Run, Eat, Sleep? Repeat!

The title of this post was my mantra for this weekend. I have just returned from the Wasatch Back Relay Race. It is race that is a few years old, where you run from Logan to Park City. In short, it is a 181 mile race that you do in teams of 12 people. Every person runs three times, anywhere from 13-18 miles total. My team was called "The Roadrunners," and it was a group of people from the gym with a few others thrown in. We had a great time! I'll break it down for you!
FRIDAY:
545am: Picked up from my house by Kim for the journey to Logan
615am: Pick up Brian and Stephanie
830am: Arrive at the starting line! It was really cool and energetic! Met up with the rest of our car... Robin, Jen and Justin (who didn't run but came along for moral support) Got us geared up for upcoming 24+ hours!
1000am: Kim starts us off with a 5 mile run through Logan.
1045am: Off goes Stephanie
1130am: Robins turn!
1230pm: My turn. I ran 5 miles up into the canyon. It was a grueling run... the elevation was harder on me then I thought. I am surprised that I managed to finish 5.1 miles in 43 min.
115pm: Brian takes off for 6 miles on an uphill, dirt/gravel road. He was awesome and we had a hard time keeping ahead of him in the car. As soon as we stopped to give him water (we stopped for everyone about every 2 miles) he was coming up behind us.
210pm: Jen finishes us up on the downhill dirt/gravel road into the town of Eden. Her run was one I don't envy! At this point we met up with the other 6 people on our team and they took to running as we hung out and drove to Snowbasin, which was where they would finish up.
630pm: We met up with the other half of our team and Kim takes off again. Down hill from Snowbasin... looking pretty good.
745pm: Stephanie runs 3 miles in 21 min. WOW!
806pm: Robins turn again?
900pm: Here I go again... am I sure I want to be in this race? I ran 3 miles in 23 min.
923pm: Off goes Brian. Our schedule had him running 6 miles at a 7:30 pace... He was skeptical... but he did it!
1010pm: Jen takes off. By this time, it was as dark as could be... we had a hard time seeing her coming. She did great though... finished us up strong!
1100pm: Met up with van 2 and sent them on their way! We stopped here for our first "real" meal of the day... lots of spaghetti and bread. After we ate we started the drive to the next exchange point in the hope of catching a few hours of sleep. However, it took us about an hour to get there. The traffic was bad... there were 576 teams, 12 people to a team and 2 cars to a team. Throw in the runners... it made for some congested roads.
SATURDAY
1ooam: Threw our sleeping bags in some grassy meadow around Rockport. (Erica, I thought of you!)
300am: Received wakeup call from car 2... Our last runner had just started her 5 miles so it was time to get up and get Kim ready to run!
345am: Kim takes off on her last five miles. Anyone think we are crazy yet?
430am: Stephanie
515am: Robin (I don't remember much of their runs... I was still half asleep and dreading my last run.)
600am: Finally down to my last run. This run was up Highway 32 as it passes by Jordanelle. So mostly uphill. Pretty tough, but my favorite run. It makes me feel strong to run uphill. I was happy to finish that in 45 min. (5 miles)
645am: Brian's turn for 4 miles downhill. He cruised at about 6:30 pace.
715am: Jen's last run. Easy 3.6 miles.
750am: Passed the torch and we were done!! Our second car had a really tough last leg... I was happy to be done. We went and waited for them at the finish line. We were the first runners to get our massages.
115pm: Crossed the finish line as a team in 27 hr, 9 min or so.
It was such a great time! We had a great team and a lot of fun. Although the highlight was when the horse stuck his head right into our car. :) It was fun to see so many people being crazy together. We came in 147th out of 545, so not bad! The BYU track team won... They started 7 hours later then us, but beat us by 10 hours. They passed us up on my last run... boy can they run! Their time was 17 hr, 19 min.
Jason and Jack came and picked me up and when I got home I slept for 4 hours. Then I slept for another 12 or so last night. I feel better now. All in all a wonderful time (very beautiful!), even if it was a little crazy. I can't wait to do it again!