Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Red Rock Relay




As many of you know I've been training for the Red Rock Relay in Moab for the past few months. It's a 70 mile relay that is split into 12 running legs. Each team member runs 2 legs that range from 2.75 - 8 miles. The course starts in Moab and takes you on 128 next to the river. Then you go through Castle Valley and climb up into the La Sals and loop back around to Moab.

When I looked over the course map it didn't look all that bad, but when we were driving it I was starting to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into! My 1st leg was 3 miles long and I climbed about 800 feet. It was HARD, but so worth it when I got to the end, and I had one of the easy hills. On one you could walk faster than you could run. Kirk met us at about leg 8 and told me that we were all "awesome," he couldn't believe the course either.

My team was great! They powered up those hills and Jessica was running under 8 minute miles on her last leg. We finished in just under 11 hours!! My last leg was my favorite. It was 7.62 miles of flat and up and down, what I've been training on. The last 2 miles were through the parks in Moab so it was shady and quiet.

It was a tough race, but I got to spend the day laughing with friends and just having fun. We cheered for all the teams and tried to catch the BYU women's soccer team, ha, ha!! We were close the first 2 legs and then the disappeared. There were some pretty creative names and lots of fun costumes and decorated cars. We were the Bayfield Booties and we wore our sparkle skirts. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again next year. Yes I think I am a little crazy!! Here are a few pictures!! My friend took a ton so we have some great memories!!