The Epic

August 8-9 I sat in a car full of people, driving through beautiful scenery, and running my buns off!

Kimball and Les and I had talked about running a Ragnar relay for a year or so, but then they heard about the Epic Series and we decided to do that instead! And I heard Ragnar was a racket this year so I'm really glad :)

I know I say this a lot but IT WAS SO FUN! Even though I did not run at my planned pace, I had a blast all weekend long! I never got sick of being in that car - the whole race went by SO quickly!

Somehow I got nominated to be the team captain, so I put a lot of the race together for our team. We had the BEST team! In car one it was Chet, Jill, Kelv, Joli, Me and Jon. Second car was Christian, Mandi, Ryan, Haley, Les and Kimball. Hil hopped in and drove with us, too! We all got together at Kimball's house the night before and had a big carbo load, and got our game plan together for the next couple days.

After a night full of not so restful sleep, we were up and at 'em to cheer Chet on at the starting line! We began in Smithfield and ran the entire 205 miles to Jackson Hole in 31 hours! Our average pace was 9:17 and we came in number 12 of 80 teams! I'd say we did pretty dang good. Especially considering the uphill course and elevation gain that it was.

We had a crazy good time! Taking naps, cheering on our teammates, getting pounded by rain and hail, blowing our horns at every opportunity (Thanks Mandi! Best things ever!) and trying to survive off of "running approved" foods. Oh man! Just thinking about it makes me happy! We had some killer inside jokes and we enjoyed God's great creations.

Only minor injuries were sustained and large amounts of sleep lost. But who cares about sleep when you can run? #YourPaceOrMine? forevs! Our team was seriously so killer! Everyone kept surprising me so much with how tough they were! I love them! After all was said and done, we sat down for a nice meal of BBQ at Bubba's in Jackson. Yum.

I was so excited for the race I would get on the Epic site
just so I could see the countdown and see how close it was!

Hil and I at the start line, bright and early.

Waiting to cheer Jill on!

Naptime!
I've never been so comfortable on plain
old grass and a blanket before in my life!

Les finishing her 9 miler.

Les handing off to Kimball!

Kimball finishing one of the most beastly
legs of the course by far!

Handing off to Chet

JILL!

Jill to Kelv!

Like a pro!

My view at Snake River Canyon. Unfortunately
I was running the opposite way this photo was taken...
this baby was 8 miles of uphill!

Snake River scenery

These horns were seriously the best.
I laughed every single time I heard one!

Crazy boys! Dunked themselves in the freezing Snake
River after we finished!

And Jill is crazy too.

Super love these beauties!

DONE! How awesome!!!

Oh that's me.

Most of our team at our exchange!

Seriously the girl who took this
had some problems...
I specifically asked her to get the sign in the background.
Oh well! Jacks Hole it is!

Pumped at the starting line!

Cheering on Kelvy in Star Valley

Running away from Kelvy back to the car
because it was cold!!!

Support crew!

Maybe a better pic of the start line?

Most everyone!

My favorite people rockin the awesome shirts
Jill made for us!

Hobos on the church lawn in Jackson!
We made it!
Also Jill apparently didn't want to be social at this point?
She's the hobo clear over on her own! :)

<3

You guys. I was So! flipping tired by this point
I nearly crawled from the parking lot to the lawn.
And then the stupid sun would not leave me alone and
every 5 minutes I swear I had to groggily move myself and my
get up out of the heat!!! I think Jo had a good laugh
at my zombie self trying to situate everything!

Also shout out to TimTam for picking out the best headband
ever for me! :)

Ice Cream sammies, well deserved!

Love love love everything about this!

Your Pace or Mine? was legit. Thanks team for making it so awesome! I laughed till I cried with you and you made my heart swell with pride (see what I did there?) when you all ran your hearts out and supported your teammates.

Oh P.S. on my first leg I almost whooped this guy who was 3 times my height. Unfortunately he could take 1 step and get 5 feet away from me and my 2 inch legs. A thrill nonetheless!