We met up with poor, brave Van 2 which consisted of Mandolin, Kevin, Diane, Tasha, Tasha’s friend, Sara, and Megan. Tiffanie was supposed to come but got sick Friday so she came up later Saturday for her last run which she did with her fiance, Alex. Very sweet. Van 2 went to the condo where I think they got about an hour and a half of sleep. (Van1 is definitely the way to go!) Anyway, I think it was about 7ish am Saturday morning when we started our last legs. Kristen went first and did an amazing job, she is my hero. Macy was next and did wonderfully. Collin was in major pain, really struggling with his knee and had like an 8 mile leg with some serious hills. He was such a trouper and went the whole way.
Kristen, seriously, 53?
My turn. My last leg, it was 3.8 miles but on the map it showed it was all downhill, I told myself I would let gravity do the work and I’d be fine. It was actually pretty nice, it was getting hot, but it was windy and gravity really did do a lot of the work. I finally came to the bottom of the hill and hoped I was about done, but we turned left and ran along side a highway I kept thinking any minute I would see the exchange. No such luck, so I kept going. I was fading fast, but I knew I had to be getting close. I finally passed the “one more mile” sign and determined to keep going. Probably about 7/10ths into that last mile I saw there was a left turn up ahead. I got there and turned and prayed I was lost. Up ahead was a dirt road that also happened to be a decent sized hill. By this time the wind was not my friend, the dust was blowing around and I was completely parched. It was hot and my body was screaming with fatigue. I hadn’t walked one step so far so I couldn’t walk now. I leaned forward and forced my feet off the ground one by one. I tried not to look up, I didn’t want to see that dirty trick of a hill ahead of me. I finally reached the top of the hill and saw my team and others waiting at the gate. I choked back some sobs and ran as fast as my exhausted legs would carry me. I slapped the bracelet on Sara and ran right into my teammates’ arms. My emotions finally caught up with me, I had kept everything in check knowing I wasn’t done yet, but now I was and now the magnitude of everything hit me hard. I did it!!!! It wasn't pretty and it certainly wasn't fast, but I did it!!!!
Macy
I was overwhelmed with gratitude to the Lord for prompting me to do this and helping me overcome countless obstacles, mainly myself. I was filled with love for my family and and teammates who had been completely supportive. To Brennan for staying home with all the kids by himself on Father’s Day weekend and for countless mornings getting up with the kids so I could go running. To Mandolin and Tiff for their continued encouragement and help in training. To my parents and family members who were praying for me and texting me and helping me anyway they could. Davis, who ran it in New York and offered me everything he had learned and sent me running music. I’m just incredibly grateful for the whole experience. I have come to love running which I just never thought I would say. I have a long way to go towards my ultimate goal, but have made a little dent and it feels GREAT!
Collin, he’s single ladies!
Macy, Kristen, Kristin, Sara and Collin – I adore you all and had a blast with you. Van 2, I wish we could have spent more time together, but it was great seeing you all when we did. My team was wonderful and so patient while it took me forever to run my legs. I was so impressed with all of their runs, amazing! We had so much fun, great conversations, laughing hard and commiserating when we were all kind of miserable. There were sports bra issues, missing hand-offs, deliriousness, nearly getting run over, almost falling into a canal and all kinds of adventures. Collin was such a great stand-in for all our husbands, he took great care of us and was our go-to support guy. Thank you, thank you, Mandolin, Kristen and Kristin for all your hard work arranging and organizing all of it. Tiff, we missed you so much! Thank you Tanner for all your hard work over the years and for bringing this event here and making it possible.
Kristin
Sara
Sara (Tasha’s friend who kindly filled in last minute), Diane, Megan, Collin, Sara, Kristin, me (note to self: shut your mouth!)
Tiff, Tasha, Kevin, Macy, Mandolin, Kristen
The END!
