Our daughter-in-law, Emilee, has spent months organizing a team to run in the Red Rock Relay to benefit her grandfather's charity, Tiny Tim's Foundation for Kids. She and Joel got everyone started in training for the event and even bought the $400 van (shown above) to transport half of the team. Jim and I signed on as volunteers, with Joel, Emilee, Jenny, and Nate making up four of the twelve running members of the team. Jim and I drove as far as Cedar City the night before, with most of our team staying in Brian Head where the race would begin bright and early on September 10th. We met up with Van #2 a little way from Duck Creek about mid-morning, then headed off for our volunteer assignment at the turn off to Navajo Lake. We spent six and one half hours directing runners and their vans in the sun and dust--and honestly we felt like we'd been running the race by the time we got done. The following picture is of Joel after he ran his first leg, more the 5 miles mostly uphill.
We were so proud of all of our runners, who finished up in Zion Canyon some 35 hours later. Many family members came down to cheer them on.
We spent a couple of days in St. George with Jim's parents and then it was off for home with a side trip to the ghost town of Grafton. Some of Jim's ancestors, who were killed by Indians, are buried in the cemetery there. Stephanie, Danny, Jenny, Nate, Sam, and their kids joined us on the adventure/photo op. We went home through Zion National Park. Everyone had a great time, but we were all tired and happy to get back to our own homes.
