Ragnar

 Ragnar has always been Ronnie's thing.  Running for that matter has always been Ronnie's thing.  And I was fine letting him have his thing.  I was good with my comfy 3 mile runs in the warm garage in front of my trashy TV.  But someone had to get all honorable and set up a family team with a bunch of really fun cousins and friends and an awesome Aunt to run the Utah Ragnar.  They were running in honor of their grandpa and grandma, their parents, their heroes.  How could I say no to that?  Yes, Ronnie finally found the weak spot in my "no thanks, you go ahead, someone needs to stay with the kids" armor.  I was committed. I trained, I freaked out, I got hurt, I freaked out some more, I trained harder, I did it.  It wasn't even the running that was the hardest part for me.  I didn't want to be in that car with 5 other stinky people for 2 days straight, sleeping on gym floors, eating nothing but power bars, pickles and chocolate milk.  But I have to admit, those 5 other people made it the best experience I think I could have had.  It was a blast.  I'm not going to say I want to run out and do another one but I haven't completely checked it off my list.

The Turpin Trespassers at the start line

Captian Ronnie, Jodee, cousin Jason and wife Autumn, cousin PREGNANT Mary, Awesome Aunt Nancy, sister in law Elizabeth and Husband Hayden, cousin Roger, friend Chris, and Rodgers crazy friend Rand there in back.

We were called the Turpin Trespassers because we all are connected through Ronnie's Mom's parents, Glen and Lucille Turpin.  Trespassers came from the family reunion a few years back where Ronnie was nearly arrested for trespassing on some grumpy old millionaires property.  See here

It was 6:30am at Utah State University. Autumn was geared up for her first leg. For those unfamiliar with Ragnar, we ran in a team of 12.  There was always one of us running on the course at all times.  The rest of the team follows along in 2 different vehicles and leapfrogs the runner to the next exchange point where the next runner starts.  Each of us ran 3 different legs totaling around 14 to 20 plus miles.

 Requirement #1, decorating the "van"

Getting ready to run my first leg.  We were in van 2 which means I was the 7th runner for our team and first runner in our van.

 And probably the best part about the whole thing was getting to hang out with this guy for 2 days straight.

Before- I was still happy

And during my first leg.  It was hot and I couldn't get into my run.  It was during this first run where I remembered I had trained at sea level and I was now high in the Mountains of Utah sucking wind.  I never forgot that again.  I think at this point I said something to them like "this sucks glass" or something like that...

Bethie waiting for Ronnie to run all the way up to Sundance Ski Resort!

Here he comes

Van #2 plus our little cheerleader Lakely

After this exchange we all had finished our first legs.  We drove into town for some dinner and a movie before we started the night runs.  

I started us off around 12:30am geared up with my flashers and headlamp ready to take on my big hill.  It was freezing and I was so slow up that mountain but it was probably my favorite run of the three. Except for maybe that part when the deer jumped out of the bushes and darted across the road right in front of me in the pitch dark!

Ronnie coming in from his night run at some crazy early hour

 The other van always looked rested and chipper.  They got to sleep while we were running through the night.

Autumn and Jason

Jason, PREGNANT Mary and Rodger

Awesome Aunt Nancy

Hayden was pretty excited that we were starting our 3rd and final legs

 Ronnie handing off at the very last exchange to Bethie.  Next up was the finish line and boy were we happy!

YAHOO!!!  It really was a fun experience.  We have so many memories that we will laugh about forever.  It was amazing to be able to run with Ronnie's family.  They are hilarious and loving and so strong.  

We all headed back to Spring Heaven Lodge to meet up with the rest of the Turpin clan for a fun reunion weekend.  

Why we did this...