Registration for 2024 Bend Beer Chase & Cascade Lakes Relays is open!

Building Community Through Running

How Running with Others Can Enrich Your Community and Your Life

If you love running, you’re in good company. Many of us find joy, solace, relief, fulfillment and so much more through this hobby-sport that’s really more of a way of life. We runners enjoy life- we enjoy getting outside, being in nature, working hard, sweating, and feeling great because of it all. There’s something truly special about a good run, and many of us enjoy sharing this experience with fellow runners. Of course we all enjoy a solo run at least some of the time, but it’s always great to get out there with a favorite running partner. At Cascades Relays, we love running with friends. We believe that running can bring people together, and together as runners, we can build relationships, and build community. 

Running, in all it’s pure simplicity, is so great. What’s better than being able to head out the door and grab a little heart-pumping adrenaline and release? All you need is a pair of good shoes. Every runner appreciates the solo nature of the sport, but even so, there’s something special about sharing a run with someone else. Taking your run with a running partner can provide you with encouragement and camaraderie. Regular runs with a favorite partner combines exercise with social interaction and can become a welcome social outlet. Introducing yourself to other runners, or even forming a running group in your community, can also add social benefits to your running.  

One great way to share running with others is to participate in a relay. If you have never run a relay, this is a great running experience you may want to consider! Relays are special because they combine your passion for running with a memory-making experience with other runners. When you run a relay, you do it with a group of others; it may be a group of your close friends, or it may be strangers that will quickly become friends. While running with a group of established buddies is a blast, getting to know an entirely new group of people can be invigorating, and many experienced relay runners say they have made new lifelong friends through relays. Whether you run with a group of new friends or old, running as part of a team often becomes a rewarding experience in ways you may not have anticipated. If you get tired, your team will cheer you on and encourage you to keep on going. If you feel like quitting, you’ll push through, because you know your team is counting on you. When you run with a group you open yourself up to companionship, support, and comradery.

At Cascade Relays, we produce memorable and highly-enjoyable relays that bring together long distance running with friends. Our relays are festive occasions, where runners work hard, and play hard. At Cascades Relays, our mission is to bring people together through running, and being a positive member of the communities we live in and travel through is very important to us. It is our ongoing mission to help support local nonprofits, school groups, and community organizations in the communities our relay events travel through. The Cascade Relays Foundation, founded in 2016, has directly donated over $500,000 to local nonprofits and community groups since its founding in 2008. We believe that by highlighting local nonprofits and supporting their causes, we can further our mission of bringing people together, while helping to build community. 

To learn more about Cascade Relays, our signature Cascade Lakes Relay, the popular Beer Chase Series, the Cascades Relays Foundation, and our community partnerships, please visit our website or give us a call at (541) 633-7174. See you out there on your run!

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