The Mother of all Relays

Oh, Hood to Coast. Where do I even start? How can I possibly describe you? The Hood to Coast Relay is this thing almost everyone in Portland, or Oregon for that matter, has done at least once in their life. You get 11 of your friends together and then over the course of 28 hours or so, you run from Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood to Seaside, at the Oregon coast. It's madness, absolutely lunacy, but it was so. much. fun.

My HTC team was dreamed up over a year ago during a slightly drunk installment of the Hotel Emanuel Book Club. We all decided we would run and also talk some of the husbands into doing it too. Well, over the course of the year before the run, three of the girls got pregnant. So, we found some more friends to replace them and then found more friends to replace some of those friends who got injured and finally, we had our team. Van #1: Steve, Pat, Rhiannon, Chris, John and Jessica. Van #2: Chris, Emily, Nandi, Alisa, Katie and me. With another Katie along for the ride in Van #2 as our driver and all-around cheerleader extraordinaire. And on Friday, after long months of running, we finally set out on our relay.

Here is my Hood to Coast experience by the numbers:

Distance: 197 miles

Start time: 8/27/10, 7:15am

Number of teams: 1,000

Number of runners: 12,000

Distance of leg #11, my first leg: 4.39 miles

Time: 37:51

Number of minutes of rest we got at the second van exchange before van #1 radioed that they were on the way: approx. 30

Times van #1 locked the keys in the car: 1

Times we had to have van #2 jump-started: 1

Times Emily and Nandi thought they were going to die on their second legs: numerous.

Quote of the race, from Nandi as we drove by her on her second leg: "It's like the f***in' Blair Witch Project out here!"

Time of day Nandi was running: 12:30am. (deep in the coast range, on a gravel forest road.)

Distance of leg #23, my second leg: 4.18 miles

Time: 37:15

Hours of sleep we got during the fourth van exchange: 2

Hours of sleep during the entire relay: 2

Distance of leg #35, my third and last leg: 7.28

Leg conditions: uphill, in full sun, 11am in the morning, on gravel. i.e. major suck.

Time: 72:51 (Go me!)

Final time: 28 hrs, 46 minutes. Success, full success.

Van #2 Awards (as nominated and awarded by me!):

Spirit Award: Katie D. She was our driver and our cheerleader, meeting every runner at every exchange. It was so nice to see her smiling face as we came into the exchange zone!

M.V.P.: Chris D. for running Emily's third leg for her as her knee was kaputt.

Team Captain Award: Katie A. She herded cats to get us all on the same page for this crazy thing. Her patience should be admired by all.

Hard-core-bad-ass Award: Nandi. She ran all of her legs on gravel, including that horrific leg #21 in the coast range. She's amazing.

Tiny Dancer Award: Alisa. Before her last leg, she was standing in the parking lot, jamming out to some hip-hop. She was tired, she was hungry, she wanted to be done, but most importantly, she wanted to dance.

The "I Survived the Pittsburgh Hill" Award: Emily. For just that, surviving the Pittsburgh hill. It's leg #20 and it's the worst, absolute worst. Em, you're a trooper.

I took some photos, but in the chaos that was "hey, they're coming!" and "you forgot your number!" and "where are my blinky flashers?" I forgot to take very many. To get an idea of what running Hood to Coast would be like, check out the trailer for the upcoming movie "Hood to Coast", due out on 1/11/11.

So, is it weird to say that I want to do it again?