The Top of Zion Relay is a relay race. It started in Torrey (near Capitol Reef National Park) and finished near Zion National Park. A total of 195 miles. We had a team of 12 women doing the race. We would each run 3 times (so there were 36 legs of the race). They varied in distance and in terrain. Some of it was on dirt road, most of it was on the pavement. We ran all day and all night and into the next day. Whew!
We left for the town of Torrey on a Thursday afternoon. We had two vans of 6 women. We had our first issue as we pulled out of the garage. We loaded the luggage rack in the garage, and when we pulled out, we snagged the door, then we backed up and bent the door. Then we left the mess - what a way to start the trip (poor Laura, and her husband). The other van overheated before they even left town and stopped to get that solved. We had some navigation problems (thanks to me, I should just learn, I am not a good navigator). Laura was worried about her GPS, so I was checking with my phone, and my phone GPS sent us in the wrong direction. In the end, we got there, and at about the same time as the other van, within about 5 minutes, CRAZY.
Our team name was Cool Runnings, and we went with a Jamaican theme.
We got to stop and eat some awesome pizza in Karoosharm. It really was delicious. And nice to eat so real food when we were out in the middle of nowhere.
We were able to make it to packet pick-up, albeit late, and get all of our stuff.
That night we decorated our vans, and made our visors and headbands. We put our dreads on the vans, and the girls decorated the vans, they turned out so cute!
We had a pretty late night, and then the next morning was an early one. We had a 7:00 start time. It was early, but it could have been so much worse, so we were really grateful. The other van was nice enough to show up at the start with us. Amy was our first runner.
It was a beautiful morning and I was runner 6, so I had a while to wait till I had to run. In the van, we would leapfrog the runner by about a mile, and check on them, get them water, spray them, cheer, etc. Then head out again. Until about 2 miles left and then we we go to the exchange point and get the next runner set up to go. This is me before my first run. I was set to run 5.4 miles (more than I had ran this year), but it was listed as easy. The course was mostly flat, but we were just getting into the hot part of the day. And it felt hot.
This is our van after we handed off to van 2. I am still a sweaty mess, but we are happy to be done with the first part of our run.
We then drove to Escalante where we would meet van 2 once they were done. We got to hang out in a park all afternoon. We found some shade and set up camp, and ate lunch. Then Marianne, Nancy and I went to Escalante High School where they were offering showers for $3. It was so worth it. It was so nice to be clean.
On the next set of runs, I was traded and became runner # 4. I had a 4.1 mile run listed as easy. And really it was. I had one up hill (this is it, and I look dreadful). And then I had a big downhill. After this run I had blisters on both feet, and bruised big toes (still black over a month later). But it was so worth it. The downhill was so fun and fast. Thanks to Nancy for encouraging me by telling me how much she loved the downhill!
After two more runners, we hit the exchange point and set up camp. It was after 11:00, and we had to be up by 3:00 to drive an hour and be ready by 4:00. Laura had a little tent to herself, Marianne and Nancy slept in the van, and Amy, Cari and I shared a tent.
For my last run of the race, I was runner number 2. I traded with Laura, I was able to save a mile of running (I was glad because my knee hurt - oddly enough my right knee not my left knee), and she was excited to run a little later in the day. I on the other hand was excited to get it over with. I had a 4.9 mile run listed as hard (Laura took my 5.8 mile run also listed as hard). My 4.9 mile run should have been listed as moderate, it threw me off a little when I ended up running on a gravel road. But I was so lucky, the run Laura ended up doing should have been listed as very hard, it was the assent to Duck Creek, and it was grueling. Thanks Laura for saving my butt!
The van gave me water at mile, 1, 2 and 3. I would walk to drink the water, and it was so hard to start running again At mile 3, I sent them on to the finish and vowed not to walk again for fear I wouldn't be able to start running again. It was shear relief and joy when I finished. I was so proud for doing all of my legs.
Once we were done running it was off to the finish line to wait for van 2 to finish. The parking lot felt forever way from the grassy area. And there wasn't a lot of shade for so many tired runners. We were hoping to eat right away, but lunch wasn't ready yet. Then we tried to nap, but couldn't. I went and got my shower in - it was heavenly. And then, we spent all day waiting.
Finally around 3:30, van 2 made it to the finish line. We were so proud of our accomplishment.
Shortly after that they were announcing the winners. We were announced as the winners of the racers in the all female teams (there were other all women's teams that beat us, but they ended up in the runner category, where you either skip some of the course or have two runners out on the course at the same time). Later (like a week later) we found out that there was another all women's racers team that actually took first, and we took second. But we got to celebrate!
We drove through Zion on our way going home. Zion is just beautiful. We wanted to get an awesome shot, and we did. We also got to see some bighorn sheep. Cool.
If you note, I am "tall" for my van. Besides me, everyone in my van was 5' 1" or 5' 2" or 5' 3". I was tall at 5' 7". Ha, I thought that was really funny!
Finally, we stopped and ate in Springdale on the way coming home. We all ate together, and it was so nice of Amy to buy us all dinner. We had a great time.
While I was running on Saturday the kids were swimming at a swim meet. I got a babysitter so that Mike could go and volunteer at the meet. My parents came too for a little bit to support the kids at the meet.
They did awesome and it was so fun to get reports from Mike about how well they were doing.
