Cle Elum Adventure Weekend - September 17

We were like a bunch of school girls giddy with excitement chatting it up in the car.  Was it excitement about the 25K (Sjohn and Jan)/50K (Lesley, Andria and Ty)/hike-run(me) we would be doing on the Cle Elum Ridge the next day?  Nope, we were excited about this.....

A yurt.  Not just any yurt - a super cool yurt up in the hills outside Cle Elum with amazing views.  By the time we got up there Friday night, it was getting too dark to take any inside photos...bummer.

Here's the outhouse....and its fantastic view.

We settled in, having a great dinner, chatting and getting all of our gear ready for a 5 a.m. wake up to hit the road to get to the race start.

Morning came very quickly but everyone was excited about the day - good weather, good trails - who doesn't love being in the mountains?

The gals got ready for their respective starts and I was taking in all of their excitement and enjoying the atmosphere. 

 Lesley, Ty and Andria doing the 50K

Sjohn and Jan smiley as always at the 25K start

After I saw them off, I planned my next few hours.  I had some good trails to choose from...and headed out onto the Gooseberry Trail.  The goal while the gals were out on the course was for me to get a few hours of hiking/running in and to bond with the trails.  I'm not a huge fan, but I know that with a little time, patience and perseverance....I'll adapt to trail running. I'm hopeful.

 Gooseberry Trail...up, up and away!  No really, it was up.  All up.

I did a lot of self talking on the trail.  Both to calm myself when I thought I heard a yeti, and to realize once I work on my balance, it's not going to be so bad. 

After I finished my hike I hung out and chatted with the race organizers and volunteers - this group is passionate about trail running and it was nice to meet some new people.

A great day with great peeps!