So, Hood to Coast. How do I sum up 30 hours of fun, agony, joy, frustration and hilarity? It's a difficult thing to do. But to paraphrase Lewis Carroll, I'll begin at the beginning and continue to the end. Then I'll stop.
Since I've already detailed my preparations in a previous post, I'll start with the first van exchange, Exchange 6. Bernadette was kind enough to pick me up on the way to meet the van but she was a little late because she was answering a work email. We got to Nathan's with just enough time to load our stuff and shoehorn ourselves into the Suburban. As a result, I didn't get to decorate our van until we got to Exchange 6. I did a pretty good job, though, if I say so myself.
Van 1 started at Timberline Lodge in torrential rain after driving up in a thunderstorm. Thankfully, the rain stopped soon after that. Van 1 had some great stories to tell us about driving up in the lightening. Lauren, runner #6, soon made it to the exchange, Shawn took the bracelet and we were off down the road. It was blisteringly hot and humid in Sandy so we stopped to give Shawn some water. Running machine that he is, he was soon done and it was my turn.
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| I'm off! |
That first leg was the hardest. I started well, nice and slow and steady. The van stopped about 2 miles in to give me water. Earlier, I had made the mistake of telling Nathan that "Who Let the Dogs Out" was in my running playlist. Horrible song, I know, but it has a great beat and it always makes me laugh. As I rounded the corner to where they were parked, he blasted it from the car speakers. It was a great pick-me-up. However, somehow, I had got it in my brain that the leg was 3.5 miles, not 4.55, so I told them I wouldn't need anymore water stops. Soon after they moved on, another female runner started to pass me but encouraged me to run with her. I tried to tell her to go on but she was insistent. It was fun to run with someone for a while but as a result, I pushed a little too hard to soon and got a stitch in my side. I had to fall back and regroup. When I got to the next turn, my watch said I had been running over 35 minutes so I thought I was close to the end. Then I rounded the turn and saw a sign saying "1 more mile to lucky leg exchange." Ugh. It was at the base of a rather steep hill. Double ugh. It was nearly 90 degrees fahrenheit. Triple ugh. I had told the van not to stop again. Quadruple ugh.
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| Handing off to Bill - glad that leg is done! |
I found the strength to run up the hill, albeit slowly (I nearly roadkilled someone who had roadkilled me just before the hill) and then rewarded myself with walking for about a minute. There was a nice patch of shade and a little breeze so I soon started feeling a bit better. I powered through that final mile and happily handed the bracelet to Bill who had the next leg. Bernadette handed me a bottle of water which I promptly poured over my head. Man, that felt good.
As a runner on Leg 8, I was given a token for a free beer at the finish line on the beach, a Widmer headband and a chance to play a game of chance. I got to roll a giant die and if it landed on a 2, a 4, or a 6, I won a prize. Well, who doesn't love free stuff? So, I rolled the die, it fell off the table into the grass and landed on a 2. What did I win, you ask? I won a Widmer key lanyard and 6 commemorative Hood to Prost bottle openers. Woohoo!
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| Check out my Widmer swag! Pretty entertaining for someone who doesn't drink beer! |
This recap will continue tomorrow as I am still rather zonked and I have work tomorrow.
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