Grizzlython 2026

After a six year break from fundraising, we brought back the Grizzlython this year --our high school cross country team fundraiser-- and made it into a 24 hour relay, because why not start the grueling school year as sleep deprived and exhausted as possible? 

The history: The school athletics budget for cross country has always been insufficient to provide both shorts and singlets, so if we want matching shorts for our runners to wear in meets, we have to fundraise. The first 3-4years Jeff and I coached Sunnyside cross country, Jeff set up a 2 hour fundraiser and named it the "Grizzlython." (Sunnyside High School's mascot is a grizzly bear.) Kids collected pledges per mile, per kilometer, or flat donations. We met on a Saturday morning and the team ran continuous loops around the block that the school is on (a two mile loop). Jeff and I kept tally marks for every runner as they ran past. We usually were able to raise at least $2,000 from Grizzlythons past for team uniform shorts. 

Back then, we let every runner on the team keep their uniform shorts after the season ended, and learned the hard way that gear purchased with ASB money has to be returned to the school. But shared running shorts are a gross thought! We got a little disenchanted with fundraising after that and didn't do it at all for six years. During that time, we simply told our runners to wear plain black shorts with their uniform tops during races. While most people already had black shorts, there were always several kids who did not, and the result was a somewhat ragtag group of runners from Sunnyside on each starting line, all wearing different styles, lengths, and colors of shorts. We cringed a little, but lived with it. 

One last catalyst tipped the scales toward fundraising again: our team kept growing and the state athletic association reduced the number of practices athletes needed before the first meet from 10 down to 7 practices. Suddenly we had nearly two dozen more kids fully eligible to compete at our first meet, the traditional overnight team camping trip and Ultimook mud run in Tillamook, Oregon. The school would not allow us to take more than one school bus (35 kids max) on an overnight trip. So last year, we had to leave more than a third of our team home for that team bonding event. That did not sit well with us. Jeff made the hard decision to stop attending the Ultimook cross country meet this season. Instead, he brought back the Grizzlython, with the main goal being team bonding and a secondary goal being raise money for actual matching team shorts. We will have kids return the team shorts with their uniform tops at the end of the season. Shared shorts aren't gross enough to us anymore to keep our team from looking like a team on the starting line!

Now, on to the present day. The relay began at 3:30pm on Friday, August 28th.

Here's how the 2026 Grizzlython worked: the team was divided into 3 groups of 12, with a 4th group of 9 runners. We didn't quite have the full 48 in attendance that we needed to make 4 full teams of 12, so we put the varsity athletes who had been running all summer on a smaller team together, since they could handle an extra leg or two of running. Each runner ran 4 relay legs during the 24 hours. Each leg was 30 minutes of running on the track. Basically, it equaled out to an hour of running on Friday and and hour of running on Saturday for each kid. 

Since there were four teams, there were always four people on the track for the entire 24 hours. Each runner gathered pledges and donations from friends, family, and local businesses for the running they would do. As in the past, donors could pledge per lap or per mile for an individual or a team, or they could do a flat donation. Jay and Rose each managed to secure pledges that totaled to $4 per lap that they each ran! Jay ended up doing 77 laps, and Rose did 53 laps. 

The relay went from 3:30pm on Friday to 3:30pm on Saturday. It was brutal staying up the whole night, because we had all been up since Friday morning! Sleep deprivation aside, the event was a HUGE success!!! It was the best cross country event we've ever put on, and I am not exaggerating. We had more support from families and community members than we've ever had for a cross country team events in the 10 years since Jeff started coaching. It made me tear up a few times (emotions were amplified by lack of sleep, but still). 

The team surprised us by running more laps than we expected--they were cruising! One sophomore boy ran 5 miles (20 laps) during one of his 30 minute legs. Rose ran a 5k PR in the middle of the night! She shaved 4 seconds off of her previous best time, running a 23:42 during her second leg of the relay. Jay covered 19.25 miles in five 30 minute relay legs. It was awesome. 

Amber and I shared one leg of a relay team, so she ran two 30 minute segments and I ran one and walked one. My left foot has been a bit sore and I am paranoid about overdoing it, so I opted to combine forces with Amber. Amber ran so well! Both she and Rose actually ended up running 5k PRs on the track during one of their relay legs. Amber was in the low 24's for her 5k PR--we didn't have an exact time on it because she didn't start her watch on time, but based off of the number of laps she ran in 30 minutes, her 5k time was at least 10 seconds faster than her previous PR of 24:32! We want Amber on our varsity girls team so badly! Too bad she's only in 6th grade, haha.

Throughout the long night, Jeff and I took turns lying down on in sleeping bags on the turf infield of the track, but we never actually managed to sleep. The stadium lights were bright, there were always at least 8 kids awake (4 running, 4 keeping tally of their teammate's laps), and the ground was so hard. Turf always feels so spongy and soft when I walk on it, so I didn't even bring a sleeping pad. Turf is not soft at all. In fact, it's probably harder than grass, since grass gets watered while the ground under turf just bakes in the sun forever. My bones felt like they were grinding into solid rock when I laid down on the turf. It was also cold! 50 degrees is great running weather, but not so great sitting around weather. 

