• Ragnar Father…

    Date: 06.21.2010 | Category: foster, Saturdays | Tags: ,,,

    What better way to spend Father’s Day weekend then running for 188.2 miles? Yep, basically a 24 hour period of 12 people gathered together to Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat. And it is an enjoyable experience full of sweat, laughter and running.

    The way it works is the team of 12 is split into 2 teams of 6. We each crowded into 2 vans or any other modes of transportation we could find. The first team of 6 met in Logan to start at 6:40am, but keep in mind they needed to be there at least an hour earlier for check-in and safety training. Then they were off and running. When all six runners completed their runs they handed off to van 2 and we started the process all over again. Repeat until the finish line.

    I ran leg 7 of the race, which ended up being a total of 12 miles. My first leg was a 4 mile run in the heat of the day between 12:30 and 1:30pm. I thought to myself 4.0 miles (easy), wrong! Something about the heat made it difficult. Which was the consensus from all the rest of the runners in my van as well when they finished running.

    We ran/drove through some very lovely country around Pineview Reservoir and the Snow Basin Ski Resort. I definitely will need to go back there again and enjoy it for a longer period of time. Snow Basin was the exchange point between Van 2 and Van 1 again. We switched and then enjoyed some lunch and shade for a couple of hours before heading off to my next run.

    East Canyon State Park and the climb to Hoback Summit. Time to try out my new head lamp and safety vest. I started running around 9:30 PM and finished 3.8 miles later up a hill to Hoback Summit. I ran from dusk to dark and this was a very interesting experience. My first real hill climb run and it was in the dark. All you could see was a line of people in front of you running in the same direction with blinking lights – very strange feeling. If the runners in front of me turned side ways for a brief moment I was not able to see them.

    The rest of my team spent the night running by Echo Reservoir and Rock Port Reservoir and at this point in the race I think sleep deprivation was catching up with us. Let’s just say my chest was burning from laughing too hard while the youngest member of our team was running through the darkness.

    At some point in the night I tried to get some sleep on the sidewalk next to a small store in Coalville, just so I could stretch out the legs from the cramped quarters of the van. I had it in my mind that I wanted to try to stay awake until we got to the next exchange place to switch over to van 1 runners so I could get more continuous sleep. This did not work out so well. By the time we got to the exchange place I couldn’t really get to sleep and once I did it was not continual and then it was time to get up and go meet the other van so I could start running again. Yahoo!

    This time my run was 4.2 miles through Heber up to the Deer Creek Reservoir. This was my last and final run of the race and it was nice and easy, except for the fact that I was trying to run on about 2 hours of broken sleep. When I finished I said goodbye to the rest of the team and headed off to the second big event of the day for me. So I was not able to officially cross the finish line with my team, but I was there in spirit and sweat.

    I rushed to get ready and down off the mountain to get to the Gateway Mall in time to receive my award of Utah Foster Father of the Year for the Salt Lake Valley region. This is quite an honor and I am very appreciative of this award. I stood on the stage with 4 other awesome men who were receiving the same award for their region. We were each introduced and a brief bio of our nomination was read to the audience as they presented the award.

    I was taken by surprise as they read my bio, because this was something that I had not heard yet and it was not part of the Foster Roster announcement. They read the nomination that was sent in by my little man’s birth mother. I was so moved and caught by surprise that I must admit I did get a little teary eyed.

    After the award ceremony we had pictures taken and I was interviewed by the news. There was a luncheon for all the winners and their families. This turned out to be another great surprise that my wife had put together. Just before we sat down to start eating, guess who showed up? Yep our first foster placement who we successfully reunited back with his mother. They both came to congratulate and show support for me. It was so great to seem them both and good to see Baby H again. He looked the same, just bigger.

    Video Courtesy of KSL.com

    After such a wonderful experience of running through the night, 12 miles in total, being awarded the Foster Father of the Year award and getting emotionally drained by all the surprises, it was time for some sleep and time to start preparing mentally for my next challenge. 26.2 miles straight through, bring it on.