still ran like the wind to bring us in on the last leg. In the words of Abby, "You're all my best friends!" And that is why I do Ragnar. Every. Year. 

All right. Who's in for next year? :)