The number of people on little Orcas Island has temporarily increased by about 5% thanks to the 100-mile race that began this morning at 8 AM.
Around 100 runners and about 200 “pit crew,” volunteers, and family members are here. Runners paid between $270 to $325 to enter and have come from all over the United States – Utah, Kansas, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Connecticut, you name it. Many runners are from Canada, two are from Japan – Tokyo and Shibuya, and one is from Killarney, Ireland. The runner who is currently in the lead (it’s 2:45 PM right now), thanks to Rainshadow Running’s live tracking web page, is from Seattle. These runners are seeing parts of Orcas Island that many of us never will!
It’s already enough to fathom running a marathon. Now think over 4 marathons, in the rain, on trails that are now streams, up some major elevation, and all through the night.
Many Orcas Islanders say this is some of the most rain they’ve seen in a long time. That’s saying something, since it typically rains all winter here. There are sinkholes diverting traffic around the island, waterfalls are gushing, Cascade Lake is almost at road level, and the supposedly 100% ground saturation has the course through Moran State Park looking like a waterslide park.
This is the third weekend in a row that Rainshadow Running has hosted a race here – the first was a 25K, and the second was a 50K. They say this one got off on a drier note this morning compared to last week’s. In other words, it was just drizzling today.
The runners must accomplish this feat within 36 hours. Can you imagine running that long without sleep? Today they will have run 9 hours in daylight; tonight they will be running for 14 hours in the dark (right now it gets dark at 5 PM when it’s gloomy out and only begins lightening around 7 AM.)
I just had to go out and see the starting line this morning before taking the kids to school. I wanted to get a look at what kind of people sign up for this sort of thing. We should be glad to have them all here – they’re the kind of folks you want with you when you’re marooned on a deserted island!
After dropping the kids off at school, I headed back to Moran to hike around the lake and hope to see some runners coming through the break station at Cascade Lake, which they will pass through four times on their four 25.2-mile loops.
Here’s a glimpse at a tiny fraction of just the flat terrain they will run through. No photos have been augmented on this post so that you get a realistic feel for the gray, rainy vibe.
Sure enough, 14 miles into their first loop, runners approached the Cascade Lake break station after only a little over two hours of running. They looked as fresh as when they started. Only muddier. Incredible.
I talked to some of the crew who are making all of this happen, and it seems very well organized. The trail markers every several meters that keep runners from getting off-course took the crew several days to put in place. Think of it – tying pink and yellow ribbons to tree branches within visible distance of one another on a 25-mile course deep into the wilderness – in mud, rain, and cold. The helpers are all so accommodating to the runners, making sure that they get what they need as quickly as possible when they pass through the main station. They say that Rainshadow Running has such a solid reputation that once a runner attends one of their races, they usually book another.
At the end of it all the participants and crew will celebrate with a pizza party, and on Sunday an awards ceremony will take place at Sea View Theatre.
Today while you work all day, come home to make dinner, and watch a movie before going to sleep, the runners will still be running. Pray for them all tonight as you snuggle down into your cozy bed. They will be donning headlamps and slushing through trails they hope to recognize from their daylight hours.
If you feel so inclined, come out in the dark, early hours of the morning and cheer them on. To learn more about what they’re doing, go to Rainshadow’s website details. To see how the 96 runners are placing at each milestone, go to the live tracking web page here.
