But at least we had a few hours. We grabbed a bite to eat and drove past all the runners to wait at the posh comfort of Snow Basin Lodge - home of indoor plumbing, hot water, soft couches, and tired, sweaty runners sprawled *everywhere.* Sooner than we were ready for we got the text that the last runner of the second van was getting close. Our turn would be up soon.
Jason was up. And boy was he ready for his 8.5 mile run up and down the mountain. It was a string of bobbing lights, and Jason gathered road kills willy-nilly as he flew down that mountain!
My turn for the leg that I'd been dreading for weeks. 8.1 miles uphill at about 2:00 a.m.
Our van's 2nd leg was finished and we went to a "Sleep Station" to try and catch a little sleep. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha...

Let's just say it's really hard to sleep while packed like Sardines with 500 other people on the hard gymnasium floor of a high school. Jason said it's the closest he hopes to come to sleeping in a homeless shelter after a natural disaster. It's like a human orchestra: shuffle, cough, whisper, creeaaak (the door squeaked), zip, footsteps, shuffle, snore, cough, creeeaaak, whisper, cell phone alarm, clatter, laugh, creaaaak, SNORE, shuffle, cough, SNORE, creak, shuffle, SNORE... There was a guy on an air mattress less than 10 feet away from us and next to him was a guy on a cot. And they were pretty comfortable, pretty tired, and seriously LOUD SNORERS. And I mean LOUD!
I lay on my side with one ear pressed to my pillow, my iPod in the other ear, and my sweatshirt over my eyes to block out the light of the constantly opening and closing door. To say we got an hour of sleep would be realistic--and probably a gross overestimate. And to help matters by that point I could barely move. Up and down the stairs required hanging onto the banister for dear life. We finally gave up on sleep and met in the cafeteria that served spaghetti and peanut butter sandwiches, but no breakfast. So we had breakfast from the back of the car.
Notice I'm not the one wrapped in a blanket now? Barry will forever hold the nickname of "Old Man Graff" after breakfast. And boy, did we think it was funny. We laughed and laughed and laughed. Everything was funny! (The poor runners trying to sleep on the grass by the car sure didn't think it was funny, though.)

Let's just say it's really hard to sleep while packed like Sardines with 500 other people on the hard gymnasium floor of a high school. Jason said it's the closest he hopes to come to sleeping in a homeless shelter after a natural disaster. It's like a human orchestra: shuffle, cough, whisper, creeaaak (the door squeaked), zip, footsteps, shuffle, snore, cough, creeeaaak, whisper, cell phone alarm, clatter, laugh, creaaaak, SNORE, shuffle, cough, SNORE, creak, shuffle, SNORE... There was a guy on an air mattress less than 10 feet away from us and next to him was a guy on a cot. And they were pretty comfortable, pretty tired, and seriously LOUD SNORERS. And I mean LOUD!
I lay on my side with one ear pressed to my pillow, my iPod in the other ear, and my sweatshirt over my eyes to block out the light of the constantly opening and closing door. To say we got an hour of sleep would be realistic--and probably a gross overestimate. And to help matters by that point I could barely move. Up and down the stairs required hanging onto the banister for dear life. We finally gave up on sleep and met in the cafeteria that served spaghetti and peanut butter sandwiches, but no breakfast. So we had breakfast from the back of the car.
On to Leg #3.
And on to another post, I think. This one would get too long if I were to finish the rest of the race.


