Run. Drive. PUKE!!! Repeat.

Okay folks, get ready for one of those inspiring and heartwarming stories that begins with normal people setting out to accomplish the impossible and ends in physical and mental grind that will test the human spirit.

Meet (most of) the Fighting Tortugas!  Front (L-R) Amelia Guffey, Jacob Guffey, Bryan Piper, Mark McCormick & Sandy Shawver.  Back: Darryl Cunningham, Cali Storer, Mollie Smith, Cami Guffey, Heather Guffey, Jason Guffey, Shiloh Guffey, & Mike Guffey. 

This little pack of intrepid warriors fought through more adversity than most teams to cross the Ragnar Florida Keys finish line in Key West & earn those medals.  Here’s how it all unfolded from Cali’s perspective.

We all met as a team for the first time on the evening of Thursday the 6th, to discuss details and break bread together.  We were mostly a family team, but there were several people we hadn’t met.  Besides myself, there was my dad, my mom’s sister, Sandy (aka “the fun aunt”) two of my sisters, Shiloh & Cami, their husbands, Jason & Jacob, who talked their sisters, Mollie & Heather into running and their other sister Amelia and their dad into being our drivers. To fill out the remaining spots we had 3 of Jacob’s co-workers who turned out to be really awesome and fun guys!

 

January 7 5:30am – The six runners and driver for Van 1 were on the road headed to the start line.  After check in, safety briefing and packet pick-up, we had time for a few pictures on the beach before our first runner started.  Jason was our first runner so he got to race the sunrise!  (BTW Shiloh, Cami & I had all played on this beach before, way back in 1995 when we came for the Orange Bowl Parade with the band.)

They start the relay teams in waves and we had the 7:30am start, which meant the sun was coming up and the weather was great.

The Runners of Van 1, Me, Piper, Joe Cox, Jason, Shiloh & Mark.  Mike was our driver, so it was great to have him along.

So while we’re waiting for the gun to go off, the official was getting the crowd pumped up and he started asking a few trivia questions.  I won a cute Ragnar necklace because I knew what the first Ragnar and when it was run.  (Wasatch Back 2004 for those who were wondering.)

And we’re off!  Jason did awesome, he pumped out 3.3 miles at a faster pace than we expected, and he felt great afterward. 

Mark handing off to me for my first leg.  Mark knocked it out of the park too.  Those two guys were smoking.

My first 4.8 miles were awesome.  I felt good, found a pace I liked and just cruised. I wasn’t as fast as the guys, but it was still a great run.  Then I passed off to Joe, who really burned up the road.

Joe passed off to Shiloh to also came in under pace  and feeling good. 

And then Shiloh passed off to Piper, who was the last runner from our van.

By the time we went to meet up with our other van and hand off to them we were under pace and everyone was feeling great!

Cami’s cool Yoda tatoo gave her an extra edge on the long runs.

Let me just tell you, the Fighting Tortugas may not  have been the fastest, but we sure had the best team spirit.  As evidenced by Heather & Cami above and Sandy below.

Piper came in and handed off to Mollie and we (Van 1) were done for a while.

Van 2 was already decorated and sporting their mascot on the top, so we figured we’d better get moving and make the Tortuga Express 1 up to snuff.

We thought it would be fun to write our mileage on the van and then mark them off as we went along.

And finally a chance to rest.  We drove over to the next exchange, which happened to be at the Homestead Speedway, dropped our tarp and made our beds.  Unfortunately I think Shiloh was the only one who got any real sleep.  They were running go-karts on the test track and it was LOUD!  But at least we got to lie down for a little while and rest and that always helps.  I got a message from the babysitters that afternoon that Gideon was throwing up and running a fever.  There wasn’t much I could do but wish them luck and pray for my baby.  (My niece Emily was also sick.)

It was fun meeting up with the other van and hearing their stories of the road.  Like my dad taking a wrong turn and adding and extra mile to his leg and losing the turtle off the top while driving down the highway.  (Amazingly the turtle survived & regained his place of honor on the top of the van for the rest of the race.)

