2013 HOOD TO COAST RECAP, PART II

Scene from the party at the beach as the sun was setting on Saturday night.

The next few hours are a little blurry in my mind. I was getting pretty tired towards the end of my teams' second 'shift.' I hadn't slept at all and the sun was rising. Once Libbie was done we headed toward a sleeping village Dick's Sporting Goods had set up. They set up a bunch of tents in a field you could crash in to get some sleep... sounded really nice! Problem was, they were packing it up as we rolling in around 9am. Ummm, hello, a lot of Van Twos just finished their legs and would like to sleep now, what are you doing? Anyways, that was disappointing.

We then decided to head to the next major exchange, Exchange 30, where we would be starting our final legs. The drive there ended up taking almost two hours, during which time I nodded off and on in the car. I could tell I was really unattractive nodding off but I couldn't help myself. The exhaustion just kind of overtook me so I let it go. It actually felt kind of nice. I think at some point along the way we stopped at an exchange because I ended up eating a plate of pancakes and sausage for six bucks. Damn it was good!

Me flying on the last leg!

That food must have perked me up a little bit because by the time we hit the major exchange I was feeling semi-awake again. There was a sleeping field though and I needed to try and catch some winks, even if it was almost 11am. I set my alarm for noon and laid down on the grass. The field was right next to the volunteer with a bullhorn shouting the upcoming teams into the exchange area though. "FOUR FIFTY FIVE! .... "SIX OH EIGHT!" "TEAM THREE TWENTY TWO!" every ten seconds. Ugh. It was so annoying. You know what though? I feel asleep in the broad daylight with that going on. That's how tired I was. I ended up getting about an hour here and it felt good.

So after what I guessed was a total of 90 minutes of sleep between nodding off in the car and the field I was ready to run my third leg. It started around 1pm and I wasn't too worried about it because it was only four miles and mostly downhill. My body felt remarkably good for 12 miles in on that little sleep.

That final leg was a lot of fun! I definitely could feel that my body was tired but I knew I only had to run four miles and the majority of it was downhill, so I was flying. My goal was to get under 7:30/mile pace so I was really pushing it. No point in leaving anything in the tank at that point, I was almost done.

The leg itself was fairly unremarkable, just downhill along a highway in the forest. The last three quarters of a mile or so were uphill, so I had to chug up that, but I knew that going into the run and I knew the top of the hill was the exchange point so that was pretty motivating. I could hear the sound of cowbells as I rounded the corner and saw the exchange. This was it! I sprinted into the exchange and slapped the bracelet onto my teammate. I was done!

Leg 31 ("Medium"): 4.00 miles in 29:30. 7:22/mile.

Finish line team shot. Saved By The Cowbell!

After I was done all that was left was to cheer on the rest of my teammates to the finish. I was feeling surprisingly awake and didn't even nod off in the car or anything. The atmosphere got more and more festive the closer we got to the beach. We were almost done! Finally it was Libbie's leg and the rest of the team hustled to Seaside to meet her at the finish.

We had a little miscommunication at the finish as the announcer never called our team so Libbie ended up waiting by herself for a little bit, but I think it was only a few minutes. Eventually we hooked up and crossed the finish line together. We finished around 6pm at night or so. After getting our official team picture we headed straight to the beer garden. I still felt pretty good for the amount of sleep I had, so I ended up drinking three beers and listening to the band (The Hit Machine, which I've heard before and are pretty good!). Eventually we wandered back to the hotel and ordered some pizza for dinner and continued the party up there. Around 10 or 11 most of us crashed.

Final team results. We ran for fun and we won!

The next morning was pretty chill. We just woke up, recombobulated ourselves, and then headed out to breakfast in nearby Cannon Beach. That was fun (mimosas!) and then after some shopping (ugh) and then finally back home to Portland. I ended up getting home shortly after 5pm and then just slobbed around the house. I was pretty beat and the night before was definitely catching up with me.

What an experience though. So much fun! I am so glad I did it and will definitely do it again in the future. Crazy to think the twelve of us ran from Mt. Hood all the way to the ocean. Teamwork makes the dream work!

Overall: 16.21 miles in 2:05:08. 7:43/mile.