Party 'til the break of dawn

I just participated in the craziest all night party you have ever heard of. People came from all over, paid an outrageous cover charge to get in, dressed in a variety of costumes, and drank specially concocted cocktails to keep them going all night long. Oh, and yeah....they all worked together to complete a new crazy dance named "the 188 mile two step". I didn't get any sleep until 5:30 am and the party was still going strong. It was called a Ragnar Relay. My team completed the Wasatch Back event running from Logan to Park City Utah in about 34 hours and I officially "partied til the break of dawn".

For people who don't know what this is, 12 people share 36 legs of a relay race. My group of 6 runners sharing the second van had our first legs Friday afternoon. Then our next legs just so happened to be the night shift. Runner 7 started at 9:45pm, and runner 12 finished at 5:00am. I was runner number 9 and ran 9.6 from about 12 midnight until about 1:45am. This fact is amazing enough in and of it's self considering I am a 9 o'clock bedtime girl. What was more amazing was the fact that I didn't sleep in the van after and was able to offer support to the other runners after me until we turned the baton over to Van 1 for the morning shift and then we could all crash together.

This "list" goal accomplishment felt so amazing to me. I put it on the "list" as a way to challenge my self and my tendencies to turn in early. I have pushed my self to stay up late at times, but have never been "up all night". Not after high school graduation; (fizzled around 3am); not in college; (it was easier to get up early and study than stay up late for me); not as a young adult in her 20's;(there was nothing to stay up late for in Idaho Falls). Never. So, to have this opportunity to truly test my limits was amazing.

I initially signed up for the team for the running experience, but when I discovered I would be a late night runner, I knew that this would count as a "checked off" event if I did it. I had serious doubts that I could, though. I prepared for weeks leading up to it. Cutting back on activities, banking as many sleep hours as I could, running once in the dark to see how it feels. I even packed caffeine gel packs just in case. But I think the stress and anxiety just pumped adrenaline into my blood and I don't think I have had a funner, stronger, more exhilarating run ever. The night was perfectly clear, cool temps but not cold or windy. I kept waiting for the fatigue to hit as each new mile approached. When I hit the last mile sign, I couldn't believe how great I felt and I could have kept going if I had to.

And for those of you who worried about me, we had lots of runners and support vehicles on the route. I was never alone, and could see and be seen with my head lamp, reflective vest and "tail" light. It was just the most surreal experience I can remember having. The exhilaration of my success helped me help the rest of my team finish. We felt such success to all have such strong runs and make it to that exchange, we truly created a party atmosphere all night long and didn't stop until just as dawn was breaking.