Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Ragnar

I used to hate runners.  How annoying...these people who wake up early, put on tight pants or little shorts and run around town making everyone else feel lazy.  
And what about those super annoying runners who decide to participate in races that last more than 24 hours and cover almost 200 miles.  Those runners who paint their vans and wear headlamps and drink 5 Hour Energy then take pictures of it.  A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G. 
Except...those races are fun.
This is Kristin McPhie.  We go way back to a fateful summer in 2004 when our husbands worked together and she had a baby and one time I made her lasagna.  Kristin is like a super hero.  She is a mother of two who cooks better than anyone I know and now she's going to law school.  Don't hate her; she's cool.  I want to be like Kristin.  A couple months ago she asked if I wanted to run a Ragnar relay with these girls from Mesa:
So I signed up knowing one girl and walked away with five new friends.  You're missing out.  These girls are hilarious.  Even more hilarious was the Rag Mag...above is a picture of Catherine and Natalie laughing at the courses...900 foot climb?  
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA let's go home.
But Catherine (mother of two cute girls) did it. And only puked once, or maybe six times.  This is her running up a six mile hill.  Hardcore.
This guy did it, too but he had a tail which (in my mind) was an unfair advantage.  All that momentum.
He's wearing a reflective vest because people get killed in these races sometimes so they're strict.  And his hooves were all over us because Kristin decided to ask if his butt was real.  Forget the butt...is the HORN real?
 
Kristin loves feeding wild animals, maybe because she relates to them so well.  Except donkeys probably don't moon their friends as they run by.
A picture of the only 10 minutes of sleep I got in 36 hours.  

 We followed each runner and made sure they had plenty of cowbell and water every few miles.
Natalie, Kristin, Kassidi and me around 4 am.

Me on my last 1/2 mile of the race.  Never felt so relieved except maybe after my kids were born. 
Our van was full of miniatures...I was like the towering Amazon woman next to these munchkins.  I look like I'm 10 feet tall in these pictures.
Meet Kassidi...the girl is 13 weeks pregnant and runs under a nine minute mile.  And below is Natalie...the sub 5-foot mom of three who is the tiniest person I know and breezed through a seven mile run at 4 am.
Here is Sara -- a mother of three who runs hills in her sleep.  Literally.  She had some TOUGH legs of the race.
   

A picture of both vans minus me and Beth...I had to hurry home to pick up my boys.  But here we are.  We joked about how slow we were the entire race but ended up taking 4th place.  This had a lot to do with everyone else but me although I enjoyed watching other people run fast.
And finally, this picture is my favorite. It was 7 am on day two.  We had spent the last SEVEN hours running through the night and were ready for some sleep.
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I also love this picture because it reminds me of why I run.  These girls have been through pregnancies, schooling, miscarriages, marital stresses, financial strains, insecurities and great loss.  Runners may seem annoying but for me it brings light.  It's a daily goal, it's a weekend with friends, it's a race to work towards and look forward to.  It's choosing positive over negative.
What's annoying about that?

12 comments:

Jeppesen Family said...

So cute! I love it! You should be a writer! I stopped blogging a few months ago bc I'm lazy...
I'm so glad we met and got to do this together!!
Go Housewives!!!

ericareynolds said...

Not a thing except waiting for the pictures! It looks like a blast. You are super photogenic. Not fair. You should look a little rough after no sleep and all that running!

IronLawGirl said...

APMP. That's the new LOL for ALMOST PEED MY PANTS. And you know me. I really did! So funny, and so much fun! And yes, his butt is real!

Tiffany said...

Hey Holly, remember me, your blost friend from Concord?? ;)
Just had to comment on this post and say congrats on placing 4th in Ragnar!
AND say how small the world is cuz I recognize some faces on the other half of your ragnar team :) Rachael, the beautiful little munchkin in the middle of that group pic wearing the Free City sweatshirt is a dear dear friend of mine! I was shocked to see her here on your blog!
Ragnar sounds like a blast! It is on my list of races to do someday!
I don't think runners are annoying, cuz I myself am a runner. But 13-weeks prego runners?? Now maybe thats annoying...but only cuz I could never run through my pregnancies and may be a tad envious of that girl ;)

Katy said...

This is your most annoying post yet.

MediocreMama said...

Erica...I get to choose which pictures I post. Plenty of really bad ones that you will never see.

KTB, see? My point exactly. So annoying.

Tiffany, small world!!!

Erica said...

You know Kristin McPhie! No way! Ryan and I grew up together. Our families were the best of friends! Small world!

KelliJamison said...

I have an idea...why don't all us "Buff" ladies do a relay for our combined 30th's?! It sounds like we've all done one, but none of us have done one together. How much fun would that be?! Let's look at calendars!

MediocreMama said...

Erica S. - Ryan McPhie is one of Tod's favorite people on earth. We wish they lived next door to us.

Kelli - I'm in. Only if you let me wear my cheerleading skirt from high school.

kristi said...

This is one of my favorites of all your posts. I HATE running. It's so uncomfortable. I like to be comfortable. Like in front of a TV or on a bed or something. But this post made me feel good. It's so true that having a goal or being active is so positive, no matter what you are going through in life. I'm young, never had a kid, or anything like that and I haven't even accomplished anything like this. You girls are my heroes and you totally inspire me. Go housewives!

Meegan said...

You make running sound cool, and I too am one of those who hates running. I've declared my dislike so loudly that if I ever decided to try running I'd have to be a closet runner. You have a way of making closet-running seem ok. Dang you and your inspiring self Holly!

Anonymous said...

I so wish I was there doing this with you. Next time! Looks so fun. Do you all have matching shorts?... Cute.