So Jacob was our final runner.  His first leg was 8.3 miles and the last mile and a half of that was around the track at the speedway.  He said it was the longest mile and a half of his life.  I wouldn’t have wanted to do it.  He was seriously superman.

There was lots of fun stuff going on at the speedway including a volunteer dressed as a fairy “blessing” the feet of the runners as she directed them past.  (Sadly I didn’t get pictures of that. She showed up after we left.  But don’t worry, you’ll get to see photos of that eventually, it was my mom.)

And here he comes like a champ!

So this is supposed to be a photo of the exchange in the speedway as Jacob hands it back over to Jason, but somehow the baton (in this case a slap bracelet) got dropped and both of them bent down for it, so I missed everything.

This is where Jason handed off to Mark to begin our journey through the Everglades.  (Yes, this was the part we had to sign the special alligator waiver for.)  We got a message while Jason was running that Amelia (the driver of Van 2) had gotten sick.

Mark ran a killer 4-ish mile leg and then handed off to me.  This was around 6:30 pm and also where things started to go wrong.  First it was 8.2 miles along a canal road through the Glades at night.  That in itself was a terrifying prospect for someone who’s as scared of snakes and alligators as I am.  Secondly, when we got to the actual exchange, there were no porta-potties.  I took off for an 8 mile run through alligator territory with a very full bladder.  I have never been so scared of my own shadow in my life!  I was very jumpy and kept turning my music up louder so I couldn’t hear all the noises I’m sure I was imagining.  The first couple of miles were pretty good, despite my fears and the fact that we were on a gravel road, so I was sucking down dust every time a van passed.  But by about halfway through I started feeling really sick. I thought it was just because I had a full bladder, and as the run went on, it got worse and worse.  My head was hurting and I was feeling dizzy and disoriented.  Needless to say, it was a very slow 8 miles.  By the time I finished, I headed straight for the porta-johns.  When we got up to the van, I was feeling relieved just to not have met a gator on the path, but within 20 minutes, I was throwing up. 

Thus began one of the longest nights of my life.  2 other guys in our van (Joe and Piper) and our driver, Mike would all end up sick through the night and into the morning with me.  By the end of Saturday, Shiloh and Jason would both also be sick (at least they held off until the end of the race.)  And in the other van Heather, Sandy and my dad were fighting it too.  Anyway I was so sick, I have no photos from overnight.  When we were finished running, we drove down to the next exchange at Coral Shores High School.  I paid $3 for a shower and spent like an hour in the locker room just trying to feel better. Around 2am, after vomiting for like 6 hours straight, I asked my brother-in-law and his father for a blessing. I was so grateful that they were there.  Jason is now in the Bishopric.  Mike used to be in the bishopric but now he holds a higher position in the church as a stake Patriarch.  I still felt sick but I instantly felt comforted by their blessing and faith. Instead of going down to the next exchange to wait there for our runner, we found a quiet side of the building, spread our tarp and all six of us tried to crash.  Of course, there was some up and down with all the people getting sick and around 4:00am, there was a serious discussion about just calling it and trying again next year.  But my dad managed to rally the troops and we kept going.  (Of course on his very next leg, he jacked his knee up for good and was unable to run his final leg.  Shiloh ended up doing it for him, so instead of 3 legs, she ran 4.)  We took over from the other van for our final stretch about 9:00am Saturday.

Jason had a daunting 9.3 mile run down 7 mile bridge.  But he did awesome!  By the time my final run came around, I still wasn’t feeling great.  It’s the only run of my life I can honestly say I got sick before, during and after.  The worst part was that because I was so dehydrated, I was dizzy like you would not believe and getting cramps in places I didn’t know you could cramp (like wrists, neck and feet.)  But I finished it, and promptly vomited again when I was done.

