Tennessee RAGNAR 2011

RAGNAR is an almost 200 mile run as a team of 12 people. We ran, as a team, from Chattanooga to Nashville, TN.  All of the teams had two vans of six people. Each person runs 3 different times. One van is "on" as those six people run their routes and then when person 6 hands off to person 7 the first van gets to rest as the second van begins their routes. I ran 17.1 miles total in 30 hours with about three hours of sleep. AND I had a blast!  I would do it again next week if I could. 

Melissa, Parie, Me, Rhandi

You always had to cross the street with a flag:)

My favorite picture of a hand off!

Parie and I were always crazy and a little confused!

My favorite fun.  7.9 miles down a mountain!

Melissa in her Mickey Mouse gloves and directions written on her arm.

Me wearing Rhandi's snuggy and showing a little leg.

One of my favorite parts of the race, I have a lot of favorites I guess. Melissa is on her last run and had to run up the biggest hill-mountain. Graham had just finished his last run but ran down and finished her run with her. AMAZING!

She is my hero! She was so grateful to be done.

Other teams "tagged" our van with their team symbols.

Kills were how many people we passed as we were running.

Our official team name.

Our more colorful team name!

Rhandi striking a pose!

Graham and Rhandi's adorable 3 month old baby. She was an angel the whole time!

Parie trying to figure out my ipod:)

I wish I had a picture of all of us together.  I was the last runner, so I didn't have my camera as we finished the race. All in all it was an amazing experience and I gained a new appreciation for a lot of things. My mother-in-law came to watch the children because Michael had a business trip at the same time. I am in awe of her willingness to come and allow us to participate in these life experiences. She was amazing with the kids and I will be forever grateful to her for sacrificing so much to be here. My mom came as well to help at the end of the week so that I could join Michael in Chicago. More on that later...  I also came to appreciate that the Lord knows us as individuals and is able and willing to help us in every way. I was at the brink of exhaustion several times, but was able to keep running. I was so grateful for good friends who were amazing examples to me of faith and charity. I personally have so much to learn but was so grateful to see the gospel in action. I'm thinking of maybe doing the Louisville marathon in the spring.  We'll see if I follow through!