Hood to Coast 2018

After Hood to Coast 2017 I told my team I probably wouldn't be able to run in 2018, but said Rog would run to hold my spot. However, when I had that second miscarriage in June, I suddenly was available to run. At first I was going to run instead of Rog, but then a spot opened up and we were both able to run it together. We were initially assigned to van 1 with a lot of fun people, but then we got moved to van 2 with a group of people we didn't really know. 

TJ and Breanna Finlayson were in the Mountain Gate Ward when we got moved back in. They hadn't been in the Sunnyside Ward when we were in it before. They seemed like a cute family and I was interested in getting to know them/becoming friends with them, but then we found out they were moving to Hood River. They had actually moved down there before Hood to Coast. Zoe Clegg's family is in our ward, but she is going to college down at Oregon State University. Finally Andrew Quiroz had been in the Sunnyside Ward with us. We knew and liked him, but he was moving to San Diego shortly after the race. All this was a bit discouraging because we knew we'd spend 2 days in a van with these people, get to know them, and like them, but then hardly ever see any of them again! We were right - that was exactly what happened, but we still had fun!

The best part about being in van 2 is that you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive up to Mt. Hood to start. Our team started at 5:00 am, but van 2 didn't start until about 10:00 am and the place we were starting was much closer to home than Mt. Hood, so we got to wake up at a normal time of day. Starting with a good sleep was much better than last year when I started with only a few hours of sleep!

The team had opted not to make shirts, but I did make a logo with our team name and cut that out in vinyl to put on the back of both of the vans. I also cut out our names to put around the logo.

Zoe was our first runner. She passed off to TJ.

TJ passed off to me. (Let's take a minute to appreciate those beautiful clouds and gray sky behind me. 👌The weather couldn't have been better and along with the cooler weather came a shift in the winds that cleared out the smoke that had been hanging around.)

My run was on the Springwater Corridor Trail that starts in Boring and goes all the way into Portland.

I ran 5.48 miles (medium difficulty) at a pace of 7:41. I passed off to Breanna.

The missionaries in our ward were 2 of our 3 volunteers. Their mission president approved it as long as it was during daytime hours and in mission boundaries. I signed up for them since the signups were during the day when they were out doing missionary work. It was a little stressful while I was trying to get them signed up because the site was so slow (everyone was trying to do it at the same time) and I had to make sure they got the specific leg that ran through our ward at a good time. It all worked out and we actually saw them volunteering while Breanna was running.

Hood to Coast only allows certain headphones that go outside your ear rather than in your ear. Last year I bought pink headphones that fit that requirement. I asked Rog if he wanted me to order him his own headphones this year (not pink), but he said we could share and the pink would be fine.

It was actually Breanna's birthday, so as she was running in, Rog got everyone to sing to her. She passed off to him.

Rog ran 4.80 miles (medium difficulty) at a 9:20 pace. He passed off to Andrew who finished us off.

Since it was Breanna's birthday, we let her pick where we ate. The Finlaysons lived in Japan for a few years, so she picked an authentic ramen place in downtown Portland. It wasn't exactly our thing, but it also wasn't terrible.

After eating we drove to exchange 17 which was at a high school and some of us took advantage of the showers there. I always shower when given the opportunity during relays. 

We had time to rest there for awhile before we had to drive to exchange 18 to meet van 1. Rog pulled out his sleeping bag and might have actually fallen asleep.

By then the sun was starting to set and it was time to start our night runs.

We had calculated when we thought TJ would be coming in, but he must have been way faster than his normal pace because when I went out there to meet him, he was waiting and said he had been for about 10 minutes. Oops!  

My leg was the dreaded gravel portion of the course. They recommend wearing a bandana over your face to help with breathing the dust, but I didn't think I would want to run with a bandana over my mouth, so I didn't worry about it. I didn't wish I had one, but it was more dusty than I had imagined it would be. All the dust made it hard to see when I had my headlamp facing out in front of me. (It reminded me of driving in a snowstorm at night.) Things were much better when I figured out I had to tilt my headlamp down to the ground just in front of me. I ran 4.91 miles (medium difficulty) at an 8:01 pace.

Rog ran his 4.13 miles (easy difficulty) at a 9:11 pace.

After our van was finished running we drove straight to exchange 30 where we would be meeting van 1 next. Most of us slept in the car. I slept in the front passenger seat. Rog went out and slept in the field next to our van in his sleeping bag.

We got in a couple solid hours of sleep and then it was time to run our final legs. I had developed a lower back injury during my training that didn't give me too much trouble while running, but caused me a lot of pain a few hours after running. So by this point it was killing me. I didn't want to move, but somehow I got myself to the exchange and then waited and waited for TJ. Since he had come in a lot earlier than we expected him from his second leg, we got out there early and ended up waiting for him for what seemed like forever. He was dealing with a leg injury that had prevented him from doing much training and he was definitely feeling that lack of training his last leg. 

You can tell that he's really hurting as he came into the exchange in this video.

I knew I wouldn't be able to run as fast a pace as I did for my first and second legs, so I set myself at about an 8:30 pace and just stuck with that throughout my entire run. By this point we had caught up with the Portland to Coasters who can only walk. I passed SO many of them! Our van passed me when I was a couple miles in, then I had a water stop at about my halfway point. I was really hoping that our van would stop and give me a boost somewhere along the way before heading to the exchange, but they didn't read my mind. I was definitely ready to be done when I came in. My quote after I ran says it all, "That was hard."

I ran 7.71 miles (hard difficulty) at an 8:28 pace. It would have been nice to have my longest and hardest leg for my first or second leg. It was kind of torture having to run it last, but I survived!

Roger's last leg was also his longest and hardest. I wanted to stop and give him a boost, but his leg didn't follow the road like mine had.

Andrew was waiting for him at the very back of the exchange. Rog was not happy about that! He was ready to be done and didn't want to run more than he had to. He ran 7.14 miles (hard difficulty) at a 9:49 pace.

We crossed the finish line at 31:47:07. (Last year we finished at 35:40:07.)

It was so fun to run with Rog again this year.

And van 2 with these people was awesome! Even if we rarely (if ever) see any of them.

Like last year (Kicking A$$ests), our team name could be considered questionable again this year (if you're looking for a sexual innuendo), but it was also highly accurate (at least the dirty part). Van 2 especially gets very dirty driving through those dusty, gravely legs. We were actually 4 hours faster this year than last year, so I'm not sure the slow part totally applies.

Other than the dinner we had in downtown Portland after our first leg, we basically only ate grapes and Costco muffins, so by the time we crossed the finish line, we were starving! We ate at Subway in Seaside before driving home and it was basically the best meal I've ever had (not counting the 3 meals I've had after giving birth because nothing can beat those).

Cold water is very important to me, so I was pretty proud of this. I froze two very big tupperware containers full of water and we had ice cold water the entire race!

Hooray for another successful relay!