Sawtooth Relay 2014

Another mom (Tiffany) from my Boise Babies and Tots mom's group posted on our Facebook group that she was wanting to do a Sawtooth Relay team of moms.  I have always wanted to do a long distance relay so I jumped at the chance.  We have been planning since February and this weekend was the big event.  Our team name was the "Runaway Moms".
We all drove up to Stanley, ID which is about an hour out of Sun Valley.  We stayed in a townhouse that was super nice and had a great view of the mountains.  Friday night Heather cooked us a pasta dinner and we stayed up til around 11pm chatting and laughing.

Chelsea my long run buddy.

Heather, Erin, Tiffany

Kim and I

We had an early wake up call of 3:30am in order to make it to the start line to check in at 4:30am.  There are about 300 teams that run the race and the start times varies based on your predicted pace.  Our start time was 5am.  It was in the 30's for the start with a full moon.
I was the second leg and started just as the sun was rising.  My first leg had about 350ft in elevation gain and was 5.84 miles.  I was surprised at how the higher elevation in Stanley compared to Boise made my breathing heavier from the start. I ended up finishing in 51:37 with a 8:51/mile pace.

Morning of at packet pickup in the elementary school gym.

At the start.  We kept track of our own times thus the clipboard.

Chelsea and I's first exchange.  Putting that reflective vest on was a beast while running.

Handing off my gloves partway through my run.

My exchange with Tiffany.

Surprisngly the time in the van in between legs went by really quick.  We would stop a couple times along the route for each of our runners in case they needed water, food, or to drop off clothing layers.
My second leg was the 8th leg of the race (out of 12).  This time I ran 5.11 miles in 42:41 with a 8:21/mile pace.  There was an elevation loss of 230 feet. My goal before running this leg was to run it faster than my previous leg so I was happy with my time.

Couldn't beat the views.  This was snapped on my second leg of the day.

All of our team did so well with each of our legs and we ended up averaging 9 minute miles and finished running 63 miles in 9 hours and 20 minutes.
At the finish you wait about 100 meters from the finish line with your team members till you see your team member who is running and then you all cross together.

At the finish.

The race ends in Sun Valley at a park where they have a live band and and awesome meal prepared for runners.
We hung out at the park and ate for awhile then Tiffany, Chelsea, and I headed back to the townhouse in Stanley while the rest of our team met up with family.  Us three girls enjoyed a relaxing evening snacking, chatting, and watching Criminal Minds and then an early bedtime.  I have SOOOO been looking forward to sleeping in and not being woken up by anything or anyone.  I feel like I haven't been able to sleep in for about two years.  It was GLORIOUS getting 11 hours of sleep and having my body wake up naturally.
Such a great weekend and can't wait to do this race again.