Red Rock Relay-Couch Kickers-

Couch Kickers: Emily Judd, Erin, Melissa, Me, Melody Nash, Kaysea Wadley, Rene Valentine, Terraza Van Orden, Bekah Martin, Shiloh, and Rachel Purcell Rachel told me about the RRR last spring. I told her I was in for sure and I would make it work. I didn't realize at the time how tricky that might be but I was determined to meet up with my sweet friends and make it work. I ended up doing two relays in two weeks and putting off Jabin's baptism, along with getting a terrible viral cold right up until the day I left but I got to Cedar at the same time as my friends and as soon as I saw them it was all worth it! These girls are so sweet and just great beautiful friends. We got registered and had a good spaghetti dinner with the most wonderful Great Harvest Bread cookie and then headed up to Rachel's cabin at Brian Head. Some of us got a little car sick driving up. What a beautiful cabin! It has Rachel's good taste and decorating touch which makes it amazing!! I got to bunk up with my beautiful friend Melody. I had a hard time getting to sleep and we needed to get up early to start the relay at the Brian Head ski resort.

We were a team of 11 with one short, it should have been 12, but Rachel, Emily, and Rene stepped up and took the extra legs. Rachel and Terraza rode up the ski lift and ran down the steep rocky mountain. I was the next runner and my leg was called the Diablo, which means devil, because it was straight up which happens to be my specialty. The only problem is the terrible pain I have had in my leg. I went to the physical therapist and several doctor visits and I guess it is tendinitis after having it diagnosed as IT Band and a torn ligament I'll take tendinitis. It is sooooo painful. I was so frustrated to run in pain but I did it. Everyone had hard legs and I thought our team did really well. We really had strong runners even with all of our injuries.

My Vegas Girls! Bekah, Mel, and Rachel-I love and miss these girls!!

I like that this picture is blurry because that is probably how I felt at the time.

My second leg was at night and it was called the "Off Roadie." It was dusty so I looked a little Like Michael Jackson but I was prepared. It hurt pretty bad the whole time and I was so glad to see the bright light that meant that my 5 1/2 miles on a dark dirt road were over and it was the exchange.

186 Miles from Brian Head to Zions My last leg was 6 1/2 miles up hill and it was over 100 degrees. I had taken a pain pill before this leg and when I started to run I couldn't believe it finally wasn't hurting as bad. I was so excited I tried not to care about the heat because all I wanted was my leg to quit hurting so I didn't feel like I could ask for anything else but I did thank my heavenly father for sending a slight breeze once in a while. I think I drank about 4 water bottles and I never drink while I run because I get a side ache. My girls were so good to follow close and replenish my water. They did have to go to the next exchange and so I asked some other support team and they were so nice to give me some water. Everyone was soooo nice on this relay which made it so much fun. When you pass someone you call it road kill and you mark it on your van. I got quite a few road kills which is pretty fun. If you pass a guy they say they got Chic'd.

I had the second to last leg and Rachel had the last leg. Bekah and I really wanted to run with her, just across the finsih line, because we were running buddies in Vegas. We ended up running with Rachel earlier then we thought because we wanted to keep her hydrated in the heat but it was so great and a really neat experience to run with those girls. I have told them that I feel like I have been on a Happy High since the weekend and I think it was from being with them and accomplishing something so incredibly painful and physically hard! It is a great feeling and we will definitely do it again.

These relays are 24 hours so you are lucky to get maybe 2 hours sleep total. Everyone had to get back to Vegas so I headed home. I was so tired I have no idea how I made it home. I stopped in Beaver to sleep for a little while and then kept driving. I came home and almost decided not to walk in the house but I just went right into bed in my running clothes that I had ran that really hot run in that day and crashed. It was so funny because Haddy's primary teacher left a comment on my facebook that said Haddy told her I was so tired that I fell asleep in my jogging clothes. I sure did!

Our leg marks. We finished together and will be friends forever!

Labor Day at Mill Meadow

The fishing was horrible but that didn't stop Dallas from trying she just got some reading done while she waited. Dallas loves to fish and I love to watch her. I am so glad she enjoys it and her special fishing pole her dad got her.

