Race Review: Morgan Valley Marathon

A shooting star, a skunk, some angry dogs, a beautiful sunrise, verdant farms, goats, little rolling hills, magnificent mountains in every direction, great organization: these were some of the things that made the Morgan Valley Marathon a memorable event that I would happily do again.

Morgan Valley Marathon Banner

Background

My youngest brother, Jake, was getting married on July 30 in Utah. Since Utah is chock full of marathons and Idaho (my home state) isn’t, I decided it might be worth seeing which events were happening around that time. (I might as well run a marathon if I’m going to be in Utah, right?) I found two prospective marathons: the Deseret News Classic on July 25th and the Morgan Valley Marathon on July 30th.

I’ve wanted to run Deseret News for some time, but it was looking to be a busy week at work so I didn’t think I could get away for a whole week. It took place on Monday this year in conjunction with Utah’s Pioneer Day.

That left the Morgan Valley Marathon. It’s a fairly small event — about 100 runners in the marathon, but more than that in the Half and also some in the 10k and 5k. I only found one or two reviews of the marathon online, and they were very positive. I finally decided to sign up about two weeks before the race as I didn’t have any injuries and felt that I could have a good run. We had actually ran/driven through the area during the Ragnar Wasatch Back in June and I knew it was a nice area.

The Morgan Valley Marathon Course

The Morgan Valley Marathon course is a little challenging. It takes place around 5.000 feet, with some little rolling hills throughout the course. No big hills, just little rollers. The course is basically a loop, although there is a little backtracking on one section. Net elevation change, therefore, is zero, but the gross elevation gain (total climbing) was about 620 feet according to my Garmin.

I checked out the Morgan Valley Marathon course map while I was milling around near the starting line
I checked out the Morgan Valley Marathon course map while I was milling around near the starting line

That describes the course’s difficulty, but not its beauty. The course turned out to be right up my alley. Most of the course is on along a lightly used country road with hills on one side and green farms on the other. There were American flags proudly displayed, tethered goats taking care of weeds, cows, horses, deer, and even a skunk. As if that wasn’t enough, the course is in a valley which means huge, rocky mountains in every direction. Moreover, since the start time was at 5:30am, we were graced with a gorgeous sunrise on a thin layer of stratus clouds. The only downside to the course was a ~4 mile stretch near a freeway which was a little noisy. Otherwise it was amazing.

Here’s a shot of part of the course, but imagine it under a morning sunrise:

I think the Morgan Valley Marathon course was my favorite I’ve ran so far. I probably preferred it to the St. George Marathon.

Tapering and Preparation for the Marathon

Given that this wasn’t a great course for a personal record (elevation, rolling hills), I decided to do a softer taper than normal. I didn’t want to do a full taper and interrupt my training too much. I went backpacking to Hell Roaring Lake two weekends before the marathon, which meant no long run that weekend (although I did do a 14 miler on the Wednesday before backpacking). The week before marathon week, I did 13 miles on Monday, 9.5 miles on Wednesday, and 14 miles on Friday. I also cross trained and did a little recovery running on the other days. I’d never done a 14 miler the weekend before a marathon, so that was somewhat experimental.

I did a full taper the week of the marathon: 6.5 miles Monday, cross training Tuesday, 5 miles Wednesday, 4 recovery miles Thursday, and resting on Friday (actually driving).

I caught a cold starting on Tuesday, so I did everything I could to shake it. This included drinking a ton, some vitamin supplementation, medicine, and zinc lozenges. My main fear was getting a cough, but I was very blessed to be feeling mostly better on Friday as we drove to Utah.

We had a pretty big family lunch of pizza, salad, and fruit on Friday. I only ate three slices of pizza but I ate a lot of salad and watermelon. Since my brother was getting married on Saturday, we had a little bachelor party for him on Friday evening. They all wanted to do sushi, so I joined in despite never having really tried sushi. It was pretty good and I ate quite a bit — a variety of rolls mostly. I figured the rice would work well for the carbs, although all the fish was more questionable.

I got to bed a little before 11pm on Friday, and then I woke up at 2:45 (ugh). We were staying with a friend in Springville, UT, which is 1.5 hours from Morgan, UT. I hit the road just after 3am, all alone, and arrived in Morgan at about 4:30am to pick up my packet and get ready.

Picked up my packet in the wee hours of the morning at the Morgan Valley Marathon.
Picked up my packet in the wee hours of the morning at the Morgan Valley Marathon.

I started finally feeling pumped at about 5am. Up until that time I was a little concerned about my unusual taper, my cold, and my lack of sleep.

Is that a Creamies trailer I see? Something to look forward to after the Morgan Valley Marathon.
Is that a Creamies trailer I see? Something to look forward to after the Morgan Valley Marathon.

I lined up with just under 100 other runners at about 5:25. I talked to a guy named David who told me he had ran a 1:21 half in Wyoming (at high elevation) and did a lot of trail running in the mountains. This was his first marathon.

