Red Rock Relay

I ran another relay race...this one started in Brian Head and ended in Zion (186 miles). It was a BLAST! I love running these relay races....I love running any race really. But these are just more exciting, exhausting, and challenging. You are "stuck" in a van with 5 other people for a few days....you eat what you bring with you and you sleep when/if you can while the other van on your team is running. We actually got to lay our sleeping bags on a patch of lawn and get a half hour of sleep this time!

The gang....most of us didn't know eachother. In fact it seems like everyone only knew one or two other people on the team. It was one of those "hey we need to get a team of 12 people to run, so everyone find one person." 2 people in our van got sick or injured so we had to split up their runs, which just meant more miles for me.

Shari and I in front of our van....notice the decal on the back....I wish I got a better picture of it but it was our team name with a hibiscus flower.

I did the vinyl decals for the van. Melissa picked a Hawaiian team name "Holo Ha'ahea" meaning 'run with pride'...so I just did some flowers, our names etc. I thought the "wannahockaloogie" was pretty good :)

Jyl, Shari, and Kacie. Got to love the packing job in the van. It was close quarters for 2 days. The good thing about that is, you can't wait for your turn to run because you get out of the van and can actually move your arms and legs!!

Jyl finishing her run and passing off to me :)

Me on one of my LONG runs in 95 degrees. I had just ran 3 miles straight up the mountain...it was pretty cool because it was on a dirt trail that wound into the mountain and when I got to the top it was an awesome view. But by the time I was done climbing that hill I was ready for this nice streatch of flat.

Tara and I waiting to give our runner some water...

Here are a few of the weirdos we saw. It's always interesting to see what lengths some people go to in the name of running. So glad I wasn't on the 'orange' team!!

... or the 'speedo' team!! Seriously??

...or the 'chicken hat' team! First of all isn't that HOT? Second of all doesn't that chicken on your head throw you off balance or feel awkward at all?

Ok this WASN'T a costume (girl in red shirt)! And actually we are pretending to be taking a picture of me (notice my arm in the left bottom corner). So, I nicknamed this girl "bump it" because of her hair of course. I only learned of these bump it hairdos thanks to my sister-in-law. The funniest thing is this is how she seriously wore her hair. That is an atrocious hair-do in the first place, but to wear your hair like that RUNNING is wrong on so many levels :) Too bad the picture doesn't even do it justice...we should have zoomed in!