It’s been a few months since the end of the race. Needless to say, the whole thing was a huge success and we had some great results. Everyone had a good time running and I’m sure all who participated will have a lot of memories that will last them a lifetime.

Personally my favorite run from the whole experience was the night run.  I started my run at just the right time so that the sun was coming up right as I finished.  The moon was low on the horizon as well, so I got some really dramatic moments where the moon would suddenly appear when I turned a corner.  The night air was crisp, so I didn’t get overheated.  It wasn’t too cold either.    Throw a couple of decent hills in there, and you have the makings for a very memorable night run.

Feedback

Most of the feedback I’ve heard so far has been positive.  My favorite comment from the team so far has been from Stephanie Battaglia, runner four for team BRAC Pack. She emailed the following to the team:

As the slowest turtle in the pack I just wanted to give a huge shout out to the entire Myriad Teams. I had absolutely no idea what I signed up for when I said yes to the Ragnar and went in completely blind, clueless, deer in headlights….shall I go on? My pathetic training consisted of running up and down the streets of Hinsdale (western suburb of Chicago at about 600 ft. elevation). Needless to say, my lungs were in for quite the surprise of their life when I hit the hills on Run 4. I still can’t believe I did it! And in the process of trying to keep up, not suck too much wind, get a little sleep, change in the van (oh, wait you guys were there, no surprises on that!) I met some of the most amazing people ever! I am truly honored that I was part of something so big and so cool, I will truly remember it as one of the biggest moments of my life. Thank you again for inviting me to be a part of the best group of people ever, and I hope I’m invited back next year. I plan on dropping some lbs. and keep on running until then. I can’t imagine what my times will be in a year. Hey, I got 6 kills total this year! You have no idea how excited I was, I earned every single one of them.

It’s very satisfying to know that this event made that much of a difference in someone’s life. It makes all the time spent in preparation worth it.

Awards

Now that a few months have passed, the team has actually earned some awards as well. The team ended up raising the most money out of all the teams participating in the Huntsman Hometown Heroes program.  Our final total ended up being $17,263, all of which goes to support the cancer research going on at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.  We also got this nice little certificate.

My fellow team captain, Aaron Skinner, and I both won the “Spirit of Giving” award from Myriad Genetics as well. They read the following blurb about the team in front of the entire company:

These two individuals jointly headed up an effort that raised over $17,000 for Huntsman Cancer Institute over the last nine months. They formed two teams with a total of 24 runners for the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay ( a 200 mile relay race from Logan to Park City) through Huntsman Hometown Heroes program. The team consist of not only 18 Myriad employees, but also cancer survivors, previvors and patients. Their leadership has been the catalyst for this effort, which is creating connections between Myriad employees and the patients we serve as well as raising money to fight cancer. I would like to commend them for not only leading the effort to raise a phenomenal amount of money for charity, but also for creating opportunities for their co-workers to get involved. A heartfelt thanks for your efforts in seeing this through.

Since the results of this event were so positive, I think it goes without saying that we will be doing this again for the next year. I already have people asking if they can be involved in the next race.