The Race

The gun fired and we began the Morgan Valley Marathon. I really didn’t want to go too hard in this race, particularly early on. About a quarter mile from the start I saw a nice meteor cross the twilight sky to my right, which I thought was pretty cool. I held myself back really well for the first half mile as three runners took the lead ahead of me: a lady named Rosy, David, and another guy named Matt. They ran stride for stride about 30 yards ahead of me for a while, so I decided to catch up with them. I did so at about Mile 1, but then I let them go again as they were going too fast for my liking. I figured the lady meant business since I haven’t seen many women go out that fast in a marathon.

A police officer in an SUV with the police lights on escorted us for the first 3 miles or so. We went through a neighborhood from about Mile 1 to Mile 2. I trailed the three leaders by 50-100 yards. After the neighborhood we started running by houses on farms. Then at about Mile 3, I heard some dogs and saw the three runners ahead of me have to stop and shoo away two big dogs that were in the road from a nearby house. Luckily the police escort noticed. He got out of his car and was yelling at the dogs by the time I got there. He guided them back to the house and presumably knocked on the door and woke the family up so they would get their dogs on a leash.

There was a right turn at mile 3.5 and I noticed that Matt started to fall back from David and Rosy. I stayed about 100 yards behind Matt for the next few miles while David and Rosy slowly pulled away.

Around Mile 4.5 of the Morgan Valley Marathon we made another right turn and this is where I really started falling in love with the course. There was a hillside on our left and beautiful farms along our right. The road wasn’t closed, but there was hardly any traffic. It was a little curvy and very rural. I saw a deer at in the hills at one point, and I’m sure I could have seen more had I opened my eyes a bit more.

There were also a lot of goats near the road. They would be tethered to a tree or pole in order to keep the weeds down (I presume).

Right at Mile 7 I was minding my own business when I spotted a skunk crossing the road ahead of me on a direct intercept course. I’m so glad I noticed it! I would have ran right into it. I quickly moved to the other side of the road and even stopped to wait for it to cross. It raised its tail but luckily didn’t spray me. I passed by once it ducked into the weeds.

There were plenty of aid stations. They were placed about every two miles along the course. I was worried about hydration since the low on Friday night was 62F, and I figured it would heat up in the last hour of the race. I drank Powerade at several aid stations and water at some of them. When I woke up at 3am, I had downed a Gatorade and then some extra water before the race.

I noticed I was started to gain a little on Matt. It was just a few yards per mile, but I was definitely closing. We turned right again after Mile 9 and made our way through a little town called Stoddard, established 1860 if I remember correctly. I liked this since I live right by Stoddard Road (in Idaho). We approached the freeway and crossed it over an overpass. I spotted Rosy and David as they turned left after the overpass and determined that they were about 3 minutes ahead of me at this point.

Around Mile 12 there was a quarter mile hill. Not too steep, but probably the hill I noticed most. I worked my way up and then went down pretty fast.

I finally caught Matt after the half way mark. That’s when I first learned his name and we talked a bit. He had done even less tapering than me, although he said he normally ran 70-80 miles per week, which is a lot more than me. After talking to him a bit, I found that we had many similarities: we’re both in our mid-30s, we had both PR’d and BQ’d on May 21st with sub 3 hour marathons, and we were both just hoping for low 3:00’s in this Morgan Valley Marathon. He was very friendly and it was nice to talk to him after running behind him for the last 13 miles. We stuck together until around Mile 15, at which point I sped up a bit and started to separate from him.

Post race photo with Matt
Post race photo with Matt

I felt some tightness around Mile 13, but I still felt good. In miles 15-18 I felt pretty strong and the tightness hadn’t worsened. I tried to surge a bit to take advantage of it while I could. I don’t think I actually sped up, but I did hold my pace pretty well.

Around Mile 15 I noticed the sun was shining. From then on the temperature slowly increased. However, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. It was a bit warm in the last three miles, but I didn’t feel like it affected me. I think my focus on drinking extra fluids paid off.

Around Mile 18 I choked down a Gu that I had picked up earlier on the course. I felt like my stomach could handle it, which was unusual for me this late in a marathon. I wanted the caffeine boost and the nutrition for the last few miles. A couple miles later I ate my last piece of Gu Energy Chew. The total consumption for my marathon included: two packs of Gu Energy Chews, one Honey Stinger Waffle (Gingersnap), one Gu, and a bunch of Powerade.

There was a little more uphill in the second half of the marathon, but it really wasn’t too bad. I didn’t mind the little rolling hills as they provided a little variation.

After Mile 20 I found myself slowing down unintentionally a few times. My mind would wander and my cadence would slow. When I realized it, I would immediately pick it back up, mainly by focusing on faster cadence.

I looked back a couple times for cars and for other runners. I had pulled away from Matt, but I could still see him and I was worried I would slow down and he wouldn’t.

At Mile 23 we turned left and joined up with the half marathoners. This was nice to have some company and a little more excitement. My pace was faster than the half marathoners at this stage, so I was passing people from this point forward.

One word on the Morgan Valley Marathon organization: it was spectacular. There was a volunteer at every turn and I never really had to worry that I was off track. This was important since the marathon was so spread out. I literally only saw three other marathon runners after the first half mile. I only saw Matt from Mile 13 to Mile 20. Then it was just me and the half marathoners that I saw.

