Runnin' Down a Dream

You may know I am a big Tom Pettty fan and was fortunate to be at his final concert at the Hollywood Bowl just days before he passed in 2017. His song is a good theme for my most recent adventures - I've been running, hiking and making plans to chase down my sabbatical dreams (Pacific Crest Trail (Section J), Mt. Whitney and Yellowstone).

Ragnar Relay - Northwest Passage

What an amazing time running ~200 miles from Blaine to Langely, Washington in early July. I ran with a group of work colleagues, their friends and spouses. If you missed it last time, the race is done over two days, with 12 runners. Each runner runs three legs of the race - someone from the team is running at all hours from Friday morning, overnight and into Saturday afternoon. Our team, the Queue Jumpers, had a great time!

I started as our first runner at 6:30am on Friday, running ~6.7 miles, enjoying views of Drayton Harbor along the way. Our van (Van 1) completed our first stretch to Bellingham around mid-day Friday and had a few hours to eat and try to nap while Van 2 ran. We had a lovely afternoon, eating at Old Towne Cafe with a stop at the Penny Lane Antique Mall in Bellingham (so much nostalgia). We tried for a nap at Burlington-Edison high school and took off again around 5:45pm. I led off and ran ~4.5 miles. We caught some beautiful views along the Burlington/ Mount Vernon/ Anacortes section of the course later that evening.

Our van finished around 11pm, ate and did our best to take serious power naps at Oak Harbor High School. We all fell asleep a bit after midnight with plans to wake up at 3am - plenty of time to get ready (or so we thought). Our team was running about an hour ahead of our projected time, so instead of my run beginning at 4:45am, it was likely to begin at 3:45am. That is until I awoke at 2:50am to a text from a friend in Van 2, letting me know our runner was well into their run and would be there before 3am! Time to get moving!

I quickly packed up, got my run gear on and another teammate got everyone up, and back on the road again. I was only about ~10 minutes late to retrieve our tracking bracelet in a post-sleep stupor, then took off on my final run through Oak Harbor, ending my Ragnar race with 3.2 miles at 3:55am. Our van was done around 8am. We had a leisurely morning with showers, breakfast and checking out Langely before meeting the rest of the team at the finish line. We all joined our final runner, Venu, in crossing the finish line together. Special shout out to Van 1 rockstars: Brian and Lena (our drivers!), Charlene, Matt and Liliya for such a fun first time at Ragnar.

It was truly such a fun experience. Unfortunately, we later learned a Ragnar runner lost their life overnight running a section on State Route 20, coming into Oak Harbor, after being hit by a vehicle. This news felt especially close to our team, as many of us work every day to make our streets safer for all users. At this nexus of having run the race and our day to day work, a few of us reached out to Ragnar to express our concern and offer ideas to make the race safer. For me, there were moments on the course where I felt uncomfortable with cars passing closely, speeding, or through narrow spots. Hopefully Ragnar will make changes so that no one, their friends or family have to experience something like this again.

Sequim (its pronounced Skwim)

After recovering from ~14 miles of running and ~3 hours sleep, I decided on a trip out to Sequim for a few days. The trip lined up nicely with an annual backpacking trip that my spouse (Jeremy) was doing with his two buddies in Olympic National Park. It's been about ~10 years since I last visited Sequim, so a great opportunity to get reacquainted. I found a lovely guest house to stay out with an awesome view, close to the lovely John Wayne Marina, which I spent most of my afternoons.

My time in Sequim was quite active otherwise - hiking Klahhane Ridge Trail in Olympic National Park and renting an e-bike to ride the Olympic Discovery Trail from Sequim to Port Angeles (highly recommend this!). And of course visiting a lavender farm. Sequim's geography puts the city in a unique rain shadow to be a prime spot to grow lavender, so farms abound.

There is something good waitin' down this road...

Otherwise, I am enjoying my downtime with lazy days reading in the Seattle summer sun. I sketch or practice the ukulele most days, and also explore the city on my e-bike, walking or riding the bus (of course!). It's fun to see and experience more of our city and the outcomes of hard work done by my colleagues. My recent favorites are a spying a scooter parking mock up downtown, red bus lanes along the Route 40 and finally riding the Greenlake Outer Loop Protected bike lanes.

Later this week, I am off to hike Section J of the Pacific Crest Trail. It's a backyard section for Seattle, that goes from Stevens to Snoqualmie Pass . Its ~75 miles and a five day trip with Jeremy and our friend, Brian. Then quickly heading to the Lake Tahoe area to meet up with friends for a few days. A busy couple of weeks are coming up, more travel and many mountain pictures coming soon!