The Dirty Dash - World's Muddiest Race

Before:

 

Dirty Dash: noun. A 10K that consists of running through meadows, wild mud fights, killer dog piles, untamed mud- wrestling, gigantic slip- and-slides, mud, mud, mud and more mud...

After :

 

Check It Out:

RED ROCK RELAY

I am going to report on one of the most epic weekend adventures I have ever experienced in my 20 years of living:

 

Two Days

2 Vans

187 Miles

12 Teammates 

140 Slays

23 hours 17 minutes

1 WIN…

The RED ROCK RELAY

    

The race begins at 11,000 feet at Brian Head Ski resort then travels Dixie Nat'l Forest, Cedar Breaks, Snow Canyon, St. George, and ends at the entrance to Zion National Park, totaling a whopping 187 Miles.

Meet the Sun Van of TEAM JIMMER:

Team Jimmer is comprised of 12 individuals divided into 2 vans. 

Dan, Eric, Tristram, Ryan, Chels and I were in the sun van and several other avid runner friends were in the other. (The Sun Van=Party Van...hence the random woman who wanted her picture with the notorious "Jimmer Van")

SO here is how our Red Rock Relay experience went:

Start Time: 10:10am on Friday Morning

Finished: 9:25am on Saturday Morning  

(AKA: Sleeping was not included in this weekend getaway)

Each van has 6 teammates and each teammate runs a leg ranging from 3 to 8 miles (depending on the level of difficulty). After each member runs they pass off the baton (aka the sacred slap bracelet) to the other van which does another 6 legs. The vans continue to leap frog back and forth until everyone has individually run three legs.  (Everyone runs about 18 miles by the end of the relay). 

Look at Chels ROCKIN' IT

The vans drop off their runner follow their runner cheering, giving water, splits, and moral support. Our van typically blared music and had a dance party every mile or so.  As exemplified by Dan, below in his "one-zie,"dancing.

 

We were P-U-M-P-E-D. 

We painted our bodies to show our team Spirit.

JIMMER #1 BABY 

Tris's mustache stayed on the ENTIRE TIME,

rain or shine.

Ryan had other motives...why not pick up an attractive, athletic woman at the same time?

We slept, ate, cheered, sweated, bonded, and lived in this van for the weekend as we traveled across Southern Utah...

Needless to say, Chels and I got a dang good glimpse of boy life. 

Farting, Burping, man-talk, you name it, we experienced it!!! 

The van smelt DELIGHTFUL.

Dan, Tris and Ryan are three of my best friends.

Chels and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them.   

They have wisdom beyond their years and humor that could kill.

We all share the same-crazy sense of humor...RARE...and we laugh, laugh 

and laugh. 

I think I burnt more calories laughing then running.

I will forever be grateful to each one of them=they have changed my life!!!!!

These picture capture their personalities quite well:

Yes, Dan wore those "holey" superman pjs the entire time. 

Yes, Tris seductively drinks water. 

Yes, Dan parked the cars to make them look like they were kissing. 

Yes, "Slim-Jim"  is the name of Dan's belly. (It replaced "chuck")

Yes, they'll whoop anyone in a dance competition...HIP THRUST MASTERS

  

I have 3 stories emulating the degrees of emotion experienced on this journey:

10:30pm on Friday we stopped at New Castle to get some food. We stopped at "Rokko's Pizza Shop"-the ONLY place to stop in New Castle. After inhaling a pizza or two, we all went to a church parking lot and slept in the van for an hour before we embarked on our nightly runs through the desert.  Well, long story short, that Rokko's Pizza literally "ROCKED" our bodies. Talk about a cleansing of the body. Those Port-o-Potties became our best friends. Nasty, I know, but it was absolutely HYSTERICAL. When you run, run, cheer, run, eat-crappy, and don't sleep, it really takes a toll on your body. 

Story 2: We ran our second legs in the desert from midnight until 3:00am. Of 209 teams, we were now in the lead! With the silence of the night, a single headlamp piercing the darkness and the light of the moon guiding our pathway, we ran for hours alone. I LOVED running at night, I could not help but thank God for creating such a beautiful world.  

After our second leg, we slept on lawn chairs in a rec-center next to a pool (RANDOM) for an hour before our final set of legs. We were SOOOO EXHAUSTED at this point. I wanted to collapse on the floor because of the intense pain consuming my muscles as I walked to the lawn chairs. Ten minutes later (okay, an hour later) the boys woke us up and we were back on the road. (Most teams had longer rest periods but our team was haulin' so we did not have time to sleep.)

