Ragnar Relay -Team Mandelbaum

Brace yourself - this is a little syrupy.

I did it! I was runner #7 in the Ragnar Relay Las Vegas for Team Mandelbaum. Here's a fun video about who Mandelbaum is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcFSOnumgZA

Our decorated van #2.

So I have been running now for about a year and a half, mostly running 4-6 miles about 4 times a week. I have run in one race which was a 5k for our class reunion last year which I did win -thank you very much -and yeah there were only 5 of us. So anyway, when Allyson Bateman, my good visiting teacher and Primary friend, told me they were looking for another girl for their relay team, I was intrigued. A relay race with a 12 member team, 2 vans and 170 miles from Logandale to Red Rock? Sounds a bit crazy but fun -so naturally I told her to count me in.

I got the e-mail that I was runner #7. The only one on our team that I knew was Allyson and she was in the other van, Van #1, so I wasn't so sure about that, but I looked at what my runs were like and I decided I wanted the challenge. In the 1st leg I was running 5.6 miles rated hard, 2nd leg was 6.3 miles rated very hard -yikes!, and the 3rd leg was 4 miles rated moderate. I chose to go for it. That evening Dave and the kids came with me to go check out my "very hard" leg to see if I thought I actually could do it. I thought it looked do-able and asked Dave if he'd take me back the next morning (Saturday 4 weeks ago). It started at Boulder Beach (Lake Mead) and headed up towards Boulder City -mostly uphill with a 869 ft. elevation gain, on a trail most of the time. So I ran it. I was pooped out, but I did it, slowly, but I did it. I started pushing myself harder each morning and running lots of hills and more like 5-7 miles at a time. I also realized that the boulder beach run would be at night and I was scared to be on a lonesome trail by myself at night, so I enlisted Dave to be my pacer (we're allowed to have someone run or ride a bike along side us during the night). So Dave and Spencer started biking together at night going up hills and around our end of town. Dave has been so supportive -I love him!

The week before I was feeling pretty good -bring it on, but Wednesday night (the race starts Friday) I was really scared. It felt like the butterflies -no, bats were going crazy in my stomach. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much that night worrying about everything, which worked out nicely because Thursday I slept pretty great.

We met at Adrienne, our very fearless leader's house at 11:30 am and headed for Valley of Fire which was where we started our 1st leg. So, there are 6 people on our team in van #1 who ran the 1st half of Leg 1.

Some of Van #1's crew.

We are in van #2 with the other 6 team members.

Since I was runner 7, I was the one to start the second half of Leg 1.

Looking pretty groovy -like a true Mandelbaum.

It was feeling warm and I didn't know how I was going to do. It was about 1:30 when we got there. I looked around at all the other crazy people doing this thing -crazy. People decorated their vans, some were fun, some flashy, and some were really terrible and raunchy. I met up with my friend from Santa Clara, Mary Ann Schoenfeld. It was great to see her and get to visit.

MaryAnn and 9 others on her team had run the WasatchBack Ragnar and got a "Saint and Sinners" medal. Way to go!

Not long after our van #1 arrived and handed me my number and I heard someone yell team 110 your runner's here. They hurried and pinned my number on, I grabbed my music and I was off. I thought I was so slow and thought they were going to kick me off the team. It was hot and a lot harder than I had anticipated. When I got done they told me my pace was 8:17. I was sure they had it wrong, but they assured me my legs were running fast and my adrenaline must have kicked in. I decided not to argue.

Enthusiastic cheerleaders -Bryan and Sean.

I handed off to Stephanie. She's a great runner and has been training hard for this. Her run was 8 1/2 miles -very hard and very hot at 2:30 in the afternoon.

