PUNCH DRUNK JELLO LEGS RAN THE RED ROCK RELAY!

This last weekend I finally got to check something off of my life-time to do list! I ran a big race! I know many of you are pros at this but this was my first and it was a blast. I ran the Red Rock Relay. Our team of 12 started in Brianhead, ran 3 legs each and after 30 hours, 187 miles, and a descent of 8,000 feet we ended up in Ivins (down by St. George). It was crazy. Basically you have two vans that switch off and everyone rotates running so there is always one person running the entire race. Your van stays with you your whole run and cheers you on during your assigned legs (so its kind of hard to quit with the pressure of 5 other people screaming you to keep going every mile of your run).
My first leg was a killer climb in Cedar Canyon to the top of the C-Trail where I ascended up 900 feet in just over 2 miles. But the adrenaline of getting my first road kill (passing someone in the race) made me book my trash up that mountain. 4 roadkills later they almost had to scrape ME off the road.
My 2nd leg was my longest but by far my favorite. I started running at midnight down from Hurricane into Sand Hollow and it started raining...it felt so good cause other wise it was icky HOT. Then there was this big lightning storm right around me that I perhaps should have been fearing for my life with, but it was too awesome to watch as I ran. The last half of my run was a heavenly downhill next to the lake with a full moon. Ah it was so awesome!
The last leg of my run was pretty dry with another large hill but I think it would have been okay too, if I had of slept more than an hour and a half the night before. But for some reason my whole van were insomniacs when we tried to sleep before our second legs and then before our third legs it started pouring down rain so we tried to all cram in a mini van and sleep which DID NOT WORK WELL. (It was crammed, stuffy and I had some weird gastrointestinal issues that only long runs can bring) and so finally at 5 AM we gave up and headed to our next exchange point which was a church parking lot in Gunlock. By then though it had stopped raining, so I booked it to the bathroom, then grabbed my pillow a small blanket and crashed on the most comfortable slab of cement I have ever laid upon just outside of the church and got really the only good sleep since the night before: an hour and a half. Then we had to get up for the next exchange.
We had some pretty funny conversations during the 30 hours of time in that van (thanks Lisa) and definitely in those early morning hours we felt punch drunk for sure! Oh yea, did I tell you that was our name? Punch Drunk Jello Legs. There was absolutely some punch drunkenness AND jello legs on our team, but it was all very memorably fantastic! I have to be honest though, I'm kind of glad its over. Training for something like this bites....hard. I cant wait to sleep in next week and eat whatever the heck I want. :)

Our Team before our first leg in front of the Ultimate Punch Drunk Jello Legs Van,
all matchy, matchy in our pink and black

Me. Running.

There were 3 Huge hill legs that were called Diablo 1, 2 and 3. Angie had the first, I had the second and Lisa had the third. So when we saw this at the top of the mountain we had to snatch our picture by it.

Inside the Van

Lunch at Burger King (NOT A GOOD IDEA in the middle of a race) Wicked crowns though.

Me pointing to my name. Oh yea, after each leg we ran we had to draw a line with permanent marker on our arm or leg until we had all three standing for the Red Rock Relay.

Our van of girls flexing our guns with our Red Rock Relay signs after the race was over.

Our whole Team...although, I dont know very many of the ones in the other van very well, everyone was way fun and it was a cool bonding experince even with the people we didnt know.