Hood to Coast

I'm a little bit late with my update, but someday when I look back on this blog (or my girls read it), I wanted to be sure to include my Hood to Coast experience because it was truly one of the best experiences of my life. Seriously...it was that much fun!

When Coron and I signed up for this race, we just thought it would be a fun time with friends. The mileage didn't worry me a bit. Heck...I just ran a marathon and I'm training for another one. My legs were 4 miles, 7 miles, and 6 miles....piece of cake!

Right after my first leg, I realized how wrong I was!! I ran my first leg at a 6:59/mile pace. That is fast for me...very fast. I ended up hovering over the garbage can at the exchange point because I was fairly certain I was going to puke. My legs were already hurting and I knew that I had 2 more runs to finish.

After we all finished our first legs, we headed to one of our teammates' house in NW Portland. We got to shower, eat a good meal, and rest up. My second leg was the longest and my teammates who had run HTC before were completely stressing me out about it. They said it was long, straight and a bit hilly. Guess what? It was long, straight, and a bit hilly. By the time I finished, it was dark and Coron had to steady me as I walked back to the van. Once again I had surpassed my expectations and run much faster than I thought I could.

Now is when it gets really hard...

Our van passed off the "baton" to Van 2 at about 9:30 p.m. We then headed to the resting point in Mist, Oregon where we set up camp for the night. Unfortunately, this kind of camping did not include a campfire, s'mores, or a big tent. Rather, we crammed into the seats in our van and tried to get some sleep. This proved to be rather difficult. There were thousands of other teams surrounding us, the van was stinky, and it's very hard to curl up in a ball on a car seat and sleep when your legs are totally cramped up from running. So basically we got no sleep.

At 3:00 a.m. it was time for our van to start running again. My third and final leg started at about 4:30 a.m. and surprisingly, I felt pretty good. I was, however, completely freaked out because it was misty and pitch black outside. Even though I had a headlamp and a reflector vest, running in the dark through the mountainous coastal range is a bit unsettling. I made it though. I was finished!

It really was a fabulous experience. We made some great new friends and I loved sharing this experience with Coron. We're already talking about next year and hoping that our team gets a spot.

Our van members...Alix, Hank, George, Jennifer, Scott, and Coron

Coron and I up at Mt. Hood

Alix and I
The Finish Line

Portland Marathon here I come....only 30 days away!

~J