Cascade Lakes Relay 2015

Here we go again.  Time for Super Team Dwayne to be a part of our fourth Cascade Lakes Relay.  Joe and I got home from Whistler, Canada and his Ironman on Tuesday and left for Eastern Oregon on Thursday.  No rest for the weary.

Joe had decided not to run this time because he wasn't sure how he would be feeling after Ironman Canada.  He was going to be our driver for Van #1.  His sister Melodee and her husband Greg also had to opt out for this summer because of a busy schedule.  We had my brother-in-law Steve fill in for Joe and our good friends Josh and Wendie Gum fill in for Greg and Mel.  Van #1 was ready to rock and roll.  :-)

Van #2 was all returning runners with our faithful team captain Dwayne and his bride Faylene.  Jake and Andrea were also back again.  This would be Jake's third time running with our team and Andrea's second.  Jennifer and her husband Dan flew all the way from Houston, Texas in order to be a part of the fun.  Jennifer ran with our second year participating in CLR.  When we made plans the Sunday after the relay to float the river she had to cancel plans she had made with a new guy she had made plans with.  She said if he didn't understand then he wasn't a keeper.  He was a keeper because they got married!  This year was the first year he could run too.  It was fun to have Jennifer back and to have her awesome hubby Dan along as well.

Josh and Wendie had been with us during our Ironman adventures the weekend before CLR and the subject of my Christmas cinnamon rolls came up.  I only make them at Christmas time because otherwise I will eat them.  :-)  I was bragging about how good they are and how the family loves them.  The next day I get this text:

Can't resist a challenge.  :-)

So what am I doing the day before we leave for CLR?  Making Cinnamon Rolls.  Which is totally ridiculous because it was a really hot day and the oven is on and the house is warm.  We were posting pictures on Facebook of where we were in the process.  The rest of the team figured out what was going on.  Let's just say they weren't terribly upset about the prospect of having to sample the goods.  

Most of the team was heading over on Thursday and 10 out of the 12 runners were able to meet up for dinner in Sunriver on Thursday evening.  Since there were a lot of new faces it was fun to have a chance for everyone to get to visit for a bit.  We were headed out of the parking lot when we saw the Sofa King Fast van (say it fast, you'll get it).  They had made magnets to put on vans.  Since we have been doing the magnets for years we felt they needed to get an STD right off the bat.  We stuck one of our magnets on the driver side door and took off.  Now it felt like CLR had really begun.  Then we headed to the house in La Pine and unpacked, got organized and painted the windows on Van #1 and Van #2.  This is an important part of the Cascade Lakes Relay!  Can't have boring windows!!

I was nervous about how I was going to do.  The temperature was supposed to be hot and I don't do well in the heat.  I also hadn't been doing great with my most recent runs.  But I was going to do my very best and that was going to have to be good enough.  My biggest focus this year was going to be working on staying hydrated and doing better with my food so that I didn't get a major headache like I did the last time.

When thinking about my migraine the last time we did CLR I realized that not only did I not eat well but I also didn't have any soda all weekend.  I don't drink coffee.  I get my caffeine from Diet Dr. Pepper.  I know it's bad for me.  I know I need to quit.  But the weekend of a big race is not the time to do that, as I learned last time.  So I decided that my teammates could judge me if they wanted or flick me crap about my soda habit.  I was drinking it.  :-)

We were on the road headed toward Diamond Lake by 4:30 a.m.  We needed to get there with enough time to check in and get Wendie her bib so she could start at 6:40 a.m.  We stopped once for a pee break.  While we were inside the Sofa King Fast van tagged our van back. lol  And so it begins!

One of the many things I like about Cascade Lakes Relay is that the people that run the event really know their teams.  This is our fourth year running in the event.  Last year when we didn't get in, Joe, Dwayne and I went over and volunteered.  It was so cool to walk up to the registration booth to grab our packets and have people recognize us and be excited that we were there.  Makes you feel special. We aren't the fastest team out there but we have fun and that is what matters at CLR!!


Ross, Brandi, Lisa, Wendie, Steve and Josh.  Super Team Dwayne is ready to get another CLR started!!

Wendie had the first leg of the day around Diamond Lake.  What a gorgeous morning for it!

The 6:40 a.m. start time group is heading out.  Wendie is ready to kick some ass! 

Josh is ready to join Wendie so he can start racking up the additional miles. 

The view of Diamond Lake while we waited for Wendie. 

Mt. Thielsen was also looking spectacular this morning. 

