Top of Zion

Top of Zion was easily the most beautiful and hardest relay I've ever done.  Much of it was at elevations of 7000 to 9000 feet and up and down mountains.  You started this race in Capital Reef park, ran through Bryce and ended in Zion's.  It was gorgeous.  And I always love being stuck in a sweaty van for 30 odd hours with some of my people.  Most of the team were strangers to me before this race, but as relays do, they provided new opportunities for friends.  And I had my girls Malia and Cami to keep things fun.

Malia taking in the view before our first run.

Van 2, ready to run. Justin, Kirstin, Malia, Alan, Cami and myself.

My friend Cory Vause is such a rock star! We were in the MTC together 15 year ago and now I talked him into running a relay.  It was such a ball to have him on the team.

 

It's never fun running uphill in the heat of the day but Malia is a champ and she handled it extremely well!

6.5 sweaty miles later, I made it and was rewarded with some more breathtaking scenery!

This race was so beautiful it was distracting as a runner.  I kept having to remind myself to watch the road and get back to running because it was seriously stunning.

And evening picnic in the park before our second legs.  Very pleasant.

Cami the "Moth Ninja"!

 

The final exchange of the race, Cami hands off to Justin and we're just 7 miles from the finish.



The last few miles of the race dropped us down into the northwest corner of Zion's National Park, so that's where we got to finish.  Somewhere there is a picture of the entire team at the finish line, with our medals, however, I'm not sure where those pictures ended up though.  

One of the coolest parts of the trip for me, was the drive back to St. George through Zion's National Park.  It was truly gorgeous and I took a lot of pictures from the back window of the van.