Hood to Coast recap (part 1)

(I'll add pictures soon, but right now the memory card reader is having technical difficulties...)




Leg 1 - "Get outta here!"

Friday afternoon, my van 1 teammates gathered up in Portland and headed up to Timberline Lodge. We were given an extremely late start time of 6:15pm. Last year we had basically the same team, started at 2pm and finished in about 27 hours. This year we were more than a little worried about finishing before the race ended at 9pm on Saturday.

I tried to sleep on the way up the mountain, but as usual on HTC, all I could really do was just close my eyes. We arrived at Timberline, checked in, loaded up on free Shot Bloks and Clif Bars, then killed time before the start by taking pictures and hitting the honey buckets. I felt much more relaxed and un-stressed after doing some jogging in the parking lot. I was more worried about the altitude than the downhill slope, but from doing a little warm up I found that neither were going to bug me on Leg 1.

Finally, our time had come. A few minutes before 6:15 our team number was called to the start line. As I was walking to the start I suddenly remembered - I hadn't put any Body Glide on my feet. Too late now. I shook hands with the runners around me, wishing each other luck.

The announcer counted us down then shouted "Get outta here! See you in Seaside!!" No horns, no fireworks, no canons. A deceptively low-key start for the largest relay race in the world.

Leg 1 was gorgeous! I am so glad that I choose this leg. The road's mile markers perfectly synced up with my distance so I knew how far I had to go (most of HTC isn't marked at all, so having some reassurance as to where you are is nice to have). The view from the mountain was amazing, the forest and waterfalls next to the road were beautiful. I was able to relax and enjoy the ride down Mt Hood.

I only passed one roadkill. And then I got passed by a runner who started 15 minutes after I did. He looked just like Ryan Hall too, so I couldn't feel too bad about being roadkilled

Before I knew it, I had arrived in Government Camp. There was one nasty little uphill before the exchange. My legs had spent the last 5 miles going downhill and did not want to cooperate going uphill. I passed off our braclet to Dan and with that, Hood to Coast 2008 was officially under way for Team #820.

Leg 13 - Living in a van down by the river

We stopped for dinner at exchange 6 in Sandy. Subway was a much, much better choice for running food than last year's pick of Doug Fir lol (I was Leg 12 last year, so while I was out running, the team decided to go to Doug Fir. Well, Audrey and the other guy who's name I can't remember decided to go to Doug Fir. Chris, Dan and Jessica had never heard of Doug Fir and just assumed the two people from Portland knew a good place for chow. Imagine 6 tired, sweaty runners in a trendy packed bar on a Friday night. While I was trying to stretch, a brawl started outside and about 10 police cars showed up. Ahhh good times! lol)

Our van rolled out of Sandy and down into Portland. We had about 3 hours before Van 2 was expected to arrive. Everyone else wanted to get some sleep, but I decided to stay up. I forgot to pack earplugs so I knew trying to sleep was going to be pointless and frustrating. While everyone else laid down, I listened to my iPod, played some sudoku, walked around, nibbled on a Powerbar and Gatorade, danced in the OMSI parking lot, changed clothes, took a bunch of stupid pictures, watched some ZooBomber-sorts tallbike joust. I love Portland! Nothing like running around underneath the Hawthorn Bridge in the middle of the night to make you feel 15 again :)

Sure enough, only one of my vanmates (who did remember to bring earplugs) was able to get a decent amount of sleep (if you can call less than 2 hours a decent amount of sleep lol).

After waiting and waiting to hear from the second van, Renae came into exchange 12 about 3:15am and I was off again.

Leg 13 follows the eastbank of the Willamette. I haven't ran the new esplanade because it was finished while we were at Camp Lejeune. I was surprised how pretty it is with sculptures every few feet, plenty of lights and the view of downtown Portland was wonderful. I look forward to running it again next week in the Portland Triathlon. We crossed the Steel bridge, made our way past the Fremont bridge, and into the industrial area. This leg follows the same streets as part of the Portland Marathon, so no surprises and not much to look at after leaving downtown. (Although yet again, Jenn did not have cookies for me as I ran past her apartment on Front St. One of these days, Jenn - sheesh! lol)

My hips felt a little tight, but otherwise I felt good after Leg 1. I know a lot of people get pounded on the downhills and my vanmates who ran legs 2 and 3 were no exception. My knees, shins and quads felt just fine though. My only complaint - I had the worst blister I've ever gotten and it was getting worse. The area underneath my big toe was one giant blister. I cut out a patch of moleskin while waiting for Leg 13 to start, but it wasn't helping.

I was so happy to finally see the exchange and to give the braclet away to Dan.


Alrighty, off to drink some more lemon drops and watch Colbert Report. I'll post Leg 25 and pictures tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and wooooooohooo!!! Yay for being able to vote for 88 years! :D Gotta get check on the pie now. (Seriously, I'm baking a pie with apples I picked from our yard this afternoon. Yum!)