Epic the Relay

Despite swearing off overnight relays recently I had decided to give it one last chance.  I guess as the captain I couldn't really just bail out.  I wanted sleep, I wanted some free time to just hang out at home, but despite all of these objections I couldn't let it go.  I'm an addict.

With all of this swirling through my mind I headed off on to join the ranks of Family Feud at the 2011 Cache to Teton Epic Relay.  What's 210 miles among family?

It started off wonderfully, we met up with everyone in Logan and the first van got the party started.  I watched them run, ate, and lounged in my flip-flops.  Then my turn came...I think it was only something like 88 degrees, but it felt like 110.  It was hot and dry and I was running down a busy two lane highway outside of Preston Idaho dodging large farm implements.  It was tough, but somewhat satisfying, at least after I got over the urge to hurl...

 Lindsey was obviously having more fun at this point...pre-run.

 Now she knows what it feels like...  She had probably the hottest run of the relay, in the scorching sun, up a long hill, and in a canyon that prevented any breeze.  Did I mention she just had a baby?  Luckily for her she's tougher than I am.  Don't worry, we spent plenty of time dousing her in water.  And just in case you were wondering, yes, that is a burp cloth on her neck (we soaked it in cold water for her.)

 Recovery as the evening gets a bit cooler.  We enjoyed chatting with the few teams that were with us at this early point on the course when we could find a bit of shade.  We started with 4 teams and there were only 4 that started after us, so the first hours were a bit lonely.

 Once it cooled down to about 75 degrees the girls felt the need to hang out on the asphalt to soak up some additional heat.  This is in Idaho countryside near Grace as we wait for Devin catch up to us.

 Night running anyone?  So much better than heat-of-the-afternoon running, I guarantee it.  The night runs were great, except for the occasional unknown noise that might have been a stalking cougar, buffalo, or elephant.  I'm just sayin', you never know what's out there where you're out in the sticks at 1 am.

 The whole team bringing it to the finish line.  We made up a lot of time overnight and that morning and finally had a lot of other teams around.

 The entire family, feuding and all.  Luckily our senses were dulled by a lack of sleep and bright sunlight, otherwise there's no way we could have stood this close to each other after the ordeal.

Okay, so maybe I made it sound kind of hard and terrible.  Don't get me wrong, some of it was tough, and the smell inside the vehicle was definitely terrible, but we had tons of fun.  I had to reverse my decision and tell Greta I was in for Hood to Coast if she could get us in.  Also, we did AWESOME!  We were just a family team out having fun and we ended up 9th overall out of 80 some teams, and 1st out of all family classification teams (I believe there were 12.)  We rock!