Great River Ragnar Relay

Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.

2 Vans, 12 runners, 36 legs, 195 miles.
One Amazing Relay Adventure.

Last weekend Taber and I joined up with my brother in law Kevin and 10 of our friends from church to run the Great River Ragnar relay. It started in Winona, Wisconsin and ended in Minneapolis. We each ran 3 legs ranging in mileage and difficulty. It took us 29 hours, we ran right through the night. It was crazy, exhausting, exhilarating, empowering, fun (funny!) and just a really great time.

Taber's legs looked like this: leg 1: 7.9 miles, leg 2: 5.9 miles, leg 3: 4.3 miles,Total: 18.1miles

My legs looked like this: leg 1: 8.3 miles, leg 2: 7.5 miles, leg 3: 3.9 miles, Total: 19.7 miles

We were split into 2 vans, 6 runners in each. We were in van 1 so we had to leave at 5:30am to be at the starting line by 8:30am. I was a little worried because due to some bumps in the road we only got 2 hours of sleep before embarking on our 24 hour race. Once we got out there though the adrenaline and the support from our team carried us through. We watched Jacey, Spencer, and Doug run their first legs then it was Taber's turn.

His first leg was a long one. 7.9 miles. He handled it like a champ though. Keeping a great steady pace the whole time. He passed by gorgeous tree covered hills, small lakes and even got some peeks of the Mississippi. The weather was cool and overcast, perfect for running. It started to rain at one point but he soaked it all in and had a smile on his face every time we stopped to cheer him on him.
He finished in 1:22 minutes and then passed the baton to Kevin. Kevin ran 6.9 miles in record time and before I knew it I was up! My first leg was 8.3 miles. I ran through some pretty gorgeous countryside and really enjoyed the views.
The van stopped every couple miles to give me water and cheer me on. It really helped me to see that van and my teammates on the road. Every time I saw them I straightened up and ran harder.
I had a good hill at the end but I pushed hard and finished in 1:16 minutes. One leg down, two more to go!
Here are some action shots of the runners in our van. Spencer and Jacey were celebrating their 12 year anniversary. I'm sure it was a memorable one!
While we waited for our runners we tried to stretch and get pumped for our next runs.

After I finished my first leg we passed the baton off to our teammates in van 2. It was the first time our whole team was together and it was a lot of fun seeing them. We leap frogged their first runner for a little while and then we decided to head to a park to try to sleep a little before we had to run again.
Vans 1 and 2 unite! It was cool being the 6th runner because I got to see the whole team every time I finished!
When we got to the park we ate some food and then set up our sleeping bags. It was still light outside and there was a lot going on and it was really hard to sleep. I laid there for an hour and finally Taber gave me some earplugs and I fell asleep. I think I got a good hour in before it was time to go and start running again.

Our second legs were at night so we had to wear reflective vests, flashing lights on our backs and headlamps. We also got to shadow our runners on a bike as an extra safety precaution. The night ended up being my favorite time to run. I had 7.5 miles to do but a good part of it was down hill so that was nice. Taber shadowed me on the bike and I loved having him there. He kept saying, "You look great babe! You make it look so easy! Good form!" It was really motivating hearing him say that and knowing that he of all people knew how far I had come to be there. I'm sure 9 years ago when we were dating he never thought I was a girl he could run a long distance race with! Glad he still saw the diamond in the rough : )

Here's a cool pic of Taber passing off to Kevin during our night runs. Taber finished his around midnight and I finished mine around 2am.

After our night runs we went to a high school that had set out wrestling mats in the gym for the runners to sleep on. We were so exhausted that I didn't even eat (even though the last decent meal I had was 8 hours earlier) We just hit the ground and were out. We got 2 good hours of sleep and then it was time to run again.