The only catch of the day, perch, being cut up for bait.

Trying out his new BB Gun.

Cute Cousins

Aunt Camille. Matt went riding with Wag and his dad and they picked a bag full of elder berries and Camille made some jam with them and brought Matt a jar.

Camp Cook. Wag is the best cook and is so good to cook for the small army that gathers around his dutch ovens.

Jabes hoping for a sunset catch

Matt had a couple big bites but they got away before we got a look at them.

Grandma Marianne cruisin with the girls.

The kids kicked the adults out of the tent and played their own game of Texas Hold 'em. I think the bet was a Pepsi and a twinkie for the winner and the looser had to eat a worm. Dallas ended up loosing and she would have probably ate the worm but I made her just lick it.

You can't really tell how big these marshmellows are but they are huge. That is Dallas special on the right.

I ended up just resting in the camp trailer most of the weekend and reading the Storm Testament because I wasn't feeling well

Hood to Coast Relay, Oregon Aug 27-28 2010

I think it was last November when Julia mentioned to me about doing the Hood to Coast race with the Taylor cousins. David and Barbara live in Oregon and when we visited with them last summer they talked about doing this relay. Julia said something like you should to it and I said if they need me I would love to do it. The next thing I know I get an email from Julia saying I am in! I have been looking forward to this trip all summer. I have only flown one time in high school so I was kind of nervous about the airport thing. I have had a very busy summer and it seems like it has went by in a flash and it was time to go to Oregon. Matt was able to come home on Wednesday so I could go to Provo and stay with Summer who was nice enough to take me to the airport. I soon found out that the airport was not a big deal at all and there is tons of little shops to browse through. I was the first one to arrive in Portland so I just sat and waited and tried to rest. David and Barbara soon arrived with Eris, Barbara's friend. We waited just a few minutes until Christine, J.P. Justin and Ann's plane landed. Dalynn and Angela, also Barabara's friends, met up with us and we checked in to our hotel. We had a little time to kill so we walked around town and went to a little Irish shop. As we were headed back we walked by The Melting Pot and decided to go in for some chocolate. We ended up doing a cheese appetizer instead and it was delicious. We had reservations at a nice restaurant for dinner and that is where we met up with Ken and Collin, Dave's friends, and Julia finally got in after her seminar in Georgia. What a fun group we had everyone was so nice and we were all excited to start the race.

Taylor's: Me, Ann, Christine, J.P., Barbara, Dave, Julia

The pictures above are out of order and were taken at Seaside on the day that we left to head home.

This is in Portland the morning before we headed up to Mount Hood to begin the relay.

Julia, Barbara, Christine, Me, Delynn, Eris, and Angela at the hotel before we got in our seperate vans. We were in van 2 so we had a little time to kill. We all went up to Mount Hood for the start though. On the way up Dave had told us about this great donut shop so we made a pit stop in Sandy, Oregon at Joe's Donuts and they were worth the stop! Hey, that's why we run right?

This is TEAM VASELINE: David, J.P. Ken, Collin, Justin, Ann, Angela, Julia, Me and Christine at Mount Hood after painting up the vans.

This is the lodge they used for the exterior of the lodge in the film The Shining with Jack Nicholas. We toured the inside and it had some amazing wood work. The beams were huge which isn't surprising when you see the size of the trees in Oregon.

It kind of felt like we ate a lot before we even started running. We decided to try out this famous burger place called Calamatiy Janes. They had every type of hamburger you can imagine. Collin got a peanut butter burger and it just tasted like peanut butter toast. We should of tried the hot fudge marshmallow.

There were some great costumes and characters in this race which includes over 12,000 runners. This is our exchange at the Fred Myer parking lot. Julia was the first runner in our van and I was next. The first legs weren't to bad. My leg was almost 5 miles and it felt pretty good. I taped both my knees and it seemed to work.