Here comes Wendie!  Finishing strong!

Then it was Josh's turn.  He was doing the 2a and 2b legs.  Then I was up.

However, Josh is getting ready for a 100 mile trail run in September called Pine to Palm down in Southern Oregon.  So he had plans to run multiple legs in addition to his own in order to get more mileage in.  This way he could push himself hard over a short amount of time, with support, and see how he did.  It worked out well that he could run with Wendie and I for our first and second legs.  Neither of us minded at all.  :-)

I didn't want to get tired standing in line for the porta-potties before my run.  :-) 

By the time it got to my leg I was getting nervous.  The last time I had done this leg it was all on the road.  Downhill on pavement and in the morning.  I did great.  They changed it so that now the first five miles were on a trail.  When I say trail I mean an ATV track.  The tire tracks were full of fine powdered dirt that was a couple of inches deep with big rocks underneath.  It felt like running on the beach only the dirt was looser.  If I tried to run in the middle between the tire tracks it was too much of a slope and too awkward to run on.  I used a lot of my energy during that first five miles.  It was way harder than I anticipated.  It was nice to have Josh along.  I didn't talk to him much and just did my own thing.  He often ran ahead and then came back to where I was.  But having him around kept me from completely giving up and getting super frustrated.

It doesn't look too bad but I did not enjoy running on this at all!  lol

I was trying to conserve the water in my water bottle for the five miles so I was only taking a swallow every half mile or so.  The trial part of this leg was unsupported by my van so I didn't want to run out.  However at about mile three there were two beautiful ladies that had a cooler full of water.  They filled up my water bottle, I chugged about half of it down, and then they filled it up again.  They rocked!!!  I was so glad they were there!!  CLR volunteers rock!  :-)

Our van was where the trail came out to the road and it was nice to get more water and to get sprayed off.  Those water sprayers are the best things ever on hot legs at CLR!!!  Unfortunately I was really struggling at this point.  I just wanted to walk the last 2+ miles.  I wanted to give up.  But I wasn't going to do that this early in the relay.  So I decided I was going to walk from one little post on the road to the next and then I would run to the next one.  I did that all the way down the hill.  It was getting hotter and it was hard to breath but every time I had to run I did it.  No one was making me except me.  I call that a win because I made a deal with myself and stuck with it.

One down, two to go!

Steve was up next for his first leg.  He had another unsupported leg.  There was supposed to be two water stations with volunteers along the way but we made sure he was carrying water anyway.  We were so glad we did that!  Not long after he took off we got a text letting us know that the volunteers had set up on the wrong let and there was no water support yet on Leg 4!  Ugh!  If we had known that we would have made him carry even more water.  At least he had some.  But it was a tough one for him.  He spent the rest of the relay talking about those "beautiful power lines."  If you are familiar with this leg of the relay, you will know what he was talking about.

Steve said he knew this picture was taken before his first run because he was still smiling. lol

The first four legs were mostly unsupported.  Our last two legs we were able to follow Ross and Brandi and check on them.  This was good since it was starting to really get hot and they were running on red cinder which makes it feel even hotter.  They both rocked their legs!  There were a few people that were struggling with the heat and we made sure to spray people off as we went by and give out water or Gatorade if they needed it.  We were a bit surprised by the number of people that didn't seem prepared for the heat and weren't getting the support from their team that they should have.  There is a point where you need to tell your runner "You will drink this water and carry some with you!"  We met up with Van 2 and got them all situated with their bibs and Runner on Road sign.  Dan was getting the hand off from Brandi and was ready to go.  We were ready for a break and a shower!

We had found a RV place online that was about 30 minutes out of Silver Lake that had showers, a little grocery, and wifi so we decided to go there for our down time.  It felt like it took 45 minutes when we turned off the highway to Silver Lake to get there.  Joe assured us it was only 15 minutes. lol  The day use fee was only $14 to chill out for the afternoon.  We were able to get ice for the cooler and fill up our water jug as well.  The showers cost $9 per person.  That was a bit of a rip off but it felt so good to wash off the dirt and sweat we all paid the cost!

When we were getting organized and taking showers Faylene showed up!  She had to work that morning and was heading out to meet Van #2 so she could run her first leg.  She had the last leg of their first turn so that she would have time to get there.  She was going by and saw the van and was pretty sure it was us so she pulled in to say hi!  That was a fun treat!

