Race Reports: Base 2 Space AND Pt. Defiance 30K

It's been a racy kind of month - but not in the Victoria's Secret way.  I'm still building up to New York Marathon (gosh I love typing that!) and in the process of upping my mileage I upped my race-age.
 

 Two weeks ago, I ran the Base 2 Space.  An incredible stair climb and fundraiser for Fred Hutch that our good friend managed at the Space Needle.  This was the first time people have been able to run up the stairs at the Space Needle and it was pretty spectacular.  I enjoyed the buildup to the race, too, with the weather rapidly changing and the sun seemingly flying into the sky in a matter of minutes.

Speaking of minutes, I was blown away at how FAST the race was.  I ran up the entire needle in just under 7min (and managed to place 2nd woman in the process).  I will say, though, that at the top I was way more exhausted than if I had run a 10k - I couldn't catch my breath for literally hours.  One guy walked by me at the top with a dr. mask covering his mouth and said "you must be new at this.  You have track hack.  You should get a mask."  Lesson learned.  A couple people in the race were semi-pro stair climbers.  One guy came from Minnesota just for this run, another guy was off to OR next week for another run.  It's a whole new race field.

More than the race aspect, I enjoyed the race because of the amazing people and the great cause.  I'm so proud of our buddy for putting this race on - it was quite a feat - and I can't wait to support him and Fred Hutch again.

This past weekend, I ran the Pt. Defiance 30K for the 4th time (and this course for the 5th time - last year I did the 15K).  This was hands down the rainiest run I have ever done.  It was crazy - the morning started with an amazing sunrise and then clouds quickly rolled in almost timed with us starting the race and the sky opened up into a downpour. 

I started at the front in the race and by mile 3 fell to 3rd woman which I held until the finish.  The course was turbulent to say the least with tree roots jutting up all over the place, fallen trees to step or hurdle over, mud everywhere, rain and mist blocking the views, and pure awesomeness.  My iPod stopped working at around mile 8 and I have to admit, it was incredibly freeing.  I have never run without music (not that I can remember anyhow), but the rain on the trees and the birds dodging the shower made for a great sound track.

After each loop there's a rope to get down a super steep hill.  My first loop was fine as the hill was muddy but not terrible.  My second loop I slipped and skidded almost the entire way down the hill making it a bit of a mud dash vs. a trail race.  I LOVE the Pt. Defiance trail runs and can't wait to do this one again next year.