GTR-Running With Scissors

Bailey and I had the opportunity to run in the Grand Teton Relay this year. We were part of the Austin Kade team, 'Running With Scissors.' The relay is just like Ragnar. It's a 12 person, 2 driver, 180 mile adventure! We had an AWESOME time! The first thing we did was meet on Thursday night and decorate our vans. We used a hair theme since Austin Kade was our team sponsor. We had giant scissors strapped to the front, and even mounted doll heads to the top of the van. Our vans looked great!

Our team members were:

Van 1: Zakk Lillie, Brittany Thornock, Bailey Varvel, Alison & Andy McCall, Tricia Varvel, and Mark was our driver.

Van 2: Nate Reese, Sunny Miller, Sam Skinner, Jodi Stapelman, Jim Hopla, Brad Whitehead, and Tyler Price was their driver.

Van 1 started at 11:30 on Friday. It was SO HOT during our first legs of the race. We all plowed through the heat, hills, and altitude and did great!

Bangs Brittany, Mowhawk Mama, and Bedhead Bailey!

Curly Girl, Afro Andy, and Big and Sexy Zakk!

Van 1 ready to go!

Zakk was runner one, and he got us off to a great start!

Brittany had a long, hot run on a dusty dirt road.

I love this picture! Mark takes his job very seriously :)!

Bailey had a brutal first leg. It was 7.4 miles. The first part was downhill, but then she had 3 miles of a BRUTAL hill. I felt so bad for her! She was sure glad when it was over!

Alison had a tough first leg too. She had hills, and heat to deal with. Her leg was a nonsupport leg, so we couldn't even be there to cheer for her and spray her with water.

While Alison was running, we stopped at Lower Mesa Falls. 

By the time Andy ran his first leg, it was 98 degrees! 

I was our van's last runner! 

After we finished, we went to eat, and then rested in a park until we were called for our night runs.

Our second round of running was AWESOME! It was the night runs! Alison, Andy, and I had the Rails to Trails portion of the course. It was on a trail and the van had no access to the runners. We thought it would be scary in the middle of the night. There was a bear sighting on this section the previous year. It ended up being so peaceful, and was my favorite leg.

Zakk and Brittany all suited up and ready for their night running.

She was a pretty cute flag girl! 

Our team waiting for Brad to come in and hand off to Zakk. 

Bailey was an awesome helper. She got out of the van at every stop to spray people, cheer for them, or give them water.

Bailey waiting to get the handoff from Brittany. 

Alison was nervous about her night run because she had the longest section with no van access. She ended up loving it. 

Andy waiting for Alison to come in. 

I was our van's last night runner!

After we finished the second legs of our journey, we went to a high school to sleep. Zakk and Brittany paid a couple bucks to go into the school and sleep. The rest of us just put our tarps and sleeping bags on the grass to sleep. We laid down at 3:00 in the morning, and at 4:00 THE SPRINKLERS CAME ON!!! We grabbed our stuff and made a mad dash off the grass. Everyone except for Bailey that is. She was dead to the world. Mark even ran onto the grass and tried to carry her off. It was too much to carry with her, a wet sleeping bag, tarp and pillow. She eventually made it off the grass, but by then everything was soaking wet! There went our sleep for the night! We tried to rest in the van until 6:00 in the morning when they called us to start our last legs of the relay.

Zakk had a non support leg. While he was running, we enjoyed the great view of the Tetons.

Brittany was excited to be on her last run. She passed a guy and he said, "She's fast! She's dang fast!"

Bailey was sore and exhausted. She was not looking forward to her last leg of the race. Good thing it was a short one. She kicked butt! She ran her last 5K in 24:00! That's pretty impressive considering what she had already done.

She was so happy to be finished!

Alison finishing strong!

Bailey got Elder Varvel out to cheer! 

When Andy was running, we heard a big thump. We all gasped because we thought Mark hit something. When we looked out the window, this is what we saw! We all screamed, and then laughed so hard! Apparently our doll heads were just as tired as we were!

Andy handing off to me for our final leg! 

Yay! Van 1 is finished!

 Once we finished, we went and got dinner, and waited at the finish line for Van 2.

Van 1 was AWESOME!

We all put on our 'Running With Scissors' shirts and wore wigs across the finish line. We also carried noise makers, giant scissors, and a few doll heads! 

Here is crazy van 2!

We brought Sawyer across the finish line with us! 

I wish Sawyer could have really been with us. Having his friends there was the next best things. I'm gonna be sad when these kids leave on their missions and to college.

When it was all said and done, we ended up winning BEST DECORATED VANS! We had a feeling we would with all the stares and comments we were getting. We also got 9th place overall! There were 100 teams that started, 80 that finished, and we got 9th!!! We weren't expecting that! Way to go 'Running With Scissors!'

It was a great weekend, and I'm already looking forward to next year!