When we crossed the finish line at 6:04 pm, We were about 3 hours and 15 minutes over our projected finish time, but considering all we’d gone through, we felt pretty good about the fact that we’d finished at all.  By the time we crossed the finish line Joe Cox was sick again, and sadly stuck in the hotel so he’s not in our final team picture which is a bummer, but what can you do?

After finishing, we walked around Key West for a little while, then loaded up and headed back to Ft. Lauderdale.  We got in after 1am and everyone just crashed.  My dad didn’t even shower, he just slept in his running clothes, race bib, finisher’s medal and all.  (It’s so funny how proud he is of his medal!  He’s planning on wearing it to work as soon as he’s back in Idaho!)

Sunday we took it easy.  We’d planned on singing in church, but with so many sick people, decided not to infect the entire church, so Cami canceled and we stayed home instead and sat around sharing “war stories” and comparing battle wounds.  And laughing of course.  Lots of laughter.

All the babies seemed very happy to have their parents back.

Look at sweet Maggie & Parker!  What cuties!  Around 1pm, Shiloh and Jason loaded up their van with their kids and the other Guffeys (Mike, Heather, Amelia & Mollie) and headed back north to the Carolinas, which were getting a blizzard.

“Not Wounded, Sir, but dead!”  That’s pretty much how we felt Sunday, but even with all the illness and adversity, every single member of our team expressed that they were glad that we did it and grateful for the opportunity.  They all said they’d do it again, and plans are already in the works for our next Ragnar experience.

Am I the only one freaked out about this?

Do you know what this is? It's a map of my second leg in this weekend's Ragnar. 8.5 miles through the southern Everglades. I have to sign an additional waiver against animal attack. Plus there are special instructions to exit all vehicles carefully on the left side, and no one but the runner is to be out of the vehicle during this leg. There's also strong caution against having any food or drink outside of the vehicle during this leg to avoid attracting animals. You know during the last Ragnar I ran they warned of possible animal interaction. Those are typical for this area, Moose, Deer, Elk, Bear, Wolf, whatever. I wasn't at all nervous about that. But in southern Florida, possible interaction with wildlife means one thing. Alligators!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, GATORS!!!!! I'm already losing sleep over this. I'm going to get eaten by a gator next weekend and no one even cares!!!! Instead, my family is torturing me and my husband is laughing about it! Yeah, they'll all be laughing next weekend when Trav ends up a single parent and my family no longer has an oldest daughter. Oh my gosh! Is it too late to switch routes with someone? Shiloh? Jason? Cami? Come on, don't let me be gator bait!

2 Epiphanies

So while running the Resolution Run 5K on New Year's Eve (yes, I did it again this year) I had two epiphanies. Neither of them earth-shattering or life changing, but yet, still I thought I'd share them.

1.) Long distances are easier for me than short distances. I know some of you will think I'm crazy, but it's true. The worst part of any run for me is really the first 2 miles. During those first couple of miles my body is protesting, my brain is buzzing and I just want to quit. My head hurts, my knees hurt, my body feels heavy, I have to pee, my nose is running, my toes are cold, etc, etc, etc. But it seems like if I can tough it out for a couple of miles (or sometimes even a little less) then my brain shuts down and my body goes on autopilot and just does what it's supposed to. What this means is that in a short race like a 5K, I'm usually getting into my groove just about the time I cross the finish line. This race was no different, I fought myself for the first while, but then by the last little bit, felt amazing. After this discovery (which really isn't a discovery, I think I've known this about myself for a long time now) I had a second epiphany.

2.) There's no shame in choosing to run a half marathon, instead of a full marathon. After I did the marathon last August I had all of these lofty goals of all the dozens of marathons I was going to start running. And the truth is, I probably will run more marathons, but honestly I prefer the half marathon distance. Truth be told 13.1 miles is probably my perfect race distance. It's a challenge, but it doesn't leave me completely wiped out, like the marathon did. Any time I've run a half (except for Myrtle Beach last year when I jacked my knee), I've been able to go on with the rest of my day and feel great, if a little stiff and sore. After the marathon I was exhausted for days and so sore I could barely move. It took me literally weeks to recover. But yet, I felt that because I'd now completed one marathon, that there was somehow pressure or expectation that I should do more marathons. And I definitely want to do more, but I think I'll limit it to just a couple of marathons per year and stick with half marathons the rest of the time. That's still respectable.

