Wasatch Back

Friday and Saturday was the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. If you don't know about the Wasatch Back, it's a 192-mile relay from Logan to Park City with 12 runners and 36 legs.

Let me introduce you to Van 2: Kade, Katie, Amy, Erin, Jason, and Dave.

Kade was our Captain. If you ever need a nagivator to Ogden Canyon, he's your man. He powered up the hill to Snowbasin like it was nothing! And the downhill leg into Park City? Watch out to all you 60-year-old ladies!

Katie was tough. She took the hardest leg, Ragnar, a 4-mile steep climb up Guardsman Pass that you would think twice about hiking, let alone running! She leapt over cow patties in the dark of night and kept us all laughing. She also knew at least one person on each the 1200 teams that participated.

Amy won our unofficial Name That Tune game with her knowledge of eighties music. She's married to Bon Jovi, I mean Dave, I mean Branden, who wasn't with us. During her last leg, when we were all dragging, she was doing cartwheels - literally! We always knew where to find her during her first two runs - we just looked for the shorty shorts. Woo hoo!

Erin was a little bit of a diva during her legs. She insisted on having someone squirt water into her mouth every quarter mile on the last leg! She also had a few moments with the headlamp during her night run that left all concerned about her mental status.

Grandpa Jason was the oldest in the van. If we woke him up in time and let him swallow Tums whole before his legs, he did fine. With enough encouragement, he was able to FLY through his 10-mile leg. This guy was built to run. Words like "gazelle" were thrown out while watching him.

Dave was our chauffer. When he put on his spandex, he got a little wild. I mean, running backwards?!? Thank goodness Katie and Amy brought enough swiss cheese for him - it kept him going through his consistently tough three legs. He took leg 12 and was always waiting for us all to finish before he could finally get his leg over with.

We had perfect weather. Sunny but not hot. This was during our van's first break in Morgan. We stretched out on the grass of the seminary building.

Jason plowing up Guardsman Pass.

Jason handing off to Katie to finish the run to the top.

At the top of Guardsman Pass. They had to plow the snow up here the week before the race so we could use the road, but it had mostly melted by Saturday.

The finish at Park City High School with the whole team. It took us 32 hours. Katie's brother, John, the tallest in the back row, injured his leg (turns out he had a stress fracture) during his first run and the rest of Van 1 had to take his next two runs in addition to their own. That was impressive!