Another extreme run is done. We ran/biked from Blaine, WA, at the Canadian border, to Federal Way, WA, where we're from. Ed ran and Mike biked and Barb drove the support vehicle!
We left on the morning of September 8, 2011 headed out through Blaine and down towards the KOA at Alger, WA, our first layover. The country was beautiful, hardly any traffic, and very few hills. At least not yet. I'm only going to include a couple of pictures here in the blog. The rest are online on Facebook. If you'd like a link to the pictures, send us a message.
As we got through Blaine and down towards Bellingham, the landscape changed. There were more hills, steeper hills. The last hill out of Bellingham was a killer hill! We were glad to find the KOA had a pool and hot tub. Ed and Mike got the camp set up and into the pool they went. After cooling off in the indoor pool, they hopped into the hot tub! We all slept fairly well that night.
The next day we headed out of Alger and down towards Stanwood. There were some mean hills inbetween Alger and Stanwood,where the campground was. But we made it. The drive to Kayak Point County Park was long and both Ed and Mike said they were glad they didn't have to run/bike out to the campground! The hill was extremely steep and LONG! I wish I had taken a picture of it. =( We got camp set up and went back the 9 long miles to have dinner.
Our third day out, we made it into Smokey Point and then on to Everett! Twists and turns and a lot of stop lights. The stop lights really taxed Ed and Mike with all the starting and stopping. We finally made it to the Deseret Industries store in Shoreline. Ed's feet were on fire and so Mike decided to bike the remaining 8 miles to the Seattle Center. We met up with him and headed to our final stopping place - HOME! Our beds never looked so good! After two days of camping it was a real treat to sleep in a real bed with real covers!
On our fourth and final day, we headed back out to basically where we ended and started out again - Mike on his bike and Ed on foot. Up the hill into Tukwila, past the airport, past Highline Community College and finally to the Redondo Heights Park and Ride. There we met up with family members and others who wanted to run the final four miles to the Federal Way Community Center. Federal Way Police Officer Mike Mairs and one of his fellow officers, escorted Ed, Mike and 7 others up Pacific Highway through Federal Way to the Community Center.
At the Community Center, the staff had water bottles, passes for the runners and they were able to take a celebratory lap around the indoor track. What an end to a long, arduous run.
Some may ask, why was it harder than last year, last year was longer? Because there were a LOT of stop lights, a LOT of long, steep hills that weren't along the route last year.
So what's next? Don't know. But keep your eyes on this blog and our Facebook page for details.
Til next time we'll see you down the road!