Anyway, that said, here are the photos from the other night.

Yes, I look tired. This was about 11:15pm, getting ready for my start time.

They stagger the start times for this race, so I was the only person on the line at that particular time getting ready to begin. It was 2 degrees above 0, with very little wind so it was a good night for a race, once you got moving. (Of course I was wearing several layers of clothing, so I probably wouldn't have felt much of the cold anyway. Boy I can't wait until Florida next week when I don't have to wear half my wardrobe to go out for a run.) Even though we run in town, there are portions of the trail that seem quiet and very peaceful. And since it's not a huge race, there were sections when I felt totally alone on the trail. There was even one point when I took out my earphones and just ran alone in the dark, listening to the river running below me, my feet crunching through the snow and my own breathing. It was kind of cool to be honest.

I don't think I was quite as fast as last year, although I haven't checked my official time yet. I wasn't too worried about it, I was mostly just trying to maintain a comfortable pace. Bearing in mind that it was also about 25 degrees colder this year, so my lungs were pretty much burning the whole time, I don't think I did too badly. But at any rate it seems like such a good way to kick off the New Year to do something healthy and a little crazy all at the same time.

Abundance

It would be so easy to focus on the stress and the negativity in my life right now. Sure Trav's having a hard time finding a new job and the lay off at his company is stretching on longer than we had thought it would. And yes, this couldn't have come at a worse time since we just bankrupted both our savings and emergency funds in September (don't think for a second I'm complaining about that at all though. She's totally worth it.)

And yet despite the job scarcity and the money being tight, when I look at my life I see a life surrounded by abundance. An abundace of love. An Abundance of smiles and hugs and kisses. An abundance of mornings spent snuggling the two sweetest kids in the world. An abundance of family and friends who are both supportive and understanding. An abundance of faith, knowing that because we've made the correct choices and sacrifies, that the Lord will provide. An abundance of joy. An abundance of health. An abundance of little blessings in disguise that seem to come to us each day. I could go on and on and on. There are so many blessings in my life that my cup truly runneth over.

Holiday Photos At Last!

Sorry these have taken me so long to get posted. It's been really busy around here. We were so blessed this year for so many reasons! But we had a great holiday weekend. We spent Friday night up at Grandma & Grandpa's house, so that Santa could come see us there. After spending Christmas morning there we came back to Trav's parents' house where Santa also visited. It was a blessed holiday. And now, sadly, we return to real life, which includes an out of work husband and worries about the lay off. Anyone hiring a Certified Welding Inspector these days?

Cali's Top 5 Infamous Christmases

Most of my memories of Christmas past are the usual kind, I suppose. Warm and fuzzy. Full of images of family and gifts and fun and food. I can even bring to mind a few outstanding Spiritual Christmas moments that meant a lot to me. But some Christmases are memorable because they're more infamous than famous. So in the spirit of all that is fun about the holidays, here's the dubious list of my top 5 infamous Christmases:

5. 1986- We spent this Christmas in Indiana with the Eppert side of the family. I remember many things about that holiday including the huge tree at Grandpa Doc's and getting in trouble for opening a present before I was supposed to. But mostly I remember Christmas Eve of that year. Some of you might remember that my mom's birthday is Christmas Eve, so we had her party that year over at Grandma Charlotte's house. I remember two things distinctly a) mom was very pregnant with Skye and b) her cake. Mom turned 30 that Christmas Eve and her sisters had ordered a cake with gray icing and a tombstone that read "RIP Here lies Cindy youth." At 9 Years old I thought it was the most appropriate birthday cake I'd ever seen. Afterall 30 was OLD! Now well into my 30's I cringe to think of that moment because I don't consider my own youth gone at all. Perhaps the tombstone cake was a little premature. (All bets are off though when Travis turns 40 next year.)