This is a 24 hour relay so we run through the night. I had heard of people saying how awful it is to not be there in time for the exchange and the runner has to wait and now I know first had. Portland has no street signs so without J.P.'s and Christine's Iphones we would not have known where on earth we were going. The map was also confusing so we ended up going to the wrong exchange and are waiting here for Ken. We started to think he was being slow and we had waited and waited and took several pictures. Finally Christine said something to one of the volunteers and she told us we were at the wrong exchange. We hurried back as fast as we could but that is easier said then done. Ken ended up waiting for at least 45 minutes for us. When we pulled in the volunteer was a little Asian lady and she said 8-7-2, which is our number, "they are waiting for you" in the funniest accent and she was really upset. We laughed about this the rest of the trip and Collin came up with a whole dialect for this lady. I felt so bad for Ken because you just have to wait there and everyone is looking at you like you must really have a great team.

This is right after Julia and I did the exchange. we had reflective gear on, a reflector on the back and front and a head light. If you pass someone on the trail it is called road kill and some people keep track of their road kill on their vans. If a girl passes a guy it is called getting Chic'd. My night run was pretty quite and it actually ended almost at sunrise. I had some really nice runs. It was a quiet mountain run and my knee was fine but the opposite leg was really hurting. Luckily on the second leg which was about 6.5 miles it would come on for just a split second then go away. This leg had a lot of climbing which I do better at.

Waiting at the lovely Honey Bucket's. Thank goodness for sanitizer.

Beautiful Portland trees.

The girls slept in the van and thanks to Barbara's great planning we slept very comfortably with blankets and pillows. The boys went over to the camping area. I think we may have gotten about 2 hours of sleep.

Van 1 (missing Christine) Ken, J.P. Collin, Me and Julia

Van 1.

Our last exchange. I think this leg was just over 4 miles. I was feeling pretty confident that my leg would be okay but I soon found out that this leg wasn't going to go as smoothly. It hurt right away and it didn't go away.

I was so glad to be able to finish and boy did it hurt. I found out when I got home that it is tendinitis. It seems like a harmless enough word but it feels like you are running on a broken bone. Maybe I am being a wimp but it hurts!!! The only way to heal it is to quit running until it heals. I will have to put that healing process off for a little while because I have another relay in 2 weeks.

J.P. and Christine, our great navigators. J.P. drove most of the way and got the littlest amount of rest, Thanks so much guys!

This is at Seaside the little town where the race ended. It ended right on the Coast and our hotel was also on the water. We hurried and showered and went down to the beach to listen to the band. It was so beautiful! It was a little cold right at sunset but then it was really nice.

I took these pictures as we walked up to our room. It was so beautiful at sunset and I wish I would have had time to run down to the water to take some pictures of the sunset. The sun didn't come through the clouds at sunrise but it was still so beautiful!!

The after party. The band was great and I had such a good time. Julia headed back to grab something to eat and I stayed with Angela and Delynn. After the band was done we were walking up to our rooms and ran into this guy that claimed to be a fortune teller. He looked at us and said starting with Angela "divorced, married, married" referring to me and Delynn as married but he said Delynn was on the rocks. I was the only one married out of the three of us and he went on to say that I was the happiest though. I couldn't help but ask for more information and he read my palm. He was just crazy and not a fortune teller (suprise, suprise) but we got a good laugh. I definately did not want to leave I had such a good time and fell in love with the Coast. I was the first one to fly in and the last one to fly out so I had a lot of time at the airport. I got Dallas a glass sea shore decoration, Jabin a Thunderegg, and Haddy some playdough. I had a lot of time to kill at the airport and I enjoyed my flight. I was so tired coming home though. Summer came and picked me up and I was going to stay at her house but I needed to get up and get the kids to school and go to work. I can't believe I made it home, I was so sleep deprived. It was all worth it though and I have been telling Matt that we are definately going to go back to the Coast. I would like to stay in the same place that we stayed at Seaside and travel up the Coast to visit all the lighthouses. Barbara and Dave went to so much trouble to get this whole thing organized and I really appreciate everything they did. Everyone had so much fun. I knew this was a chance in a lifetime for me and I am so thankful Matt was so supportive and took care of things so I could do this. Thanks to Shayla too for covering so much for me at work. I have had a lot of time off work this summer.