This year I joined a team to run the 200.3 mile Spokane (WA) to Sandpoint (ID) relay race which happened August 16-17. We were the Flying Hands and Feet team, and everyone on the team is fluent in American Sign Language. I was so nervous and excited to be a part of this experience!
This is Ryan saying good-bye to me on Thursday morning. "Run, Mommy, Run!"
And this is Jake saying good-bye. He didn't want me to leave.
The team drove 2 cars to Spokane from Portland. We did a quick stop at Multnomah Falls.
Guthrie and I sat in the very back of the van.
Friday morning - woke up at 5am at the Quality Inn to get to the top of Mt. Spokane in time for our 7am start.
Our superhero team. Mike, Beth, Lee, Guthrie, Mona, Patrick, KatyBeth, Michelle, Amanda, Kimberly, and Sherri.
Good morning!!
Can see the ski lift in the background.
And our wave of the race starts!
The van that I spent the entire weekend riding. Guthrie did an amazing job decorating it while we were at exchange point #1 and waiting for our team in van #1 to finish running legs 1-6.
Waiting for my first leg of the race, which happened to be leg #12 of 36, so I was the last of our team of 11 to start my run. (Each runner had to run 3-4 legs, depending on length and difficulty.) My leg happened to be the "tattoo and mustache contest leg" so we drew a glittery purple mustache on me :)
The 5 in Van #2!
Running my first leg - 4.17 miles at about 4:30 in the afternoon. It was HOT.
Exchange point #2. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Beautiful!!
This was me, on the grass with a thermarest pad and light sleeping bag. I actually managed to sleep for 1.5 hours here during our wait.
Van #2 in the dark, with the lights on.
Guthrie waiting for his run to start, at about 11pm.
Van #2 ran all night (read, we were awake all night). My second leg started at about 4:30am, when it was 48 degrees and pitch black. I ran on the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere, where there was 1 street lamp every mile. I had on a headlamp and a reflective vest and blinking LED lights on my fingers. This was actually my favorite run of the whole race and I ran the 6.65 uphill miles really well. I had one scary moment when I noticed a dark shape in the upper edge of my headlamp sphere and realized it was a huge, dead animal on the side of the road. Eeeeek - started running a little faster...
The next morning. After getting around an hour of sleep on the floor of a high-school gym at exchange point #3, we got ready for the last round of legs. Guthrie started us off again.
He had STUNNING views on his run.
This is me after my 3rd and final leg. I was so tired!! It was about 100 degrees in the sun during my 6 mile run, with a lot of uphill. But I finished it.
Then we arrived at Sandpoint, where we swam in this beautiful lake after a great meal from the sponsors of the event.
That night the team went out to dinner in Sandpoint and then we really, really wanted to party at the hotel but nobody could stay awake. Sunday morning we drove back to Spokane and then home to Portland.
Me, wearing the shirt I got for completing the race.
