Our annual picnic at the rose garden was supposed to be in June but schedules were hard to coordinate so we kicked the date until August. Trying to hold on to as much summer as we can!
true indeed for the Run Like Your Mother Ultra Team
time stamp on this photo: 6:02 am -- Taylor finishing Loop 19 (green) and handing off to me for Loop 20
That's a Terrible Idea, What Time? Award
For saying yes to an ultra team with Emily without really knowing what you were saying “yes” to.
To Elizabeth, Micah & Taylor
M.M.M.M. (Most Miles Micah Man) Award
For missing a key turn on the short loop and generously adding two bonus miles to your ultra.
To Micah
Ragnar Team MVP Award
For jumping into an ultra marathon on short notice and absolutely crushing it.
To Micah
Friendliest Trail Buddy Award
For making significant connections with fellow runners all over the mountain.
To Micah
Camp Queen Award
For taking down the campsite, packing up the car, and somehow doing it all with a smile.
To Elizabeth
Crazy Costume Award
For rocking the dino nugget shorts and managing to out-crazy Emily’s race-day wardrobe.
To Elizabeth
Positive Vibes Only Award
For keeping the spirits high on the red loop—even when your knees were giving you plenty of reasons to complain.
To Elizabeth
Top Chef Award
For creating the best trail magic of the weekend, made with equal parts pesto, pasta, peanut butter chocolate, tomato soup, quesadillas, and TLC.
To Taylor
Midnight Snacker Award
For turning 3 a.m. pesto pasta into one of those core memories we’ll be talking about for years.
To Taylor
Couch-to-Ultra Award
For the gondola conversation when another runner, amazed that you were doing every leg twice, asked, “Have you been running much?” And you answered, “Nah—not really.”
To Taylor
Night & Day Award
For redeeming the red loop in broad daylight (and shaving off a solid 25 minutes of your time!) after surviving a decidedly less-fun (type 3 fun?) descent down the mountain in the dark.
To Emily
Gondola Goddess Award
For making the most of that wristband and taking more gondola rides than anyone else—running, cheering, supporting, and getting everywhere you needed to be.
To Emily
Elizabeth, Micah, Taylor, and I embarked on a crazy adventure this weekend with the Mt. Rainier Ragnar Trail Relay.
Most teams have eight people, with each runner completing three alpine loops on National Forest land near Mt. Rainier. The trails are no joke (but beautiful!)—steep single-track, high mountain lakes, waterfalls, and plenty of flowing creeks.
We decided to go with an ultra team of four, which meant each of us would do the loops twice and climb more than 7,000 feet of elevation.
Crazy? Absolutely.
Fun? Also absolutely.
Elizabeth made the smart call to stop midway when her knee started hurting, but 15.6 miles on these trails is no small thing! Taylor, Micah, and I each logged 31.2+ miles, starting at 9 a.m. Friday and finally finishing around 1:30 p.m. Saturday—thanks in part to a 2.5-hour delay Saturday morning because of lightning.
It was a fabulous adventure, and I’m pretty sure we earned our team name:
Run Like Your Mother.
GO TEAM! 🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♂️⛰️