The only issue I had with organization is that on the left turn at Mile 23, the aid station was on the wrong side of the road. I would have had to cross the road to grab a water, and I really didn’t want to, so I just didn’t drink at that point. It wasn’t a huge deal since I was almost done and I had consumed so much water already, but it was the one spot I thought could be improved.

I was doing a lot of math in my head to see where I’d end up. I had already eliminated the idea of matching my PR, but I was thinking about hitting sub 3:00:00. It seemed like I was about 30 seconds slow, which I didn’t think I could make up in the last couple miles, but I kept pushing.

This was by far the strongest I’d felt in the last miles of a marathon. I pushed hard for the last mile, and saw that I actually did have a shot at a sub 3 hour marathon. After Mile 26 I picked it up even more, but alas, I came in at 3:00:08, just 9 seconds shy of 2:59!

Post Race

Standing in front of the Morgan Valley Marathon finish line... with a Premium Creamy in my hand.
Standing in front of the Morgan Valley Marathon finish line… with a Premium Creamy in my hand.

I was really happy with my time at the Morgan Valley Marathon, and with my 2nd place male finish. David and Rosy ended up finishing at 2:53. This was the second marathon in which I had taken 2nd to a first time marathoner that I talked to before the race (the first was the Mt. Nebo Marathon). Of course, since Rosy beat me I was 3rd overall.

Top 3 male and top 2 female finishers of the Morgan Valley Marathon
Top 3 male and top 2 female finishers of the Morgan Valley Marathon

Matt finished just two minutes behind me. He had a great race as well and I’m guessing he’ll PR again in his fall marathon when he’s more rested and has an easier course. I’m hoping to do so as well, although I need to pick a marathon to run first.

I drank some chocolate milk and ate a couple Premium Creamies and chatted a bit with Matt and David. They handed out awards pretty fast, and we snapped some photos afterwards.

Morgan Valley Marathon finish line and post race party
Morgan Valley Marathon finish line and post race party

By 9:30am I was back in the car to make the 1.5 hour drive back to Springville. I spend some quality time with family that afternoon and had a fun time at my brother’s wedding that evening.

After the Morgan Valley Marathon I went to be a groomsman at my brother's wedding.
After the Morgan Valley Marathon I went to be a groomsman at my brother’s wedding.

The Morgan Valley Marathon was a great experience. Kudos to the race organizers who put on a great event. The course was striking and fun to run. Between the Morgan Valley Marathon and the Ragnar Wasatch Back, I have a new appreciation for that area of Utah.

Family Backpacking to Hell Roaring Lake

Over the weekend Cyndi and I took our three oldest children on a backpacking trip to Hell Roaring Lake. This was a trip I was looking forward to for some time and it turned out great.

Two years ago Cyndi and I did a backpacking trip in the White Clouds area without any kids for our 10th anniversary. We hired Cyndi’s niece to babysit while we were away, and it went well. I determined that I really wanted to make backpacking a yearly venture for our family, but the kids were just too small to make it worth it.

Fast forward a couple years and our children have grown: Paisley is 9, Cosette is 7, Fielding is 5, Perry is 3, and Luna is 1. We decided to take the three oldest and leave the two youngest behind with grandma. This simplified things significantly and allowed us to do a somewhat challenging hike.

We set out late Thursday morning and ate lunch on the way. Our start was later than I wanted, but it wasn’t a big deal. We arrived at the trail head at about 3pm. We attempted to follow the dirt road to the second trail head, which would have saved us a couple miles of backpacking, but the Honda Fit just couldn’t make it up the road without doing some damage.

My pack was about 55-60 lbs, as I was carrying a couple sleeping bags, a bunch of food, and a large tent that could fit all five of us. Cyndi had a stuffed pack as well with a couple sleeping bags in it. Paisley was carrying all her clothes and a sleeping bag, and Cosette and Fielding each had a small backpack with their clothes, and Cosette also had some water. Literally 20 yards into the trail Cosette said, “My shoulders hurt,” which I thought was really funny.

The trail climbs about 300 feet in the first mile. Then has some smaller, intermittent climbs through the rest of the 5 mile trail. It follows the creek that flows out of Hell Roaring Lake, and there are some pretty views of the creek along the way. The trail is partially shaded, but a lot of it is in the sun despite nearby pine trees.

I brought some fruit leather that provided a boost for the kids (and me) early on. We took breaks about every mile, and usually dished out some snack to keep them occupied. I took on Fielding’s backpack after about a mile, and talked Cosette to keeping her backpack until 2.5 miles. Paisley trudged along with her pack and didn’t complain. She did wonderfully. We were all ready to be done by the time we saw the lake just after Mile 5. We picked a camp site near the end of the lake since everyone was anxious to get their packs off and there was a nice one available.

The lake is beautiful, as expected, with a nice creek running out the east end and rocky peaks surrounding the west end. The Finger of Fate points to the sky among the rocky cliffs in the west.

I didn’t expect good fishing as I knew that Hell Roaring Lake was a pretty popular destination, but after setting up the tent I headed out to see what I could do. We weren’t very hungry since we had been snacking the whole way up, so we weren’t ready for dinner yet.

