Member #7

Terry has joined the team and received slot #7.

He's the first new member of the team this year.

5 slots left - they are filling up fast - James, Lance, Lisa - you guys want in?

Team Member 4, 5, and 6

Dad, Natalie, and Brian have become team member #4, #5, and #6.

Missed a picture

As I was looking at my last post I realized that I had a picture of everyone in our car running, besides James, so I went in search of a good picture. Most of the pictures I have are blurred of him. I guess he just ran too fast!!! Sorry James. I tried :) But here he is with his lovely reflector vest and headlamp.

Second and Third Members

Jenny and Trevor have been added to the team!

We're glad to have our Ragnar hill runner in Trevor and another strong runner and motivator in Jenny.

Anyone up to trading Trevor runs this year?

First Member of Team Shaka Laka 2010

The first member of Team Shaka Laka 2010 is......

Chris Bradley!

Woohoo! I paid myself. :)

Thanks guys for a great 2009 Wasatch Back. We had tons of fun and I hope it was a great experience for everyone!

We'll be team #136 for next year.

Team Nick Names

TEAM NICKNAMES:
Van 1

James: The Navigator,
Ann: Safety Patrol, "Don't hit those people" "Don't hit the dog" and "Don't hit the dam"
Chris: The Driver, "It doesn't hurt"
Maria: The Schedule Keeper: "Are we on schedule?"
Dave: The Silent One
Connie: The Cheerleader! "Where's the Cowbell?"

Please feel free to add more favorite quotes or other nicknames. I'm not sure what van 2 was like, so please add your nicknames and favorite quotes!

My Favorite Pictures of the Race

Our wonderful Van 1... holding runners: James, Ann, Chris, Maria, Dave and Connie

Maria running her first 5.1 miles
Connie running up her first killer hill :) Dustin was pacing her...go Dustin!
Ann running her first leg.
Dave in Avon Pass... what a killer run! Way to go Dave!
Cute Spectators :)
Chris running down Avon pass... down, down, down....
Waiting for Dad to arrive at the major exchange so van 1 could start running again.
Aren't these awesome runners???
Connie getting ready to pass the slap stick (too bad she wasn't carrying a giant shaka laka lip blaka right here.. maybe we could photoshop that in....



Connies awesome family who cheered us on and let us stay at their house and fed us a wonderful spaghetti dinner. OH it was HEAVENLY!The cowbell... need I say more?
Yes, now Chris is officially a "runner" he now has the official shirt....
Thumbs up...run on

exhange... Dave handing off to Chris... LAST RUN!!!!!

Looking good there Lance!! FINISH LINE!! :)

We Did It!!!!

Hey everyone, thanks for a great race this year! Thanks Natalie for suggesting it, wasn't such a dumb idea after all. :) I still can't believe it is over and I have no idea what I'm going to do with all my free time. Maybe I'll go running! :) It was an awesome experience and something I will remember forever. I thought I would post some of our best pictures up here for you all to see and use if you want. Maybe we could all do the same. I wish you all a speedy recovery.

Thanks so much to Shaka Laka and their sponsorship! We had a great time promoting the product and all the other teams loved the name. We made a lot of friends. If you are interested in running next year please let me know. First preference will go to brothers and sisters and their spouses and if we have open spots we can extend to others.

I like this picture of Jenny and Trevor on Thursday night. Trevor is already pretty wide eyed about the Ragnar and it was still nearly two days away. Jenny appears quite confident in him though.

This is Ann and I at 3:30 in the morning on Friday:

Here is the starting line in Logan:

Van 1 is ready to go! Thanks Chris and Maria for letting us use your van.

This is Ann finishing her leg at the bottom of Avon Pass. It was a narrow road and she had to run between vehicles at some points.

This is the view at the top of Avon Pass. Absolutely beautiful. I didn't get any pictures of Dave on his hill climb but he did an awesome job on his 7.4 mile climb up the pass.

Checking out the view on the way down Avon Pass and calling to check in with Van 1.

This is Chris booking it down Avon Pass. He had a 6.9 mile leg in which he lost more than 1,100 feet in elevation....

....and the resulting blister. Duct tape is amazing isn't it? He actually got it nicely bandaged up at Morgan high school by the football coach. They patched him up well enough to get him through his last two legs.

I think this is Maria yelling, "Is that all you got?!?" back at Trapper's Loop. She killed the 8.5 mile run down to Morgan valley.

Ann and Maria figured the race was long enough they might as well run all the way to New York City. This is them in front of the Empire State Building. Ok, maybe it's a church building in the Morgan area.

This is Connie and her husband Dustin after finishing Connie's last leg, a 3.3 mile run at 4:30 in the morning. He was a great support to her and the entire team. We loved having him around.

Chris and I just before the start of my last leg. It was a doosie at 7.9 miles but I had no idea how beautiful it would be. It was an awesome run. Fortunately it wasn't all in the dark.

Here is the whole team after the finish. It rained for the last several hours of our race which made things a little miserable for the last three runners and at the finish line, but what can you do? We are so proud of our team! Van 2 had some real tough legs and did the bulk of the night running, they did an awesome job.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Wasatch Back 2010 here we come!!!

~James