Ragnar Trail Zion

Getting ready to start!

Our Leash Your Fitness Trail Dogs are at it again!  On April 24th and 25th the Trail Dogs took on Ragnar Trail Zion!  The team trained for months in heat, dark, rain, at elevation, and even using another race (Sycamore Canyon 100k relay) to prepare for the tough relay race.  This race started at at 6,500 feet elevation and was known for some unpredictable weather – last year’s race was called off due to snow!  But our Trail Dogs were prepared!

Stephanie and Danielle make the 1st transition

The Ragnar Trail Relay works like this: runners take turns completing three trail loops, someone from the team is always running – even through the night – and everyone runs once on each of the trails.  After all 8 runners have gone once, they start over in the same order, and then again a 3rd time until 24 laps are completed.

Jessica and the best dad ever!

Well this is now it NORMALLY works… Mother Nature had other ideas and dished up rain, wind, hail, super cold temps, and lots and LOTS of mud!!  So much in fact that the race directors put the race on an 8 hour hold through the night because it was too dangerous to continue.  Trail Dog Jessica was out (with her dad as her pacer thankfully!) on the Yellow loop (3.8 miles) when the race was called off around 11pm.  She and her dad are tough as nails though and finished their entire run in these terrible conditions!  The team was sure happy to see them get back safe!

After the 8 hour hold was lifted, the trail conditions were not much better and the rain was predicted to continue, so the team made the difficult decision to play it safe and not risk injury to finish the race.  We packed up camp, took some muddy pics, and headed out.

This is an incredibly tough group of women, some of whom only started running recently at our Leash Your Fitness run class, Strut With Your Mutt.  Not all are interested in this type of race, but no matter your running style or level, all have fun and improve in this class!  We make sure to educate our runners to keep them injury-free and reaching their own personal goals while getting a great workout with their pup.  Come check it out!  We want to meet YOU and your best 4-legged running buddy!

We are SO proud of our Trail Dogs!!!  Stay tuned to see what’s next for the team or better yet – JOIN US!  Future races are in the works!