Rock-n-Roll and Mountain2Sound

We had a fun race weekend starting with Amberle's first half marathon on Saturday.
We woke up at 3am to carpool then catch the first shuttles from Westlake to the race start. Runners from last year strongly recommended going early because the buses got stuck in traffic and there was a significant warm up involved...one to two miles. I thought it would be better to arrive early and spend the time fueling.
The bus dropped us off at 5:30. I should rewind and say that packet pick up was fine. There was a board with everyone's bib number and she was listed right above my name. So, 5:30 and the scheduled race start was 7am. We had some bananas and Cytomax and chatted while in line at the HoneyBucket, which pretty much passed 45 minutes.
Our corral started moving around 7:35. The weather was perfect, high energy in the form of wall-to-wall (or curb-to-curb) runners, and lots of crowd support, aka cowbells. The bands were ok, but nothing to blog about. We ran the whole course, walking through the water stations and took one potty break which pumped up our time about seven minutes. Amberle ran all the hills and finished strong. I think the fatigue set in when the five pound medal was put around her neck. A symbol of all the weeks of training, getting up early when she wanted to sleep in, going to bed early on Saturday night instead of staying out late with friends, the drills and yoga that her mom insisted would help her be a stronger runner, running in the rain and mud up the Tolt, and the deep conviction that when you really want something for yourself you can make it happen. For me it was a dream, a wish granted, that one day my daughter might want to run with me.
And post race we partied and napped like rock stars.

Sunday was my first relay race.
We started out at North Bend crewing for the mountain bikers. This was an interesting start. The riders lined the bikes up to the side of the trail and then there was a little run out and back involved, so it was really like the first event in the relay was a Chinese fire drill.

This was also my first time meeting the Lady Outlaws with the exception of my friend Sonja. I was so impressed with our team. Sharon is 60...I hope I'm as fit when I grow up. Dawn has won several kayak events. And of course, Sonja has completed a couple of Century rides. Gulp, no pressure or anything. I'm just a runner.

The amazing thing is some participants did the full course alone. 100 miles solo...mountain bike 17 miles, road bike 43 miles, kayak 12 miles, run 13 miles, sprint 6 miles...imagine that training plan.

My leg was familiar...the trail I love to run and I'm glad the funds for this event will help improve it for future generations.