Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat! - Part II

Note:  This is a continuation of my last blog post - "Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat!" located here.

Another note:  Due to confusion regarding "Ashby", I've edited this post.

Next to run in the hottest part of the day was "Ashby"-A and "Ashby"-B.

I suppose now is the time to explain that as time went on, I kept mixing up two of the ladies in our van.  I've known them both for years, but for some reason I just couldn't get their names straight.  It may have been because they were rather inseparable during the race.  Or maybe their giggles sound about the same.  And there were LOTS of giggles coming from those two!  Nonstop giggling.  At least that is what I remember most about "Ashby".  As exhaustion sets in, everything becomes funny.  This is why I refer to these two ladies as "Ashby".  Oh, and because it is a combination of their names.  To distinguish when needed, and to protect the innocent, there will be Ashby-A and Ashby-B.

While the first Ashby (Ashby-B) was out running, we went out ahead to meet her part-way into her leg.  The heat was torturing all the runners.  Especially Ashby-B.  As we waited for Ashby-B, we saw lots of walking runners in bad shape.  One even completely lost it and was taken out of the race completely.  Someone gave that lady some ice to help her cool down.  When Ashby-B arrived at our cheering spot, she was not doing well.  Ashby-B forgot to take her medication and was obviously suffering from the heat.  We fixed her up best we could and she continued on her way.



K8 made these ice cups for us, so we sucked on these to keep us cool.



I was licking mine as we drove up the road to meet Ashby-B again.  She still didn't look well.  I asked if she wanted some ice, and she nodded yes.  So without thinking I gave her my ice cup that I had been sucking on and just plopped it into her water bottle and sent her on her way.  Oops!

Well, she did survive, and we sent the other "Ashby" (Ashby-A) on her way.  While the Ashby-A was out running, we decided we had to buy a bag of ice and get some water & Gatorade.  So we quickly headed to a store and bought some supplies - and then rushed over to greet Ashby-A's arrival.  Unfortunately, we were only able to honk at Ashby-A as she ran and as we drive by.

Here we are waiting for Ashby-A's return.



And here we have Ashby-A back and cooling down.  She was also VERY insistent that I take a picture of her blister :)



K8 took off like lightning.  She was very fast.  After Ashby-A cooled down, we drove up to the next exchange, which was a major exchange to pass the baton from van 2 back to van 1 (Brandon).  As we drove up, we were astonished at how close to the exchange K8 was already.  Panicked, I called up Rob in van 1 and basically said "K8 is going to be there in like 2 minutes - be ready!"  Fortunately Brandon was ready before K8 arrived.  K8 came in at lightning speed and made the exchange.

After a couple seconds, this random runner grabs K8 from behind.  I was taken back a little, then realized he was keeping her from falling over.  She was obviously very dizzy from that crazy heat!  But she was still smiling and proud of her great speed!  I took over to keep her steady.



K8 adds tick-marks for her "kills" onto our tally count on the van.



We had a few moments with the rest of van 1 while Brandon was out running a 10 mile leg.  It turned out that the heat also took it's toll on Brandon.  Later, as we were getting stats on van 1, I kept thinking something was wrong.  Brandon doesn't run that slow - I kept saying.  But I guess even he isn't immune to heat exhaustion.

Here we catch up as out team (minus Brandon) at Exchange 12.

[caption id="attachment_1324" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="While Brandon runs, we enjoy our time as a team at Exchange 12"][/caption]



We also had a few "stalkers" in the race.  We kept seeing the "Don't wanna be's" team, also from our small town.  We saw them at almost every exchange.  I took this photo of Lorie and I, so I could prove to her father (the Bishop) that we were in the same crazy race!  That's her newlywed husband in the background.



The other "stalker" was K8's husband and young child.  They stalked us the whole time - earning K8's husband the "most awesome husband" award as he would bring the baby to be nursed, and helping us with pictures taking, etc.  They were very welcome stalkers.

Oddly enough, our van didn't stink as badly as you might think after carrying 6 stinky slimy runners throughout the heat of the day.  Or maybe I just can't smell.



J became the obvious designated driver after a while.  He also became the designated navigator when it became clear that the rest of us were rather incapable of navigating or driving.  I don't know how many times I would see him driving the steering wheel with his knees while holding a binder of maps in his lap and programming a GPS simultaneously.  But that was probably the safest option:)

Our van now had a long, well needed break from 4:30pm until about midnight while the runners in van 1 ran their legs.  We stopped at Panera in Temecula.  I treated Cousin and myself to dinner on a gift card I got from my mother-in-law, Cristel.



I think we spent almost 2 hours in Panera.  It was great to just relax and get some good food into our system.

Before heading to the next major exchange, we made a pit-stop at Costco so I could get some underwear (I forgot to pack enough for the whole race).  As it turns out, the use of the word "underwear" produced quite a few giggles from certain ladies in our van (this is a story all by itself).  Maybe they had never heard a member of the Bishopric use that word before.  I tried to convince Ashby-A that even though I'm currently serving as a counselor to the Bishop at Church, I am still a normal person.  That produced even more giggles.

Heat exhaustion wasn't quite over yet.  Ashby-B struggled to get some food down at Panera.  As we arrived at the next major exchange, Ashby-B lost her dinner:(

TO BE CONTINUED...

In my next post, find out how much sleep we really got and what we gave up to get that sleep, how we lost our ability to perform simple arithmetic, and why 203 miles wasn't enough for this Ragnar team!

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