Supporter Spotlight: Lara Allison
This month we’re honored to feature Lara Allison, a former Issaquah runner and longtime Issaquah Alps Trails Club supporter, who reflects on her formative years in the Issaquah Alps and why she continues to give, decades after leaving the area.
Lara and her former IHS classmates summiting Poo Poo Point last summer. Photo courtesy of Lara Allison.
By Lara Allison
I moved to Issaquah after my freshman year of high school. My earliest memories in the Issaquah Alps are associated with the late 1980s Issaquah High School girls' cross-country team (IHS XC), which had already had significant success at the state level. I moved in as the #3 varsity runner from an XC team that had medaled in a different state meet the year before.
On my first training run for the IHS XC team in late summer of 1987, I was just overwhelmed. My new teammates left me in the dust as we ran up to Lake Tradition. I literally came home from the first XC practice and told my mom I had no business running anymore. My mom reminded me that I felt that way just a year before learning to run in the hills and humidity of Oahu, so if I could do that, I could adjust to running in Issaquah.
Over that fall season, I watched my mom seamlessly meld into the group of moms who had been friends and “team moms” since their girls were in the Issaquah Gliders running club. Sophomore year of high school is a hard time to move, but seeing my mom make friends with that strong group of XC moms made me feel like I could belong—like I could fit into this amazing group of girls who had such a strong history of XC success. My mom’s reminder to not quit, but let the trails get me in shape, worked. That fall of running in and around Issaquah honed me as a runner. We won State my sophomore year and were contenders my junior and senior years. None of that would have been feasible if we hadn’t been able to train in and around the Issaquah Alps.
Photo from Tiger Mountain looking NW following a favorite hike up to Lake Tradition Plateau, near the electrical substation. Photo courtesy of Lara Allison.
As a trail runner, I can say quite simply that had I not had those three years of high school in Issaquah, I would not feel the "aah" the first minute I see moss on a trail, and I probably would not still be a runner to this day. I’m not scared by rain, dirt, moss, slugs, or fungus on a run, and I know to carry both water and other essentials so I leave no trace. When I get on a trail, my stress instantly fades—even though my heart rate spikes.
As I’ve moved around the country after high school graduation, when I was looking for a mid-distance run, I always looked for something with the profile and the instant ability to get mud on my feet that I could get from the “HS trail up to the High Point Trailhead, back down on the north side of I-90” path, which was our IHS XC long run. I have always sought a trail that quickly gained altitude and got me away from road noise but also gave me mud and moss. Blackberries along the trail have always been a plus. I suspect part of my love for IATC is that I couldn’t replicate my first trail love as I moved around—so I want to protect my Issaquah trails.
My most recent favorite moment in the Issaquah Alps was just about a year ago, when I summited West Tiger 3 on a cold morning with warmth coming in below the summit. I was above the inversion layer. I could see “my” mountains to the north, south, and west. I just felt… home. I don’t know how to better describe that day. It was like I was separate from the chaos of life. It was just magical. Having lived in different places since then, I would say quite simply that I’m the most me when I am walking, hiking, or running on a trail in Issaquah. While I haven’t been able to move home yet, I just want other people to love the trails in Issaquah the way I do.
I continue to give to the Issaquah Alps Trails Club because I know that shortly after we moved here—where my mom most felt at home—my mom and I watched big trees be cut down up on Cougar Mountain to make way for a housing development. I watched my mother—one of the toughest, but also most generous, happy people I’ve ever known—cry because the place she loved was being changed by development for people seeking views of Mt. Baker and a sense of elevation above the working folks in Issaquah who had lived there for years.
Favorite family photo of Lara’s mom, taken after she inadvertently wiped out while hiking on Cougar Mountain. Photo courtesy of Lara Allison.
While I understand that IATC wouldn’t have the visibility it currently does without the folks who moved into developments like the Highlands, Talus, and others that came after 1990, I do understand the mission of IATC is conservation, education, and advocacy for the land, wildlife, and trails of the Issaquah Alps. I want IATC to continue its work to acquire undeveloped lands for public access and support thoughtful land stewardship, including ensuring that growth in the region does not come at the expense of the natural character of the Issaquah Alps.
Looking ahead, unrestrained development in South Bellevue, all through Issaquah, and up through North Bend and Snoqualmie threatens the very identity of the place I call home. I come back to the Issaquah Alps to de-stress, to run unimpeded, and to feel like myself. I want the City of Issaquah and the Issaquah Alps to respond thoughtfully to development pressures and protect access to open space. I want IATC to protect our trails.