To say that Karlene and Forrest Hill are active doesn’t do them justice. As runners, the couple enjoys staying fit, running marathons and exercising in the great California outdoors.
When they moved into the Signature Homes’ Vintage community in the Livermore area, the Hills were eager to continue their active lifestyle and meet friends. One way they were able to accomplish both of these things was through running the seventh annual Reno-Tahoe Odyssey.
This race is not for the faint of heart. The relay starts in downtown Reno and goes along the Truckee River, through the Sierra Nevada mountains and along Lake Tahoe’s shores. Runners then make their way back to Reno where they started the trek.
Make no mistake, this is no 5K! The course is a mean 178 miles and is split into legs among the 12 team members. It starts at 44,000 feet and peaks at a 73,000-foot elevation. If the distance doesn’t get you, the duration will. Karlene said the three- to seven-mile legs are continuous, running over night, making them especially challenging. “It’s odd because you don’t finish and then get to sit on the couch,” she said. “You run your leg, sleep in a 15-passenger van and then run another leg!”
Though their team was the last team on the course at one point, by morning, it was anybody’s race. “Overnight we made up enough time to catch the elite teams that started earlier than us, but our pace was fast enough to catch them,” she said.
Only 178 miles and 26 hours later, the Hills and their team finished. Karlene appreciated getting to know coworkers and friends as the couple is still relatively new to California. “You suddenly realize the people you run this with have great personal stories ,” she said. “It was a really good team building exercise for getting to know the people you’re around, especially with the encouragement during the legs in the middle of the night.”
Living in Vintage allowed the Hills to be close to many recreational opportunities and great areas to train. The Hills like their quiet and peaceful outdoors like they like their Bay Area homes: spacious.
“We like open spaces such as the loft upstairs, the big master suite,” she said. “Everything is just very open with no barriers of doorways into other rooms.”
When the couple stood in their Aramon floorplan, they were impressed with being able to see their entire downstairs from one vantage point.
The Hills said they especially liked Vintage because the homes had large lot sizes and homes weren’t “ontop of neighbors’ houses” like other communities they visited.
For more information about Signature Homes’ spacious homes or great outdoors, visit Vintage online or “like” the Signature Homes Facebook page for a chance to win a $100 Home Depot gift card.
