cascade lakes relay 2011

Once again, the Cascade Lakes Relay proved itself to be one of the most entertaining, tough, and beautiful running experiences of my year.

Evening falls at Diamond Lake. 

We spent the night on the lake, listening to the guitar playing in an adjacent camp. I woke during the night to witness an incredible sky full of stars...

Van #2 enjoys an early morning wake up call to see us off at the start.

The wake up call came at 5 am.  My first run was only an hour and a half away.  A little bit of coffee, a couple of bites of greek yogurt, and I was ready for my 8.5 miles.

First leg.

Of course they are all smiling. They haven't run yet.

We may not be the fastest team in the race, but we just might laugh the most.

Creepy morning fog as Meg kicks ass up the hill.

The fog was incredibly thick that morning.  It was burnt off by 10 am.

Our own superstar.

A lot of dust, a lot of heat.
 

The most brutal leg of the relay is #5. Hot cinder roads, big ass bugs.

But at the end of leg #5 is a beautiful marsh.

Sarah takes off for our final leg of the morning.

 The first set of legs measures 47.5 miles - it is a tough haul out of Diamond Lake.  We enjoyed our rest in Silver Lake, finding the watering hole the first time (I had forgotten the way every other year), hanging out at the fire station doing some yoga, playing juvenile games...

Secret watering hole. So it's an irrigation ditch...

Yoga class.

The locals were fascinated by us.

We headed out on our second set of legs near 8 pm.  The sun was just beginning to set as I ran 7.5 miles down the dusty road.  While the headwind was good for keeping the bugs and dust away, it wasn't so great for my pace.

The sun sets as we begin our second set of legs. We were treated to clear skies full of shooting stars.

Unfortunately, I was not able to capture any good photos of Meg's glow stick running man. He was epic, in a 30 consecutive hours in a van sort of way.  We managed a couple of hours of sleep before it was our turn to run one last time.

I actually turned out my fastest leg on my 3rd go-round; a first for me.

Nothing goes better with a cold river than a Tecate. Even at 9 in the morning.

 We enjoyed the crisp, cool waters of the Deschutes.  This is beautiful country.

The race began to take its toll.

No words needed.

But before we knew it, we were passing off to our teammates and heading to Elk Lake for a dip in the lake.  Our relay was done.

We finished about 5:30 pm, enjoyed a few victory beers, and then headed to our hotel room for some sleep.

At 216.6 miles, the Cascade Lakes Relay is not for the faint of heart.  But it has proven, year after year, to be one of the best running experiences in Oregon.