Grand Teton Relay

Oh boy. This race. Tanner's friend from high school told him about it before we even moved back from ND, I believe. Tanner seemed interested and I thought it sounded awesome. I had done Ragnar like 5 years ago and really had fun and I thought it would be a prime opportunity to get in shape after a baby, and I really like running with Tanner. So heck yes, we signed up. And then life happened. Yikes. I was doing so good training up until about July. And then work and not sleeping and heat all got in the way of me training. And then it just because a HUGE stress. I wanted to back out. I felt sick thinking about it and every time I didn't run, it was another weight on me about it all. We committed to bringing a van (and we actually bought a new sprinter right before the race so it worked out perfect), and just in general we committed so we couldn't back out of it. I was so scared I'd never be able to run again because of how little I'd trained. Well, long story short...it was awesome. It turned out being so fun. First night
Tanner and I drove up early and spent the afternoon in Jackson Hole. Then we headed to his friend's house and I met his wife (and him for the second time), and we went to THAI food, of all places - Tanner conceded and it was awesome.

Off on our first van adventure!

Grocery store vittles in the van.

The next morning came very early. We loaded up our food for the next day and a half, met the rest of the Van 2 crew and headed to the starting line. We had to decorate the van too. I'm not really sure who came up with the name, btw. It wasn't us ;)

Beer Guts and Coconuts Team

After the first runner in van 1 started, we headed to the first van transition point and hung out and chatted. I took a nap. I was runner 7, first one in van 2 and Tanner was 12, last one in van 2.  This pic probably isn't the best but maybe you can get a little bit of an idea.

My first leg was 9 miles and fairly flat and dirt road. It was a great course and pretty just hot. I miraculously ran the whole time. And even felt good for most of it until the last mile, which got a little uphill, but my knee and hip were feeling it by then and they would cause problems the rest of the trip. I never have taken medicine before or after running - but this trip I took A LOT. Oops. 

Always a welcome sight!

Tanner's first leg was 4.6 miles and on a dirt road and at dusk. Super pretty course but a lot of uphill. He came in to the next van transition when it was dark and I could tell it was him and the announcer was trying to figure out who the runner was. "We've got a runner, folks! When you know who it is, I want to know!". (MUCH smaller race than Ragnar. Only 96 teams and they did stagger start times, so runners were few and far between as the race progressed). Anyway, when I called out who it was, they started yelling his name and everyone was cheering him on by name. It was really cool.

 

Then it was off to Shae's house to shower and get a little bit of sleep before I started again. Oh man, my second leg was painful. Only 4 miles, but I wasn't medicated and my knee was KILLING me. I probably walked about 1/4 of it at least, which was disappointing because I otherwise felt really good and it was on a really cool road, and dark and quiet and lovely. Oh well. Tanner's second leg was a lot more uphill but was just 3 miles. But dark and a non support leg. Tough but he rocked it. 3rd leg for me was coming out of Victor, ID before getting to the Teton Pass. It was painful at first. I had taken meds but before they kicked in I had to walk a short bit. It was a 5.6 mile very gradual uphill leg. Once they kicked in, my legs and such felt better, then I just realized how tired my body was. But I finished somewhat strong. Slow, but I kept running and that leg was SO pretty! It was a glorious feeling to be done!

 

There were only a few places we could stop going up the canyon and down. There were some steep up and down legs in there and a lot of traffic.

Apparently I look pregnant in this picture :)

 

Tanner starting off his very last leg. It was another non support leg and so we cheered him off and drove to the finish line. It was HOT and a 5 mile leg and apparently he ran out of water about half way through. I'm kicking myself that we didn't somehow stop along the way to make sure he was good. He was pretty tired by the end of that one but it was the END! We did it! And all that stress for almost nothing :)

Crossing the finish line as a team

Misery that only a diet coke and bologna sammy can fix.

The girls

The team

My sisters were kind enough to be willing to watch the kids for that weekend. Laura had them first and then Heather had them for a day and a half. Greta still doesn't sleep great during the night so I felt bad about that, but word on the street was they both did really good. Harvey was especially awesome. Heather had a little bit of struggle with Greta Saturday afternoon, but overall they were great. Which is what I really was praying for! I'm glad we didn't have to stress about them and they had a chance to bond with their aunts and uncles! These are just some random, in no particular order, pics I got over the course of it all.