Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Red Rock Relay

For Marc's family reunion this year we participated in The Red Rock Relay. This consists of a 186 mile relay run, 2 mini vans with 6 runners in each van (12 total), 36 different legs to run and a whole lot of memories made in between. Here we are at the start waiting for my Mother-in-law to finish leg 1 at Brian Head . . . (Heidi and Billy were specially selected to participate with us while everyone else was related in some way to the family)
Marc on his first leg-he was great! We'd stop and give the runner water and help to cheer them on . . .

My first leg-it was pretty much all on pavement with a steep uphill and then a lot of down hill. It ended with a little patch of trail running which made me feel very rugged . . .
The whole gang (minus Heidi who was running). My Mother-in-law did great-she even fell and hurt her hand on her first leg-she went the ER, she got a brace and she was back to finish the rest of the race!
You had about 5 hours of down time while the other van would race-here we are at SUU where we swam, showered and slept . . .
Running through the night. This was Marc at the top of a very steep hill. I think he wanted to use some choice words right about now . . .
A dance party erupted as my Mother-in-law finished her final leg!!! We were all on the home stretch.

Marc ran the best leg of the entire race through Snow Canyon . . .
The race ended in Zion and we all ran in as a team. It was so much fun to be a part of the big adventure . . .
Go team!!! Joe, Billy, Kay, Marc, Michael, Cory, David, Ryan, Becky, Karen, Me & Heidi . . .
You put a mark on your leg for each leg you complete-we all earned our stripes and we wore them with great pride!
So we survived an adventure of 186 miles together. It was magical, inspiring, difficult, humorous and fulfilling all at once. My highlights include: having a great adventure with my hubby, spending time with my big brother while we completed something together as peers, realizing my body can do hard things, seeing my kids at the end and knowing they had been cared for by many wonderful Aunts.
Who's in for next year?

2 comments:

Joe and Becky said...

I'm in for next year!

mindy said...

For some crazy reason, that really appeals to me. How long did it take altogether? Were there other people running nearby, or did everyone kind of end up spreading out? I'm very curious and intrigued. Way to go!!