The Red Rock Relay is a 186-mile race covering some of the most rugged and beautiful terrain in the western United States. Teams are comprised of twelve runners – though some zealots do it with as few as six – who start early in the morning one day and finish 24-30 hours later. For the second straight year, a PMI team participated in this grueling, one-of-a-kind event.
In the pre-dawn hours of September 10th, the first group of PMI runners made their way to the starting point, located in the resort town of Brian Head, Utah. Perched at an elevation of 9,800 feet, Brian Head is Utah’s highest city, and the temperature was a frigid 25 degrees. Just after 8:00 a.m., the first PMI runner took off and the race was officially on!
Anyone who has lived in a desert climate knows that the only thing as extreme as the freezing nighttime temperatures is the scorching heat of the day. The PMI runners enjoyed only a brief period of pleasant weather in the mid-morning hours before the southern Utah heat bore down on them in full force. Undaunted, they pressed on through the day and logged a series of impressive times.
That evening, half of the PMI runners took a much-needed break while the second squad carried on. This break included dinner and resting in the home of one of the runner’s grandparents. The only negative event of the evening came when Aaron, one of PMI’s top runners, was zapped by a startling amount of electricity. A well-intentioned friend hooked an electric stim machine to Aaron’s legs, claiming it would help him recover faster and have more energy for his final portion of the race. Unbeknownst to this friend, the stim machine was turned up to the maximum level, and when he turned it on, Aaron was in a terrible amount of pain. Witnesses described it as if Prince Humperdinck had hooked Aaron up to that terrible machine in the Pit of Despair from The Princess Bride. Needless to say, the stim machine was put away following this incident.
PMI’s runners continued on through the night, braving pitch black race routes and the chill of the desert. Aaron in particular struggled, because his legs had been converted into noodles by the stim machine. Despite their exhaustion, the team maintained a steady clip as the sun rose on Saturday morning. The final legs of the race navigated the stunning red rock cliffs that give the relay its name, and under the heat of the noonday sun, PMI’s anchor runner reached the finish line. Framed by the towering monuments of Zion National Park, it was a picture perfect ending to an unforgettable experience.
