It was beautiful. It was hot. It was hard. Enough said? Right at the start it was sunny. As a portent of things to come James Varner of Rainshadow Racing had schooled us on carrying a lot of water and that there would be no shade for nearly the entire course. Then on a count of ten he sent us packing with the promise of IPA and wood-fire pizza for our reward. And sure enough there was no more than 5-10 minutes of shade right there in the bottom of Umtanum Canyon near the start of the race. I was hot by minute 15. I lost my first liter in sweat by minute 20. Two miles in we were greeted with this: The very first views off the ridge-line were that of the Yakima Canyon and the seemingly not-so-distant Stewart Range. Ten minutes down the ridge we were greeted with sweeping views of Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, nearby Selah, Yakima, Manastash Ridge and I-82, and our very own Umtanum Ridge and Canyon stretching into the heart of the nearby Cascades. Yeah, it was a good day to ...