I spent the morning watching my team finish their last legs. They all seemed so happy and relieved to be done. I couldn't wait to feel the same way. Taber had 4.3 on his last run and he had a HUGE hill about a mile long at the end. When we passed him in the van and saw what he was up against we were sure it would take him awhile. But before we could even hit the port-a-potty Kevin saw Taber and yelled, "Here he comes!! It's Taber!" We couldn't believe how fast he destroyed that hill. I mean it was insanely steep and long. But there he was, coming in at full speed! Definitely an awesome awesome moment! (above:Taber passing off to Kevin, below: Taber right after conquering the hill, and me in awe of my man. )

When it was my turn to run my last leg I thought I would kill it like Taber and Kevin and everyone else had killed theirs. I only had 3.9 miles to do and I thought it would be a piece of cake. Once I started running though my body just kind of shut down. Every step felt like I was pushing against a mountain. My legs were like lead and it took so much energy just to put one foot in front of the other. I hadn't been able to eat much and that combined with the lack of sleep and strain from already putting in almost 16 miles just left me with an empty tank. My team rallied around me and really cheered me on. Taber gave me a great pep talk and I switched over to my marathon survival mode and just started shuffling. I shuffled through it, didn't stop, and after 38 minutes it was over! I had finished and it felt GOOD!
When we were done with our last leg we passed the baton to van 2, wished them luck, and went off to celebrate and relax. We hit up a bagel shop for a well deserved breakfast and then changed our clothes and freshened up. Then we went to the finish line to wait for our team.

My mom and Dad came to the finish line with the girls. We ate lunch with them and my mom gave me an awesome massage! The girls were getting tired though so they had to leave but it was great seeing them there.
Around 2:30 p.m., 29 hours after we started, our last runner was coming towards the end. We all joined him for the last 50 yards and ran across the finish line together.
There were lots of high fives and hugs, smiles and pictures. It was fun for me, Taber and Kevin to take a picture together and know that 10 months ago we took the same kind of picture only it was after our first race ever, and we had only run 2 miles. : )
Here is a picture of our whole team. You'll notice that there are only 11 runners. Darci, our team co-captain and the person who invited me to do this was unable to run due to a death in her family. We really missed her and wish she could've been there.

Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.

It was crazy, but if my team is up for it, I will definitely want to "repeat" this experience next year.

Dating

I think it goes without saying that Taber is hot. And well, not to brag or anything but he totally asked me out last week! What can I say? I'm a lucky girl; ) We hang out quite a bit (marriage kind of has that effect on people) but when he sees me, it's in the morning when I first wake up, bed head, morning breath, no makeup, blah! Or in the evening with frazzled mommy hair, kid food, fingerprints and drool all over my clothes, certainly not looking my finest. So yeah, dates are always a good time to remind him (and myself) that I actually DO have other clothes besides my workout pants and t-shirts and that we are not only a great mommy/daddy team, we are a great couple!

He took me to a Twins game, tickets courtesy of his boss who is always so generous to hook us up. We doubled with our friends Cameron and Wendy and had a great time chatting, laughing, and being couples. We've gone to a few games before with the girls but the game looks a lot different when you're trying to entertain a 3 year old and keep a 1 year old from putting every scary germ infested thing from the bleachers into her mouth. (special thanks to my dear friend/life saver/angel of a neighbor Kara, who watched the girls for us even though she is due with her baby next week! Thank you for making our date night possible!)

We had great seats (thanks again to Taber's boss) finally made it to the 7th inning stretch,(never done that with the kids) and the Twins won! I would definitely say our date night was a huge success.

Extra bonus: The boys even treated the ladies to some ice cream (well, they gave us their wallets and told us to go get some) Good enough for me!!

I Followed Through! (Well at least once...)

On our last trip to Utah Teya had a tantrum relapse and her behavior was FAR from exemplary. Exasperated I asked my mother (and sisters, and brother in laws and anyone who was around) what I could be doing better to help her? The answer I got back shocked me.

“You need to follow through.”

“Follow through? What are they talking about!? I always follow through! Are they blind?”

Just to prove it to myself the next time Teya acted up I threatened to take away her beloved Elephant. “I’m gonna count to 3! 1-2-3!” and I snatched away Elephy just like that. “Ha! You see? I follow through!” But then her big brown eyes welled up with giant tears. Real, genuine, heart breaking tears. They splashed over her checks and rolled down her neck and in that moment I knew I was the world’s cruelest mother. “Okay, okay, here’s your elephant.” I hastily gave it back, the tears stopped, and in my mind I still thought I had followed through because after all, I did take the elephant away and she obviously learned her lesson because she was soooo sad.

