Lost in Pace

November 6-8 was another Ragnar weekend for Jason!  He was in charge of it this time around and did a good job keeping it low-key and still covering all the bases.  Despite a major hiccup (their teammate Jon couldn't finish two of his long runs for medical reasons, so teammates Carol and Nate ran an extra leg each...), the team finished spectacularly well!  Out of 423 teams, they finished 34th with a time of 28:30:52!!!!  They were 16th out of 300 in the Regular Open Mixed division.

Their team, called "Lost in Pace," also had the youngest member--Leah Tomlinson is 10 years old and was a cute "celebrity" that weekend.  People were so impressed!

This race was a big deal for Jason because he wanted to win the coveted "Saints and Sinners" medal.  Here's what he said about that on Facebook:

"After completing the Wasatch Back Ragnar earlier this year, I earned the coveted "Saints and Sinners" double medal for also finishing the Las Vegas Ragnar. It was exhausting, but I had a great time with great people once again."

Here are some fun pics from the weekend!

Nate Kimbler, Carol Astle, Kate Winder, Jeff, Andrus, Jason, Karen Coy, Gavin and Emily MacGregor, Jon Meikle, and Rob, Crystal, and Leah Tomlinson!

So happy for Jason's hard-working team and thankful everyone got home safely!  Way to go, babe!

I stepped back in time today

This afternoon several members of Jason's "Lost in Pace" Ragnar team came over to decorate the mini-vans they'll be using during the race in Las Vegas this weekend.  Some of them brought their cute kids, so I got a few toys out and invited them to stay with me inside.  

It was a really fast hour because the kids entertained themselves with the cutest ideas.  They were happy, happy, happy just being together and loved the few toys that I brought out for them--the Playmobil pirate ship, lots of Bakugans and Disney cars, and a couple of semi-flat recess balls that they kicked around in the backyard.  Graham crackers were appreciated so they could recharge, and then they made their own game of climbing up and down the stairs, "rescuing polar bears" from the lake at the bottom of the stairs.

I was mesmerized.  I could not keep up with their imagination, but I was definitely entertained by it!

I did very little besides keeping an eye on them around the dogs (I only let Oscar out of his crate once) and let each kid give them a small treat--that was a hit, too.  "Can I give him another one?" over and over, haha!

Kids are cute.

Life is good.

Pictures of the latest Ragnar to come!  Jason is pretty excited to get the "Saints and Sinners" medal--a unique Ragnar award for those who run the Wasatch and Vegas Ragnars in the same year.  Get it?  Saints and Sinners? :)

Wasatch Ragnar!

Another Ragnar complete!  We are so happy for Jason and his "We Run For Fun in the Hot, Hot Sun" team! Here was the report from their team's Facebook page:

What an amazing adventure by this group of 12 friends. After 30 hours and 45 minutes and 196.5 miles we accomplished something special. We overcame the mother of Ragnars. We took on the hills, the downhills, the cold, the rain, the lack of sleep and we kept on going. Way to GO! The results are in and we ROCKED!!! In the mixed division we were 68 out of 795 teams. In the Co-Ed Open division we were 45 out of 714. We killed it!

Team members:  Brandon and Marie Fitt (and baby Fitt), Rob and Crystal Tomlinson, Jon Meikle, Gavin and Emily MacGregor, Jason and Denise Allen, Deanna Bell, Kate Winder, and JASON CUSHING!

What a TREMENDOUS accomplishment--way to go, guys!!!

Ragnar Party--GOOD times!

On Saturday night we hosted a swim/bbq party for the families of all of Jason's Ragnar teammates.  Man, everyone was so great!   Basically all we had to do was supply the pool and the hot dogs and hamburgers--everything else was taken care of!  The food was amazing, the drinks were plentiful, there were lots of camping chairs, and the kids, all 20 of them, were great!

You'll notice I didn't take any pictures of us in the pool, and that's probably a good thing because we were MAXED out, ha-ha!  Jason thinks we set a record for pool occupancy, since there were 35 of us and most of the kids and adults swam!    We all had a good time watching the video of pictures that Jason Allen put together, too (no, not Jason Allen Cushing, the other Jason Allen! :))

The funniest part of the evening was when Rob Tomlinson, the team leader, was presented with the slap bracelet that the entire team shared during the Ragnar race.  It was an inside joke--that thing was COVERED in everyone's sweat for 35 hours! 


Many, many thanks to the Tomlinsons, Kimblers, Trimbles, Hills, Winders, Allens, and Nick--let's do it again next year!