Cascade Lakes Relay

I decided to give the Cascade Lakes Relay another shot. The first year I did the race, I didn't know what to expect. I was a little sad there weren't more teams, no cell reception for most of the race, a lot of the race is off-road, and the heat was terrible two years ago. I co-captained a work team with my good friend Jacquie and we got this thing going. We camped at Diamond Lake the night before the race and this year there were only 9 million mosquitos per person instead of two years ago when there were 90 million per person. So I went home with significantly less bites. We also had two work teams, so we got to camp with more people. We got to camp sooner and enjoyed a great sunset. We also had two very large 15 passenger vans, so no squishing! I was breast feeding two years ago and had to pump & dump in our little car, which also made that harder. This year, I was a free woman with no worries. And I knew there were no stores along the way so I brought more food.

My was the first runner again, same legs I did last time. I was no dumb-dumb here. The first runner does a total of 22 miles, but it's relatively flat, at least half of my miles were on a road, and I had less heat than everyone else. I just have to run farther, which doesn't bother me at all. I ran an 8:30 pace for the entire 22 miles and that's what I said I would do. I would have liked to run a little faster, and sometimes I did, but overall I think my pace was about that.

Instead of expecting huge crowds and lots of "road kills", when you pass another runner- I just looked forward to my beautiful scenery and I was happy if I even got to see anybody else. I got to run around Diamond Lake, absolutely beautiful! My second leg I ran on a gravel road next to cows, some mountains, watch a beautiful sunset, and then ran in pitch blackness. I had plenty of lights and the right shoes this time.
My last leg was warm, but not deadly hot, and I killed it. I ran the fastest here and passed everyone in my sights. Overall I hardly got passed at all, but that's not saying much because there are some very fast runners. I just don't think they found me!

I have decided this race is a lot of fun and I would recommend it. It's low-key and if you know what to expect, it's a lot of fun. The race is only 4 years old now and they have done a better job with toilets, exchange volunteers and lights, and cell reception seemed to improve.