Ran It, Didn't Run It

Last week, I ran the Top of Zion Relay! But I didn't run it. I just ran it. It was so fun and so exhausting. 

The adventure started with a stop at CJ's house on their 10th anniversary! (crazy!) And in case you didn't get a good look at Brooke's summer list and its preciousness, here it is again: 

My favorite is the last one, which, believe it or not, means "Orion marriage." 

I had a niece of the race director whose name was Sarah with me and the next morning we left Monroe and drove to the start line at Capitol Reef to start putting up mile markers and directional signs along the 195 mile long course.

We only did the first 15 legs, about half of the course, and it was so fun and so beautiful. And I had some good bonding with Sarah, who was a stranger two days before. I would just drive along for a half mile or mile, depending on which sign was next, pull off to the side of the road and she'd get out and zip tie the signs to the reflector posts on the side of the road. Some of it was really sketchy, but we did our best to be safe and had so much fun. I felt like such a free bird, especially since I was skipping work and just driving around southern Utah!

We stayed up late that night (Thursday) welcoming the runners and setting up the start line for the next morning and planning the day. We didn't go to bed until like 1130 and then got up again at 5 to send off the first group of runners. And then everyone was running! 

We spent the next 24 hours monitoring the course, which meant just driving back and forth to various exchanges, making sure everyone was healthy and safe, checking in volunteers, dropping off and picking up volunteers, guiding runners, answering questions with answers I didn't really know and honking my horn a thousand times as we drove by the runners! Bliss!

It was fun to occasionally run into my good friends who were running the race, including Sarahho! 

And Kim! What a sweet handoff!

This is part of the team I would've run with if I were running it and not running it. But I was running it, so they ran it without me. 

We worked through the night, driving around and monitoring everything, finally catching two hours of sleep sometime around 3 on Friday morning. We were up again around 5 to get in front of the runners again and finish setting up exchanges. It was such an adventure. 

The last several legs are run on a dirt road and by then Ellen, the race director, was totally out. So I drove her van and one of our adopted volunteers drove the car I had been driving and we got a flat! But we changed it and finished off the course sometime around 8. It was so pretty and peaceful in the morning. 

Picked up some other sidekicks along the way (daughters of the race director and her sister) 

The finish line was most triumphant! I was in charge of all the food and I totally did it, all the while thanking all those years of treks and girls camps and youth conferences and who knows what other crazy parties that mom and dad imagined up and hosted and I loved every single second! I was truly in my element and so glad to not be sitting in my cubicle, despite the total 7 hours of sleep over I'd gotten the last two nights. 

We finally had some time to just sit and hang out and see the fruits of our labors all day Saturday as the teams came in. There was still a lot of running around and getting stuff done, but I got a golden hour or two of conversation in with Kim while she waited for her other van, and it was wonderful because she is going to Japan for the next 3 months! Sad! The weather was beautiful and every team loved it. 

So many people said such awesome things about the race and said they would definitely come back next year, but even better, that it was way better than Ragnar and that they would never do another Ragnar again! No offense to Ragnar. I just was pretty pumped about that. 

Cleaning up the finish line was another great adventure during which I was again in my element, and we finished up around 9:30 or so. I took Sarah (the cousin helper, not Sarahho) and her brother Spencer to drive them north since everyone else who was helping was a sibling or associated offspring of the race director's family and were staying in Orderville since that's where they're from. I was pretty nervous cus I hadn't slept and had to drive 5 hours home, but Spencer was 16 and could drive so he and I switched off through the night and made it home at 2 in the morning. Holy cow I was tired ( and I totally had a deer come onto I-15 while I was driving and screamed but seriously luckily, he was in the left lane and I was in the right. That would've been so so so bad.) 

When I woke up the next morning, it was to the joyous news that Summer had her baby and Eliana Renee Perez was born! Hooray! We went to visit them at the hospital and she is a precious Andy baby! Good job, Bum, you are a champ! 

Needless to say, I was very tired, but it was so fun. I would do it again in a heart beat. 

And this week was CRAZY busy, mostly for Billy, but also a little for me.

He built this wall! What a champ.

And I ran from Provo to Springville through the mountains (a run more affectionately called Hope to Hobble in the running community around these parts) some 22 miles. So pretty and so fun. I am a free bird! I will run 50 miles! 

And cleaned our closet, which probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But it was fun. 

And thus, we were very tired. Billy was so glad to sneak even a 15 minute nap between his meetings and church yesterday. This week was so long and crazy for him!

And I got released from my favorite calling ever to be a counselor in the Primary presidency, which I know nothing about but am very excited for! So we just keep running!