I tried fishing among all the logs piled up on the east end of the lake, and sure enough my first cast was a snag. I didn’t want to lose my lure on my first cast, so I waded out to retrieve it in the cool, but not freezing, water. I cast again from the spot of the snag while standing waste deep and caught a fish on my 3rd cast. I caught a couple more fish in the next half hour and had some bites besides that. I took the fish back to camp and we had some trout (albeit small ones) along with our rice dinner. Our kids all love trout and picked the skeleton clean.

That night we had s’mores and went to bed around 10pm.

After a decent night I woke up at about 5:45am. Paisley followed me and we headed out to do more fishing. We ended up hiking a few minutes up the south side of the lake to find a deep spot. I landed a decent size fish pretty quickly and Paisley was jealous. I coached her a bit and she soon landed a bigger one. She was really happy and after trying our luck a little longer, we headed back to camp and had more fish along with our pancakes. These fish had probably three times more meat than my fish from the previous night, which was a good thing since I struggled to cook decent pancakes in a little mess kit.

After breakfast it was time for our day hike. There are four lakes over the ridge on the west side of Hell Roaring Lake. Two of the lakes have fish in them (they’ve been stocked by Idaho Fish & Game every couple years). I wanted to at least check out the lower lake and figured it would make for a good day hike.

We set out on the south side of the lake and made quick progress along the trail. Eventually we needed to break away from the main trail and head northwest before the main trail turned for Imogene. We found a small trail to follow and started making our way over. Fairly soon we were bushwacking through some dense brush and over logs to cross several small streams. I figured we’d come across a trail going up the steep hill before long, but we never found it. Once we were near the main creek that flowed from Hell Roaring Lake #2 to the main Hell Roaring Lake, we started heading directly up the steep hill.

We had to do some significant boulder hopping, and the horse flies were making it somewhat miserable. It took a lot of encouragement to keep the little ones moving and I had Fielding and Cosette on my shoulders at several different points. We eventually started coming across some cairns, and this provided some nice goals for the kids to aim for and a nice distraction from the difficulty of the hike.

We finally rounded the top of the hill and found the lake we were looking for. It was quite nice. It provided a nice view of the Finger of Fate and was graced with a waterfall high up the next incline.

We ate lunch, refilled our water, and the kids played. Paisley and I each caught some fish. It started to get windy and partly cloudy. The difference in temperature when a cloud was overhead was pretty startling. After spending about an hour at the lake, we headed back down.

Shortly before we headed down, an older gentleman was making his way up on his way to summit Decker Peak. We decided to head the direction he came up, and we were pleased to find a nice trail all the way along the north side of the creek down to Hell Roaring Lake. The trail was still steep, but it was WAY better than boulder hopping down the mountain.

The trail came out and around the north side of Hell Roaring Lake, so we took it all the way back to camp. Even though the trail was easy to follow, it had a lot of brush and downed logs, so we were all scratched up and exhausted by the time we got back.

Cyndi and I tried to convince the kids to just hike out that afternoon as we weren’t looking forward to sleeping in the tent again and hanging around camp for a couple hours. The kids wouldn’t have it. They wanted to camp one more night, so we fished a bit more and played in the water. We ate a nice dinner and packed up as much as possible to get an early start on Saturday morning.

In the morning we made oatmeal and hot cocoa, cleaned up, and hit the trail around 7:30am. The kids did about as well as on the way up and the backpacking went at a similar pace. It was nice to go downhill this time. We only passed two hikers on our way out, which was a surprise.

Everyone was happy to reach the car and everyone but me fell asleep within 30 minutes.

We had a great time overall and I look forward to more of these in the future. The hike was just challenging enough for our kids without overdoing it. I can’t wait until they are old enough to do a 50 miler with me!

(4×4) x 400 – Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day!

To celebrate the 4th of July, I decided to run 16 (or 4*4) 400’s. I wouldn’t have minded doing them on the track, but since I didn’t want to take the time to drive to a track I just ran them on the road. And since I was running on the road, I figured I might as well run in the shape of a giant “4”. It wasn’t quite as big as last year’s “4”, but that’s ok.

The 400’s went pretty well. I averaged 82.5 seconds on them. I haven’t done 400’s in a long time, and I’ll need to do them faster if I hope to break a 5 minute mile again. However, I thought that this was a good start and it was definitely a solid workout.

Happy 4th!

New Running Workout: Crescendo Diminuendo Run

I’ve been doing pretty much the same workout regimen this whole year to improve my running (and mostly to train for my May marathon):

  • Run intervals on Monday (various distances)
  • Cross train Tuesday
  • Tempo run Wednesday
  • Cross train Thursday
  • Long run Friday

My tempo runs on Wednesday usually consist of a warm-up, followed by 5-8 miles at a steady, fast clip, and then a short cool-down. For some reason I didn’t feel like doing the same old tempo this week. Yesterday I gave it some thought and came up with a fairly challenging and fun workout (I use the term “fun” very liberally here).

