If You Had 57 and 1/9 Kids, You’d Run Too!
June 25th, 2008
So I did it. Or more like WE did it. Thursday I drove down to Utah with friends for the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. Over about 35 hours we ran from Logan to Park City, Utah, about 180 miles over hills and mountains. And now, I’m tired. Sleepy. And my muscles hurt. Muscles that I didn’t know I actually had hurt.
Thursday night twelve runners, two drivers and our team trainer met in Logan where we reserved four hotel rooms and all tried to sleep. Except we were all too excited and couldn’t sleep. At least I couldn’t. I probably slept for about two hours. Nothing worse than laying there, staring at the clock and thinking, “I need to sleep! Tomorrow I will get no sleep! GO TO SLEEP!” I tried every relaxation exercise I could think of. Nada. Holy Frustration Batman!
Before the race: Top L to R Jenn H (team trainer), Emily (me), Jenn O, Sarah, Julie, Deanna, Marinda, Linsey (driver), Cara, Brooke (driver), Middle: Shelah, Sheree, Bottom: Kristin, Melodee, Malinda. One of us is pregnant. (which is the 1/9th in our clever little tagline…can’t say who yet since they haven’t exactly told the family. And no, it isn’t me)

Friday morning we woke up bright and early to get to our 7:40 start time. We watched Shelah take off and then hurried to the next exchange so I could get ready to go. By the time we got there I was totally flustered and nervous. I couldn’t find my hat and I wanted my hat. I tore the van apart looking for my hat. Other people helped me look for the hat to no avail. We gave up looking for the hat, then of course I found it. In my purse that I had been carrying the entire time. Yeah.
I put on sunblock and Body Glide and all the sudden everyone was yelling, “Emily, she’s here! Shelah’s here! You’ve got to go!!!” Who what huh? I was totally frazzled, grabbed the slap bracelet and started running. I didn’t have time to stretch out, my iPod wasn’t hooked up (the HORROR!) and I felt completely unprepared. I just ran and tried to calm myself a bit.
My first Leg was Leg 2, 6.7 miles from Nibley to Hyrum, Utah. I spent half of this leg mad that I forgot my Nike + iPod plugin at home and therefore had no idea how far I had gone. The MOFIA van caught up with me and I asked them how far I had gone and they said about 1.5 miles. Hmm. I thought it was almost 3. Argh… Then I passed a “GO MOFIA GO!” sign and I decided that it didn’t matter how far I had gone or how much time had passed, I would just run. When I got towards the latter part of the race I saw our van sitting on the side of the road with our friend Megan and her kids. They were holding GO MOFIA signs. It was so sweet! So of course I bawled like a baby. Wouldn’t be the last time on this crazy journey.
I ran through Hyrum and the whole time thought about how Greg and I should move back that area or at least visit. I had forgotten how beautiful the Cache Valley is. LOVE it! Maybe we’ll retire there in a billion years or when we strike it rich, whichever happens first.
I finished my leg and passed off to Sarah. She took off like a bandit and then had to dodge dogs the entire time. Dogs scare Sarah more than anyone I know, so of course she had a lot of dogs on her runs. We leapfrogged her a couple of times and tried to scare them away. Poor girl.
Van 1– Top L-R Marinda, Julie, Emily (me), Shelah, Sarah. Bottom L-R Brooke, Jenn H, Melodee
Dancing to the Winder Dairy Tunes. They had a stereo strapped to the top of the car and played lots of groovy tunes. Most of the vans were decorated and some got really creative!
After Sarah, Julie ran. Then Marinda, then Melodee. The further we got into the race, the more humbled I got. These girls did some major hill action. Rocky and uneven dirt roads, breathing dust from the cars, the heat. I had nothing to complain about. (I still complained though!)
Marinda took time during her run to put flowers in her hair, the hippy that she is. I knew all the other Wasatch Back girls but had never met Marinda. She is awesome! I’m glad to call her my friend.
When Melodee was done she passed off to Kristin, who was in Van 2. Then Van 1 drove to Snowbasin Ski Resort where we got to eat real food (not just nasty bagels and sport beans), pee in real bathrooms and lay down on a real lawn in real shade. Ahhhh. Still no sleeping though. Resting, but no sleeping.
By this time it was hot. Really hot. And since we drove up the mountain to Snowbasin, we knew how tough it would be for the Van 2 runners to RUN up to Snowbasin. We were all grateful not to be in Van 2 at that point.
We waited for Deanna to finish her leg so we could begin ours. It was probably about 85 degrees at this point. Running on asphalt made it that much hotter. Deanna came in and Shelah left. I vowed to be more prepared this time. I filled my water bottle with ice when we were at Snowbasin. I got my iPod ready. Applied more sunblock and Body Glide. Stretched.
Shelah came in and passed off to me. I was actually excited about this run! Three easy miles from Mountain Green to Peterson. I could totally do this! I took off and tried to just enjoy it. Then the heat got to me. I tried to drink water but my water had gone from ice cold to hot. Blech. The only thing that saved me was some kids on the side of the road spraying runners with a hose. I should have asked them for some cold water. I was so hot. And my knee that bothers me occasionally started bothering me. And I was tired, so very tired. Thinking that I couldn’t go on kind of tired.