It was still dark.  After Ryan ran his 8 miles, Chels got out and grabbed the headlamp and reflector vest from him and began to run her leg.  After a few miles, we all drove up to the five mile mark, parked and waited for her.  After what seemed like an eternity, we did not see Chels.  We decided to drive back and retrace the route to find her...we could NOT find her. We all started to panic. It was the middle of the night, no other team was around, and we were in a foreign city.  Everyone was silent.  I started praying in my heart as I fought back tears. I would die if something happened to her. Eric, suggested we say a prayer for her. At the conclusion, he looked up and immediately shouted: "THERE SHE IS!" We saw her red light bobbing up and down.  Chels had not seen the directed path and continued up a GIANT 1.6 MILE HILL. Chels is a CHAMP. She went up this monstrous hill and instead of complaining, she apologized for making that mistake and insisted on running back-no, no, no we drove her back to the course. She is an angel.  We all about broke down in tears of relief as we shut the door.  PRAYER WORKS.  From then on, we stayed sooo close to our runners. 

Story 3:

My final leg was a 6.4 mile run at 6:00am.  The sun was rising and the red rock was stunning. My route was absolutely breathtaking! The first few miles of my run consisted of a 60* incline up a never-ending red rock mound. I was suffering from my asthma and ankle issues and mere exhaustion but I was determined to run as hard as I could, I refused to let my team down.  At the conclusion of the beastly red rock mound, Chels jumped out of the van and started running with me.  My team in the van, blared "All These Things I've Done" by the Killers (I love that song) and were cheering me on, despite their exhaustion. Chels started talking to me like we always did on our morning runs and all of a sudden, boosts of energy started firing in my muscles and I conquered my leg. Words cannot fully captivate the extreme love and gratitude I felt for Chels, my friends, and my physical capability to run. Running has provided some of my best lessons in life. 

After 23 hours of running, we finally saw this beautiful site:

Out of 209 Teams, TEAM JIMMER CAME IN FIRST

 Team Jimmer next to the vans totaling the number of kills (aka teams passed) or as Ryan puts it "Muggles Slayed" : 140! 

WHAT A GLORIOUS ADVENTURE

A New Chapter

I am now a junior at BYU.  

 I live in this cute olive-green duplex of love with three of the most spectacular women alive. To me, it is a mini heaven. The house has creaky wood floors (mornings are the best), is completely furnished with new furniture, and has a classy color scheme. It is perfect for JC-reunions, visitors, sleepovers, you name it.

Our D-A-R-L-I-N-G cottage on 9^th East.

My home. My sanctuary.

 It has been 9 months since I have been on my stomping ground, in the city where I thrive, the home of my dearest friends…and I could not be MORE EXCITED.  The blessed experiences I elatedly tackled this year have CHANGED ME. I am not the same woman I was the last time I left this place. As I walk home from school every day, I think about this beautiful concept of growth.  Change is good. We are never done learning and changing.  Whether it is a positive change... is completely up to you.

A brief update of my life currently:

Work: I have a job!!!! I am a TA of the Social-Psych 350 class and I absolutely love it. I took this class in the summer.  Being a subject I thoroughly enjoy, I excelled, and in turn was offered this position.  I teach review sessions for the exams, grade the exams and other assignments, and have my own office hours each week to teach and assist the students to succeed in the course. This is a 350 class aka most of the students are married ,some with children.  When I stood in the classroom of “my students” for the first time, chills ran up my spine as I looked into the eyes of my esteemed peers. I am a young 20 year old, what makes me think I can have this immense responsibility?  However, confidence and excitement immediately took over.  
A) Age does not decipher ability B) I know and mastered the material earlier C) They have no idea I am 20 :) 

Ask my mom and she will tell you how much I love this job. My biggest responsibility is to help others excel academically in this class…I am all about using my abilities to help others better succeed. 

Training for a Marathon. Chels and I are running the St. George Marathon on October 1^st. OCTOBER 1^ST!!!!! That is in…..three “short” weeks.  I am so busy and have little time to quickly pound out a hard core workout every day.  We run as much as our schedules and bodies will allow. We have been tremendously blessed.  Saturdays are our HARD DAYS. Although it is tempting to push "snooze" and continue sleeping on Saturday mornings, I find more fulfillment running for hours in the morning, getting "lost" in the beautiful nature of Provo and Orem. Did I mention I love Provo? Chels and I just ran 15 miles this morning. I can do this. I can run this marathon.