I call the workout: Crescendo Diminuendo

The Crescendo Diminuendo run is basically a tempo workout with some speed variability built in. I suppose it’s not a true tempo since it get’s pretty fast and it’s not steady. The idea is to start at a pace slower than normal tempo, then increase speed at a steady rate in 1/2 mile to 1 mile increments. The fastest mile should be half way through the workout. Then slow back down at the same rate.

Here’s a description of the Crescendo Diminuendo run I did, what my targets were, and what I actually achieved:

Description My Target My Result & Comments
1 mile warm-up 1 mile @ ~7:30/mi 7:28. Felt pretty tight after some hard workouts in the past few days and some yard work yesterday evening (digging a ditch)
1mi @ marathon pace +15 seconds 1mi @ 7:00 6:54. I was still warming up here and it was nice to continue to loosen up.
1mi @ MP 1mi @ 6:45 6:42. Not too challenging yet. Feeling better and better.
1mi @ MP -15s 1mi @ 6:30 6:27. Now I was starting to move. I began to wonder if I could hit the upcoming pace at my toughest mile.
1mi @ MP -30s 1mi @ 6:15 6:13. There was a small down and uphill towards the end, so I made sure to speed up on the down to bank a little time for the up.
1mi @ MP -45s 1mi @ 6:00 5:50. I started out on a downhill which was really nice as I got my legs moving fast. However, I’m happy to report that the second half of this mile was still <6:00  🙂
1mi @ MP -30s 1mi @ 6:15 6:13. I didn’t immediately slow down from the previous mile, so that gave me a good head start and kept this mile on pace despite a slight uphill at the end.
1mi @ MP -15s 1mi @ 6:30 6:21. The first half mile was fast with a little downhill, then I started to lose focus and get a little lazy the second half. I caught myself and sped up at the end to stay under my target.
1mi @ MP 1mi @ 6:45 6:38. I thought this would be easy, but the second half was a little challenging for me as I was beginning to wear out.
1mi @ MP +15s 1mi @ 7:00 7:07. I kept the first half under 7:00. I wasn’t too concerned about keeping the second half on pace as I was ready to start cooling down. Also, I had a little uphill to deal with.
Cool-down Cool-down. 7:15. This was only 1/4 mile, so I took it fairly easy although I was still moving at a decent pace.

You can see from this that my run had some decent symmetry:

Crescendo Diminuendo Run
Symmetry of the Crescendo Diminuendo run. I peaked right at the beginning of the 6th mile — the downhill portion of the fastest mile.

Overall the Crescendo Diminuendo run was a success. It was different, kind of fun, and kept my mind engaged. It was nice to have different targets rather than the same target over and over. In fact, my tempo runs often don’t have a defined target until I get going, so this was definitely a change.

Interestingly for me, my overall average pace was exactly the same as my tempo run last week on the same course where ran steady for ~8mi @ 6:20-6:25 pace. That tells me I got the pacing right for this run.

I’m hoping that in 2-3 months I can improve enough that I can lower all my targets by 15 seconds. This workout actually gave me some confidence as I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hit those targets. I’m coming off of a hard week for me. I also dug a ditch yesterday evening and didn’t get sufficient sleep. Perhaps if I’m a bit more fresh I can already drop a few seconds.

I did this Crescendo Diminuendo run on mostly flat terrain with only small rolling hills. If you were to do it on real hills, you may have to go by effort rather than pace.

Maybe this workout already exists somewhere, but I hadn’t heard of something like this. If I were more knowledgeable or fancy, I would have some nice descriptions of how this particular run helps your lactate threshold, mitochondrial uptake, etc. etc. Really though, I feel that any challenging run can help you get better, so this was one that was a little different and changed things up. I definitely believe in mixing things up to achieve performance gains. The Crescendo Diminuendo run did that for me.

Race Report: 2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back

I had never done a Ragnar relay before, but last weekend, June 17-18, Cyndi and I joined a team for the 2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back. It was a different experience than my usual marathon or half marathon.

2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back Van 2 Bib

Originally, Cyndi’s dad and sister were going to run on the team (instead of me and Cyndi). But her sister’s daughter had a recital the same weekend so she dropped out. Cyndi’s dad recruited Cyndi and I planned on being backup. Then Cyndi’s dad had some knee problems and family issues that arose, so that left Cyndi and me. Cyndi was acquainted with one person on the team, but I had never met any of them.

I have only a little history participating in relay races. Back in 1999 and 2001 I ran in the Sawtooth Relay in Idaho when it was ~130 miles for a 12 person team. (Now it is ~60 miles for 6 people.) I was in high school for the first one. Then I was a recent college freshman for the second Sawtooth Relay on a team I didn’t know. It was pretty fun but I honestly don’t remember the details very well.

Then in 2011 I ran in the Hood to Coast Relay — which was one of the first big, 200 mile, 12 person relays. In fact, Hood to Coast inspired the Ragnar founders to create their first Ragnar. I didn’t have a great experience in that relay. That particular year, the HtC organizers added 25% more teams and the traffic was horrendous. We used my van and I didn’t get a wink of sleep all night because I was driving or staying awake to make sure the driver was alert and ok. I don’t do very well on little sleep and it showed by the end when I was utterly exhausted. I had one brother-in-law in my van that I knew, but not really well, and besides that I didn’t know anyone in our van.