Unfortunately the lesson she learned was not the one I was trying to teach her.

Lesson intended: bad choices=loss of privileges (i.e. elephant )

Lesson learned: Turn on the tears and Mom will undo punishment.

Easy for anyone on the outside to see, but for me, I really thought I was following through. Every time she was bad I took away a privilege. But she was always so sad that I let her earn her privileges back (usually within the same half hour) and as a result, she never took my threats very seriously.

Well then one of my friends told about a time when her boys were really acting up so she sent them to their rooms at 5pm for the rest of the night. Her son cried and cried, he told her he was sorry and that he wouldn’t do it again. (Which is where I would’ve caved and said, “okay, thank you for saying sorry. You can come play now.”) She however said something to the effect of, “Thanks for saying sorry, but you still have to suffer the consequences for your actions.” WHOA! Hearing this story was a break through moment for me. She had used something I was desperately in need of: Tough Love. I vowed I would try it out.

Well it took awhile but a couple of weeks ago I did it. Teya LOVES watching TV and it’s one of her most precious privileges. She had been especially good at church and since she hadn’t watched TV in a few days I told her that she had earned the privilege of watching the whole Wubbzy movie when we got home. I really wanted to let her do that because 1)she’d been SO good and I thought she deserved it and 2) it meant I would get a little break too! But then just before we got home she was very disrespectful to both me and Taber and when we tried to get her to apologize she launched into a record breaking tantrum. She hasn’t thrown one like that in a LONG time and we were both blown away. Without really thinking I told her that if she didn’t stop she wasn’t going to be able to watch her movie. She didn’t stop. It took an hour to calm her down. When she was finally settled, she whimpered out a very sincere apology and asked if she could now watch her movie. Here was the moment of truth. I was so ready for a TV break, but I knew I needed to follow through. She begged and cried and said sorry a million times. It was so hard not to give in. It took support (Taber helped me stick to in when I wanted to cave) and I think it really did hurt me more than it hurt her, but somehow we got through the rest of that tough day without any TV and Teya finally learned what it feels like to really lose a privilege.

Now the awesome part of this story is what has happened since then. Teya takes me seriously! Before when she would whine or cry I would threaten to take away a privilege and she would just keep whining. Now when I threaten, she stops in her tracks, forces a smile, and with great effort changes her whine into a pleasant tone. I don’t even need to threaten with my mean mommy voice, all it takes is a gentle reminder that a privilege is at stake and she really tries to change her behavior. I know it isn’t all directly related to that incident, after all, her overriding personality is sweetness, but her fiery side seems to have been tamed and I really believe it has a lot to do with me following through.

I still have a lot to learn as a mother and I’m sure what works for Teya will be completely different than what will work for Brinley. Still, I’m patting myself on the back right now because dog gone it, I followed through! (well, at least once ; )

Friday Foto

In honor of the fast approaching football season. Go Cougs!

Big Achievements

Today's post brings you the latest in big achievements for the girls. Teya has been in swim lessons for almost 6 weeks now. She started at the most basic level, just learning not to be afraid of the water and to put her eyes in voluntarily. She moved up to kicking across the water holding onto a noodle, and then with a power pack floatie. Today she finally did it all by herself without any floating device or help from her teacher. The video probably doesn't look that impressive but if you saw her 6 weeks ago you would be amazed!

And Brinley has had her shining moments too. Since the last video of her first official steps she has slowly but surely ventured into the world of walking. The first part is of her standing up on her own without any help, and then there's a clip of her walking back and forth between the couches. She was trying to "run around" and scream like her big sister. Pretty cute.

Also: Note the awesome moment in the beginning where she stands up, discovers a cheerio that had been lost in the ample rolls of her legs, and eats it! So classic!

August means it's summer cramming time!

Something funny happens in Minnesota in August. It's like all of a sudden you spend every possible minute outdoors because you know that any day the weather will turn cold and you'll be stuck inside for 9 long months!! Okay, so maybe not THAT long, but I do remember moving here last year at the end of August and I heard a girl say something to the effect of, "It's almost September. I'm already having anxiety just thinking about it. I mean I really have knots in my stomach just thinking about the winter." At the time I was like, "It's 80 degrees outside! What is she talking about?" But now I know that feeling. And that is why we are cramming it all in as summer starts winding down.