15 comments:
Ok, you have all gone crazy! Clearly crazy. First Dave, then you. I leave for a few years and you all start exercising and stuff. Sheesh. Good thing I live out of UT because I am going to not fit in among all the skinny athletes in my family! Back to my Mexican food...
Honestly, Ange, I am SOOOO proud of you. GOod for you. This is a significant accomplishment and you are awesome.
I know braden, what is the world coming to? I guess its coming to a better place, but dang you're leavin me in the dust. Wow that sounded so incredibly hard, I really am so proud of you, unbelievable that you didn't walk the whole freaking thing! are you kidding me? I wanted to ask you but thought you walked since you didn't mention it, holy cow shout that from the rooftop girl, that is amazing!
Ange, this is the post (series) of the year. What a great story. Unbelievably heart-warming and inspiring. Well told, and well-done. Congratulations on a huge accomplishment, and especially on following up on the original impulse all those months ago. I think a lot of us get flashes of inspiration like that, but so few of us follow through so perfectly. This is a great example. Thanks for sharing.
so fun to read! that is so awesome that you guys did it. and that you ran the whole way!! congrats!
So proud of you! That is so amazing. I can't help but think of all those mornings we spent walking together in the hot AZ sun. I miss you and am totally inspired by you... I don't think I'll be running the ragnar down here anytime soon, but it is good motivation to keep working after having had a baby. I've had a hard time getting myself up these last couple of weeks. Way to go! I really do miss you! You are such a great friend and am so grateful to have had the time I did with you!
You are awesome!! I am so proud of you. You are going to kick my butt at the 5k next week. Way to go.
Great job Andrea!!! I can't believe how hard you pushed it and never walked, you are amazing! Waking up at 6:00 though to train for it almost sounds more brutal to me! I loved the whole story and all of the details leading up to the race. Good job reaching your goal!
note to self: open your eyes.
I don't even know what to say. It was a blast!!!!
Thanks for writing this. You described it perfectly.
You did amazing Ange. You were so inspiring! Good job on accomplishing a goal, and going the extra mile.
Thanks for the fun chats and the hard laughs "that's ... greeeeat"
I love you!
Andrea I loved reading this story. Very inspiring. Way to go. A couple of my friends went down and ran that. It sounds like fun.
Everyone else has basically said it all. I can only add "WOW"! So proud of you!
Ange-
I am so incredibly proud of you. I can so relate to your experience. I ran the DC Ragnar in that state. At that point I had been fighting chronic illness for over a year and thought that the Ragnar would be a great way to combat it. Despite my best efforts the longest I ran in preparation was 3.0 miles and my longest run was 5.4 miles. There were a lot of tears and prayers during my lonely night run. It was a cathartic experience like yours. My favorite part of running is how spiritual it can be. Such quiet moments that the spirit can whisper to your hear. I am so incredibly proud to be related to such a strong beautiful women. you did an incredible job and I hope you do it again. I wish I could have been able to run with you this year. What do you say Warrior, Wasatch Back 2011?
Andrea....amazing!! Yeah!! I would like to say I could do that someday.....I am so glad we saw you on Sunday! It was so fun to catch up.....and thank heavens for blogs and FB we can keep up to date more!! Wish we lived closer!!
Andrea, you're a rockstar! After I finished my first sprint triathlon my favorite quote was, "the miracle is not that I finished, but that I had the courage to start!"
I love you! I am truly grateful for the oppurtunity I had to spend 24+ uninterrupted hours with you. Your spirit, determination, love and relentless sense of humor are beyond amazing. I retrospectively apologize for anything I might have said at anytime that may have been anything less than positive and appropriate :) My filters can't be trusted after such experiences. Your "finishing" face was priceless and totally made the whole thing worth it. You are gorgeous and so capable of ANYTHING!!
Oh, I can relate to your feelings of your last run. I broke down and cried like a baby at the end of my last leg. What an overwhelming feeling and accomplishment! I am so proud of you for setting the goal and accomplishing it! YAY! YAY! YAY!
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