However, it has been a few years and I was ready to try another relay — especially a Ragnar which I know are quite popular.

The Wasatch Back was the original Ragnar relay, and it takes place in beautiful country — small towns and cities among mountains and greenery. The elevation is mostly around 6000 feet and there are a few big climbs and descents. The race is basically from Logan, Utah to Midway, Utah.

The hardest thing we had to do pre-race was to get a babysitter for our five children for 1-2 nights. This was no small task. Luckily my mom was able to watch our two youngest and my cousin, who lives on the Wasatch Front, was able to watch our three oldest. She has similarly-aged children that play well with ours. We were grateful to have babysitting arranged once we finally did, and we are very grateful to the babysitters themselves.

Cyndi and I dropped off our littlest two on Thursday morning at my mom’s and headed for Utah. We got to my grandma’s house in the afternoon and chatted with her a bit. Then we left the three oldest there for a couple hours while Cyndi and I attended a team dinner at Olive Garden.

The team dinner was great and I highly recommend it for anyone doing a relay. It gave everyone a chance to meet each other, get acquainted, and get excited for the upcoming run. I liked the people on our team and looked forward to running the relay with them. I ate a ton (endless bread sticks and salad…) since I didn’t have to run until ~1pm the following day and since I wasn’t overly concerned about hitting a certain pace. (This is nothing like my pre-marathon meals where every bite has a purpose.)

Cyndi and I chatted with Grandma and my aunt and uncle for a while that evening, and I indulged in a few cookies and some ice cream. We got to bed by 10pm and after sleeping for a few hours I started tossing and turning like I normally do before a marathon. Finally the alarm clock went off at 5:30. We got ready and drove to my cousin’s house to drop the older kids. That took an hour. Then we had to double back for another hour to reach the designated meeting spot.

Finally at 8:30am we met up with our van and set off for another 1.5 hour drive to our starting exchange.

Ragnar Wasatch Back Exchange 6

Exchange 6 — where Van 1 hands off to Van 2 for the first time — was in Liberty, UT. When we came through the canyon into the valley where Liberty resides — part of the Wasatch Back — we were immediately taken aback by the beauty of the area. Everything was green, the sun was shining, and there was a glorious mountain backdrop in every direction.

2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back - Signing Waiver
Signing the waiver to run the Ragnar Wasatch Back. My shirt is quite bright — which is good since I often run in it in the early morning hours…

When we got to the exchange, we had to sign a waiver and watch a Ragnar safety video. Then we walked around the booths. There was a booth for BEX Sunglasses with a basketball hoop and I scored a free shirt by making 4 of 5 free throws! The sunglasses are quite nice, but a little out of my price range (5 kids –> cheap sunglasses).

Winning a free shirt at the BEX Sunglasses booth!
Winning a free shirt at the BEX Sunglasses booth!

Another booth was handing out samples of Halfpops, which turn out to be quite tasty. You know when you pop popcorn and there are some kernels that are only partially popped? That’s what they are. I tried about 4 flavors and liked them all. I also scored a cowbell at the Great Clips booth.

2016 Wasatch Back Exchange 6
Team Aching Bad, Van 2 at Exchange 6 of the Ragnar Wasatch Back relay.

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2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back - Decorating the Car
Decorating the car: a Ragnar relay necessity

We took some photos and then Van 1 showed up, except for Emily, who was running.

Emily coming up to Exchange 6 to finish up Van 1’s first set of legs at the 2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back relay.
Emily coming up to Exchange 6 to finish up Van 1’s first set of legs at the 2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back relay.

Van 1 had been running since 5am. Eventually Emily came around the corner, handed off to Cyndi, and Ragnar Wasatch Back relay started for us Van 2 folks.

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Cyndi would hand off to Bert,

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who would hand off to Ben,

2016-Ragnar-Wasatch-Back_Bert-to-Ben

who would hand off to Kelly,

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who would hand off to me,

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who would hand off to Matt.

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Leg 11

It felt really hot by the time it was my turn to run. It was 1:46pm and 82F with the sun shining brightly, but something about the altitude made it feel even hotter. My leg, which was Leg 11 of Ragnar Wasatch Back, was only 4.4 miles long. The “10k pace” I had used to estimate my times was 6:15/mi, so that became my goal. I didn’t want to go too hard in this first leg because my next one would be more challenging, but I still pushed the pace the best I could. I did some warm ups prior to the run and I was ready to go when Kelly came around the corner.

My run went by fairly quickly. I passed a few people, which made it more interesting, but we weren’t really there to compete. There was a bit of a headwind for part of it, but I averaged 6:13/mi which I was happy with.

I handed off to Matt and he had the pleasure of a ~7 mile climb up to a ski resort. Our van headed to the resort to wait for him and meet up with Van 1.

While we waited at the resort, I whipped out my backpacking stove and boiled some water in the parking lot so that Cyndi and I could eat some Mountain House meals we had brought along. The lodge was selling delicious looking burgers for ~$15 each, but Cyndi and I are way too cheap. Besides, I didn’t particularly want to eat a burger in between my runs. The Mountain House meals were delicious and I highly recommend them for relays.

