Cascade Lakes Relay 2016

It was July 15 when my friend Michele asked if I wanted to be on a relay team that was racing July 29-30. Someone had to drop out and they were looking for one more. We had talked about the race when she was here for the Sisters show, so I knew a little about it. It didn't take me too long to say I'd do it. I really had no idea what I was in for.

There is 2 vans, 6 people per van. Our van was starting the race at Diamond Lake at 6:40. We had 6 race legs, then we'd pass off to the other van and they would run 6 race legs, and continue that 3 times to the end. The race legs were varied in difficulty and length.

Leg 4 - photo from CLR website

It was so nice to have lots of information about the leg you were going to be running. This was my first leg. It was HOT and dusty!

The trail ran parallel to the highway. By mile 3 I thought I was going to pass out from the heat. I took a Gu and dumped water on my head and felt better. My last mile was seriously slow, but I made it!

While the other van was running we got to rest up, eat and take an icy shower! (mosquitoes were eating us up even with DEET on) 

My next leg was going to be at night! I've only ran at night on new year's eve, so I knew this was going to be an adventure.

There was a bit of hills but because it was at night, it was hard to tell. (thanks goodness!) The elevation at 4300+  makes running more difficult as well.

 I started my run way past my bedtime! LOL I enjoyed this run a lot.

There were rules about being lit up and wearing reflective vests. This is my friend Michele ready to rock her leg and pass off to me.

Decorating the van and adding lights for our night run made it way easier to find our van day or night.

 I wasn't that excited to run the next day in the heat of the day again. I told myself I'd take it 2 miles at a time. Nice, slow gradual incline..... Look at that elevation! That killed me more than anything. I could hardly breathe!

Some of it was shady like this, but mostly in the direct sun. It was hot, but thankfully only in the 80's and not 90's like the day before.

 Here was our van when the last person finished their last leg! The race was over for us!! Woo-Hoo!

Here's the whole team at the finish line. We finished in 37:26:59. At this time I thought I'd do it once and call it good. It was grueling and hot, not enough sleep...... But if I would have been able to train I could have done so much better. It is such a challenge that I may need to do it next year!