Top Of Zion

This morning we got up at 4:20 to get ready for our relay race.  Heather convinced a bunch of us to run  Top of Zion.  It is a race from Capitol Reef to Zion.  195 miles.  There were two vans.  In van 1 was Heather, Zac, Devin, Jordyn, me and Jason.  Jason is a guy that no one had ever met.  Heather posted for help on the Eagle Mountain Running Club.  He said he would do it.  He also ran Ragnar last weekend.  Crazy!  But, we were thankful.  The second van had Heather's step family.  They also had a friend named Ryan who was super fast.

Before Heather has long runs she drinks this gross energy drink.  It smells like feet.  I had no desire to try that.

Heather drinking feet

 Heather 5:00 start time

Right as Heather started the race Jordyn and I were looking at pictures on Instagram.  Markell had posted a picture of her morning run and said she dared anyone to find a prettier run.  Oh man.  We laughed and laughed about that.  Thank you Markell because you gave us something fun to focus on!  The only bummer was we rarely were in cell phone range.

Jordyn  

Both Heather and Zac's first leg was labeled Super Hard.  They were long and steep.  I did not envy them at all!

Heather

 Zac

Jason was a great sprayer.  He would stand out there and spray every runner who went by.  That sprayer was awesome!  It felt so good!  Zac also did awesome with the sprayer.  He would run with you and spray you for as long as possible.

Jason and Zac

 Zac and Jason

 Beautiful!  Right Markell?

 Zac

Devin did so good!  Before this he had only ran 4 miles at a time, and had only run on the treadmill.  It was hard, but he made it.  Awesome.

Devin

We had a slap bracelet instead of a baton.  That was nice.

 Devin giving Jordyn the bracelet

 Jordyn's off!

 Heather spraying Jordyn.  Love this picture!

 I love this picture!  How adorable are my cousins?

 Zac running with Jordyn, spraying her the entire way

We were up so high!  The view was incredible!

Heather & Zac

 Heather & Stephanie ~ I'm towering over Heather!

Zac was taking our picture.  He kept accidentally taking a video, he also turned it around and took a picture of his face.  Classic.

Zac

We were watching Jordyn run up a tough hill.  We thought we would witness another kill.  Nope.  The runner that was ahead of her went to her van and got a ride up the hill!  Are you kidding?  Jason said that was called a Ghost Rider.  There are no rules against it, you don't get penalized and you can do it as many times as you want.  Now that's just not right!

 Jordyn

 Heather, Zac, Devin

If you are wondering about Zac's hair and mustache, we had a Magnum PI theme.  He has been preparing for this race for months!

Zac

 Devin and Stephanie

 Look at this motor home one group had.  Talk about roughing it!

Jordyn passed three people, so she is marking her kills on the van.  She was nice enough to give me the bracelet when she was about five feet behind someone.  I got a kill in my first ten seconds.  I ended up with four kills on my first leg.

Jordyn

I ran my first leg pretty fast for me.  I ran 6 miles at an 8 1/2 minute/mile pace.  I got going into a good rhythm, so I didn't want to mess with it.  Also I got to run downhill.  I love downhill.

 Our van passing me (Stephanie)

 Stephanie getting sprayed by Zac

I hate carrying things as I run.  We got a pretty good system down.  One person would give me a water bottle, I would gulp down as much water as I could while I ran through the sprayer.  One person would be waiting for me to hand them my bottle.  I didn't want to stop at all.  I was worried that if I stopped I wouldn't be able to get myself going again.  I couldn't believe how thirsty I was!  I usually run without any water at all.  I hadn't even gone a quarter of a mile before my entire mouth was dry.  It was so hot.  Crazy hot.  800 degrees hot.

Stephanie getting water from Heather

We had our first van exchange in Escalante.  We were able to shower for three dollars.  We tried to sleep on the floor, but it didn't work out so well.  While we were there John and Renee found us.  That was so cool! They stayed and helped cheer on the runners until after me!  I couldn't believe they stayed until I was finished.  I thought for sure they would leave after Jordyn.  My second run was 8 miles and it took me an hour and a half.  They stayed until I was finished, 10:30 pm, even though they had a long motorcycle drive home.  Really made me feel loved.  My family is the best.

John and Renee

Heather had a horrible second run.  All of her running gear kept falling off, even though she runs with it all the time.  Plus, it was 108 degrees outside.  That was the temperature when Heather started running.  SO HOT!  

 Heather and Jordyn

 Heather

 John & Renee encouraging Heather

 Heather getting sprayed by Jason

 Heather running in an oven - a beautiful oven

Heather was so glad to give the bracelet to Zac!

Heather and Zac

We had to wear the safety vests starting with Devin.  I didn't mind.  It meant the sun should be going down by the time I ran.  I did not want to run in that heat!

Jordyn ~ ready for leg 2

It was so cute.  Renee would get a little teary eyed at every exchange. She was so proud of how hard everyone was working.  Seriously, this second run - Devin did awesome!

 Jordyn and Devin

 Renee, Zac, Heather, Devin - Zac made me laugh

 Jordyn - outside was more bearable by this time

 John & Renee

It was night when I started running.  It was SO DARK!  I was fine with that.  Better then the crazy heat the other runners experienced.  The hardest thing was I couldn't see if the pavement was there.  I ran just on the right of the white line because I figured there would always be pavement.  When a car came I went to the left of the line and hoped my feet would land right.  The lights would totally blind me.  As soon as the cars would pass it took me a few seconds to be able to see again.  I was dreading this leg, so it was nice when it was over.  My legs are SO SORE now.  I ran this leg at a ten minute mile pace.  Pretty good for someone who just took up running in April.