Then we made sandwiches or whatever we each had planned for dinner.  This is where the eating thing got hard.  I ate some chips and about half of a ham and cheese sandwich and then I couldn't eat anymore.  I just was done.  I felt like if I tried to force one more bite I would make myself sick.  So I stopped.  The win was that I hadn't felt hungry at all to start with so eating half a sandwich was a win.

Then we laid down to get some rest. There weren't any mosquitoes which was great.  However there were a bazillion flies and they would not leave us alone.  It was still hot so in odor to keep the flies off   I had to keep a blanket over me but then I would get really hot.  I didn't really sleep but it did feel really, really great to stretch out and lay flat for a few hours.  Steve was fighting a headache and I was worried about him but the rest helped.  So did getting sick in the bathroom right before we left.  He thought he was drinking enough to stay hydrated but evidently his body hadn't agreed with him.

I was still really wiped out from my first leg and I hadn't gone very fast at all.  Now I had another 7+ mile leg and I wasn't sure I could do it.  Joe offered to do all or part of it if I wanted.  It was sweet of him and I know he did it because he was worried about me but I just could give up on myself yet.

Josh was going to run with me again.  We were waiting at the transition at Silver Lake for Faylene to finish up for Van #2.  It always seems like the longest time to wait.  Finally I could see her coming and she handed off the slap bracelet and I began my second leg of CLR.  I had never done this amount of mileage at CLR which was another reason that I was nervous.  I decided I would run for a couple of miles and see how I felt.

The first two miles were on pavement so that wasn't too bad.  There was a full moon rising which was amazing.  It actually was a Blue Moon since it was July 31st and the second full moon of the month.  It was big and gorgeous!  After two miles we got onto the gravel.  It wasn't too bad to run on and there was a light breeze to start with that was blowing the dust from vans away from us.  The vans were going by slowly too so that helped.  At this point I was feeling okay.  I wasn't going fast but I was still running.  Josh would keep an easy pace behind me.  Sometimes we would talk and other times we would be in our own thoughts for a long time.  He really let me take the lead there since it was my run and he was joining me.  I have gotten out of the habit of listening to music so it was nice to have someone who appreciated my time in my own head.

At one point we heard coyotes!  They sounded really close and then they sounded like they were following us.  Then they sounded even closer!  It was so cool!!!!  A little freaky too but mostly cool.  :-)

The van caught up with us and I got more water.  I also ditched the headlamp and got a flashlight.  The bugs were dive bombing the headlamp and coming right at my face.  It was driving me crazy.  The flashlight was much better!  The van would go ahead about a half a mile and then check on me again.  I was trying to see how much of this leg I could run without stopping.  After all it was night so it was so much cooler and it was flat.  Two of my favorite things!

I got three miles done, which meant I only had 4.5 left to do.

Then I had four done which was only 3.5 left which was only a little more than a 5k and I could run a 5k, no problem.

Five miles done.  This left me 2.5.  I wanted to walk soooooo bad.  Everything hurt.  But I can 2.5 miles, right? Right!

All of a sudden I'm being attacked.  Mosquitoes are landing all over me and biting me.  I'm pretty sure they are trying to obtain lift off and carry me away.  I can feel mosquitoes on my face around my hairline, on my arms, on my neck and on my shoulder blades.  I can't reach the ones on my shoulders and no matter how many I try and brush away more keep coming.  They are sticking to my skin because I am all sweaty.  The van comes rolling up and Joe says you need anything?  YES!! Bug spray!! They go up ahead.  I want to walk.  I want to quit but I keep moving.  Suddenly Wendie is running up and she has the bug spray.  She says where do you want it and I tell her everywhere!  I stick out my arms and she does my arms and neck and shoulders.  Then my legs.  I put my hands over my eyes and have her spray my face and ears.  Then she is picking bugs off my neck.  I think she is pulling mosquitoes out of my hair.  She tells me later she is pulling them off of my skin on my neck.  Ugh.  Mosquitoes like me on a regular day.  They decided that I was a buffet on this run!  I felt so much better after the bug spray!!

Ok, I have 2.5 miles to go.  I keep running.  It's getting harder and I know I'm slowing down.  I probably can walk faster than I'm running but I keep at it because at this point the win isn't how fast I go but the fact that I'm running.

1.5 miles to go.  I'm not sure I can do it.  The van pulls up.  They tell me that there is a Fireball with my name on it at the mile marker to help me get to the finish.  That sounds like great motivation!  They take off and I keep running.

Right after they take off my flashlight dies.  Luckily the full moon is making it bright enough that I can see okay.  But I can't see my watch to know how far I've gone.  I keep thinking that I'm sure I've gone a half a mile.  Where is the van with my Fireball, dammit?  I keep running.

