Cory's sister Kellie has been running the Wasatch Back for years and was always bugging us to do it ;) Two summers ago, we went to the finish line to see her and Kayla come across the Finish Line and maybe it was all the excitement and gear but... we agreed to do it. I knew the next year I wanted to be severely pregnant or have a newborn (which I did) so we committed to the next, next year. We wanted to have a family team, but after some drama and realizing we didn't have enough family who wanted to run, we ended up with the coolest parts of our family and some really fun friends from Oregon. SOOoo, Cory and I started training in January. We work out, but don't run so we started running. At first it was fun, and then... it wasn't. By the time it was time to actually go and do it, I was so excited to be done. Last minute, our friends had an emergency so we had to find 2 runners the day before the race. Luckily, we filled their spots and actually had to turn some people away!
Our team was Team Keepin' it Renal, Running for Emory and Kidney Disease Awareness.
(Great shirts, Jaymie!)
Emory was over the moon about all of us "running for HER!" Ragnar even let her announce our team name and give a little spiel for Kidney Disease Awareness. It was AWEsome to have all those people cheering for her and us!
Josh, Kayla, and Em.
So Van 1 was off and running (ha) with Kellie (Cory's sister), Adrian (Kellie's husband), Kayla (Cory's sister), Josh (Kayla's future husband), Jesse (Cory's cousin), and Jaymie (Jesse's wife).
We were in Van 2 with our friends, Megan and Ben Wallace, and our last minutes subs, my cousin Terresa and my friend Chris. I was Runner 7 and Cory was 9, mine was easy and Cory's was Hard.
We kept saying throughout how beautiful everything was, the scenery, the weather, everything.
Cory had a S'more at Snowbasin.
Terresa in her night gear.
Life is hard.
Ragnar Hill, by Cory and Chris.
(Even if they power walked up it, they are heroes in my book!)
I think Ben needed the MVR, Most Valuable Runner Award. He ran support on some of Cory's super, long night run and some of Chris' Ragnar Hill. I think he ran well over a Marathon in that 36 hour period!
Our killer, Suburban, with a Kidney on Top!
(Bless the Evensons for lending it to us!!!)
Overall, it was a Fantastic Experience!!
So tired, so so sore, and so much FUN! Lots of fun stories and memories.
(One embarrassing story; it was right after my night run and I had to GO bad. Waiting in line for the Honey Buckets was torture! I finally got into one and had forgotten my headlamp, so I just dropped my drawers and let it fly. Then I started to think that it sounded weird and so I cut off, and realized the lid was down and I was about to bathe in my own urine!! I'm so cool.)
Finish line.
Getting our Medals.
Ben so tired.
Megan, cute as ever! We miss our Corvallis Peeps :(
We're so grateful for Kellie's hard work putting almost everything together, for all the runners who trained, for the Wallace's family for giving us a place to shower and crash for a few hours, for our last minute substitutes, and for our volunteers, Cory's dad, Bruce and my mom, Lisa. We're all thinking it's time to bring it up north for the Northwest Passage, anyone in?
