mt. hood scramble

What a weekend! It started with a great Friday evening. The sera kids went out for beverages and a small group of us went onward for more drinks well into the evening. I ran into Diana and Taryn, two girls that I was doing the scramble with, and we went on to do some good ol’ karaoke. It was a late night but a helluva good time. Saturday afternoon we left for camping up near where we’d be running the Mt. Hood Scramble. More fun was had, there were so many people our age and everyone was incredibly friendly. There was a big fire, live music and lots of drinks. Unfortunately the lots of drinks part bit us in the ass come morning. Nobody expects to sleep in while camping, but we did just that. We got up in a panic at 9am. The race started at 10am. We were 10 miles away, needed to eat and had a whole campsite to breakdown. We rolled in to the White River snow park at 9:58am. Nice. The race was freaking amazing, I can’t even describe what an adrenaline rush it was. It was by far, the hardest event I have ever done, but was so much fun! I didn’t even care during the 10 times I crossed the ice cold, snow melt fed river, that I couldn’t feel my feet. :) It wasn’t just frigid rivers, there was muddy bogs, muddy vertical climbs, steep boulder climbs and snow to tackle as well. I had a really strong finish. I think I was just happy to not be injured. (Unfortunately, Diana was unable to finish. Halfway through she took a pretty bad fall and messed up her knee.) Coming to the finish, you had to go through a swift part of the river one more time about waist deep and then climb a steep, sandy, rocky 100 meters or so to the chute. I just went for it, I went around some girls having trouble crossing the river and sprinted up the hill. I was given praise as I crossed the finish for still having my glasses on and intact. I know I shouldn’t have worn them, but there was no way I was doing a race like this without seeing vividly. So, here I am, I’m done with the race, high fiving Diana and Taryn, when I hear a commotion down below at the river. I go to turn around and look down there without knowing there is a boulder right behind me. I lose my balance, take the whole fall on my left shin and tumble over the bolder and land on my ass. I was not only embarrassed but so pissed that I went uninjured during the race only to be hurt after! Everyone felt pretty bad for me. My shin is pretty messed up…but worse things could have happened.

So I’m beginning to think that scrambles are where it’s at. Screw this boring road running. :) I think next year I might focus more on these adventure races.

I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge everyone that has donated to my efforts for Team in Training/Leukemia & Lymphoma Society thus far. I really appreciate the generosity!