Red Rock Relay - Park City

Okay, this post is kind of long, but I want to make sure I remember this experience!

Last Saturday was the Red Rock Relay! For those of you who haven't done a relay race, here is how it works. There are six people on your team and you each run two different legs of 60+ mile race. We did the Park City one and it was from Midway up to Park City and then back to Midway.

Honestly, this has been one of the hardest, but most fun things I have ever done! I'm not really a runner. This is hard to admit in Utah county, where it seems like everyone runs! But my good friend, Shanna asked me to be on the team so I spent the last three months training. This has been really nice, because I feel like I am about in the best shape I've been in since college.

The night before the race we all stayed up in Midway. I can't remember the last time I have ever laughed that hard! I won't get into it, but let's just say, "what happens in the van, stays in the van".  I love these girls!

Race day - up at 5 am. My two legs were #6 and #12, so I had a looooong time to wait.

My first leg was 3 miles straight up hill. And I do mean UPHILL! I ran a good portion of this, but had to walk some. Okay - why is this post about media? Well, you know from our music lecture that my go to running song is "Put our hands up" by Macklemore. After two miles, I was pretty much at my limit and I thought - okay, time for Macklemore. But as I scrolled through my iPod I came to realize that that song (and 4 of my best others!) weren't on there! I added a few songs right before the race, and somehow much have deleted my five very best songs! I actually started to get all teary and felt a little defeated. But the next song was "I will wait" by Mumford and Sons and when that banjo started playing I started to run again. I made it to the top, had a giant asthma attack (thank goodness for inhalers!) but finished!!

No idea why I am smiling in this picture - I wanted to vomit at this point!

Here are a few pictures at the top of the mountain right after my first leg.

My second leg was the very last leg of the whole race. 8.33 miles straight downhill. Which hypothetically should have been easier than the uphill one.....but it wasn't! The first mile was out of a dream. I felt fast and strong. There were no cars, no other runners, the weather was perfect and I was running through groves of aspen trees. The colors were beautiful - everything was bathed in a gold light as the sun was setting through the mountains. A few leaves fell and I jumped up to grab at them. Truly magical.

Well, then the road started getting REALLY steep. In fact, as I was at the top of the mountain, I looked down at the valley and thought, "wow, that is gorgeous! That must be Provo in the distance! Breathtaking". I soon came to realize that I was going to run down this giant mountain and it wasn't Provo in the distance, it was Midway! In all, I ran down 3,500 feet, all the way from Park City to Midway. At mile 5, I began to get really distressed. My knees were burning at that point, and I had hurt my hip so every step felt like fire. My van gave me some good support but I wanted to give up. What I would have given for an uphill at that point! Again, I wished for my go-to songs. Where were you Katy Peery??? It is crazy how much music matters in a time like this!

I pushed through the final 3 miles and ran through the finish line (my leg was the very last race). My team ran up to meet me but I had to walk away since I started to cry. It was both a physical pain and emotional release of actually finishing the race.

Obligatory selfie at the end!

Would I do it again? YES! It was a great experience to exercise self control to hone my body into a place where it could actually finish this race. Our bodies are such a gift from our Heavenly Father and they can do amazing things! It was actually a very spiritual experience. I prayed for most of that second leg and felt strengthened right when I needed it most. It was good to push my body to the limit to see exactly what it could do. I loved watching my teammates succeed. We all finished our races, even though some of them were very difficult. I've been very sore the last few days, but it was all worth it in the end! In fact, my team just texted me and said there is a "rivalry relay" running from University of Utah and BYU next year, and I'm all ready to sign up! Go Cougs!