Outback in the Ozarks

I did it. I did a 200 mile relay race through the Ozarks with a team of fantastic women. It was awesome! I'm not quite sure how to document this so it's going to come out kind of scatter-brained like.

-May 3rd and 4th. You would think nice weather, right? Nope, we woke up to snow. We ran through snow, rain, sleet, and mud. Lots of mud. No sunshine for those 2 days.

-Thursday night I got 5 hours of sleep (the day before the race). Friday night (during the race) I managed to get in 2 whole hours. It took a week for my body to get back to normal after that.

-My first leg: I think I started running around 10:30am. It was a gorgeous run. Out in the woods, I had trees on one side and Beaver lake on the other. It was misting and cold, but since I overheat easily, I ended up shedding layers. We were a non-compete team, so I didn't feel too bad hopping in the van and asking for a ride up one of my nastier hills. I don't remember the distance. I do remember the mud. I ran on dirt roads and my calves ended up covered in mud--probably why they didn't feel cold.

-My second leg: We had quite the setback before my run--we got stuck in the mud--like really bad (more on that further down), and it put us back an hour or so. My 2nd leg was labelled "very hard" so I told my team that to help make up for time they could just drive my leg (it was ALL uphill, steep uphill, not cool kind of uphill), and I would buddy up with the next runner and get my miles in that way. Which turned out to be great!!! Best decision I made. I ran with Jenn. It was midnight or so, pitch black in the woods, snow falling. I was sleep deprived which in turn makes me slap happy. So I just rambled on and on...poor lady just had to listen to me talk about nonsense. Then I got really slap happy. The van was right behind us lighting up the road (we couldn't see a thing without the van). I noticed that the bright lights behind were casting a 50 foot shadow of myself in the trees ahead of us. So what do I do? I start making shadow puppets. And the funky chicken dance, and a cowboy type of thing...it was nuts. Do you know what? It's really fun to shout in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night. Anyways, it was great. We just kept going. The only downside--it was downhill--and it KILLED my knees! I was in a lot of pain. Ibuprofen to the rescue.

-My third leg: My knee was on fire. I think I managed 2.5 miles and it hurt. The least pretty of my runs and the hardest since I was drained; physically and mentally exhausted. But I finished it. I skipped out on a mile or so just cause I didn't think my knee would hold up for that long.

-All in all, an awesome race! Sometimes not in the moment, but looking back, totally awesome. And most def ready to sign up to run it again next year. I'll just need to get more hill runs in to prepare better.

Other hightlights?

-Watching Stacie scare away the dogs--she would have scared me if I was out there. Especially at night when she was all lit up, she looked like something from Tron. Too cool.

-Thinking we lost Debi. She took off, we stayed behind to use the porty pot, and went to catch up to her. We thought she missed a turn so we called her cell and right when she answered the phone we found her. She didn't miss a turn, she's just dang fast!

-Stacie throwing half her body in through the drivers side window so she could be ferried across a stream that was covering the road.

-5 women pushing a mini-van up a steep hill. We got stuck in the mud. Luckily a van was behind us and a couple of people got out to help us push.

-Dana meeting Bob (a runner from a different team). Bob is 67 and we all thought he had a bit of a crush on Dana. They talked about their night runs. Bob's team lost one of their runners in the middle of the night for 3 hours. Bah!

-The cowbells. Always great to hear your team cheering for you.

-Getting stuck in the mud in the middle of the night. Not really fun, but nothing I'll forget anytime soon. Pitch black, thick soft mud, a ravine on one side, no room to move on the other side, wheels spinning. Get the picture? We said a prayer, and our amazing driver was able to get us back down the hill out of the mud and we found an alternate route. Thank you Abby for your driving skills.

-Watching Jenn conquer Mt. Everest. She booked it too.

-Aubrey falling. Not really a highlight, but someone's got to biff it sooner or later. Luckily she didn't get hurt, just muddy.

No pictures: my mind doesn't work on sleep deprived mode. I had my camera, but I thought it was broken. Nope, I just stuck the battery in backwards. Oops.

Go team Sisterhood of the Travelling Vans! Whoo!!!