She handed off and walked around for a few minutes. She was sick with heatstroke or exhaustion or something from the heat. She was nauseated and later threw up, achey, chilled and disappointed. I had a blanket that I gave her which wrapped around her shoulders and back. A while later, another member of our team, Eric, said that we needed to start thinking about covering her legs. I asked, "Do you think her legs are getting cold?" Then I realized what he was actually meaning, that we needed to start thinking about who would be taking her runs. That freaked me out a bit. I didn't know if I could handle more. It didn't matter in the end because she pulled out of it luckily, and she did super.

When Stephanie started feeling a little better she started talking about how great it is to run at night. I told her I was a scardy cat. I told about a dream I had a few months ago, in the summer, when it was so hot. I had started running earlier in the morning when it was still dark. Any way, I , in my dream, had just walked out my door and these guys started coming towards me. I tried to scream but nothing came out. I said a prayer that I would be able to scream and I actually let out a blood curddling scream, which woke up Dave whom I sufficiently freaked out.

Our last 2 runners ran at night, and, gratefully, it cooled off. It really was beautiful and I started getting anxious for my night run which was coming quick.


We handed off to runner 1 from van #1 to begin the second leg of our journey and our van headed back to town for some food and shut eye. It was almost 10:00 and most places were closing, but we were starving because basically we had eaten breakfast and snacked the rest of the day, so we were determined to find something. We did, Capriotti's, a yummy sandwich shop. We headed back to Adrienne's, chowed and then tried our best to sleep. I think I might have gotten 20 minutes sleep when I heard Adrienne say we needed to leave in 3 minutes. It was 12:30 am when we got back in the van, our beloved van. I called Dave to make sure he was up and on his way. He was already there and couldn't believe we were just leaving. He called back a few minutes later to let us know that our runner was coming soon. Somehow we made it there in 15 minutes. When we got there, runner 6, Will, was waiting again. I threw on a reflective vest, the headlight and someone put on my tail light. I started running and anxiously looking for Dave, and there he was just ahead of me and we were off. This was my most favorite run. It was so great to have Dave there to talk to and see the beautiful Lake Mead, the stars above and feel the excitement. There were lots of runners, but everyone was either passing or being passed, no one was about to run along side another runner. When we got to the top of the trail, about 5 miles up, we looked back to see the trail all lit up by bobbing headlights. It was so amazing! Dave was an awesome pacer. I loved him so much for being there for me and sharing this experience with me.

Cheering

The rest of the 2nd leg went great, until we got to the end and got to wait for our runner 1, Brad, to start the final 3rd leg, but par for the course.

We headed back for some more sleep. It was 5 am and I asked them to just drop me off at my house because it was somewhat on the way. I ate some cereal, tried to sleep but couldn't, showered and headed over to Adrienne's at 7:30 am. Can you even guess what happened? Will was waiting for me in the transfer box, again. So I was off again. My final run and I actually felt so good especially when my cheering, adoring fan, section arrived. They would drive by honking and screaming, "Go Mom!" Then they stopped and got out and gave me high 5's as I ran by. Spencer got out on his bike with his bike helmet and reflective vest and told me he was going to be my pacer. I was sad I had to tell him we could only have pacers at night. He was ready to go, he'd been training too. They loaded back up and were at my finish line to greet me. I tried to sprint the final 50 feet or so, handed off the baton and stepped on the edge of the pavement and went down. They were worried I was hurt, nope, just embarassed and worried my new pants would have a hole. I hugged my family, and sent them off for some fun hiking adventures in Red Rock. Then it was back in the van with a new feeling, I was done and I did it! and so glad I did. When we were at a later exchange, I saw a guy who looked familiar. I asked him if his name was Dave and if he was Melissa's brother. He was. Melissa is married to my brother Steve. I told him who I was and he told me he'd run in the St. George Marathon last weekend, took his family to Disneyland, and was here now finishing up Ragnar. Wow! Amazing! Where does he get his energy. I later found out that his team won 1st place in the Corporate division.

Stephanie and Adrienne -running buddies since high school.

