Ragnar Las Vegas

When you run two Ragnar's in a year you get an extra medal. If you run Wasatch Back and Vegas you get the Saints and Sinners medal. I knew I totally needed to add that to my collection when I got done with Wasatch Back. I did however figure now was not the year. You see I planned on being prego by now, but 4 planned/failed attempts at taking the IUD out I realized we aren't quite there yet. ;) Haha so when we re-adjusted our plan for the ??? {who knows how many} time I decided to put together a team and get my medal.

Our team consisted of 2 runners from my WB team(Keri and Renee), Phil, Steve and Phil's sister, Britton (van 1) and then my brother(Ky), sis(Nae), sis in law(Kirst) and 3 of my brothers buddies where in van 2.

We headed down on Thursday night and once we got to our hotel we did a little carb loading...at midnight! haha Lucky for us we didn't start until 8:30 so we were actually able to get a decent amount of sleep.

On our way to the start line our friend, Brooke, text us and said it was snowing and freezing at the start line. We were in clear blue skies and sun....no way!

YES WAY!!!

Steve and I both had flip flops on (luckily I had socks on) and we had to stand outside to do the safety briefing. It was brutal. We all felt so bad sending Keri off in the snow but luckily she ran super fast right out of it. 

Keri handing off to Britton

I was runner 5 again. Funny but Keri, Renee and I all had out same # leg from WB. I really wanted to have one of the longest legs, just for a challenge. I ended up being able to do the longest leg (after a switch from van 2 to van 1) 26.1 miles. I was a little nervous before we left because I had been having some weird lower leg pain in my right leg since the Halloween half. I just hoped I'd be able to run all my miles. :)

LEG 1 8.2 miles HARD

I started running at 12:30 PM. It was super windy. It wasn't lying when it said 20 + mph on the weather forecast and I got to run right into it. (so did Phil and Steve, lucky us) It was a great run. I would have loved it even more if it hadn't been so windy. It was nice and flat and good road (side of a freeway) Every time I would come up on someone or some one on me we would always say the same thing "this wind is brutal" haha 8.04 miles 1:07:40 8:25/mile

sis and I at the 1st major exchange

After we exchanged with the other van (where I got to see my fam for a bit) we headed to the next exchange at the JW Marriot. After cleaning up a bit (I had SO much dirt on my face from the wind) the boys and Renee went to get some food while Brit, Keri and I rested on the lawn. It wasn't a very peaceful rest however because we listened to a volunteer scream over and over again "GET ON THE GRASS" it was a poorly set up exchange and people were walking right where the runners where coming in. It was a mess. It was also literally FREEZING!!!

Then we were off for our night runs. Keri started at dusk so we basically all ran in the dark. I was nervous for this leg because everyone kept saying "this is the leg that guy died on last year" awesome. It was also still rather windy and VERY cold. As I waited to start I was shivering profusely. My leg had been hurting a little worse after my first leg and I decided to wear Renee's knee brace because it was mostly the back of my knee. That was a good call. 

LEG 2 10.5 miles VERY HARD

This was a fabulous run. It was downhill, the wind had mostly died down but was at my back anyway, I felt great and thoroughly enjoyed running in the dark of the night. I started at 9:40 PM and ran along side a main 4 lane road. Luckily hardly anyone drove in the lane closest to me and I wasn't ever scared I was gonna get run over. :) At mile 7 I voice text Phil and said "WTH! I am at mile 7 and there hasn't been 1 water stop." Ya, there never was. I decided not to carry my belt this time and look where that gets me. Luckily 10 miles is my cut off so I wasn't dying, but apparently they were stolen. awesome. It was excellent until mile 9 we had to stop and wait for a light for about 5 min. That's never good after you have ran 9 miles (plus 8 more less than 12 hours ago) It was hard to get going again and at the point the terrain leveled out which felt more like uphill haha needless to say I wasn't sad it was .25 short. :) 10.25 miles 1:21:09 7:55/mile

While I was running my brother called and said they had got a hotel room at the next exchange, the M resort. They had showered and planned on sleeping after their next legs and we were able to go straight there when Steve finished. It was so fabulous. We all showered, got to sleep for a few hours (although I didn't sleep well, my stomach was not in a good place lol) and the room was SO nice. I set our alarm for 3 AM and right before it went off Ky text and said their last runner just started. We hurried and got ready, packed up and headed over to drop Keri off (5 minutes late, whoops!)

Britton was runner 2 and about 10 minutes into her  last run she called me crying saying that she was gonna be a while because she was in a lot of pain. She ran a marathon in October and hurt her IT band. Luckily she had two good runs and only had pain on this last run. I was instantly in tears (SO tired!) and the rest of the van figured out how we could take over for her. Trooper Renee was just gonna start where we were parked (about mile 3) and run the rest of Britton's leg along with her own 4 miler. When Britton got to us we tried to tell her this, but she wouldn't have it. Through her tears she kept saying "I'm fine, it's fine." Since she wouldn't let Renee take over for her we decided to stop again down the road and cheer her on again. She had quite the awesome hobble run goin on, but she finished and I know she wouldn't have it any other way. 

LEG 3 7.4 miles HARD

My last leg started out on trail. Phil had just run about half of his leg on the same trail and we both said the same thing about it...BORING! haha it was a steady incline and not great scenery. I started at 8:45 AM. Luckily my stomach had started to feel better once I got going but my legs were very tired. I kept thinking, this totally sucks haha. Finally at mile 3.5 we turned off the trail and on to some main roads.

 I was about to pass this guy and then realized he wanted to keep up. haha So we started chatting and he quickly became my running buddy. It was so nice. We chatted and he said I pushed him haha and it went by SO much faster. At the end when I saw my team cheering for me I ditched him and made him one of my last kills. :) Don't worry at the end of my leg they thought it would be a good idea to put a flight of stairs to run up. Who doesn't want to run up stairs after running 26 miles? I said "do I really have to go up the stairs" to my team mates at the top. haha Yes, yes I did. It felt so good to be done and I was so glad that my leg still felt good. 7.43 miles 1:02:31 8:25/mile

Phil coming in and me heading out

 Steve giving me water and my running buddy Jeff.

Stairs...for real?!?

We got a family pic at the last major exchange before the finish line! Ky, Lynae, me, Kirstie and Phil. It would have been super fun to be in the same van....their is always next time. :)

After the exchange we went to breakfast. We thought we would maybe be able to get an early check in at our hotel so we could shower but were denied. So we headed to the finish line for the lamest party ever. haha it really was though. Especially compared to WB. Plus it was freezing and still windy. We just chilled in the van and chatted, napped and hung out. 

 We also did our Ragnar tattoos, too bad it was too cold to show em!

 I am convinced I didn't have nearly as many kills as WB because I had better runners on my leg. ;) that's what I am telling myself. haha

 Saw our old neighbors Brooke and Matt at the finish line.

We met up with the rest of our team to run across the finish line at 3:27 PM 30 hours and 57 minutes after we started. We didn't even stay long at the finish line because it was so cold! Who knew? Vegas? Really? 

The Mamas and The Papas

 Saints and Sinners BABY!!! 

So wish I would have got a pic with my bro! :(

 Van 1

 Whoot whoot! Go Team!

After showering and cleaning up the girls in our van and Steve went to dinner at Olive Garden. Van 2 took Phil with them to the buffet. haha Then we totally all went to bed at 8:30. We were BEAT! It as  such a fun time. Even though Vegas was not nearly as well organized as Wasatch Back and it was less than fabulous weather. We all had a fun time! Love me some Ragnar! ( I feel like Phil needs to do his own separate post about all his runs...hint hint ;)