Race Recap: Mt. Si 59 Mile Relay Part 1

There really is no way to recap such a fun day with complete justice but I'll do my best...in two parts!  Let's start with the day before when I got to meet all my fabulous race partners in crime in person.  We all met up at Starbucks south of Seattle for some coffee drinking, van decorating, 99 cent store shopping!

And as if I needed anymore reasons why I knew I would have fun with these ladies, Zoe suggested we pose dead in front of some ambulances in the parking lot and have a 3 year old take the picture.

4 out of 5 ain't bad, thanks T Junior!

Fast forward to Sunday morning at my 5AM wakeup call.  The start line was at Snoqualmie Middle School and since I can't function without my Starbucks I found one that opened at 5:30AM right near the school, just another reason to love the coffee giant!  I arrived just in time to see the 50 miler racers start...SUPER inspiring!

Grande soy misto...yumm!

We stuffed all our belongings in Kerrie's van, took some "before" photos and just like that it was time to RACE.

We look so well rested and not sweaty here!

Of course I'll let my other fabulous blogger ladies recap their own legs but I'll provide the details they missed while running, because we all know that is when all the fun happens.

Leg 1 - Lindsay - 8.3 miles
We happened to find the most valuable item at the 99 cent store the day before, a princess tiara and decided to use that as our hand off since the relay didn't have an official baton, bracelet or anything.

Pretty princess Lindsay!

The super official start line

We passed the time driving to the next exchange, attempting to see Snoqualmie Falls (too foggy!) and breaking out the bubble sticks - another 99 cent store gem!

You may recall I'm a famous bubble stick user as I was featured in the Bellingham Herald for Ragnar :).

Leg 2 - Zoe - 6.2 miles

Lookin good pre-run!

After the handoff of the tiara we were off again to the next exchange at Remlinger Farms.  Unfortunately, there really was no way to ever see your runner as they were on trails off the main road so we usually just went straight to the next exchange and waited.  Waiting for Zoe included many trips to the porty potty since my grande coffee and two bottles of Nuun made for one hydrated runner.  Zoe came speeding in and I had to do a little warm up run to meet her at the exchange in time.

Leg 3 - ME!!! - 5.7 miles
I'm not sure how I got so lucky and got two out and back runs but I did get to see what kind of position the team was in since I saw so many other teams on the out and back.  My first run started a little after 9 AM and the weather was perfectly cool and sunny.

Tiara handoff!

Most of the run was on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail and the rocks were pretty big on the trail for the first part and I was a little nervous about my Nike Free shoes holding up but they did a good job!  The trail was flat as a board and I just kept running fast enough to feel challenged.  There was a simple turnaround sign painted on a cardboard box and just like that my leg was almost half over.  Right before you turn off to go back to Remlinger Farm they make you head another direction for a mini out and back along the Tolt River.  Luckily it was just short enough to not drive me too crazy and enough time to pass another runner - KILL!  As I made the decent into Remlinger Farm I was directed by a lovely volunteer who also happen to work at my lab, it was a nice surprise.  I sprinted into the finish and crowned Nicole who was off on her first run.

My fast pace is definitely showing on my face...I'm famous for taking such flattering running photos!

5.7 miles - 46:20 - 8:07 pace <---I'm certain I had a out of body experience for this race because I don't run that fast!

Leg 4 - Nicole - 6.5 miles

First 6.5 of her over 17 for the day...ROCKSTAR!

Since I did a lovely out and back the whole team turned around and went back the way we came.  Nicole basically ran Zoe's leg backwards so we went back to the first exchange again.  We broke out our 99 cent store hula hoops for some action and quickly realized why they were 99 cents...they basically don't work, or maybe it was because we are grown adults and they were made for children?

Clearly this photo was not posed

Leg 5 - Kerrie - 6.5 miles
Handoff to our awesome anchor Kerrie and just like that we were half way done all before noon!

This is Kerrie's leg 5 go face, stay tuned for the leg 10 go face...

Tiara handoff!

Okay, that is enough excitement for one post...having to pick between all the amazing photos from everyone was hard work! Photo credits belong to the whole team, thanks ladies.  Part 2 coming soon...is the suspense already killing you?

Question: How many Washington runners out there are going to run this next year?  I'm thinking major blogger presence takeover?

BREAKING NEWS: The Nuun Hood to Coast team was announced today and while sadly I'm not on it, my relay buddies Zoe, Nicole, and Lindsay are and I couldn't be happier for them and everyone else who made the team!!