This is from my blog on the upcoming LUNA Chix national website, going live April 30:

The Mt. Si Relay is a 57-mile run broken down into 10 legs, which are run by a 5-person team. The LUNA Chix Team consisted of Chelsie Drews (legs 1 and 6), Sue Rogers (legs 2 and 7), Sara Sitter from Portland LUNA Chix (legs 3 and 8), Marne Sall (legs 4 and 9) and Leslie Barber (legs 5 and 10). Chelsie, Sue, and Marne had all done this race before, so their words of wisdom on the routes were welcomed! Chelsie did the first leg, starting the race at 6:30 AM, completing more than 8 miles in just over an hour! There are a few legs which involve a ton of climbing—as an example, even though I saw on the map that leg 5 was uphill, it was hard to believe just how much uphill that really was while in the midst of the run—nearly 6 of the 6.3 miles were uphill with no flats or downs. Leg 7 also had a huge elevation gain—we saw a few runners finish who were not in good shape by the end (which involved at least one close call with someone losing their lunch), but Sue did awesome and was looking great at the transition.

Getting from one transition to the next is an adventure in itself—while one runner is out on the trail, the rest of the team are following maps and driving around to get to the next transition point in time to warm up and meet the runner. We had a couple of transitions that happened before the next runner was ready—on leg 2, Sue had a blazing fast time and the next runner was still in the porta-potty, and leg 3 had been shortened by a couple of miles, so Sara was back before we were expecting her. Luckily Marne was ready to go and headed on down to the next transition without too much stress and had a really great pace. The run is so much fun—there were a lot of teams participating, and everyone roots for everyone, making it a really fun all-day event. There is also a 50k and a 50-mile ultra run happening at the same time—it is inspiring to see the people who have been out running all day pass by and get huge cheers from the crowd.

After finishing the run (in 8 hours, 40 minutes), we were all in agreement that the first leg we each ran was the easiest….there’s something about sitting around for 4 or 5 hours waiting to run that makes it just a little harder to get up and go….but we all definitely enjoyed the camaraderie, the scenery, the food, and being able to run a unique race in the most amazingly gorgeous part of the northwest. It was my first event as a LUNA Chix team member, and I thoroughly enjoyed it—I can’t wait for the next event!