Cascade Lakes Relay - Brent thought I was Crazy, and I Agree!

Top: our first middle-of-the-night runner, Kelly, who kicked some butt on her leg and other teammates Larry and Eric

Bottom: Me finishing up my first leg

In attempt to make some friends and not spend every day wallowing in my loneliness, I joined a running group called the Red Lizards (http://www.redlizardrunning.com/). I joined this particular group because, in addition to training and running races, they go out, eat, drink and do volunteer events. I love running, but if I only met hard-core runners in a group - like the kind of group that's made up primarily of runners that weigh 100 pounds that I could eat for breakfast if it weren't for the fact they have no meat - I'm not sure I'd enjoy it. The Red Lizards are awesome. I've met so many wonderful and fantastic individuals of all ages and running abilities.

So, anyhoo, I was asked to join a group of 11 other runners to partake in the Cascade Lakes Relay (http://www.cascadelakesrelay.com/) because the 12th runner had to drop out. Now, having just discovered this, the Cascade Lakes Relay is the longest relay in the country at 216.6 miles stretching from Crater Lake to Bend, Oregon. Each runner runs three different legs - I ran leg 12, 24 and 34. The baton is passed off just like any other relay, from runner 1 to runner 2 to runner 3 and so on. In total, our 12 runners took about 33 hours to cover the 216.6 miles. My team was fantastic in every sense of the word: supportive, funny, laid-back, and didn't take the race too seriously.

I'll tell you why I do agree that engaging in these sorts of activities is crazy. First off, my second leg was at 4 in the morning after 1.5 hours of sleep. Secondly, you get to know your five other van mates really well and only a runner would be able to take the stench of the van. Third, you're running... and A LOT. But, I loved every minute of it. I loved the challenge, I loved the running, I loved getting to know these five practical strangers. I loved the fact that I tried to go out after the race on Saturday and fell asleep in the chair at 10:30pm.

Here were my three legs. I ran a lot faster than I thought I was capable of. The weather was atrocious (90-100+ during the day) and the elevation of most of the runs was at 4000-5000ft.

Leg 12: 5.3 miles, 5pm, 4300-4500ft elevation: 42:55
Leg 24: 6.6 miles, 4am, 4300ft elevation: 55:02
Leg 34: 6.0 miles, ~noon,all downhill starting at 5800ft and ending at 4500ft, but in blazing heat: 45:45

If you move to a new place and don't know anyone, join some sort of athletic group. It's worth it.