Then I rounded a corner and there was a hill. I swore. I went from Happy Runner to Why The $%^& Am I Doing This? Runner. I started running up the hill and tried not to cry. Then the person in front of me started walking. And the person in front of her started walking. Pretty soon every person I could see was walking. I gave up and walked too. I was TICKED at myself.
I got close to the top and started running again. The exchange was at the bottom of the hill. I passed the slap bracelet to Sarah and burst into tears. My knee hurt, I was emotionally and physically drained. Jenn ran to get me an ice pack and I went to the front of the van and just bawled for a couple of minutes. I was so mad at myself for walking! My goal at the beginning of the race was not to walk. I didn’t care what time I got, I just didn’t want to walk. My teammates threw their arms around me and told me it was okay. Shelah told me that she had to walk too and that made me feel a zillion times better. If Super Woman had to walk, it was okay if I did too, right? (We will pretend not to notice that the hill she walked on was a lot harder than mine AND a lot longer, right?)
Everyone had pretty good runs after that. It cooled down outside and started to get dark. So dark that we lost Melodee who was running beside a really big dude that blocked our view of her. Not cool. We caught up with her at the next exchange around 11pm and then handed off to Van 2.
After that we headed to North Summit High School in Coalville, Utah to get some foodage and rest our weary heads. We had Cafeteria Style Fazoli’s (I’m still shuddering at the thought) and then headed for the gym with our sleeping bags. You’d think that sleeping on a gym floor with 200 other people would be awful but it really wasn’t. Every person in there was dead tired. There was no noise except for the occasional snore. And we were all so exhausted that sleeping on a hard floor actually felt relaxing. It was the best two hours ever. Then I woke up, had to pee and couldn’t get back to sleep.
We got up at 3:30 am and headed to the next exchange to meet Van 2. We were beat. Shelah got started on her run and we headed to the next exchange. I wanted to cry the entire way there. Or throw up. Or go to sleep, I’m not sure which. Possibly all three simultaneously. I ate some Gu, which luckily had caffeine. Julie asked if we could say a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to bless us with good attitudes and the ability to accomplish what we needed to. I tried not to cry.
My run started. I SO did not want to do it. It was 5.3 miles. The sun started coming up. The music on my iPod was good. I borrowed a watch so I could check the time. The caffeine kicked in. I felt fantastic. I ran with a smile. My van came driving up and asked if I was okay and I shocked them when I told them I was doing GREAT and hey, wasn’t it beautiful outside? Some serious Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde action going on there.
I talked to the runners and all the support vans. A dude that was totally limping ran by me. I yelled, “HEY!!! NO FAIR! You’re limping and you are STILL passing me!!” He slowed down a bit and said, “I’m so sorry, if you want I can just stay back with you. Do you want me to?” I chuckled. “I’m comfortable enough in my slowness thankyouverymuch. Run, dude!”
And that right there is why I loved the Wasatch Back. Some dude that didn’t even know me totally would have stuck with me if I would have asked. That is cool.
I finished my race all yelling and pumping my fists in the air. My team was totally laughing at me. I was SO glad I was finished. And I didn’t even have to walk on my last leg! Wahoo!
Me looking lovely but feeling GREAT!
After my leg was Sarah, who did amazingly. Then Julie started. Her knee was killing her. She could hardly walk after her run the day before. She got about 1/4 mile when we caught up to her. She was bawling. She couldn’t do it. We all cried for her. She trained so hard and had to give up on her last leg. She was devestated.
Shelah took her place and ran the rest of the 5 mile leg. While Shelah was running the other van called us and said that Kristin was really sick and needed to be taken to the hospital. She was completely dehydrated from throwing up and having diarrhea all night long. We met the other van at the exchange and picked up Kristin. Shelah and Melodee ran her leg. In all Shelah ran about 25 miles over the 36 hours. Not only is she amazing because she could do that, she is amazing because she DID do that. She really got what the race was all about. Working as a team and supporting each other. I’m amazed by her.
We had Taco Bell in Heber City and spent the entire time trying to talk Kristin into going to Urgent Care. She was so sick. She couldn’t even muster the strength to make sarcastic and witty comments. She finally agreed to go and got IV fluids. She bounded out of that clinic like nothing was ever wrong. A snarky comment here, a cuss word there, Kristin was BACK.
We went straight from Urgent Care to the finish line so we could all run in with Deanna. Van 2 got there just in time. We sprinted, ran, jogged and hobbled across the finish line, threw our arms around each other and cried some more. We totally did it.
Finish Line Top L to R: Cara, Jenn H (trainer), Linsey (driver) Marinda, Shelah, Sarah, Julie, Deanna, Brooke. Bottom L to R: Emily (me) Jenn O, Sheree, Melodee, Kristin.
I thought the Wasatch Back would be all about running. In the end it was so much more. It was heat, exhaustion, lack of sleep. It was emotional turmoil. It was watching my friends work hard at something that they thought was impossible. It was watching them suceed. It was crying with them when their bodies betrayed them. It was enduring when we wanted to give up. It was friendship, loyalty and love.
It sucked. But I SO want to do it again.







Posted in
We figured a white lie wouldn’t hurt anyone so off we went. (after Samantha told him to just cut the dang baby out of her, lol! She was SOOOO done at that point!)





