A few months ago a friend (Renee) from church asked if I would be interested in joining her Hood to Coast team. I was a little hesitant because of the time commitment and the training that would need to happen during the summer (Since our summer is so busy I don't like having that pressure). But after thinking about it a little I agreed to join the team. And I was excited....but also nervous.
We left last Friday morning.
This is our van....School Runnings. This is a team has been around for a very long time and their leader is the Superintendent of Seaside Schools (although he didn't run this year).
We were van 2.
Jan, Kelly, me, Renee, Tiffany and Shea
We drove down to Gresham and stopped for lunch. My first leg was anticipated to start around 4:30 so I had a sandwich for lunch around 1:00. It was also really hot so I was making sure I was drinking LOTS of water.
We made it to our transition area and waited for a few hours. This was hard to just sit and wait especially in 90 degrees. Even the shade was hot.
As we waited I started to realize that my leg would be starting even later. This was good as far as cooler weather but not so good when it came to my nutrition. I knew I hadn't had enough to eat but I was also nervous about eating anything because I was afraid I would throw it up, especially in the heat. Plus my biggest fear was dehydration and I was just drinking as much as I could.
We saw this on a van and would often remind ourselves of the adventure we were on.
LEG 1: My first leg was 6 miles, mostly flat. But all HOT!!! I started off feeling really cruddy. I knew it was the heat and nutritional deficiencies but I tried to stay as positive as I could. My watch showed my pace at 8:30 and I knew that was way too fast in this heat so I slowed down a bit but I also wanted to get it over with so that made me want to go faster. I just kept plugging away. The great thing about this stretch is it was on country roads so people had their sprinklers set up to spray the runners. It was wonderful! And my favorite was the bucket of cold water. I scooped up as much as I could and dumped it on my head. When I hit the 4 mile mark we no longer had sprinkles and I was feeling depleted. To make matters worse I was on a really boring long stretch of road. I didn't think it would ever end. But I made it and finished my leg. I felt terrible but also relieved that it was over!
This is me and Kelly after we were both done with our first legs.
After the rest of our van finished their first legs we checked into a hotel where we could get some sleep. I think the most we were able to get was 3 hours but it was pretty restless sleep.
Leg 2: This leg was my most dreaded one....at least when you look at the picture of the course. It was 5.75 miles and mostly up hill. But after running in 90 degree weather I was so happy I was running in 55 degree weather even it if was 4:00 in the morning. It was a paved road for the first few miles then it turned to a gravel road so I was slogging my way through deep gravel and could hardly see. The bonus of this run were two downhills that I had especially the one at the end so I could cruise to my finish line.
We loved the back of this van.
Leg 3: The last leg was my easiest. But as my body was tired and I was fueled mostly on trail mix, bananas and peanut butter and bread I wasn't sure how I would do. Plus, when I looked at the map again I realized that there was another hill. Thankfully the hill wasn't much of a hill and I felt great for most of this leg. I was so happy to be finished.
My post race jump!
Plus we wanted to send this van a selfie, even though this wasn't a selfie.
The race finished at Seaside, Oregon.
Our van with our medals.
What a fun experience! I hope I get the chance to do it again someday and maybe I will train a little better next time.
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