Three sets of parents signed up to provide dinner, breakfast, and lunch, and several more parents brought more food and snacks after they watched the relay for a while. We saw more families than we've ever seen at any cross country meet. Turns out, holding a 24 hour relay was perfect for parent involvement because people are bound to get off work sometime during a 24 hour period! The entire night, there were always at least one or two parents present. I was impressed that several parents came in the the post-midnight wee hours to watch their child run an obscure middle of the night relay leg under the bright stadium lights.

We had team captains plan activities for team building. Music, food, games, karaoke, time hanging out together--this was prime team building time. The power of forced prolonged proximity with a physical challenge to overcome together cannot be overstated. We saw social bridges being built all around us among various groups on the team. There was some serious hair braiding and several card games, along with volleyball, spike ball, frisbee, butcher paper artwork, talking, lounging, and more. 

At least seven Sunnyside cross country alumni visited to say hi and watch some of the relay as well. On Saturday afternoon, around hour 23 on the 24 hour time clock, the president of the school board came and brought a big box of cool refreshing paletas for the team! She was so impressed and pleased with what we were doing. With the lack of school support that we are accustomed to, it felt absolutely wonderful to have an official person from school territory tell us good job. Obviously we don't require pats on the back for doing what we do, but since we are employed by the school, it still feels good to be supported. 

The last two relay legs were walking legs: the boys varsity team walked their final 30 minute leg together, and then the girls varsity team walked the final leg. Watching the countdown clock up on the scoreboard, we all counted down aloud from 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, WOOOOO! We were cleaning up all during that final hour. Both the kids and adults were all somewhat desperate to get out of there as soon as possible once that clock reached zero.

Collectively, our team ran over 500 miles in 24 hours! We won't know the total funds raised until later, once the money is collected, but we already know that we will have enough to buy team uniform shorts for the first time in 7 years! 

Jeff said it several times before the event, and it remained true throughout: the main goal of the Grizzlython was not to raise money, it was team building. It worked. The ice was broken. Our team became a family. It was worth the deadly sleep deprived daze that descended, haha. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time--sitting counting laps with various groups of teenagers at random hours of the day and night brought out some unexpected humor. We were kind of drunk on sleeplessness, if that makes sense. Those kids are awesome.

By the time I crawled into my bed at 5:30pm on Saturday night, 37 hours had passed since I saw my dear soft bed, and I had been awake for roughly 35 of those hours. (I managed to take a 40 minute nap on Friday afternoon before heading over to the school, and a 1 hour nap on the turf infield on Saturday morning.) We brought sleeping bags and attempted to sleep on the infield of the track here and there during the long cold night, but I didn't manage to sleep until 9am, when I desperately laid facedown in the sun, with my pillow under my chest and face. I passed out for a full hour, then lived off of that hour of sleep until I collapsed into my own bed on Saturday night and slept for 11.5 hours. 

The first leg runners started the relay off at 3:30pm sharp! Rose is second from the right.

Cheering for a handoff!

Jay, running his first leg of the relay, with Grampa Dan walking across the track on the left to visit the team. At least 5 or 6 throwers from the track team joined the cross country team this year, so Jeff suggested that his dad Dan visit them during the relay (Dan is the throws coach). 

Alyssa, a senior on the team, did fancy tiny braids for anyone who asked. It was very impressive.

Amber reading a book, with Rose getting her hair braided in the background.

Rose, running her second relay leg around 11pm.

Amber, starting off her first relay leg! We didn't make people hold batons for 30 minutes of running--usually we handed each runner a baton during their last lap. They handed the baton off to the next person, who ran a few steps holding the baton before tossing it onto the infield. Amber ran her whole first leg holding the baton.

Amber, handing the baton off to the next runner.

Attempting to sleep, or at least rest on the turf. Amber managed to sleep for five whole hours in her fuzzy purple hooded blanket robe!

Jeff, running with one of the sophomore boys. Jeff had a blast running every 4 hours all night. The more running the better for that man!

I took the above and below pictures during my 4am relay leg. 10 hours 58 minutes left in the relay!

DAWN: the clock says 9 hours and 46 minutes left in the 24 hour relay.

Sunrise over the track. Those blobs are all kids in sleeping bags asleep. That tilted tent has been broken for a year. We finally threw it away after this event.

Sunrise colored the clouds pretty peach.

Jeff gave a motivational speech to the team at about 11am on Saturday morning about working hard and training smart.

Bethany, one of our team captains, had the girls draw a team portrait on butcher paper. They wanted me in the picture too, so I added myself hanging from the tree, and Amber peeking from behind the tree. 

Our "cross country tree" that gave us shade for years died and got cut down this year, so we have no shade at the beginning of practice anymore. That's the tombstone in the picture. The handful of girls who didn't come to the Grizzlython are not in the picture.

Jay walking the final leg with his teammates.

Above and below: relay team tally charts. Somehow I didn't get a picture of the varsity team of 9 tally chart, which Jay and Jeff were on.

Our 2026 cross country team family! A few kids had to leave early and missed the picture, but we took this right at the end of the relay!