Are you ready for this?

We Are DONE!! I can't believe we ran the Wasatch back! It was so much fun. It was so hard, but fun! Now I feel like I can do anything! What is the Wasatch Back Relay you say? Here is the synopsis in a nut shell. The course goes from Logan, UT to Park City, UT, a distance of 181 miles. Each team is made up of 12 runners. Each of the 12 runners takes 3 turns or legs. The legs range anywhere from 3 to 8 miles each. Each team has two vehicles with 6 runners in each. I took Baby Cakes with us since he's still nursing. One of the ladies in our other truck had her nursing baby too. So each of our trucks had 7 passengers. We decorated our trucks Thursday night and had a big pasta dinner for our whole team. We put love sacs in the back of the trucks with big umbrellas for shade. We had matching shirts and we bought iron-on transfers to personalized them with. We made our own sayings for each runner. Mrs. Bird's shirt said "What's that smell?" Mine said "Where am I?" Some of the others were "I just passed Chuck Norris", "Under this outfit I'm NAKED", "If you can read this turn me around, I'm going the wrong way", "3 months ago I weighed 300 lbs","Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet?","My wife made me do this" I can't remember all the others. We made onesies for the babies that said "Milkshakes or Bust!" They were fun. Then we all went home for SLEEP. The First half of our team started at 8:40 am on Friday June 20. Mr. Bird and I were in the second truck with another couple we met through homeschooling, Matt and Kerilyn, a friend from church, Jeremy and Kerilyn's Brother-in-Law, Ryan. The first half of the team finished their fist legs around 2:30 in the afternoon. We met at the exchange then sent Ryan out for his first run. I was runner nine and Mr. Bird was runner 12, the last on our team. My first leg was easy. It was 3.5 miles and slightly down hill. This is the map of my run . The hard part was that I was running it at 4 in the evening with no shade. It was SO HOT. My ears were bumping and my head felt like it was going to explode! It was a fun to see all the other runners and knowing I was part of something bigger than myself. My run was in farm land. I passed one florescent green pasture after another. In one one the pastures there were 4 of the most beautiful horses I have ever seen. They were in a frenzy from all the runners and vehicles on their otherwise quite country road. They were running through their pasture at full gallop kicking their hind legs and rearing up sporadically. I passed huge sprinklers watering huge pastures. The sound of the sprinklers matched the beating of my heart. As I passed one set of sprinklers the end of it spayed a few drops of water on my smoking body. It felt like heaven. I passed another set of horses that was so happy to see the runners. They started running with me at their fence line and stayed with me at my pace until their pasture ended. It was so cool to see the horses get into the spirit of the race. I ran the whole way and I felt good after I got back in the truck. I ate a cold banana and have never felt so refreshed in all my life. After all our runners ran we met the other truck at the next exchange and we knew we had about 5 hours before we would need to meet them for our next legs. Matt and Kerilyn live not too far from the course so we went back to their house for left over pasta and showers and sleep. It all went as planned except the sleep part. I put baby cakes to sleep and laid down to try to sleep. My mind just kept racing. Then I heard whispers and footsteps upstairs. It was obvious no one was sleeping. So I went back up to join the party. Next thing I knew it was time to go to the next exchange to start our second legs.

Here is me running my second leg at 2 am!!! This one was harder. It was 6.2 miles at a slight constant incline. But it was BEAUTIFUL!! What a run. I felt great, the temperature was perfect. The air was crisp. I felt like I could have kept on running for miles and miles. I could hear all the crickets chirping and bugs singing. I passed Echo Reservoir and the moon light was shimmering on the water. I went under a train bridge just as a train was passing over me. I thought of Mr. Bird's mom and yelled at the top of my voice " I'M SO LUCKY!!!". I ran right next to a huge cliff. When I looked up and saw the top it made me kinda dizzy. I just felt so much a part of our big beautiful world. I love the beauty of it all. After my runs I started having knee pain. I have never had knee pain from running so I got kind of nervous about it. Lucky for us we had a chiropractor on our team. He was in the first truck.

When we met at the next exchange he worked on Matt's back and my knee and Mr. Bird's knee and hip. I don't know what I would have done with out him. I felt so much better. He gave me a wrap for my knee to wear for my last run.

We finished our second legs around 5 am. We parked the truck and crashed. Three of the boys "slept" in the bed of the truck. Matt and Kerilyn snuggled up in one sleeping bag on the ground next to the truck. Baby cakes and I slept in the crew part of the crew cab. It was awful, so uncomfortable. I could not stretch out my legs, my hip was sore from laying on the same side, I had a seat belt in my back. I think I managed a hour of something like sleep though. Baby Cakes, on the other hand, slept wonderfully. He fell asleep way back at the house around 9pm and slept until 4:30. I fed him then he went back to sleep and slept until almost 7 am.He did so good. It was harder for him during the day. He was hot and did not want to take naps. When he finally did fall asleep for a nap he was awake again within 20 minutes. That made him kinda crabby. Licorice always made him feel better though! Yes, that's licorice on his face, not a horrible rash.

We all got up and loaded in the truck to find breakfast and head to the next exchange. This sign is a great description of my last leg. It was only 3.6 miles but it was straight uphill. It was an average uphill grade of 7.6% and I climbed 1482 feet in elevation, and it was high noon. I was walking on my shadow, yes, walking, not running. I did start out running but that only lasted about 1/2 mile. I decided to enjoy it even though it was hard.

I started collecting beautiful wild flowers. I did not want to carry them so they ended up in my hair. Then I found a little hitch hiker. He was light enough for me to carry and really fuzzy and wriggly. I wanted to bring him home for Doodle so we could watch him turn into a butterfly, but I dropped him and could not turn around to find him. Sad. Cry. I saw beautiful scenic vistas, butterflies fluttering on gorgeous wide opened wild flowers. It was such a beautiful hike. The trail started out running right past a babbling brook. The trees and flowers and grass seemed to just glow out their colors, they were so vibrant. It was such a great feeling when I finished that leg. I was FINISHED! I had done what I have been training to do for months! Plus I had flowers in my hair. I know, I'm so pretty! My legs literally felt like jello. They were shaking and they were done. I knew as soon as I stopped walking I would not be able to get them to go again. Kerilyn's last leg was right after mine. She ended up hiking the rest of that mountain. Here we are at the top.

WE DID IT! WAA-HOOO!!!

Here are our cute guys hanging out in the truck. What a fun time we all had. When Mr. Bird ran his last leg we knew we were almost done. We dropped him off and drove to the finish line to wait for him. When we saw him coming we joined him and all 12 of us ran in together for the last 100 feet. We were quite the group with two babies in our arms. I had such a hard time standing up. We hung out with our team for a while then said our good byes and headed for home. When we got here I could not move my legs. They were rejecting any commands I gave them. It was physically impossible for them to get me up our stairs so I could shower and sleep. Mr. Bird stood behind me and I put one foot on a step then he pushed my body up. We did that one step at a time until I was up. I fed baby cakes and we all slept 10 hours, then I fed baby cakes and we all slept 2 more hours. It's amazing what sleep can do for you. My legs are functional gain. They hurt like I have never felt before, but they are moving! I just have to say,

What a rush!