Ragnar high

I will begin by explaining what a Ragnar Relay is since I hadn't even heard of such a thing until August when I signed on to run this one. Twelve runners take turns running different legs of varying length and difficulty to cover a distance of a 171 miles. In our case it was twelve women ranging in age from 18 to 37, some married some single, but undoubtedly the best teammates ever! Our team start time was 11:00 a.m. at the Logandale Fair Grounds. The race went through the Valley of Fire, then around Lake Mead, through Boulder City, through Henderson, through Southern Highlands, through Red Rock, and finally ended at the Red Rock Casino! Doesn't that sound fun? It was the funnest 26 hours that I have had in a long time! People who haven't done one might not understand the craze, but I can't wait to do it again! We all said that we were only doing it for fun, but every single runner ran their heart out and in the end we placed 3rd in the women's division! The following pictures try to capture a few moments from the 26 hours. Van 2 getting ready to head out for our first leg: Amanda, Emily, Kelly, Jessica, Me and Lynette

The Valley of Fire

Fun along the way! We tried to spray the runners as they passed by and each other (it was 90 degrees and hot)

Around 9:30 p.m. we finished our first round of runs

The joys of port-a-potties! (spent a little too much time in these!)

Red Rock during our last legs of the 171 miles.

The final hand off to finish the last 6 miles of the race. . . .no big deal except I hadn't had any real sleep in over a day and half! ( You can see my starting my borrowed garmin watch. . . .I'm addicted now I want one.)

The home stretch to he finish line
Reenacting the finish as a team!

The Ragnar Rookies: Kelly, Betsy, Emily, Amanda, Jessica, Amy, Lynette, Megan, Jill, me, Carrie, and Kallie

It was so awesome to experience this with my sister and my sister-in-law


Now back to real life. . . .it has been a hard week .I'm having Ragnar withdrawls. No one is here to cheer me on while I clean the bathrooms, mop the floors, fold the laundry, make the meals, do the dishes, change the diapers, help with homework, etc. I keep glancing around looking for my team mates, my cheerleaders, my support, but. . . . it is just six kids and my husband and loads and loads of work and life . Don't get me wrong I love my six kids and my husband and I tolerate the work. I just forgot what personal accomplishments outside of the home felt like. For 26 hours I didn't have to repeat my instructions, wipe someone else's nose, listen to complaints about dinner, worry about feeding anyone else, no messes to clean up but my own and NO WHINING!!!!
I guess a had a little selfish me time and transitioning back has taken a couple of days.

I do have to put all of this into perspective though and share a tender moment that I had with about 2 1/2 miles left of the race. I was tired and exhausted and my right foot and knee hurt and did I mention that I had come down with flu (fever and vomiting) in the middle of the race so I was really dehydrated and was a having a difficult moment. It was at that moment that the Brooks and Dunn song "Hey that's what it's all about" came on. For anyone unfamiliar with this song it is basically stating life is full of events and happenings but family is what it is all about! I had borrowed my brother-in-law's ipod for the race, and he had a whole series of songs that Jon had put together for the 4th of July with patriotic and family songs on it. I don't know how but it was during this last leg that I somehow stumbled into these songs and it truly inspired me to keep going at that hard moment. In the middle of this B& D song all of a sudden I look up to see a white excursion with kids hanging out the window waving and yelling and screaming "Go mom!!" I couldn't hold back the tears of joy! My heart leapt with gratitude to hear and see them and know that they were there! My family is a lot of work. . . . especially at their current ages and stages. As I already admitted, it was nice to get away and have a break, but I would be less than honest if I didn't admit that when I really stop and think about it, I wouldn't do it any differently. I'm glad to be married to the love of my life and the mother of 6 wonderful children.

I still hope to get to do another Ragnar!

My family waiting for me at the finish line!

NOTE: The other difficult part of this race was when Jeremy Kunz was hit and Killed by a drunk driver around 4:00 a.m. on the morning of the 10th. We were minutes behind the accident and our hearts ache for the family and loved ones that he left behind!