Ragnar 2010

On February 26 & 27 me and 11 other women ran a relay race from Prescott to Mesa. (To learn more about Ragnar click here). It was probably one of the most physically and mentally challenging things I have ever done. We were all exhausted, we were all sore, were were all spent but one thing is for sure, we are all signing up for next year! Here's how it all went down...

The women of Van #2

My sister-in-law, Nan (our lifesaver and ROCK who drove the van) Kalyn Talor, Christine Sturgis, Megan Taylor, Me, Amanda Taylor, and Sasha Wayas (no, none of the "Taylors" are related). This is us after arriving at our first exchange point where we will meet up with Van #1. Energy was high!!!

Our first "legs" (we each ran 3 legs of the 36 leg relay race)

Me getting PUMPED UP for my 8.5 mile run. Probably listening to a little Black Eyed Peas. Let me hear you say Boom Boom Pow!

Running on some dirt road in Nowhere, Arizona

Alright so after we pushed through our first legs we were off to Wickenburg to eat and "Sleep". After having a less then satisfying meal at the local Denny's we crashed at the Wickenburg Church building. Right as we were all about to doze off in the cultural hall the call came from Van #1 to get moving to exchange #18 were we will PICK IT UP!!!!

Here is the only picture I have of our second legs...

Yeah, it was dark, very dark. We ran our second legs along Carefree Highway from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. My second leg came at about 3 a.m. I ran 6.5 miles and at about mile 4 I thought I might die. But then "Defying Gravity" started playing on my ipod and that gave me the boost of adrenaline I needed to finish.

After our second legs we were only about 20 miles from my house so we planned to come here to eat, shower and sleep. It worked out great, my sweet husband had breakfast burritos, bagels and lots of yummy fruit ready for us. And once again just as I was dozing off to sleep the call came from Van #1 to get a move on to Exchange #30. Time to bring it home!!!

Me stretching before my last leg...

We are missing Sasha in this picture. She had just started her last leg when we took this. All of us in the van had between a 3 and 4 mile run for our last leg, except Sasha. Her last leg was over 8 miles. She had to run from Fountain Hills to Mesa along the B-Line Highway. I have no idea how she did it but she said it stunk pretty bad. She made it though.

Hey look it's Chris!!

My Bro-in-law came over from Cali to run with some friends!! Looking good my brother.

And here I am on my last leg...

It was only 3.5 miles but it was the worst 3.5 miles I have ever run in my life. I'm not even sure what time we crossed the finish line. But we crossed it. I think it was about 3:30 p.m. Thirty-three hours after Van #1 started the race in Prescott the morning before. And here is the gang at the finish line!!!

The runners of Van 1 were Mel Proudfit, Becky Proudfit, Amber Pollei, Catherine Griffith, Brook Samuelain, and Joy Bottjer. My hats off to you ladies, you ran a great race!!!

My Night With Larry

This is my good friend Larry. Him and I hung out at the Suns game on Saturday night. For those of you who don't know Larry (possibly everyone reading this blog) well, he is a football player. But not just any football player. Larry Fitzgerald is a wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals. He is a pro-bowler and one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. If you still aren't sure who he is here are some pictures that might help you recognize him...

Yeah, he's pretty amazing. Ok so the story goes, Dave and I were given amazing court side Suns tickets by Mr. Gary Knight (thank you Gary!!!). The two seats next to me were empty the entire first quarter then at the beginning of the second quarter Larry and his friend sit down. I glanced to see who was sitting next to me then turned to Dave and said, "I feel like I should know this person sitting next to me". Dave looked over and replied "Yeah, that's Larry Fitzgerald". I just about peed my pants. After I gained composure and went from red to pink I leaned over to Larry and said "I'm not sure which is better, sitting court side or sitting next to Mr. Fitzgareld". He said "Hey, how you doing" and shook my hand then graciously agreed to take a picture. And that was my night with Larry. Need I mention that the friend sitting next to him was Aaron Rodgers...here are some pictures of Mr. Rodgers...

Aaron Rodgers is the QB for Green Bay. Good times, good times.

Dying to be Toothless

Aubrey can be a little dramatic...to say the least. And one thing that is completely troubling her these days is the fact that she has not lost a tooth. Aubrey will be 7 years old tomorrow, she is more then half way through the 1st grade, and much to her dismay, she still has all her baby teeth in tact. Two weeks ago we went to the dentist for a routine cleaning and Aubrey received what she called "The worst news of my life!!!" The dentist informed her that it would probably be another 12 months or so before she looses a tooth. AAAHHHHHH!!!!

Just to put into perspective how troubling this is to this little girl I'll take you back to presidents day weekend. Our cousins Brittany and Lauren were spending the night and Brittany knocked Lauren in the mouth and her loose tooth popped right out. This devastated Aubrey (the popping not the knocking) and she ran into her bedroom to sulk. Dave went in to console her to which Aubrey replied...

"I'm never going to loose a tooth and the Tooth Fairy is never going to visit me. I put a broken nail under my pillow and the Nail Fairy didn't even come."

So I guess Aubrey has resulted in putting other broken or "lost" objects under her pillow just so she can get some dumb fairy to visit her. Well, Aubrey, some lessons you learn the hard way. Happy Birthday Auby Daubs and thanks for making me laugh.