2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back - Exchange 12
Both vans lounging around while we waited for Matt to climb the hill at Leg 12 of the Ragnar Wasatch Back relay. I’m measuring water for our Mountain House meals.
Mountain House meals at the Ragnar
Getting ready to make our Mountain House dinners!

Matt was handing back to Van 1, so they were also at the resort and it was fun to be around them for an hour or so while we waited.

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When Matt came in and Van 1 left, Matt, Kelly, Bert, and Ben all got one of the burgers. I polished off some of the leftover fries and unwanted pickles, but thanks to the Mountain House I was pretty satisfied food-wise at that point.

Burgers for Ragnar Dinner
Nothing like a burger to prep for your second Ragnar leg…
Ragnar Wasatch Back Exchange 12
Fellow runners lounging around at the ski resort — Exchange 12 of the Ragnar Wasatch Back relay.

We then made our way to Exchange 18, which was at a high school. We had about 3-4 hours of down time. Luckily I had brought a book along, so I rolled out my sleeping bag in the shade and read my book and relaxed. The wait was quite long. Fortunately, we were noticing that our team was one of the first through, so we didn’t have to fight for shade or battle traffic.

2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back Exchange 18
The Ragnar relay doldrums… waiting at Exchange 18 for Van 1. Luckily I brought a book.

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My stomach was beginning to rebel at this point.  I think I was eating to many carbs and irregular junk. Next time I’ll try to bring more balanced food (i.e., more fats and protein).

Chocolate Milk
Note to self: bring more chocolate milk to my next Ragnar relay.

It was hot for most of the afternoon, but by the time Van 1 pulled up and Cyndi toed the line for Leg 19, it was beginning to cool down. She had a beautiful run through green, barn-strewn country. Starting with her leg it was time to wear reflective gear and lights.

2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back Exchange 13
Cyndi handing off to Bert at Exchange 13 of Ragnar Wasatch Back. Note the beautiful greenery and mountain backdrop.

Leg 23

After starting and stopping for the other runners in our van, it was time for me to run again just after 11pm. It was really cooling off, but it was actually great running weather and I continued sporting my tank top. I noticed some people leave for their run in full hoodies and I knew that was a mistake.

My stomach was rebelling, but it hadn’t gotten bad enough that I was too worried about it. I put some TP in my pocket just in case, but I ended up feeling fine once I got going.

LDS Chapel - Ragnar Exchange
LDS chapels made for nice exchange points, including the hand-off to me at Exchange 22 of the Ragnar Wasatch Back relay.

This leg was nearly 10 miles (I measured 9.62, but started my watch about a quarter mile late). It was dark. The darkness didn’t matter until I had to start running on some trails and I had to pay extra attention to where I was stepping. The terrain varied between road, weedy gravel trail, rutted dirt trail, and weedy sandy trail. I asked my van to give me some water around Mile 3 to make sure I was OK, and at that point I told them I’d be find for the remainder. I also took a Honey Stinger to provide an extra boost.

I tried to push the pace, but between the trail and some slight elevation gain, not to mention the altitude, I wasn’t able to maintain 6:15/mi. At one point I wasn’t sure I was on the right trail, and the insecurity slowed me a bit. However, I still hit 6:41/mi and fortunately my stomach felt fine during the run.

(The Wednesday after the relay I was able to do a 10 mile training run at 6am by myself at a 6:37/mi pace — so I’m fairly sure the altitude, small hills, trail, and wariness from my previous run were affecting me.)

It was enjoyable to run under a bright moon in the cool mountain air. I pushed myself and worked to maintain a good pace. I passed about a dozen people, but most of the time I couldn’t see any other runners around. It was always a relief to see someone as that gave me confidence that I was on the right track.

I was happy to hand off to Matt and be done with my toughest leg.

Delay at Exchange 24

Matt had a short ~2.5 mile run and was done at about 12:30am. Unfortunately, the Ragnar folks notified us that our team was being held for 1 hour. This means that the Van 1 runners had to wait 1 hour before they would be allowed to run. That really stunk for them, as they were ready to go when we got the notice.

We weren’t thrilled about the delay. Ragnar had given us a spreadsheet with our estimated exchange times, and we were only 15 minutes off. Plus, we were actually 15 minutes late rather than early, so it didn’t make sense that we would be delayed. Oh well. There are perks to being one of the first teams through, but there can also be downsides.

We were at a high school, and my team was nice enough to let me take a shower even though everyone else just wanted to hit the road. The locker room shower cost $2, but it was money well spent. It felt fantastic to get clean and get in some warm water. I hurried and we took off for Exchange 30 once I got back to the car.

Trying to Sleep at Exchange 30

It was after 1am at this point and we were all exhausted and delirious and looking forward to sleep, but this led to some foolishness. We pulled into Exchange 30 at Park City and we were the first van there. It was a dirt/gravel lot, so we parked the van… and then we just slept. There was no grass in sight and half the people in the van were already asleep, so we didn’t want to wake everyone up. Rather than getting out and laying down in our sleeping bags, we just slept uncomfortably in the car and tossed and turned all night. Fortunately I was tired enough that I could sleep some; unfortunately I am 6’4″ and sleeping in the back seat of a van is not comfortable.