Classes. I originally was signed up for 17 credits but I had to drop down to 16, I just couldn't do it this semester. I am taking some of the hardest and most time consuming classes I have ever taken. One in particular is my 276R Class. It is a course for History and Social Science Secondary Education Majors. It is FOUR hours every single day. We meet and learn about what I want to do when I grow up: teach! We wear suits or professional clothing of some kind in order to professionally represent BYU and to stick out from the high school students-lets me honest, many of us look like we just graduated :) Side note: To me, suits symbolize adulthood, maturity, and professional careers. I feel like yesterday I was playing “Jobs” with my little sisters in our unfinished basement and now I am preparing to actually be the “grown-up”. WHAT?!

We go to recording studios where we are recorded teaching lessons (on any topic of our choice) in front of our college class and professor. The students and professor critique and grade us on our teaching abilities. Intimidating, right? After which, we have to actually watch ourselves on the DVD. Who likes to watch films of themselves? Not me. 

Since taking this class, I have discover a deeper love for teaching...I LOVE TEACHING. 

I love everything about it. 

-Anyway-

We go to varying high schools, an elementary school, a junior high, and three alternative high schools, to REALLY teach in classroom settings and to learn from the wisdom of successful teachers. We have this SWEET BADGE signifying the clearance of the fingerprinting and background checks we received to allow us to get a teaching licenses. I just went on Friday to Orem elementary school.  I ate lunch in the cafeteria with “my girls,” ran around the playground, did Miss Conover’s work during her prep period, read books with children, taught them arithmetic, and spelling.
 

Story time: My experience with Landon. He is a blue-eyed, blonde-haired boy, a head shorter than all of the students, with a smile that could melt your heart. Did I mention he is the naughtiest kid in the class? Miss Conover was so irritated; Landon is constantly on the go, he won’t focus, easily distracted, and voices his opinion about everything. I decided to step in to give Miss Conover a break. Landon was in from recess because he did not do his math homework…so I was going to help him with his addition problems. Miss Conover needed to help many other students and could not attain to Landon’s lack of obedience, at the moment.  My fellow teaching mate could not get him to even look at her, so she directed her attention elsewhere.  I was not going to let this little guy slip through the cracks again on another assignment; I was determined to reach this kid. I mean, look at him, he looks like an angel. How hard could it really be? I knelt across the table from him and for a few minutes I actively tried to get his attention. Right when I got him looking at the problems, he immediately looked away and started pretending his pencil eraser was a rocket.  The first problem was literally 1+1.  I held up my fingers repeatedly and he would count them with ease. He could do these problems, he just chose not to.  I felt like I was pulling teeth to get him to even look at his paper.  He then took off to go play with the puppets.  After what seemed like an eternity, I was able to get him back into his miniature chair with his feet on the ground.  I was not going to give up. As I was contemplating on what grand idea I should try next, I noticed he kept looking up at something. I looked up, searching for the object that obviously was catching more attention from him than any of us could possibly hope for.  I asked him what he was looking at and instantly, he started scribbling something onto his paper. I looked down and it was the number “2.” I raised my hands in the air and started screaming: “LANDON, YOU DID IT!” He evilly laughed and quickly replied, “I tricked you.”  Ok, I got him figured him out=He likes his games and so maybe a little friendly competition may encourage him.  (Boys like their competition)! I challenged him to race me and prove to me he was faster than I was.  We raced through dozens of problem. A few evil laughs here, a tie there, and Landon conquered his first math worksheet. (I think we had a total of 12 tie-breakers because he insisted on winning and I insisted finishing 12 more math problems ;). I about cried with joy today because a little boy named Landon finished his math homework. Who would have thought?! I am here to attest: Miracles do happen. Even though, I am not interested in Elementary teaching. Miss Conover and those little children taught me very valuable lessons today. 

The Reason. I am SOOOO blissfully happy. I also am SOOOO busy. Most days, I honestly don’t know how I will accomplish everything I set out to do but somehow everything important gets done.  I feel the comfort, protection, and strength from a higher power.  No one can tell me there is not a God. God exists. His Son, Jesus Christ, is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I feel God in EVERYTHING I do. He is not only the reason but is the means by which I am able to do all of these things.  I do not know where or what I will be doing in the future but I feel confident in the path I am taking right now to take me to the places I need and want to go. I feel peace. I feel joy.