#1 -- Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay

This past weekend was the Ragnar Relay.  Unbelievably, this was my third.  Spencer and I acted as captains this time.  I'm not a good captain for something like this.  Fortunately, we had a great team!

Top:  Blake J., Spencer H., Aundrea H., Kayla S., Lindsey L., Stacy U.
Bottom:  Anna W., Briana H., Mary Kay S., Dan S., Rich L., Bob U.

Our team name was Wii Not Fit.  We each made our own Mii character, which we put on our team t-shirt (snaps to Bob for his fantastic shirt design!) and on our vans.  See if you can guess who Mii character is.  I'm told mine looks just like me.

Here are the runners from Van 2.  They are all our ward members (and Blake is a former ward member).

Here are the runners from Van 1.  Rich works at Boeing with Spencer; Lindsey is Rich's wife.  Anna is Briana's friend from a neighboring ward.  We had a fabulous weekend with all of these people!

Ready to run!

The run was from Logan (awesome start line at the football stadium at USU) to Park City.  Temperatures ranged from the 90's to the teens.  We had runners on horrible, rocky, dirt trails and very nice asphalt running paths.  We had runners in dust and runners in snow.  We had runners in early morning hours and very late night hours.  And everything in between.

We finished near the end of the pack, but we finished.  We were all dead tired; many were very sore; some had blistered feet; we were chafed and sunburned.

Results are posted - of the 823 mixed teams that finished we were #792. And #686 in the mixed division. We finished over 2.5 hours ahead of the slowest team.

Sunday the Stobers sent a text, asking who would be interested in running in Vegas in October.  The Hills responded with a (*gasp!*) YES.  (And Taylor has started running, too!)

To laugh at us, you should watch this.

Ragnarly!

This is a picture of half of our team for the Ragnar Wasatch Back relay. We are three couples, all from our ward: MaryKay and Dan, me and Spencer, Bob and Stacy. We constituted one half (Van 2) of our team: Ragnarly! Aren't we cool? We've just received our medals at the end of a 36.5 hour, 118-mile race. We spent all that time in the car together, except for when we were each running. We shared meals, naps (thanks, Aunt Marie!), snacks, lights, jackets, many laughs, pain, frustration, and celebration together.

I can't believe I am saying this, but IT. WAS. SO. DANG. FUN.

This is Van 1 of our team. Phil was the only man in that van (he's fantastic). Standing next to him (in the blue) is Suzie, who I love. Phil and Suzie are BIL/SIL, and they live in our ward. The rest of the ladies are Suzie's friends. I wish I could tell you all their names. Suzie, maybe you can tell me the names. They were all fabulous. I think. Because I really only met them each once or twice. :)

Spencer, just taking off for his first leg. He was the All-Star Champion of our team. In fact, someone who works with Dan asked how she could get hold of him and get him on their team. Luckily, Dan kept that information classified. :) Ow, Baby! Check out those legs!

Here is me, near beginning of my first run. ("Run" is still a very subjective term.) I think I look like my mom--we should get her in a running skirt!

Thanks especially to Bob and Stacy for organizing this so beautifully. You are wonderful, and we are grateful to be your friends!

Doing Stuff Together

Here is the list of the things I love to do, even though Spencer can't really do it with me:

Sing!

Here is the list of the things Spence loves to do, even though I can't do it with him:

Run!

Here is a non-comprehensive list of the things Spencer and I like to do together:

Read, hang out, watch movies, go for walks, fix dinner, eat dinner, clean up dinner (and breakfast and lunch), play, clean the house, work in the yard, travel, watch our boys play lacrosse, go to plays, go to sporting events, go to museums, shop, go to concerts, go to meetings, go to church, go to the temple, do laundry, take a ride, scuba dive, kiss (and other mushy stuff), laugh, joke, help with homework, go to youth conference, prepare lessons. You get the idea.

Let's be honest here: I don't like to do all these things. I'm pretty sure Spence doesn't like to do all these things. But if we're going to do them, we love to do them together. Sometimes we do stuff together separately, like he works on the kitchen while I fold the laundry. But we're at peace if we can do things together.

All of that said, I am really grateful that we both have something we like to do, and that there's little to no jealousy or irritation because the other person is doing that thing. Just yesterday I got an email that invited me to participate in a choir which is singing at a concert to benefit the Veteran's Hospital. They're doing all big band stuff. How fun does that sound? I asked Spence what he thought of my participating and he replied, "Sounds great! Sing away!"

This is the email I got from Spence today: Hey great news; I get to run Ragnar (Wasatch Back) from Logan to Park City. 187 miles in 24 hrs. 12 person team. June 19-20. I am Runner Eleven, http://www.ragnarrelay.com/wasatchback/coursemaps. My first leg is 3.8 miles all uphill; my second leg starts at the Spring Chicken Inn, and runs past Rockport Reservoir 7 miles around lake; and the last leg is 7 miles downhill from the top of Guardsman Pass almost into Park City.

I love that he is so excited about this trek through hell--oops! I mean fabulous run. I love that he is so prepared. I love that he get the chance to do what he loves.

In October he is going to run the St. George marathon. I am going to St. George with him for the weekend. While he has fun running, I will have fun crafting and watching General Conference in a silent hotel room (bliss!). And then we will have fun doing whatever we want to do TOGETHER. I really love that.