Mt. Si Relay: Bloggers Do It Online

So I met my very first bloggers in real life and I'm pleased to report... I'M STILL ALIVE!  Kerrie at Mom vs Marathon, Run Zoe Run, Marathon Lar, and Lindsay On The Go are some awesome and amazing ladies that will probably not kill you if you meet them in real life.  Take my word for it.  They rock!

So Sunday morning the alarm went off bright and early - I'm talking 4:45am - to head up to Snoqualmie to meet up with Team Bloggers Do It Online and start running the 59 mile Mt. Si Relay.  The 50 mile ultrarunners and the women's teams started at 6:30am, which sucked when the alarm went off, but we were SO grateful for it alter as the never-ending Seattle winter decided to abruptly end today and turn instantly to SUMMER.  It was HOT.  HOT HOT HOT.  Sweltering.

We were up early enough to witness a gorgeous sunrise.

Our goal was pretty much to be as ridiculous as possible.  Although we had bubbles, hula hoops, sparkle skirts, huge glasses, etc., we were still extremely disappointed to discover that we were far from the most ridiculous team there.  There were superheroes, bumblebees, petticoats, etc.  Next year we will REALLY bring it with the ridiculousness.

   

The views throughout the entire day were truly lovely.  If you ever want to see the beauty that is the Pacific Northwest, do this race.  Or just come run the Snoqualmie trail.  Mountains, rivers, forests, lakes, bridges over rivers and canyons, golf courses... you can find it all in this race. 

Lindsay started us off with Leg #1 and we were off.

 As you can see this was a very large race.  And our tiara was awesome.  We got lots of compliments.

A few hours passed... and then Lauren handed the tiara off to me and I was off on my first leg!

Leg #4: 9:26am  6.19 miles   Total Time: 48:48 (Average Pace: 7:53)

WHAT?!  I had no idea this was a sub 8 average pace until I got home and uploaded it and was pleasantly shocked and surprised.  I was also surprised about the elevation gain.  The manual said that this leg has less than 40 feet of elevation gain and 200 feet of elevation loss.  The first 5 miles I felt like I was going slightly uphill the whole time and I was like WHERE'S THE DOWNHILL!!!  Then all the downhill came in the EXTREME downhill in the last mile (one of my only sub 7 miles EVER thank you very much).  But the elevation chart confirms my feeling (and disagrees with the manual) - showing 219 feet of elevation gain and 230 feet of elevation loss. 

Splits: 8:29, 8:02, 8:01, 8:06, 7:59, 6:49

Proof that the manual lied.  

After my leg I modeled the horses I will soon own.  Right JMan?

Another hour passed...

Leg #6: 11:10am  4.32 miles   Total Time: 41:51 (Average Pace: 9:41)

Lindsay was kind enough to let me tag along with her on her 2nd leg so I could get some more miles in (and a bit closer to my 18 mile goal).  Hopefully she wasn't annoyed with my millions of questions despite the fact that I should have probably been entertaining her instead of making her talk!  THANKS LINDSAY!  This was the first glimpse of how very hot the day was going to be.  This leg was flat, straight, and had NO shade or cover from the glaring sun.  It was HOT and we were suffering.  We ran through a golf course and the beer girl drove by and we contemplated stopping and having an ice cold beer. 

Splits: 8:41, 9:22, 10:33, 10:23, 8:54 (.32)

Thanks for letting me tag along Lindsay!

Another hour or two passed...

Leg #9: 1:30pm   7.10 miles   Total Time: 59:11 (Average Pace: 8:20)

Oh my gosh this was so HOT.  SO HOT.  SO SO SO HOT!  Are you getting the picture?  I was trying extremely hard to monitor my heart rate because it just kept increasing and increasing and I was greatly fearing for a huge blow up and / or passing out on the trail.  Finally the last 2 miles of this it switched from my heart rate / breathing being the issue to my legs being the issue.  You can see it right on the splits plain as day - my legs had reached their limit and I could no longer move them.  You could see the finish chute for nearly a mile on this one which was frustrating and I tried so hard to pick up the pace, so I can't even imagine how much slower I'd be if I hadn't been trying so hard!  Another relay team was right on my tail and I tried to kick but my legs just would not move!

Splits: 8:22, 8:04, 8:17, 8:14, 8:15, 8:33, 8:35

I struggled so much with this leg even though it was all gradual downhill.  The manual said downhill 490 feet and it looks about right.  Zoe went UP this leg if you can believe it, she is the true hero of the day. 

I handed off to Kerrie to bring us in for the final stretch...

And I was all done!

And then we finished!   Exactly 8.5 hours.  Pretty dominant if you ask me!  We celebrated with a delicious meal and an ice cold beer at Snoqualmie Brewing Company.  I had the Spring Fever Grand Cru and it was very refreshing.

And although I didn't 100% reach my 18 mile goal, I got to 17.61 which I'll call a complete WIN.  AND if that's not enough I met my first running bloggers in real life and not only did they not murder me but they were also all AMAZING and I hope we can have many more running adventures together.

 Bloggers who jump together, stay together.  Or something.

What did YOU do this weekend?  Did you have gorgeous weather like us?  How far was your long run this week?