CCC Victory!

Since last year's experience, David has been prisoner to his determination to conquer the Cascade Crest 100. This weekend, conquer it he did (along with running brothers Joe & John), and he conquered it well 

at 5th place out of the 200 runners who registered!  

This is a HUGE feat for all three of them- we are so proud!

Here they are at the pre-race start, looking a little nervous:

David breezes in to mile 33. Mom R was in charge of this aid station so she, John's family (Carrie, Sam, Gabe), and I camped out here most of the day to refuel and care for the runners' needs.

At mile 53, I got to begin pacing with David through the night. He was fighting for 3rd place at this point and I was so nervous that I would slow him down.  

Luckily, my own pride and drive to help David maintain his shooed my anxiety away.

At 7am-ish the next day, as we finally spotted the finish line, David just bawled.  

We sprinted across with what juice we had left 

(I ran 20 miles...just a 5th of what David had endured...but it's all relative, right?) 

to a happy (and not so attractive) victory!

Two things to note:

1. This is not a nice flat or even rolling race. It is up and down the Cascade Mt. range with 21,000 ft. of elevation gain. So to think of this as a marathon x 4 is not so accurate. It's harder.

2. This event involved a lot of family supporters who had just as little sleep and just as much stress as the runners while trekking around the mountains for nearly 72 hours straight...babies, toddlers, and dogs included.

Mia got the privilege of showing off Dad's race prizes- 

the coveted belt buckle and shirt that he can wear without shame this year!