Today we busted out the kid back pack and decided to check out some hiking trails in the nearby Elm Creek nature preserve. It was more of a nature walk than a hike, since Teya's little legs can only handle so much.

She had a wonderful time discovering every little thing on the trail. She found "The reddest leaf ever!" and the orangest leaf ever, and the greenest leaf ever, all of which she demanded I keep safe and never throw away. She was delighted by the blue butterflies and squealed every time she saw one of the hundreds of little frogs that inhabited the trail. She even caught one (with the help of Mommy) but decided to let him go so he could find his family.

After our hike we decided to cool down by swimming at the "beach" which is actually a really cool man made chlorinated lake. When we got there we ran into our neighbors, Kara and Taylor and enjoyed hanging out in the water with them for awhile.

You'll notice that Teya and Brinley have matching suits, courtesy of Grandma Karen.
Their swimsuits also came with these coverups. I had to take a picture so Grandma could see how cute her gift looked on the girls.


At the end of the day the girls were pretty tired but it was fun to see them playing so hard and knowing that these summer memories will help keep us warm through the winter : )

Friday Foto

Yesterday we had a grocery shopping breakthrough. Brinley is now big enough that the girls can ride in what I like to call, the Cadillac cart. This thing is huge and a pain to push but I can't believe how much smoother shopping went. Usually shopping brings on one, or more of the following problems with Teya:

1) tantrum because she wants to sit in the little kid seat part where Brinley is.
2) tantrum because when I stick her in the big part of the basket, she can't stand it when the groceries start touching her. "Ouch! Move them mom! This is my seat! Ahhhhh!!!"
3) tantrum because after taking her out of the basket to avoid the groceries touching her, she wants back in.
4) frantic moments of panic when she decides that being out of the basket is a good time to run like a wild animal all over the store or play hide and seek.

All these problems were solved with the Cadillac cart. No jealousy of the kid seat because they're both sitting in the same part together. Groceries don't touch her and she has no desire to run around the store because she's having so much fun in her special seat with Brins. So for now, we seem to have a good handle on the grocery shopping scene. At least until we decide to have another kid, then I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do!

Stink Eye

We Rigg girls take food and eating very seriously. Brinley is usually all smiles for the camera but you better not get in her face when she's trying to eat! Watch out for those daggers!

Yes, I procrastinated, but it was worth it! : )

When Taber and I were planning out our weekend we decided it would be best to stick around the house and work on some neglected house projects (aka, the garage, our carpets, and the closet of shame, which has somehow refilled itself since my last purging) When the weekend came around however, Teya and Brinley were staring at us with eager faces and somehow all that other stuff seemed like it could wait. (okay, so maybe we were procrastinating, but can you blame us? Play with kids or clean out closets.... it was kind of a no brainer!)

So on Friday we took them to the community center and went swimming at the indoor pool. (This summer has been unusually cool so we haven't had a lot of outdoor swimming days)

Teya wore her little life jacket swim suit for the first time and she thought she was invincible! We really had to watch her because she was "swimming" all over the place with reckless abandon. It was cute though to see how much fun she was having. And Brinley was pretty cute herself, splashing around and trying to keep her little belly from spilling out of her swimsuit (which she didn't have much success with : )

On Saturday I really thought I'd tackle those projects but with the Ragnar coming up in a few weeks we had to get our runs in. Wasn't trying to procrastinate but we didn't want to let our team down! (wink wink!) So we spent the morning running and Teya was so good while we were gone that Taber just had to take her on a Daddy/daughter date.

They went to Weaver Lake park and Teya had a blast having Taber's undivided attention for the afternoon.



After the park he took her to Culver's for some frozen custard. I remember growing up and going on Daddy/daughter dates to the BYU creamery. I'm telling you, magical memories are made when you combine Daddys and ice cream : )


The rest of the weekend whipped by us and now it's Monday and my closets and carpets are still looking very neglected. I don't mind though. Those smiles on the girls faces were totally worth it!