4. 1997 - Our first Christmas in Idaho. The family had moved here nearly a year earlier, but for that first Christmas, Santa brought Cody a new sled. Naturally we were, at that time, thrilled by having a white Christmas (also something I cringe about. Having spent waaaaaay too many white, icy, cold, windy Christmases here, I can truthfully say that I agree with Kenny Chesney, all I really want for Christmas anymore is a real good tan! But I digress.) We took the new sled up the butte to a neighbors house, and took turns sliding down the long hill. It was icy, slick, fast and most definitely a rush. That is until mom went down head first and took out another neighbor's garbage cans with her head. The best part is that we have the whole thing on tape thanks to a somewhat dated video camera and Shiloh's mad filming skills from the back of the sled. It's pretty funny stuff!

3. 1998 - Mom had always had this dream of having everyone dress for Christmas dinner. For some reason she had visions of us carving a turkey in suits, ties and fancy gowns. I'm sure it had something to do with something she'd read in a book or seen on television. Either way I was all for it. Any reason to wear high heels and red lipstick is okay with me. Somehow though "dressing for dinner" turned into "dressing up" for dinner. We ended up with me in a sparkly green dress and everyone else...well...let's just say it's the only Christmas dinner you could ever have mistaken for Halloween. We had Uncle Sam at the table and Annie Oakley. I'm pretty sure someone was wearing a coconut bra and grass skirt. And Cody was dressed as a Mariachi Singer in the outfit he'd brought back from Mexico a few weeks earlier. It was all fun and games until Dillon (a boy Cami was dating) showed up. It was only awkward for a few seconds and then the laughter broke out. (I'm pretty sure Cami was more embarrassed at the time than she'll admit now though.) For some reason this tradition stuck around for years despite my adamant refusal to participate and desperate attempts to stamp it out. One year we even had Dolly Parton at the dinner table. (Refresh my memory, did Jesse do Dolly before or after she got together with Kelly?) Anyway, although it provided us with a lot of laughter I for one, am glad we haven't done "dressing for dinner" the last few years. The last thing I need is more stress in my life trying to come up with a costume for Christmas dinner. I already have a hard enough time managing Halloween.

2. 2000 - Sometimes I think I just set myself up for disappointment. After returning home from my mission in late October I had these great expectations about how wonderful it would be to have a Christmas holiday with my family again. I had built up in my mind the great dinner we'd cook and eat together. And all the little things that had become Christmas tradition (including the costumes, although I was dreading that part.) And then mom got to pneumonia. On her birthday they took her to the urgent care clinic. It was only because it was a holiday that they didn't hospitalize her. Instead they gave her lots of drugs and sent her home. She was so sick that she sent Cami and Jacob (who weren't yet officially engaged) to the grocery store to buy everything necessary for Christmas dinner. (Sidebar, two days before Jacob had cut his hand on a tile saw while working on the new house and had to have stitches. Then he bought the engagement ring on his way home from the hospital. I always thought that was a funny story, but no one else seems to find it as amusing as I do.) Anyway Cami and Jacob came home with the list of necessities (milk, eggs, bread, etc) and a Christmas ham. But nothing else. Our Christmas dinner consisted of that lovely ham, canned green beans and peaches and sliced bread with butter, because that's what we had in the house. Santa Claus also struggled that year when he realized at around midnight while he was trying to stuff stockings that because his elf had become ill, she hadn't gotten around to purchasing candy or stocking stuffers. With the help of several of his daughters, he emptied his dresser drawers and stuffed stockings with ammo and a variety of items he'd kept for years. Including 30 year old key chains, shells from beach trips he couldn't remember and even one of his own wisdom teeth. (I returned that to him.)

