june 19th, around 5:30 am:
"brooke. brooke. why are we crazy?" i had just gained semi-consciousness and after figuring out where i was, i seriously started questioning my sanity.
"brooke, what are we doing? why are we doing this?"
waking up in the early morning in some middle school's wrestling gym in coalville, utah was one of the craziest moments of my life. i could not, for the life of me, come up with a rational explanation for why i was where i was that day . . .
almost 24 hours earlier, my team of 12 and i had started out on the most extraordinary experience. the ragnar relay wasatch back.
brooke rasmussen (yes, i linked you... you're welcome) roped me into it months before when i was still pregnant with sawyer. (when i'm pregnant, anything active sounds awesome, just as long as it's when i'm not pregnant anymore.) so i agreed to do it, not even knowing what it was.
and what it is is pure craziness.
it's two days of running, driving, sleeping (ha!), and using port-a-potties. every runner has three legs, and one of those is in the middle of the night. it was a rare opportunity to be running through the neighborhoods of who-knows-where utah with a reflective vest, headlamp, and blinking light on my back.
and i would do it again. and again. and again.
something about an experience like this, an experience that is almost out-of-body because it's so far removed from my every day life, is addicting. i mean, when do you ever get to go into the mountains to run all day and night, sleep on church lawns, drive around in a decorated truck, and cross the highway carrying a bright orange flag?
you're asking yourself, "pump and dump?" yes, there were breast feeders.
i loved it.
the girls on my team were awesome. there were six of us that were together the whole time, and we had so much fun. i met rachele and janica just before the race, but amy and the brookes i knew from cornell. i love them all and before the weekend was over we were bonded for life.
it was really, really amazing. it has motivated me to become a better runner.
what do you girls think? team "running for me time" 2011?
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6 comments:
whoo hoo! i'm so proud of you! i haven't done it yet, but my friends all love it. btw, that relay makes you an official runner now. great pics.
Good going. Looks like lots of fun....not!
Next time remember to wear lots of sunscreen.
oh yeah.
sunscreen.
so much fun.
i just (well yesterday) finally caught up on all of your new posts.
i hope we meet again for the ragnar. and again. and again. (and before that really....)
way to go us...
how do you do it? how do you run a crazy race that has you sleeping on lawns like a vagabond, have 4 kids in the time that i had 3, drive cross country with said children, move to a state with alligators and make me wish i was you??? i read your blog and thought, gee! i wish i had thought to run the ragnar! but wait! i hate to run!!! you have some kind of strange gift or something robin!! love your blog, keep writing :)
count me in for again and again. seriously...we need to sign up our team soon.
I had so much fun!!! I'm so glad I got to meet you guys and that we became such good friends in such a short amount of time. I just invited you to my blog and I stole a few of your pics. Love your blog and your cute family!
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