Red Rock

The end to this was pretty stinky. We were trying to help Adrienne make it towards the finish line because the directions were a bit confusing. Then we had to go park the van at the Red Rock Casino parking lot, run through the casino maze and find our way through the crowds of people at the finish line. Adrienne had of course finished, luckily for her her wonderful parents were there to cheer her on. When our whole team got there, minus Bishop Darren Cox, we all ran through the finish line together -Team Mandelbaum -yea! We took some pictures, said our good byes and it was over.
Here's my one casualty -my owee blister.

When we started, someone had said that one of the best parts was eating after it's over. My last run ended at about 9:15 am and we were waiting at the finish line at about 12:30 pm, so when we left at around 1:30 I was starved. In-N-Out Burger never tasted so yummy good -Aaron would be proud.

This was an amazing experience for me. Really the best part was hanging with 5 other very cool people whom I got to rub shoulders with for a little over 24 hours. Adrienne was the one who made it all happen, our leader. She was great and so full of energy. She's the one who got us to Boulder Beach in record time which was a bit scary. She's a competitor, a great runner, organizer and team player. She has 2 little kids and her husband Will also ran the race but in the 1st van. He was the one waiting for me to hand off to.

Adrienne's brother Bryan, from Boise Idaho, is a great guy who drove the van most of the time and is an amazing runner. He's fast and great at the distances. I think he ran the furthest of any of Team Mandelbaum. He's in the Airforce and is a newly wed. His wife Brittany also ran, but was also in the 1st van.

Sean is Adrienne and Bryan's brother in law. He has a beautiful new baby girl (which is why his wife wasn't running). He's studying to be a doctor. We put him to the test. He'll be great. He's very caring and genuinly concerned. His demeanor reminded me of my little brother Aaron which drew me to him. He did great eventhough he doesn't like running a lot and would prefer to be out biking. His last run ended up being an extra mile -he was a trooper.

Then there is Eric who I found out is an engineer who knows Dave, and he was Bishop Grondel's counselor before the ward split -so before we got to know him. He was nice to talk to and eager to help out, a real good guy. He drove the van quite a bit also. He is a great runner and had run the Los Angeles Ragnar Relay so he had some good insight for us. He's got a wife, 3 daughters and a 3 yr. old son.

And Stephanie, from St. George, sat in the back of the van, when she was feeling good, with me. I really enjoyed talking to her and getting to know her. She's pretty amazing and has done quite a lot in her 30 years of life. She's spunky, fun and adventurous and has been a runner for a while -she's not a beginner. She's a wife and mother of 2 little girls. I'm so glad she was able to hang in there and finish strong.
These people have inspired me to want to be more and do more. I'm sad to think that I might not ever hang with them again. I'd love to meet their families and see them in a different setting. This was a crazy fun time -pretty unforgettable. Thanks Team Mandelbaum!

There's another guy, part of my personal team, Dave. He was such a great support, so patient and helpful. On Thursday, Dave sent out an e-mail to his fellow workers letting them know he was leaving Friday at 2:00 so he could go be Mr. Mom (Cami took Sam until then -thanks so much!) and he also told them I would be running in a 300 mile relay (so glad it wasn't) and that he was going to ride along side me during my 2 am run. So Dave left work early to get the kids, play, feed them and get them to bed. He didn't go to sleep because he was coming to hang with me which ended up being around 12:45 am. I said earlier how great it was to have him there as my pacer, it really was so great. I got done (about 2 am) and had to say good bye. Dave still, however, had to ride his bike back down to the car, load it up and drive home which was probably close to 3 when he got there. Then at 5am he got jolted awake cause I opened the garage (he didn't know I was coming home), and at 7:30 he drove me over to meet the others at Adrienne's, hurried home for a quick shower, got the kids up and ready, packed water bottles and a lunch and was there, Blue Diamond and Fort Apache, to cheer me on at about 9 am. Then he took the kids for a super time hiking and climbing around at Red Rock. Pretty amazing! You're da bomb baby!

Ragnar Relay -what an interesting experience. I've never done anything like it -so glad I did.