My watch buzzes that I have gone 7 miles!  Yay I'm almost done.  But WTF?  What happened to my van at the mile marker?  Wait, I never saw a mile marker.  Was that because my flashlight died or because there wasn't one.  Okay, I won't be mad.  lol  But they better have that Fireball ready for me when I'm done because now that's all I can think about!

I finished the last half mile.  I ran the whole thing.  It was slower than a turtle in peanut butter but I did it.  Another win for me.  Not a great time for the team and lots of others could have done it better and faster but I did the best I could and did more than I anticipated so that is a win for me.

Josh took off to do his official leg of the night and my husband decided to run with him.  Ross took over driving duty and I got my Fireball.  It was one of those tiny little one serving bottles.  I didn't share with anyone.

At this point we had reached the overtired, night time, everything is funny portion of the relay.  I had half a can of Pringles left from dinner and I broke them out.  You would have thought I had a gourmet meal!  Everyone was chowing on Pringles and saying they were SO good. lol  I never buy them but they sure are good once in awhile!  We did a lot of laughing and being silly while we checked on Joe and Josh during their run.

Next up was Wendie.  Josh ran with her as well.  So our awesome 100 miler-in-training did the first three legs of our first turn and the the first three legs of our second turn in Van #1.  He was doing great.  Feeling it, was sore and tired but he was moving and feeling confident about how he was doing.

Ross and Brandi were up next and got really dusted by vans.  Wendie did on her leg as well.  We think that the faster runners that started later in the morning on Friday were catching up with us.  Their vans were flying by on the gravel roads, at least compared to the vans that had been going by earlier.  The breeze had died down so now the dust just hung in the air.  Not fun for the runners!  I get that they needed to hurry to be able to support their runners but I'm pretty sure even driving slow enough to keep the dust at a minimum they still would be driving faster than someone can run.

Steve had the last leg of the night.  His leg was on pavement and would bring us into the exchange to meet up with Van #2.  I had been worried about him earlier in the evening because he was fighting the headache and not feeling good.   I knew how that felt because that's what happened to me the last time we ran this relay.  However, Steve was feeling much better and was ready to do his run.  We weren't sure if Van #2 was close by or not.  We checked on Steve a couple of times and then he told us to go to the end.  We found a great spot to park where we could see the runners coming in to the exchange.  We knew he was getting close but Joe hadn't found the other van yet.  We were starting to think that they weren't going to be there on time.  But then I saw their rig and they told me they had dropped their runner off at the exchange.  Good thing!  Steve came flying in less than five minutes later.  He was booking!  He was feeling great and he decided that he was going to try and beat Van #2 to the exchange.  lol  He almost did it too!

Now it was time to head back to the house in La Pine for a quick shower and some down time.  The shower felt awesome!  The downtime was too short.  I can never decide if I feel better for getting even 90 minutes of sleep or if I feel worse because I only got 90 minutes of sleep.  But all too soon it was time to load up and meet up at the next exchange.

Our first runner was Wendie and Josh was going to run with her and do his leg second and call it good for the weekend.  It was getting close to 10:00 a.m. and getting really warm already.  Van #2 came into the exchange and let us know that Dwayne was on his way.  It was fun to have everyone there cheering on our runners for Super Team Dwayne!

Then we had a pow wow about our time and where we were at.  We decided that we were going to have to Van Hop in order to finish at a reasonable time.  This meant that Van #2 would start their last leg while Van #1 was still working on their last leg.  With the heat this year it wasn't surprising that we were slower than the last time we participated.  I know I was!

Team Pow Wow.  :-)

Luckily we had anticipated that this might happen so we had all brought our Team STD shirts along since if we decided to Van Hop we wouldn't have time to go back to the house to clean up like we normally would before going to the finish.

Josh finished his leg and with his three legs and then running with me and Wendie (with some running ahead and back to us during our legs) he racked up a total of 60 miles for the relay!  Yes, that is not a typo!

Josh Gum ran 60 miles at the Cascade Lakes Relay!!!  So freaking cool!  He did great and I think it was a great confidence builder for his 100 miler coming up in September.  It gave him a chance to push himself pretty hard but with a lot of support from the van and from his team mates.  Pretty cool way to get training done.  Since Josh had support Joe at Ironman Canada with some special 'Merica shorts (see previous post for a visual) Joe thought he should return the favor for Josh.  He found some smiley red silk boxers.  I especially like the way he tucked his shirt in.  It really makes the outfit.  Got a chuckle out of Josh.  :-) 

Joe in his "special" outfit.