1. 1988 - Two words: Pink Eye. We were living in a hosue that my dad actually built but we always referred to as the Burgess's house. (The family who lived there after he built it, before we moved into it.) Shiloh got a horse named Honey that year. We made most of our gifts for each other, including sweatshirts decorated with puff paints (Don't judge, it was the 80's.) But mostly I remember four of us lying on the floor under one blanket, watching Christmas specials on TV. And everyone one of us had a patch on one eye or the other. It was pretty miserable. If memory serves (And given the two decades that have passed since I could be foggy on the details) I don't even think we had our Christmas dinner on Christmas. We were used to celebrating with Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Bill but since we were all infected, I don't even remember seeing them that Christmas. I do remember having Christmas dinner a day or two later, but by that time it seemed a little anticlimatic because I'm pretty sure a bout of the flu was circulating through the family. But again, that could be my brain just mushing two different experiences together.

These are by far not the only funny or cringe-worthy Christmas memories I have, but these are the top five that stick in my brain. As we approach Christmas I grow more and more grateful for all of my wonderful blessings, most especially my crazy family who I love so much! This trip down memory lane was mostly intended for them, but I hope the rest of you got some enjoyment out of it as well.
So as a mother I've come to HATE stickers. I hate trying to scrape them off of floors and furniture. Gideon knows he can put them on himself or in a coloring book, or on certain papers, but that's it. When he found a sheet of Christmas stickers the other day, he started passing them out to everyone on in the room, including Michael and Ashlynn who were over for a quick visit. But eventually he decided that Michael would benefit from having ALL of the stickers. And he found increasingly more unique places to put them, including his eyes and mouth.

On a completely unrelated note, my babies were so beautiful for church today that I had to get a picture. Too bad Parker decided she'd had enough. I never could get her to smile for the camera. But trust me, she was gorgeous!

Goofball!

I love my munchkin! He's such a little goofball!!!! Everyday he seems to find new ways to crack me up! Last week I got a new headlamp for the upcoming Ragnar Florida Keys race. (BTW SOOOOOOOOOO excited for that I almost can't stand it!) Of course he had to try it out. Then he went in his bedroom and shut the door and dug through his toy box with all of the lights off. He thought it was the coolest thing ever. I actually had to hide it once he was in bed to make sure and spare the batteries for the actual race!

And yes, he's still in the cowboy phase. He wants to wear his own cowboy boots everywhere and he usually makes Daddy and Grandpa put on their boots so that they'll match. Of course, that's not including the times he wears grandpa's or daddy's boots himself.

As Requested by Cami

Pictures of our holiday decorations. We got a new nativity this year. It's nice because it's inexpensive so Gideon can play with it and I don't worry.

I only put out a couple of my villages this year just because I knew Gideon wouldn't be able to keep his hands off them. (And of course he hasn't.)

My tree is a little bare this year. I purposely left most of the ornaments with any sentimental or intrinsic value in the boxes. My wrapping papers this year are red, silver and white, so I pretty much stuck with that theme for the tree too.

Some special Thanks!

Not to embarrass anyone but I have a few people I want to mention who helped make our Thanksgiving weekend even better! Of course it was a super special weekend for us anyway. We were able to be sealed to our Princess Parker for time and all eternity and then have her blessed in church on Sunday. She was so pretty in all her white. And Gideon couldn't have been more handsome! So first a big shout out to Donna who made not only Parker's gorgeous dress, but Gideon's suit! (Not to mention a bonnet, burp cloth and bib as well!) To everyone who came to the events of the weekend, it was so special to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends and family members. It was neat to have B.'s parents there as well. What a special family they are! We felt so loved! An especially big hug of thanks to those who traveled so far to be here. James & JeNae for driving through the snow! I was so happy you could be here. And to Pope who not only flew in from Toronto for the weekend, but also did me a great favor by taking over the food preparations for our luncheon. The food was so great and I can never thank her enough for all of her hard work. Plus it was so fun having her here for the entire weekend. And our dear friends Sam & Sara for helping in the kitchen and then taking all of the amazing photos you see here on this post! Anyway we feel so blessed to have such great friends. And even more blessed to have these two beautiful babies in our family forever and ever.