Believe to Achieve

Demon revisited.  Ran/walked a 7.3 mile trail run up Grove Creek.  Got lost.  Ended up on top of cliff looking over to where I was SUPPOSED TO BE!!  Had to traverse a VERY steep mile down slate rock.  Took over 27 minutes.  I didn't want to biff and almost did several times.  The first 3.5 miles were sooo beautiful beside (all uphill) and well over  the river and over little creeks. At one point I thought I saw Cougar prints and immediately said a prayer that I would  NOT die from a cougar attack.  My girls couldn't handle knowing I was torn apart and I couldn't handle the thought of being attacked.  What thoughts I have!!  After about 5 minutes I got over my fear chanting "the righteous need not fear".  Not that I am perfect but at least I felt protection in this saying.  Then came the meadow trail and a sign leading to a dirt road with weeds in between wheel marks.   I went right and the road ended in .3 miles.  The sign made no sense so I just found a barely visible foot path and followed it.  Then it just lead me after about 1 mile to that steep canyon overlook and to the west Pleasant Grove City.  Dang, I have to either turn around a long mile or just traverse the mighty terrain.  I could see my car in the distance.  It was pretty steep and did a number on my quads and knees to hold me from falling/slipping.  I didn't bring water or fuel so that was my next biggest problem.  I was thirsty.  Gradually I descended and made it to the creek bed by my car and sat in it for 8 minutes.  Ahhhh!!   7.3 miles in 2 hours 6 minutes.  I was looking for the low impact nature run but  I got some straining moments in there.  In fact the climb was all strenuous so so much for low impact : D.  Great cool morning.   The trail soaked up my feet pretty good that I just walked right into the creek to sit in it.  Lovely.  

I start running and my back/pelvis feels like its falling apart.  I stopped a couple of times.  Getting burnt out a bit not wanting to go far.  Ran 1 mile at 6:37 however to shake the cobwebs.  AP 8:13 for the 4 miles.  BTW PT starts next week and an MRI to rule out herniated disc.  Second BTW-- I am running Ragnar.  Crystelle Gates called me Monday and invited me on her team. One guy was having knee trouble.  They won the mixed sub-master category last year so there is a little pressure to run well.  Crystelle, Ellyse Allphin, Marcie Lamoreaux and Melanie Clayton are on our team.  Amber Sandberg, who I haven't met, is the team captain.  They are all fast.  So much for taking it easy this weekend.  I am runner Six (VAN 1), first run is  6.9  miles, with 1.3 miles uphill then all down on mostly dirt road, second run is 8.4 miles rolling uphill.  Last leg is 3.1 miles easy, flat.  Alleluyah as we start this thing at 2pm!!!  My first leg will be around 530pm the next one around 1 am and the last at 1000am!!  Bring it on!!!  Anything is doable after a 50 miler!!

1st Place for Mixed Submasters and 3rd place overall out of 658 teams!!!    : D  The Beginning-- 2pm Team Start Van 1.  I ran 18.1 miles divided between three legs.  1- 6:09pm  Leg Six 6.9 miles described as VERY HARD. AP 7:17. 1.3 miles straight up then 2.5 miles way downhill  ALL on dirt road, rocky with pot holes. Last  3 miles on paved road in BROILING SUN!!  89 Degrees, no clouds. 2- Leg 18 VERY HARD. 1238 AM 8.1 miles UPHILL, very STEEP inclines the last two miles.  Very windy those miles.  AP= 8:14.  3-- Leg 30   EASY at 9:38am:  3.2 miles in the HOT Morning sun.  AP= 7:06.  Had to stop at a stop light for TWO MINUTES, minused that time of course!!  Total RKs for me over 70 teams.  Our team passed over 600 teams from when we started.  Details to follow.  *** a side note-- I worked Wednesday and Thursday night shifts.  Slept only 3 hours Thursday morning and only 2.5 hours on Friday before taking off for the relay.  Never slept in the car.  These runs were quite the hoot on no sleep.  My first leg I did manage two miles at 6:22 going down steep dirt road.  It felt like my legs were jello and I didn't have many gears to maneuver to get speed with the lack of sleep.  Got a side ache from the change from major dirt downhill running to pavement with less of a grade.  Apparently a lot of runners get that on this leg.  The late night run was where I passed 32 teams.  I just told myself my next run was easy so just keep going.  I tripped over a cement block on the side of the road and just barely missed crashing face first.  Sure did "wake" me up though for those last two gruesome miles.  After Squaw Peak two weeks ago I am in the habit of wanting to walk the uphill like in that race but I managed to just keep running when my body wanted to walk.  When I saw the glittering  last incline in the darkness from all the lit up cars and runners I was like "no way, am I seriously out here at 1 in the morning on no sleep running up a mountain to a reservoir? seriously Julie, you got problems!!"  Meanwhile I reach the exchange and the next Van/team member wasn't there waiting for me.  All my hard work!! They thought I would take longer on those steep miles.  It was kind of funny.  The crowd yelled out "Thanks for showing up Number 640!! "  Which is our team number.  Our team name is Crack O' Dawners (our motto is The Dawn is Our Crack).  Anyway he showed up about 40 to 60 seconds later.   That was our only exchange problem thankfully.  We tried to sleep at Summit High School.  I lost my team and walked around whispering my team members names trying to find them for over 20 minutes.  I went out to the van to leave a note and two of them were in there.  Few!!  I got in my sleeping bag at 240am and tried hard to fall asleep and couldn't.  Can't take a relaxant or I would not function for my next run.  There was also over a hundred other runners sleeping next to me, some of them snoring VERY loadly.  One with major apnea.  He seriously needed a BiPaP machine on him.  Scary.  Got up and going at 5am and off to our the start of our last legs. This team is so QUICK!!!  I was impressed with everyone.   We had a great time meeting one another and cheering each other on!!    Left home with MelanieB's team after my last leg.  We had a family trip to Manti planned to see the pageant.  Got up there by 230 pm.  Took a brief 30 minute nap then went on the Temple grounds and waited around for over 4 hours to see the pageant.  By that time my body was going through hot and cold flashes and moving my body due to fatigue was difficult.  The pageant started at 930pm and we FINALLY got in bed at 1215am!!! at Troy's cousin's house.  Oh my goodness!!  almost four nights with only 6 hours total broken sleep.  I was surprisingly not moody at all.  I just rolled with punches as best I could.