3 Girls and A Van

It was the nightmare you have in the week leading up to a relay race. Things like this don't actually happen. You just worry about it for no reason.

Except in 2019, in a field in northern Washington, only miles away from Canada, it DID happen.

In 2017 I was runner 3. I knew the terrain Michael was on. And I knew it had no official van support allowed. The notes said we could park in a field off of the road if we wanted to do any support. He said he was fine, but I wanted us to at least be there to cheer him on as he flew by. So, of course, we made a left down a road in a field and parked the van. He is so fast that we barely had time to get up to the road with a bottle of water when we was flying by. As I held that water bottle I laughed at myself for even grabbing it when the whole point was this was where the residents had set up their own table with cups of water for runners. Little did I know that water bottle would come in handy.

I snapped my pictures of the little speedster and we went back down the hill to the van.

And horror came over Shawn's face. The door wouldn't open. They keys were locked inside.

Nobody locked it. Nobody on the team even closed the doors, that we are aware of anyway. And there we were. Standing in this field in disbelief as we were officially locked out of our van with our fastest runner on the course kicking serious ass.  The rental company gave us two keys per van. But they also had them connected with a ring that we couldn't just take apart to separate the keys. Not helpful.

Hello, elusive Unicorn!

Panic could have set in. The race could have been a disaster. We could have just given up. We could have pointed fingers and played the blame game. We could have had a complete meltdown.

Instead it was like I was snapped back to Disney's Animal Kingdon and an attraction going 101. A calm came over me and I immediately grabbed my phone to start looking for a locksmith. The first one we called didn't do mobile service, but they gave a recommendation. Jenn got on her phone and we simultaneously searched for a locksmith. Once she got through to someone I shifted gears. *A team offered a hammer and we were seriously tempted to just break a window and fix it after the race. Glad we didn't do that.

Waiting....

Shawn was next to run. We needed to get him to the next exchange. The team that offered their hammer was seeing what all was going on. The entire group of people around knew we were locked out. When we asked if Shawn could ride with the to the next exchange they didn't hesitate to say yes. That's the beauty of these relays. Strangers helping strangers. It happens all the time in various ways. So I sent Shawn on his way with that bottle of water and the shoes on his feet. No headphones. No phones. He was heading to Michael and that was that.

Jenn got good news that someone was coming, but it could be 30 to 45 minutes at the earliest IF the guy could find us. So then it was time to think ahead. Michael is fast - and was given to me with the warning that he gets lost. Great. I couldn't leave him unattended at the exchange not knowing what is going on! Shawn had a shorter run and would probably be fast, going on the adrenaline of this situation. I needed to get Dan to his exchange two stops away. He seemed hesitant, but that wasn't going to be an option. We couldn't have everything come to a half if there was a way to keep this train going.

Donnie is our hero!!

Hello ultra unicorn team! Nice to see your good looking face going back to your van (eye candy, remember?!?). They checked on our status and without missing a beat Dustin and I were asking the hottie of the team if they would please take our runner to the next exchange. Once there Dan would have to hitch a ride ASAP with a team getting ready to leave to the next. That would get him ready for Shawn, and we girls would just drive until we found them... Dan also didn't have his phone, water or running shoes on. Bye bye, Dan! Good luck!

Jenn went back up to the main road to watch for the locksmith and keep her phone handy in case he called us. Dustin and I sat in the field watching and listening to the llamas, while discussing the attractive nature of the unicorn team's driver. Now you know what happens during relays, boys! I went back up to Jenn to see how long it had been. As we had that conversation our locksmith drove by.  I very excitedly jumped up and down and pointed for him to turn. I met him at the road and showed him which van was ours.


I didn't time it... photos show Michael passed at 9:57am.
                                              Shawn left us at 10:14am.
                                              At 10:27am we forced Dan into the hottiemobile.
                                              10:39am is when Donnie appeared!
                                              And at 10:55am we were on our way!


Thank you, Donnie!! He was our lifesaver.  It took a bit, but he got us back in the van and we were back in business!! He never could get it open in the classic way that he would - but instead was able to use his long tool (heh heh) to hit the fob and open the doors. Hey, however he got it done works for me. That was some cash I was more than handy to shove in his hand. He saved us! Jenn hopped in the driver's seat while Dustin continued to navigate. I watched my phone.

Shawn had called us from another runner's phone when he got to his exchange, and he did make it there before Michael. Hallelujah! Once they did the hand-off Shawn told Michael to immediately call to tell me their status. And without missing a beat Michael snagged a van to drive him and Dan to the next exchange. By the time we ladies got to that one Dan was running, while Shawn and Michael were walking to meet us in the parking lot. The timing was perfect  - and Shawn ran like a beast! I mean faster than ever before. He was on fire! It was a good thing we kicked it into gear right off the bat and forced Dan into that van. Sheesh, a couple of us girls wouldn't have hesitated at all to ride with those elusive unicorns that we only did see one more time before they completely smoked us.

We were able to find Dan on his run, pulling over to let him swap out shoes and get more comfortable on his first run. Basically, we freaking pulled it off! We never even got a minute delayed in the end, and now we have quite the story to share and a BIG lesson learned!