Joe and Josh talking it over.

Getting Josh a little more water so he can push through to the end of his leg. 

And there is 60 miles at CLR!  AWESOME!!!

My last leg was short!  So wonderfully short!  I had to go 2.08 miles!  But it was hot.  It was also the costume leg.  I dressed as a Minion.  I had a yellow Team Dwayne shirt from our second time at CLR and a yellow Minion stocking hat with the eyes.  I got a blue tutu and yellow socks to wear and tada, I was a Minion.  The only problem was that I had grabbed my daughters Team Dwayne shirt on accident so it was a bit tight.  Oh well.

I wore the hat for the picture and the beginning of the race but as soon as the van went by me they got the hat.  It was just too hot!!  I wanted to be faster but the heat was just too much and I had a really hard time breathing.  But I finished and then I was done with my part of my fourth Cascade Lakes Relay!

Didn't make the finals of the contest, can you believe that? lol

Elk Lake with Mt. Bachelor in the background.

It may have been hot but it sure was beautiful!

It was a hot one for sure and we were rather amazed at the number of people that didn't seem to be taking appropriate steps to be taking in enough water.  We saw a number of people that were really struggling and they weren't carrying water at all and their vans were no where in sight.  I get not carrying water on a shorter run but when it's that hot you can't do things like you normally do.  It would be smarter to carry it and not need it than the other way around.  We spend a lot of time on Friday and Saturday during the heat helping other runners out.  You can see when people are struggling.  We sprayed anyone we passed off with our sprayer.  It's amazing how good that feels and how much it helps keep you moving!  We also gave out water and Gatorade to people.  Saturday was especially bad!  We ended up giving out so much water and Gatorade that we were running out and didn't have anything left for our own runners on our last couple of legs.

A wonderful CLR worker named John (older gentleman with a beard) was passing out water to volunteers and graciously gave us four water bottles.  Thank you John for helping us out!

We had one girl that we stopped for because she was weaving into the road and then she was bent over crying.  We had her sit down on the running board of our van and got her cooled down and some liquids in her.  Then we figured out what her van was and told her we were taking her to her van.  We just didn't feel comfortable leaving her on the side of the road.  We got her in the van and were moving down the road looking for her van when suddenly she perked up and said "Oh no, I'm in the STD van, I am going to catch something!"  We laughed!  Oh honey, too late to worry about that!  Her van was more than a mile down the road so we were very glad that we drove her to catch up.  We dropped her off and told them she probably should be done for the day.  They said thanks and took care of her from that point.

It usually is warm when we do Cascade Lakes Relay.  Carrying a lot of water and Gatorade is important. I do not understand how teams cannot take steps to be prepared and take care of their runners when it is significantly hotter than normal.  Even really great runners who are fast and in awesome shape need to DRINK MORE WATER when it's hot.  It was unbelievable to me that we were passing out so much liquid to so many runners.  Seemed like it was a big duh!  Especially on day 2 of the relay!  Glad we were able to help our fellow runners out but we all were surprised how many fellow runners needed our help who were in really bad shape.

Brandi, Steve and Ross finished up our last legs for Van #1 and while it was hot and I know they went slower than they wanted too they all rocked their runs.

We couldn't find Ross after his run at first.  We quickly figured out where he had gone.

Josh thought that looked like a great idea. 

Feels so good!

Taking a short break before we go check on our runner.

We headed to the finish area, and more importantly the beer garden.  Faylene was the final runner for the STD team and it wasn't long before she was coming down the trail.  We ran around to the finish area so that we could all run in with her as a team.  Our team shirts looked great.  It was pretty funny though, the color was almost the same shade of blue as the CLR Finisher shirts so it was hard to find our teammates as they wandered around the beer garden.  They blended right in with everyone else.  I personally voted for the purple finisher shirt so I'm hoping that's what we get next year.  :-)

Walking to the Finish Line.

Super Team Dwayne ready to wrap up CLR 2015

My token for a drink.  Yay!

Faylene bringing us in strong!

Here comes Super Team Dwayne!

Feels good to be crossing the finish line!

Where's the beer?

Sunset on as we walked back to the van after dinner on Saturday.