I was happy when we could finally wake up and stretch our legs. My stomach was also feeling much better. I heated up some water on my stove in the parking lot and made some oatmeal and hot cocoa which tasted amazing and soothed my stomach even more. I noticed there was a roped off area with about 50 people in sleeping bags on the hard gravel. I’m not sure I would have slept much better there since I didn’t bring a pad.

Park City - Ragnar Exchange 30
Emily handing off to Cyndi in Park City at Exchange 30 of the Ragnar Wasatch Back.

Van 1 showed up and we waited for Emily to come up the hill. Cyndi took off after Emily showed up and we were all ready for our final legs. Van 1 got to go relax and have a big breakfast after a long night of running.

Bert was up for Leg 32 — the Ragnar hill. It started at the bottom of a ski resort and climbed about 3000 feet in 5 miles to the top, then dropped several hundred feet for the last mile. He said much of it was not runable because it was so steep. He did great on it and got his own medal for doing it. The next two legs were super steep downhill and about 4 miles each.

Leg 35 – Almost done!

I had a short 2.5 mile leg to finish up. It was nice that I didn’t have to worry about it, although I would have welcomed something a little more challenging. I determined to go as fast as possible.

Ragnar Exchange 34
Waiting for Kelly to finish up his legs. How much time did we spend waiting for runners to come in? Lots. The anticipation is tiring.

We waited a little longer than I had anticipated, so luckily Ben spotted me some Mike & Ike’s as I was feeling a little hungry and light headed. Once Kelly came around the corner, I took off at a brisk pace. I was well under 6:00/mi, so I determined to try to stay under 6:00 for the whole run.

Ragnar Exchange 34
Kelly handing off to me just before my last leg — Exchange 34 of Ragnar Wasatch Back.

I only passed a few people as runners were fairly spread out and it was short. I felt good the whole run and was pleased to come in at a 5:59/mi pace.

That wrapped up my running for the Ragnar Wasatch Back relay, and I felt great.

Post Race at the Ragnar Wasatch Back

We headed to the finish line to wait for Matt. He had a tough run as the temperature was heating up, the sun was out, and he had some hills to battle — not to mention his run was ~1 mile longer than expected.

Ragnar Wasatch Back Finish Line
The finish line of the 2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back

The finish line is a bit of a party. There were a bunch of booths set up. Each van got a Little Caesar’s pizza. There were also Fat Boys and Muscle Milk. BEX Sunglasses was there again. I arrived as most of the BYU team had finish attempting shots. Since none of them won anything, the BEX team told them whoever won a game of Bump could get a free hat. Bert and I joined in. I missed a shot and immediately got out. Bert lasted a while before losing out. Fortunately I made 3 of 5  three pointers and was able to get a nice hat to go with my shirt from the day before!

Basketball
Playing a game of Bump with the BYU team. Winner got a hat from the nearby booth. I missed my first shot and lost, but then I redeemed myself by making 3 of 4 three pointers for my very own hat.

When Matt came through our whole Aching Bad team joined him for the final 50 yards or so. It was great to be done after ~200 miles! We received our medals and snapped some team photos.

2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back Medal
Sporting my new shirt and medal after the 2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back
Aching Bad Team Photo
Aching Bad team photo after finishing the 2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back

Since we were one of the early teams to finish, we even made the scoreboard for a few minutes.

Ragnar Wasatch Back Scoreboard
We made the scoreboard! If only for a few minutes. (Team Aching Bad.)

Final Thoughts on the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay

Overall I had a solid experience in the 2016 Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay. Relays are definitely a different experience than the races I usually do (marathons and half marathons). The running isn’t terribly difficult, especially compared to a marathon, but there are other things that make it difficult: lack of sleep, all the anticipation and waiting, being on your feet quite a bit, unusual running times, being crammed into the seat of a van, being dirty, and abnormal eating conditions. All of these things make for an exhausting experience, and provide a unique challenge.

Cyndi and I, who are both mostly introverted, determined that relays work really well for extroverts. The people on your team make a huge difference. The guys in our van were funny and entertaining. There were lots of jokes, good music, funny commentary, and even a battle to see who could get the most steps on Friday between Bert and Matt (Matt edged Bert out by ~200 steps). We were fortunate to have a good team, and I think that made this experience such a good one.

Being in Van 2 helped as well, at least in this case. We had time to drop our kids off in the morning and didn’t have to wake up as early. We also didn’t have to run all through the night. And the event was ~4 hours shorter for us than for Van 1.

Would I do the Ragnar Wasatch Back again? Yes. Would I do another (different) relay? Yes. But I don’t expect to dedicate myself to running them like I have to marathon running. Relays are fun and some people absolutely love them. Bert has run Hood To Coast 21 times and multiple Ragnars in addition to that, so obviously some people love them. I enjoyed it, but marathons are much easier logistically and are more up my alley.

Nevertheless, I’ve found myself pondering when my next relay will be and whether I should organize something with a fun group of people…