We went and grabbed dinner at a nearby pizza place on the other side of the river.  It was fun but towards the end my mosquito bites were suddenly itching really badly and all I could think about was a shower and putting a gel of some kind on them to make them feel better.  I guess the bites had welted up really badly.  I couldn't see the ones on my back but the ones on my arm were really attractive.  It was so hard not to itch!  By the time we got to the house I felt like I was itchy from the inside out!  The shower felt sooooooo good.  Faylene had some Benedryl lotion to help with the itch and my wonderful husband helped me get it on the bits on my back.  Everyone pretty much crashed at that point.  Usually we stay up and play games and celebrate but I think the heat just took the extra energy out of us and food and a shower wasn't enough to revive us this year.

Spending two days in a van with 6 tired, sweaty people is an interesting people.  Add lack of sleep to that mix and there is the potential for grumpiness, irritableness and crankiness.  I know that I got a bit cranky with our driver by the end of the first day, but since I'm married to him I think that comes with the territory.  :-)  He's keeping me still so I think we did okay.  You add new people to the mix and there is a certain level of unknown because, while you hope that everyone will get along, you are never 100 percent sure.

We had the most excellent group of people.  Fun, encouraging, supportive and able to deal with not feeling good, being hot and being tired without making everyone around them miserable too.  That's a pretty awesome combination in teammates on a relay!!

Sunday is our relaxing day.  We float the Dechutes River as a team.  We had so much fun!  It is relaxing and low key with adult beverages along.  There was a lot of laughter and sharing of stories between the vans.  Unfortunately Jennifer and Dan had to leave to catch their flight in Portland to head back home to Texas and Steve had to go as well.  So it wasn't the whole team.  :-(  I have run with this team for four years now and I have to say, even though we have had some team members come and go, the core of Super Team Dwayne stays the same.  We do our best, have a great time doing it and support each other.  Then we party to celebrate accomplishing the crazy things we do.  Wouldn't the world be a better place if that was the norm?

Josh's on the left, mine on the right.  Both were yummy!  Both pans completely gone by the end of the day Sunday.  I'd say we both one.  I know the team felt like they came out ahead in this contest!  :-)  

Getting ready for our float!  Awesome reward for two days of hard work!

Josh & Joe

Andrea & Jake

Josh and Ross making sure the drink floaty was secure.  

Our fearless leader.  Yes folks, it's him:  DWAYNE.  Or should I say SUPER DWAYNE?  :-)

Cheers!

Wendie & Josh

Stopped to swim and partake in more beverages.  Ross & Jake did a recon to the house for snacks.  :-)

Empties.  Lots and lots of empties.  :-)

We didn't pack up and head for home until late afternoon.  It was around 10:00 p.m. before we got to our place.  Josh and Wendie still had another 30 minute drive from our house.  I felt bad for the team members that had to be at work on Monday!  And I was very grateful that I was not one of them!

Cascade Lakes Relay is one of the most challenging things I do all year.  I am not in the shape that most runners are and I have a lot of things I have to work through to get it done.  So for me it is usually almost a bigger challenge mentally than physically.  This year with the heat it was especially true.  Someday I would like to be in fabulous shape, have my training leading up to the relay be consistent and solid but it has never seemed to work out that way.  But every time we do this relay I learn a lot about myself, how I feel about myself as a runner and have learned to be proud of what I am able to do.  This is far better than focusing on what I can't do.

A few of us in Van #1 want to talk seriously about doing the Cascade Challenge next year.  That would be the Bend Beer Chase, the Cascade Lakes Relay and the Spokane to Sandpoint Relay all in one summer.  I think there will be a team meeting soon to discuss the logistics and if it is doable.  I kind of hope it is.  I know it would be hard but the bragging rights would be awesome!  :-)

If you ever get a chance to be a part of this awesome relay, do not hesitate!  Sign up immediately!  The people who organize it really care about making it a really fun and safe event.  They work hard every year to make improvements and really listen to the feedback they get from the teams.  I love that they recognize us when we show up and are happy to see us back again.  It feels good!  The volunteers are amazing and have such great attitudes, even standing around in the heat all day.  I'm sure that the major exchanges can be a real headache for volunteers but they handled people walking where they weren't supposed to, vans parking where they weren't supposed to and all the other knucklehead stuff that happens with a great deal more patience than I would have!  Thank you volunteers for keeping things running well and keeping us safe, in spite of ourselves sometimes!

Steve, Joe and I after the finish.  Another fabulous year!  

Super Team Dwayne 2015!  It was a VERY good year!  I love these people!!  I love this relay!!

I hope we get in next year because I really want that 5 year shirt!  :-)